Matt and I got home from New York on Monday afternoon. So our schedule thus far had been Thursday-Sunday in Madison, home for 3 1/2 days and then fly to New York for 4 1/2 days, then come home for 4 days and then pick up Lindsay and Rob at the Amtrak station in St. Paul. (As a side note, that train station has been so helpful for our family over the last several years. It has allowed my family members to come up to visit without having to bring too many cars up to the cities. My mom took the train home the day before we got back from New York so that my parents wouldn't have to bring up two cars. And it worked great for Lindsay and Rob since they didn't have a car! Unfortunately their train was delayed over two hours and I ended up having to pick them up just before 1am! We were all exhausted the next morning, so we weren't able to make it to Wyatt's first hockey game that morning (it was at 8am in Edina). But thankfully it was a tournament and he had another game in the afternoon. Rob left Wyatt a little note of our encouragement for him to see the next morning before he headed out the door for his early game and let him know we'd all be there for the later game. Wyatt played a great game and loved having everyone there. But I think he was most excited about the fact that Uncle Rob's first hockey game ever was Wyatt's! And these guys were troopers as well---the rink wasn't all that warm and the air temps outside were in the teens (which felt cold for that time of year, however, we didn't know what we had coming this winter!)
They also got to come see Sadie at gymnastics (as well as Blake).
We didn't do a whole lot of 'extra' or 'special' things--we basically just lived life and got to have Uncle Rob and Aunt Lindsay around to enjoy it with us. After church on Sunday, we took them to our favorite brunch place--Pier500 in Hudson--and the boys taught Rob how to play bubble hockey. Thankfully Rob LOVES all sports and loves a good competition, so this was perfect for him! (And I'm quite sure my kids love the games at Pier500 just as much (if not more) than the food.)
Not even the camera could deter his focus
On Sunday afternoon, we figured a girls' outing was in order and since Lindsay would be heading back to summer in New Zealand, pedicures seemed like the perfect idea!
A quick stop at Kowalskis first for some last minute turkey dinner preparations...
Sadie LOVES getting her nails done, relaxing, getting a hot chocolate and chatting it up with everyone in the place. I opted for a manicure and took a few pics from where I was sitting. The woman who was doing my manicure made several comments to me about how talkative Sadie was--and honestly, I think someone comments on this every single time we go (which isn't all that often, but I am starting to notice a pattern.) Most of the women who work in there have different cultural backgrounds and when they ask a question of Sadie, they always seem surprised at how lengthy and detailed her answers are!
Lindsay and Rob and I also did a little shopping one day while Matt was at work and the kids were at school, and Blake-yet again-found a little hiding place within the racks where I wasn't able to find him for a solid 5 minutes (which seems like an eternity, especially in a small store). The little stinker is always so quiet!
On Monday morning, the kids had an awards assembly at school and Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Rob were able to come along and see the kids receive their awards (they didn't know they were getting any awards and were surprised to see us there!) Thankfully my friend Amber had her camera along and sent me a few pics she took!
Sadie received the president's physical fitness award from her gym teacher, Coach Wolff.
Sadie joining the other 1st-4th grade girls who received physical fitness awards
Wyatt received an award for "Reading Achievement"….starting in 3rd grade at New Life, the kids are required to read AR (Accelerated Reader) books and then take quizzes on those books. Each book has a different point value (.5-6.0) and each quiz value then corresponds to the point-value of the book (getting a 10/10 quiz on a 1.0 book=1.0 points). Third graders' 1st quarter goal for AR points is 6.0 but kids who more than double that point value receive an award. So the kids that were recognized got 12 or more points for AR reading, which is reading that is done completely outside of school. SO proud of Wyatt and his hard work---it was down to the wire but he finished just in time!
And our nights looked like this….playing games with Aunt Lindsay
Uncle Rob had told Sadie before they came that he wanted to play school with Sadie (knowing how much she loves it) and she did not forget!! I snuck in her room quick to take a picture of Rob taking a spelling test
He was all business! And Sadie complimented him on his great penmanship! Such a great Uncle!!
But kids, no matter what age, can be exhausting!! I took this picture one afternoon while Blake was watching something on TV and Aunt Lindsay had laid down with him.
0 comments:
Post a Comment