Christmas 2013

This year we spent Christmas and John and Karla's house in the Springs.  Everyone gathered on Christmas Eve and we had a wonderful evening.  There was too much food and too many gifts, but having such a wonderful, loving family is the best gift of all!!  We were so excited to have a new addition at Christmas this year.  No, not talking about Kelsey and Jordan's puppy, Moose (although he is a cutie!) I was talking about Ingrid!  What a gem she is!  :-)

Knute, Hana and I spent the night, while the rest of the Denver crew went home and came back Christmas day for more food and festivities.  Santa brought her the glow pet she wanted and we got her the "every color" soccer ball she wanted.  (Came with markers for her to decorate!) 

The next day, Glenn and Jane came to our house to spend a few days again.  Thursday, they went to Hana's swim lesson to see her in action.  They frosted a whole bunch of "grandma" cookies with grandpa's special frosting and my huge variety of sprinkles.  We went to the Fresh Fish Company for dinner one night and to a newer restaurant in the Highlands (Linger) for lunch on Friday (I got off work early.) 

Hana's other request was a Barbie Dream house.  It was a no-go, for sure, until we lucked out and found one for more than half off!  It may have been a mistake to put it in her room though!  We will see!

Saturday, the 5 of us went to The Nutcracker ballet - Hana's first!!  She had a wonderful time the first half of the show, but had a rough time after intermission.  No nap will do that to a 3 (almost 4!!) year old!  Hopefully next year will be better.  I do hope to make this an annual tradition! 

Bahamian Fun!

We just spent a week in Nassau with the Turners!  It was nice to be back at Westwind II.  I still love the place, just like I did as a kid and it was nice to be able to share it with my family.

Knute and I managed to get in two dives, but the weather was super windy (and the water had large waves with white caps and was extremely silty, causing terrible visibility) the day of our 2nd dive, so we decided not to go.  It was probably the "safe" decision, but I felt sad after we decided not to do it.

 

Knute and Tony went fishing with some other folks from Westwind and had a pretty good time. It would have been better had they caught the fish, but I was glad that some were caught at all!  They group had a potluck (35-40 people showed up!) the next day and that was fun and delicious!! 

Hana had a blast swimming every day!  There were some other kids her age and a bit older that she was able to hang out with as well, so that was good.  One girl even made her a bracelet!  Hana practiced her snorkeling skills (she can do it!) in the pool, but with the rough water towards the end of the week, we didn't try it in the ocean.  She was having too much fun to do too much actual swimming practice.  She worked on her "twist jumps" into the pool and even tried doing handstands.

The 6 of us went out to eat a few times and mostly hung out at the condo the rest of the time.  With two little ones on different nap schedules, things were a little more limiting than in the past.  I think everyone had a good time though, so that's what counts!

It would seem that I missed November!

Surprise!  We had another busy month!  Knute went to Wisconsin 3 times (1 deer) and we all kept busy the rest of the time too! 

 

Obligatory swim shot!

On the 9th, Hana tested for her white belt in Karate.  She loves Karate and Sensei Justin and passed with flying colors!

 

 

 

On the 18th, we went to diner with a group of 7 at Old Major with author and amazing game cook Hank Shaw.  I thought I would hate it, but everything was delicious!!

 

 





Since most of the family was out of state for Thanksgiving, we decided to help "host" the "misfit" Thanksgiving at RooBar.  I baked my first ever turkey and Knute fried his.  Despite the fact this his looks burnt to a crisp, I have to report that his was more moist than mine! We brined both in an apple/orange juice/brown sugar mixture and mine actually tasted better.  I will try again for sure!!

This was at Hana's preschool on Monday.

They had a big "Thanksgiving Feast" and it was a perfect birthday present for me!

 

 

Finally, the MOST exciting thing that happened was that we got Hana her first set of skis and went to Cooper to try them out!  She seemed to like it quite a bit and we even put her in a half day lesson, although she quit after 2 hours, because she was "tired and a little sad"!  When we go back next time, (and for the next 5 visits) she'll be in full day group lessons!  She'll be a speed racer by the end of the season!  We're all excited to be getting back up there more often now!  :-)

 

 

 

Next, we're off to the Nassau, Bahamas with the Turner's!  Scuba, snorkeling time!  Can't wait!  :-) 



Halloween 2013

Hana had a great Halloween!  Knute took her to swim class, as usual, but she got to bring her Fish (what else?) costume with her to show Miss Wendy!  She them proceeded to swim like a fish all lesson!  She's getting much better and when Knute can figure out how to video again on her phone (after the "upgrade") I'll post a video!

When I got home from work, they were ready to go!  We headed over to see Britta and Sonja first.  Of course, they let Hana take way too much candy!  When Uncle Leif and Aunt Ann arrived, Leif showed Hana that she could ring the doorbell over and over again for even more candy.  (Thanks, Leif!?!)  Sonja also gave Hana candy corn, which she told me were "really, really, really good!"

