Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Gordy's Hi-Hat in Cloquet






Grand Marais - The driving pictures!

All together now! "On the road again! Just can't wait to get on the road again..."
Lil

Cal

Carlos

Me!

One-O, his sister Gena who just moved here from Arizona, and Jack...oh and Oscar the dog!

Rog and Meg

Andy, Trish, baby Zachary, and Doolie

Calah's first big girl ride! Whoa!


Family day at MOA

Getting ready to leave. Yippee!

On their favorite ride - the Wonder Pets!

Getting to ride with Blue and Magenta

Girls! Look this way!

Wee!

Bath time

I just love the mess of hair and the tan lines!

Toad!


I hope the little guy is ok after having play time with the girls! They thought he was SO interesting! At first they really didn't want anything to do with him, but Uncle Andy convinced them to hold the toad and then they wouldn't put him down.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Family Update

Well, I'm finally through July's pictures and it's September 24th. Sigh. Such is life, eh? I guess I should start with a quick summer re-cap. Are you ready?

Over the summer the girls spent most of their time up at the Anoka Aquatic Center. It's 0.7 miles there...which Carl knows quite well because he would run up there...pulling the girls in the wagon. Seriously. It was so fun to see them progress from not wanting to go under water to jumping off the sides, swimming underwater, and going down the "big" slide. We have some little fishes on our hands!!

I can't believe the summer has come and gone and we are moving right into fall. Gosh, I love this time of year! The sound of the leaves beneath your feet, being able to wear sweaters and sweatshirts, bonfires, football, and chili! And back to schedules and routines!

Lilija is back at Mount Olive Preschool this year and is now going 3 days a week. She loves to learn and looks forward to going! Let's hope that keeps up! On the days that she isn't at school, Carl does an awesome job of trying to keep her challenged. Right now they are working on math. It's so fun to see her brain in learning mode! I should be doing a better job of keeping track of all of  the funny things that she says, but these are a few of the favorites that made it to the white board in our kitchen:

  • "If God didn't make applesauce, I'm not going to eat it."
  • "I love you more than squash hugs and pancakes on noses!"
  • "That slide is an inturrupter hair conductor!"
  • "I'm the cowgirl from Rodeo Studio!"

Calah...where to start with that child? I have never met a kid with such a high pain tolerance and strong willed personality! Plus you add in those curls with the sweetest smile and you've got trouble!! We really need to get her into gymnastics because she wants to climb, jump, and swing off of everything! It's not a couch, it's a trampoline! It's not a windowsill, it's a ledge to hang from! She constantly wants to go faster and higher. She also started preschool this year going one day a week with Carl for a Parents and 2 Year Old class. How sweet is that?!

Carl, like I mentioned, does an awesome job with the girls and is just fantastic about creating learning moments in everyday situations. Eating cereal becomes a time to do math, playing outside becomes a science lesson. It's amazing to see how much they have learned because of him! In the evenings he is still working at ARCC. While it's not his favorite job, the hours are perfect, and he is probably the hardest working most dependable person there!

I got a new job in June as a Learning and Development Consultant with Wells Fargo Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement. It's been a hard but good change. After being in the same division for 12 years (yep, I've been there that long!) any change would be hard. I miss being the expert, my commute, and all of my old work buds, but I am thankful for an opportunity to learn something new and to be challenged. I mean, I can use the word "fiduciary" in a sentence...and use it the right way!

So I think that's the scoop! I'm hoping to have Labor Day Grand Marais pictures up and posted by the end of the week. We'll see....

Love you all,
Corbett's

Attempt at cute picture - round 2!

Really Mama? You're going to make us do this?!

I'm number 1!

Almost...

1/2 way there...

It can be done!

How hard can it be to get one good picture?





Family time!

Go fast Bapa!

Nana and GG rockin' out Memory...Toy Story style!

Look at those curls!

All attitude....sigh :)

GG and me

Monday, September 10, 2012

Homemade soft pretzels - kindof

I get the Penzeys Spices catalog (if you are saying "um, Kysa....what are you talking about?" you need to open another window and Google Penzeys Spices...or better yet, here's a link, just make sure you come back to MY blog soon! www.penzeys.com) and one of the recipes was for homemade soft pretzels. Um, okay! I had been talking to Lilija about making these for a few weeks and after getting the wrong kind of yeast and then not having bread flour I finally had all of the ingredients! It was going to be a fun and magical of night of pretzel making.  
My assistant bakers

This seems a little sticky...

It was so sticky that I couldn't get it to roll. I could barely get it into a "thing" to put into the boiling soda water before it went into the oven. Sigh.

This is what they are SUPPOSED to look like...

This is what OURS looked like!

Awesome hair day!

So, Calah's hair is typically in ringlets when she wakes up which made this morning's hair style that much more funny. I'm still puzzled about how she was able to get it this awesome...

Ring of dirt

My cousin has a saying about it not being a good day of playing outside unless there's a ring of dirt in the bathtub...well this was one of those nights! Carl had a softball double header and they were COATED in dirt. The picture really doesn't do them justice. I had to give them a bath and THEN give them a shower and I think there was still sand in their hair!

Hanging out with the Redding's and Janakowski's

Whoa! Is that a heading?! We had a fun evening with Carl's mom (Grandmarais), Robert, Erik, and Carl's Godparents, Randy and Cindy Janakowski (and I'm going to be really happy if I'm even in the ballpark with the spelling of their last name!). The last time they were over to our place was when Lilija was just a few days old. Just a few things have changed since then. *Wink*







Something to celebrate

We have been talking to Lilija, well both of the girls, about Jesus since they were born. Part our prayer with them before we go to bed says something like, "and help them know You and ask You into their hearts." On July 10th while Lil and I were praying she started asking a lot of questions about Jesus and if he was in my heart and Daddy's heart. I got to tell her about my salvation story (from when I was 4) and then she asked a few more questions and said that she wanted Jesus in her heart too! So we prayed a simple prayer and the heavens rejoiced!

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

Hallelujah! Amen!