Week 12: Home

The other day while I was perusing Facebook, I saw a DIY tutorial on how to update your countertops with contact paper.  Obviously, this isn't a permanent long term solution, but it could certainly buy some time while we save up for a higher end fix.  The blogger said that hers had held up beautifully, even two years later, so with nothing to lose but that Pepto Bismol colored countertop, I decided to purchase some of  the "granite" contact paper and give it a go.  

It adhered beautifully, but I quickly realized I should've ordered an extra roll.  Despite my scrimping and strategic placing, I did have quite enough to get the whole job done.  But, I'm so happy with how it is turning out!  It really makes a difference in that bathroom - and for less than $25!   Of course, once the DIY snowball starts rolling, it gets hard to stop.  I decided to tackle the wallpaper removal in that bathroom later that afternoon.  I hit the jackpot and the paper came off pretty easily, especially with the addition of some warm water and vinegar.  Up next will be a fresh coat of paint and likely a frame for the bathroom mirror.  I'm also hoping I'll be able to find some creative towel hooks when I go to Junk Bonanza with Mom next weekend.  It's fun to see things start to take shape!

Red Carpet

On Tuesday, we attended a red carpet event at Holiday Acres for the premiere of the TV show, Roseanne.  Our family friend, Paul, is a syndicator for the show and decided to throw this launch party for some of his Rhinelander family and friends.  The invitation said Formal Attire requested, so it was a great excuse to dress up and get out of the house for a bit.

I could hardly recognize Holiday Acres when we arrived.  The red carpet began outside with big, beautiful spotlights shining everywhere.  As we followed the carpet inside, the whole corridor was transformed with stage curtains and cool red lights.  It looked awesome.  At the end of the walk was a Roseanne backdrop and a professional photographer who took pictures for each couple.  The passed hor' dourves were absolutely delicious and plentiful and they offered complimentary beer and wine.  Steve and Patti and Sara and Tom attended with us, so there was plenty of good company while we waited for the show to start.

They had large televisions put up all over the room, so everyone could get a good view of the show.  It was hilarious - Eric belly laughed through the whole thing.  I grew up watching Roseanne, and the reboot definitely stayed true to the original.  Paul said the goal was to have 17.2 million viewers tune in.  He told us the next morning that they far surpassed that with over 18 million people watching!  That made it the number one scripted show on television!  It was a great and unique opportunity to attend a premiere like this and we had a wonderful time!

Easter eggs

We spent Wednesday afternoon coloring Easter eggs.  The kids did a great job carefully measuring the ingredients and adding their designs with crayons.  It's fun that they're both old enough to get into some of these types of projects.  I love that I get to spend my days making memories with my kids!

Dress up

Lately Olivia has been really into playing dress up.  Some of her favorites are Princess Olivia, Santa ("Ho, ho, ho!"),Mickey Mouse ("Meeka, Mooska, Mickey Mouse!") and Pumpkin Livi. 

Week 11: Family Evenings

Lately on Friday nights, we've been having family movie nights.  I've been able to find many of the Disney classic movies at the library and have been using Pinterest to come up with a movie-themed menu.  The whole family looks forward to it and I love the opportunity to share my favorite childhood movies with my kiddos!

We started with The Little Mermaid because I thought the kids would love the music and would get a kick out of my favorite character...Scuttle the seagull.  I was right and they belly laughed through all the sea creature shenanigans.  Our special menu included: Ariel's sea shells (shells and cheese), Octopus (hotdog), seaweed (green beans), crab (apples and clementines) and goldfish crackers.  We also made banana splits for dessert, but the kids just ate the ice cream and left the bananas.  We all had a great time and decided to make it a regular thing.

