Winter months are our busiest, but BEST months of the year!! Maida started the year out with a bit of anxiety about going back to school after Christmas break. I suggested that she take a bubble bath to help calm her down...
It was quite the bubble bath!!!
Klaasen was super excited about the new year because that meant he got to start in his new preschool class!! I spent as much time on the couch as I could with my little man during Christmas break because I knew I was really going to miss him when he wasn't around as much.
One of my good friends from Rochester had a baby and I was able to go meet the new little guy on his birthday! His name is Toren Michael and he was just as cute as his siblings were when they were babies! It was so good to snuggle a fresh baby again!
Barkely had some teeth removed at the beginning of the year. He was so funny coming out of anesthesia!
One of the best things about winter in Minnesota is that we get to SKI!!!
Goggle face Skogen!
Skogen and Maida are on a race team this year. They have practice on Thursday nights and sometimes I leave Klaasen and Torsten with a babysitter to make it a little easier. It's hard for Klaasen to stay with babysitters, so we made a contract!
On Saturdays in January, while Maida and Skogen were at their race team practice, Klaasen had ski lessons, which left me and the little guy to ski together!
Erik got the boys matching sweaters. I had to document the day because they wore them one time...who buys WHITE, HAND WASH ONLY sweaters for active boys???
Maida's had her first dance show of the year! For eight year olds, her team is VERY good. I was super impressed!!!
The day he had been waiting for all year - his first day of preschool 2016! It went well! He loved his classroom, his teachers, and even made some new friends.
Klaasen is a fun kid - you just never know what's going to happen. He keeps me on my toes! This particular day, we were on the way to the Science Museum when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that Klaasen had snuck a mask and gun into the car. I felt very safe with him defending and protecting me all the way to the Science Museum! :)
Papa bought us a membership to the Science Museum for Christmas! The highlight of our first visit was watching the snake eat a mouse!!
We knew we weren't celebrating Skogen's birthday until the end of the month, but we still wanted to do something special on his birthday, so we woke the kids up early for a special pancake birthday breakfast! Then I went and ate lunch with the birthday boy at school and we finished the night with skiing!
One thing about Thursday night skiing is that everyone is asleep by the time we get home!
Klaasen and Torsten spent much of their monrnings outside playing in the snow!
Maida had her first school dance! Her friends decided beforehand they should all wear makeup and dress up. Maida settled on some leggings and lipstick! Torsten and I went to the dance with her and had a good time with Maida and her friends!
We had a couple really cold days in January. Two Saturday mornings, the kids were skiing in twenty below zero. They never complained once!
Klaasen Burke, some days he's just so funny. This particular day, he was remembering that Grandma had some empty picture frames in a trunk in her bedroom. He decided to work all day on drawing her some pictures for those frames!
We had a family movie night and watched a really inspirational movie about that surfer who got her arm bit off by a shark! It was a true story and we enjoyed googling her after the movie and seeing all the amazing things she's done in life with just one arm!
Just another Thursday night...
Skogen's school had a McDonalds fundraiser! All the teachers worked an evening, taking orders, cooking, and cleaning. Some of the money that was spent on food went toward the school. Pretty neat idea!
