2008 Winter Carnival

So, after having subzero weather for about 10 straight days we finally had a heat wave. Of course that is relatively speaking. The temperature was actually only about 25 degrees, but that seems warm after -14 (that was the air temperature, with windchill it felt like -25). Anyway, I think that half the city of Saint Paul had a little cabin fever because I think they all went to some of the Winter Carnival festivities this weekend. We were included in that group. We all bundled up and went to see the Winter Carnival Parade and the Ice Sculptures. We also walked through the Minnesota "Hot Dish" tent. In Minnesota they call a casserole a "Hot Dish". Todd calls a "Hot Dish", and a casserole for that matter, a pot with a bunch of random stuff thrown in and called food. We got to watch some figure skaters and just enjoy being outside for a little while.

These were our favorite ice sculptures. Above is "And we're off. . ." that is the Emerald City in the background and in front you have the Scarecrow, Tinman, Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion. Below is called "Where's Frank?" it has 2 snowmen sitting by a fire and a third spot where there is just a puddle, a hat and a pair of boots.

Every year they carve an ice throne. It is a little cold on your bottom, but still fun. I think that Todd needs one of these at home.

The highlight of the parade was a man with a dog standing on his shoulders. The funny thing is that he wasn't even in the parade. I guess he wanted his dog to be able to see.

Fun, Fun, Fun

It has been only been 10 days since our last post, but it has been a busy 10 days.

On December 5th Katelyn celebrated her 8th birthday. The following Sunday, December 9th she was baptized and confirmed. We are so proud of Katelyn for choosing to be baptized. Both sets of her grandparents were able to attend and Grandma Nelson and Grandpa Anderson gave great talks. After the baptism we had a big family dinner (something we don't get to do very often) and then had a late/early birthday party for Katelyn and Lauren since their grandparents weren't able to be there on their actual birthdays.
















On December 11th, Lauren celebrated her 4th birthday. She had her first friend birthday party. She chose a Hello Kitty theme and we had fun making kitty ears and face painting whiskers as well as playing pin the bow on Hello Kitty, Where's Hello Kitty, Pass the Hello Kitty and Hello Kitty Bean Bag Toss.















Katelyn and Lauren aren't the only ones who have been busy this past week. On December 6th Whitney sang in the Holiday choir concert at school and then on the 11th participated in the Holiday band concert also at school. It was a lot of fun to go watch.



We also had a lot of fun bowling, nascar racing (at the Mall of America), sledding, exploding diet coke bottles, going to the Children's Museum, making a Gingerbread House, watching soccer games and seeing the Bee Movie while our grandparents were here.

More pictures

Here are some other pictures from the past week. We had so many that it was hard to choose which ones to use.

SNOW DAY!!

Over the weekend we got 6-8 inches of snow. It was the first real snow of the winter. It just about killed the kids that they couldn't go sledding yesterday because it was Sunday. Luckily, Whitney and Katelyn are out of school today. They all got bundled up (except Dustin - he was napping) and off they went into the white wonderland of our backyard with sleds in hand. We had a few face plants and Whitney lost a boot with her sock in it, but they had a blast. I think that the best part of sledding is the hot chocolate afterwards.

Chops of Love (Locks of Love)

After a year of growing her hair out and almost daily pony tails, Whitney finally had enough hair to do Locks of Love. For those of you who don't know what Locks of Love is it is an organization that uses donated hair to make hair pieces for kids that have lost their hair because of illness. Whitney especially wanted to do this because red hair isn't as common as blonde or brown and she thought a little boy or girl with red hair would be excited about having a red wig. You have to have a minimum of 10 inches to donate. Whitney has never liked her hair really long so for the last couple of months she has been asking if her hair is long enough to cut. We finally decided that it was long enough, but she would have to get it cut kind of short. She was okay with that. It looks really cute. Here are some pictures.

Katelyn and Lauren got their hair cut at the same time. It was pretty funny to see all 3 of them lined up getting their hair done. I took a picture. It's kind of blurry, but still fun.

Boo To You!!

We had a great Halloween at our house! Whitney, Katelyn and Lauren were all witches. Todd and I had to laugh because we went from having 3 princesses a couple of years ago to having 3 witches this year. Lauren probably would have been a princess again, but she likes to do what her older sisters do. Dustin was a pirate. He had a cute hat that went with his costume, but we couldn't get him to keep it on for longer than 2 seconds. Todd stayed home and handed out candy this year and I took the kids out. Dustin tried to walk right into every house. He wasn't shy at all. If the house had a dog I had to drag him away because he wanted to play. Lauren on the other hand screamed and ran away as soon as she saw a dog.

Todd was the master pumpkin carver this year. One of our neighbors has a farm and grew this huge pumpkin and gave it to us. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the big pumpkin is about 2 feet tall and wide. His masterpiece was a big hit with the trick-or-treaters.

At our ward party on Tuesday they had a pie eating contest. Whitney made us proud. She dove right into the pie. None of this, "oh, my hair will get messed up" it was more like "bring it on!" She didn't win, but she was close. Unfortunately, she said that everything smelled like chocolate pudding for the rest of the night because she got so much up her nose.

Go Timberwolves!!

Last week Todd got 4 tickets to a Minnesota Timberwolves game at work. He ended up taking Whitney, her friend Eliza and Brad (a boy that he home teaches). I'm not sure how much of the game Whitney and Eliza watched, but they sure had fun. They each spent $8 for a "must have" foam finger and Whitney even got a high five from one of the players as he was going to the locker room. Go Timberwolves!! Todd took this picture with his camera phone so it is a little blurry, but still fun.

Also in exciting news, we have our very own Harry Potter. I spend all day pulling Dustin off of the counter, tables, chairs, beds and various other high places, and when he finally falls and cuts his head open he is standing on the floor. How does that happen? He had a little run in with the banister. Luckily he didn't have to have traditional stitches. They were able to use derma bond on it. It actually doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it was taken 5 days after the fact. Dustin is supposed to be a pirate for Halloween, but we have been contemplating a switch to Harry Potter!

Another quick funny about Dustin. On Saturday while I was running errands and Todd was doing yard work Whitney and Katelyn were supposed to be listening for Dustin to wake up from his nap. Katelyn heard him and went up to get him and he was standing at the door waiting for her. We thought maybe he fell out of his crib. Maybe I should say I was hoping he had fallen out of his crib and not climbed. No such luck! Last night I gave him a bath and put him in his crib while I went to go get him a sippy cup and while I'm in the kitchen here comes Dustin running down the hall. Todd thinks its time for a big boy bed, I think it is time for a taller crib.