Our next movie was Aladdin.  I was really excited to show them this one because besides The Lion King, this was my all-time favorite Disney movie and I knew they would find it hilarious.  I cooked up a Middle Eastern themed meal including chicken kabobs, lentils, chickpeas, cucumbers and tomatoes with hummus, olives, and pita bread.  We gathered around the trunk in the living room and ate on the floor to get the whole experience.  Surprisingly, the kids loved it and ate really well.  They both tried things that were new to them and liked them.  I was impressed.  I made Magic Carpet treats for dessert, which were graham crackers topped with purple frosting, a Hershey bar on top of that, and finished with another layer of purple frosting and sprinkles.  They were very sweet, but delicious.

I think next week will be Beauty and the Beast.  I can't wait!

Week 10: Neighborhood

We have lived in our new house for about eight months now.  Since we've lived here so many areas of our lives have improved, but without a doubt, the best part is the community we have found in our neighborhood.  We are blessed beyond measure to have neighbors all around us - the kind who snow blow your driveway and look out for our kids and wave to you when you're passing by.  Even better yet, we happen to live across the street from some of our very best friends, the Lindners.  It can be so hard to find friends you really click with, but when you find that person and you get the blessing of having a blast with their spouse and kids, it's really something to be treasured.  We're so lucky to have that with the Lindners.  Their kids and ours get along beautifully and Andy, Katie, Eric, and I laugh so hard when we're together.  And the fact that they live a stone's throw away is practically magical!  We had them over for dinner the other night and we had a great time.  Katie showed me some new tricks with my camera, the kids played outside on the swingset, and we all laughed til our sides hurt.  Life is good.

Vacation: Day Three

Day Three of our getaway was a trip to the Mall of America.  We got there right as they opened and the kids were blown away by all of the sights and sounds.  Right when we walked in they saw the entrance to the aquarium with a huge tank of sting rays and another filled with tropical fish.  We decided an aquarium tour was definitely on our list for the next time we visit!  As we moved a little further into the mall, we found ourselves in the Nickelodeon Universe theme park.  The kids' favorite TV characters were everywhere in the form of rides, t-shirts, and stuffed animals.  Livi made up her mind pretty quickly that she wanted to go on some rides, but we decided we were going to get the lay of the land a little first and wait until after lunch.  

We headed on to Lego Land and all of us were practically speechless upon seeing the GIGANTIC Lego sculptures hanging from the ceiling.  They were so impressive and so enormous.  Nolan picked out a Black Panther Lego set that he got to bring home as a special treat.  He could've spent hours looking at all the sets in the store.  It was awesome!

We headed a few stores down to the Disney Store.  I'm not sure if it's their brilliant marketing or nostalgia or a combination of the two, but I wanted to buy EVERYTHING in that store.  It all seemed so magical and fun.  Livi was enamored with the Princess clubhouse that had a magical mirror that played Disney video clips every few minutes.  The whole experience in the store excited me for when we can take our kids to Disneyworld.  It promises to be an amazing experience! 

After a quick lunch at the food court, we headed back to Nickelodeon Universe to go on those much promised rides.  Livi was determined to ride the Diego bus and was pretty much fearless.  She had a great time and giggled the whole time.  Next up was Nolan on the race cars.  He wanted me to go with him and I have to admit that it was pretty fun.  However, Livi was beside herself because some other kids were riding in "her" car and she wanted to ride too.  She sobbed the whole time.  

We finally got her calmed down when we told her that she could go on the Bubble Guppies ride with Mom and Nolan.  Again, she was totally fearless even though that ride went way up to the top of the park.  They both had fun (and Mom did, too) but it was time to wrap up and head back to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Eau Claire.  We left with the promise of coming back another time to explore more.  

Our final stop was Nadia's Cupcakes in Woodbury for some specialty cupcakes to take to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Nolan picked a rainbow cupcake and Livi picked a raspberry lemonade and we got an assortment to share with everyone for dinner that night.  

We had such an amazing time on this family getaway.  It was great to have the opportunity to make some special memories with our little family of four.  Both of the kids did so well tolerating all the changes to the routine and having action-packed days.  It makes it seem like we might be able to tackle a bigger vacation with them at some point in the not too distant future.  

