Wacky Winter Weather

Another wonderful holiday week has wrapped up. We're stuffed with cookies and cocoa, surrounded by snow, and spending quality time with the family and Christmas flicks!

George continues to visit us every night...and surprise us with his daily settings!

Day 13: December 12

"Can you still hear Santa's sleigh bell?"

Appropriate question since we had just watched Polar Express!

Day 14: December 13

"Snowball fight!"

Day 15: December 14

"Can you color something beautiful for Santa?"

Here's G's lovely snowflake he drew for Santa with the tiny little colored pencils George brought!

Day 16: December 15

"Brrrrr, it's chilly in here!"

Day 17: December 16

G and I had fun playing a round of skeeball (the balls are in the back so they wouldn't roll all over)

Day 18: December 17

"Let's sing Christmas Carols!"

The tiny harmonica really works!

Day 19: December 18

"Dreaming of a white Christmas"

Gah, the little working lantern is putting George over the cuteness top this year!

Ava's 8th grade Holiday Band performed at the Mall of America on Monday morning. Grandpa Doug, Grandma Deb, Grandpa Whitey, and family friend Judy joined me and Scott to cheer them on. They sounded wonderful - there's such an improvement in music quality since we started attending her concerts in 5th grade. We can't wait to see the champion-level music program at the high school!

Even though G and Grandma Karen weren't able to make it, I took lots of video to share with them!

After the concert was done, Ava and her friends wandered the mall, and enjoyed an excused absence from school. Grandpa Doug and I went out for lunch at the mall...I really enjoyed chatting with him!

Remember that we got a TON of snow last weekend? Well...this Wednesday, we had all four seasons within 24 hours. It was incredibly foggy in the morning, temps were in the mid-50s during the day, which means a lot of the snow melted. A storm moved in from Colorado which created tornadoes...the first ever in Minnesota in December! And then we were under a high wind advisory overnight. It was such a weird weather day, and I'm glad we didn't have any damage from the winds. My heart goes out to the Minnesota towns that suffered tornado damage.

Very thick fog on my drive home from G's school on Wednesday morning

The third week of advent is coming to an end...one more week until Christmas!!

Isn't this a cute little decoration Scott brought home for us?

On Saturday afternoon/evening, we're celebrating Christmas with Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey. We're all looking forward to the wonderful food and company...and G is very, very excited to open Christmas gifts early.

There is a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, so it looks like maybe we'll have a white Christmas after all...just like George was dreaming about!

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Exploring Local Places

Last Sunday was the perfect day to explore an area that neither Arya nor I had been to before. We headed east to walk around the Vermillion Falls/River and Greenway area. The path was nicely paved, with lots of overhead shade from trees; there were so many families out on bikes and walking, and we had a nice view of the Vermillion River. Arya got some great pics, and I enjoyed spending time outdoors with my sweet girl. This weekend, G and I will be heading out to explore a creek area in a few towns just south of us. And I've already got an idea for another creek I want to walk by next month (it's a bit further away, and I'd rather put that aside until Arya is off at college) The tree leans to find the sun On the way home, we stopped at the DQ in another town (we have a love/hate relationship with the DQ in our town, so I wanted to avoid it.) The warm weather felt great, and we enjoyed some sweet treats while watching the world drive by. We're counting down the days unti...

What a Week

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, so we've been able to extend our outdoor projects just a bit. This past week Scott's been working in the garden, cleaning everything out, and repairing the back wall of our garage. Ava was such a good little helper, scooping up dirt, but still trying to keep her hands clean while doing it! I swear, a box is all she needs to make her happy. Princess Darla. Princess Darla has had enough. I personally like how she and Ava have the same expressions in this picture. Apparently Spanky was bored - check out that yawn in the background! We went down to Grand Meadow this weekend, and as always, it was so fun to see Ava and Isabel play together. They actually had several little conversations with each other - and they were so polite while doing so! We even had them share a room last night...boy, that was a challenge. I think they finally fell asleep around 10:00pm. And of course, Ava wa...

All Done!

We made it! May was extra busy this year, leading up to Arya's graduation. And now that we are a week out from the chaos, I'm happy to report that we survived and are enjoying a slightly less busy pace in our days and nights. On Friday, May 29, 2026, 601 Rosemount High School seniors graduated, with the ceremony held at the University of St Thomas campus in St Paul, MN. It was a new venue for graduation this year, and it went really well. We were allowed six tickets in total, but were provided with a link for others to stream it on YouTube. We ended up parking at St. Kate's and shuttling over to St Thomas, so the parking situation was easy peasy for us. The ceremony was so well done, focusing on the triple A philosophy: academics, arts, and athletics. We are so proud of Arya, and can't wait to cheer her on in the next phase of her life! We did a pre-graduation photo shoot with a few friends from school Last day of high school! Red Pine is a special school in the distric...

Go, Go, Goers!

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