Vacation: Day Two

Saturday was the main event: the Okee Dokee Brothers concert at the Ordway Center in downtown St. Paul.  I love the opportunity to take our kids into the downtown area of these big cities.  The skyscrapers, parking garages, and general hustle and bustle are so foreign to them and our Northwoods life.  It is good for them to be exposed to these new experiences and see what it's like to be in a city.  

Nolan had a pretty good idea of what to expect since we took him to their concert last year at Orchestra Hall, but this was Olivia's very first concert and I would say she was downright confused for the first song or two.  She knows and loves the Okee Dokee Brothers and recognized them and their songs right away, but was unsure of how she was supposed to act.  Once she saw the other kids clapping along, she joined in and was absolutely mesmerized for the duration of the concert.  Nolan was extremely stoic, to the point where Eric and I asked him repeatedly if he was having fun.  He always gave us a resounding "Yes!" with a big beaming smile, so I think he was just taking it all in.  The concert was amazing; they played all of our favorites and a few new songs from their upcoming Winter themed album.  

Before the concert, I had overheard someone mentioning that Joe and Justin were going to be coming out to sign and meet fans after the concert.  So as soon as we left the concert hall, we made a beeline toward their merchandise stand and bought their book, "A Thousand Star Hotel," in case we were lucky enough to get them to sign it.  Sure enough, they came out and since we were there right away we only had about a 5 minute wait before we got to meet them.  The kids were both star-struck and very quiet, but we had them sign our book and got a picture with them.  

In their concert, Joe and Justin said that they make music so that families will grow up singing together.  Their folk music is truly an art form, and I know our family has enjoyed singing  and listening to their music together daily.  It's beautiful and so artistically crafted. We had a great time at the concert and look forward to our next opportunity to see them!

Vacation: Day One

Eric and I have been talking about taking a family trip to the Twin Cities since last summer.  But with the craziness of our move blending into Nolan's start of school in the fall and then the holidays, we hadn't been able to make it happen.  It finally became a priority when I saw that the Ordway was hosting the Okee Dokee Brothers this March.  We decided to make an extended trip of it and take both kids to the area for a few days of fun together.  

We arrived in St. Paul bright and early on Friday morning and headed straight for one of my favorite childhood stops: Como Zoo.  This awesome zoo has tons of awesome animal exhibits and lush, beautiful gardens, and best of all, it's free!  We began our trek in the primate house where we saw all sorts of animated monkeys, the pensive orangutans, and the mighty gorillas.  Each time I encounter one of the great apes, it is a tad bit eerie at how humanlike they are.  They are so amazing and I could watch them for hours.

Our next stop was the giraffe barn complete with their newest addition, Baby Violet.  Livi said Violet was her favorite out of all of the animals.  From there we headed to the big cat house where we got to hear Mufasa the lion roar and see the leopards and tigers up close.  We were also lucky enough to catch the polar bears on an active day and got to watch them roll around and enjoy the snow outside.  

Our final stop at Como was the rain forest greenhouse.  It was beautiful and filled with all sorts of the flora and fauna found in an actual rainforest.  We met some turtles who were relaxing in the stream, checked out a tarantula, and came face to face (well, she was on the other side of the glass) with the 500 pound, 17 foot anaconda snake that sent shivers down all our spines.  I surely would not want to meet her in the wild!   The kids loved Como as much as I did and it was a great first stop on our getaway weekend.

We made our way to our hotel later that afternoon and it wasn't long before the kids were ready to go swimming.  They both had a blast.  Nolan was really confident with his life jacket on and loved twirling around and playing games with Mom and Dad.  Livi really enjoyed it too, but kept turning shades of blue because the water was so cold!  She liked swimming with some help from Mom or Dad and was very brave!

We finished out the day with dinner in the hotel restaurant.  Grandpa Jim was flying back from a work trip in Texas that evening, so he was able to join us.  It was a great end to a wonderful first day of vacation!