 

Fish faces! 



After that sugar intake, we headed back to our house.  We emptied out Hana's spider candy carrier from Grandma Jane and went to all the houses with lights on.  It was a cool evening, but thankfully no snow!   The spider was filled again (and mom's pockets too!)  Since not that many kids were out (and perhaps because Hana was so cute?!?) everyone told her to take at least 2 or 3 pieces!

After that, Knute left for Wisconsin, as bow season opens today, I think.  He's already there, actually!   He and John both drove, so I was happy he wasn't totally alone the whole drive.  Let's hope they get a couple!

 

Cutest fishy on the block, for sure!

October Fun!

We've had another busy month!  Knute had his annual trip to South Dakota for pheasant opener and is busy backing for bow opener back in Wisconsin.  He leaves Thursday night, after we take Hana trick-or-treating.  We've all be enjoying the lovely fall colors this year!

 

 

Grandma, who drove with Grandpa to SD,  also sent Knute home with a special present for Miss Hana.  Since it's their "thing" to decorate cookies together, Grandma baked a bunch of Halloween pumpkin cookies and sent home all the frosting and sprinkles for us to decorate them!  What fun we had doing that!!  :-)

 

We've been spending some time with the Jorgensen's as they navigate into their new life.  They can over for Knute's "famous" tacos on a Saturday night and it was decided that they would bring Hana with them to the pumpkin patch at Chatfield (same place I took her last October) with Caden.  They all had a great time!!

"Smile Hana".... *sigh*

  

 

Last Saturday, Hana and I made a last minute decision to go to Boo at the Zoo again after her nap.  I thought they closed at 5 (as it said on the web site, but since it was 6 pm on this special day - oops!) so we ran out the door without Hana's costume, although we did manage to grab her Fairy Wings!  It was fun to see the animals, get some treats and ride the carousel again!  Next year, we plan to go earlier and spend more time!

 



 

Last Sunday, while Knute and Kurt went to the Bronco's game, Karen came over and we all carved pumpkins.  Once again, Hana was an excellent helper cleaning out the pumpkins.  She was instrumental in the design of her pumpkin, although I did the actual carving again.  The tool is a bit sharp for her 3 3/4 year old hands!  :-)

 

Hana's pumpkin is in the middle.  It has a gecko, smiley face and a candle!





 

 

The Bronco's won the game and it was a great day!  We are looking forward to Halloween and Hana is especially excited about trick-or treating tomorrow!!

Anniversary Party and Race Weekend

We had a busy weekend!  Knute did some elk hunting on Friday (no luck) and Saturday was the RooBar 5th Anniversary party.  It was fun to see old faces (yes, because we are old) and some new ones too.   We didn't stay too late (although 2 hours past Hana's bedtime!), since Hana wanted to come along and boy, did she have fun playing games and dancing with her friend Bishop.

I made cake, and cheesecake brownies, and gluten free brownies!

 

Dancing Queen Hana and her buddy Bishop getting their grooves on.

Amazingly, she had no complaints about the late hours or early morning rise for the Race for the Cure.  Our team was smaller this year, but the weather was perfect and we had a nice time. 

 

 

Afterwards, we went to the Roo Bar for brunch (delicious breakfast pizza this year!) and fun.  We got the meet the Alvarado's new Mastiff puppy (Cheeks!) and what a cutie he is!!

 

While the rest of the family went to the Bronco's game, Hana and I headed home for a nap!  :-)

Ryker Kincaid Jorgensen

Ryker Kincaid Jorgensen born March 25, 2010, an angel in life and now in the everafter, passed away September 15th, and is survived by his loving family and friends. An extraordinary little guy, who in his short life, brought joy to all those around him. His personality lit up a room and was far bigger than his delicate stature. For those that knew him, they knew strength, perseverance, kindness, an unconditional love and insatiable curiosity. He loved to run like the wind and fly like a bird. He was and is light and love. He will forever be carried in the hearts of his parents Monty and Jessica and his little brother Caden Rielly Jorgensen and the rest of his family and all of us friends.  We are in shock and so very, very sad. 

Labor Day in Michigan

I took Hana to Michigan to see my mom this weekend. Aunt Gayle and Uncle John drove in from MN to join us as well.  I think mom and Hana had a nice time seeing each other.  We were able to get mom some new clothes that actually fit her and a bunch of other things she needed.  We straightened up her room (every day) while we were there, but she has a habit of turning it right back into a total disaster zone within a matter of hours.  Not sure what to do about that!  The important thing is that she and Hana got to send a little time together and I can only hope that it will happen again and that Hana will be able to remember her when she is older.  I so wish that she lived in Denver.  :-(





 

When we were not with mom, we were at the motel doing fun things like swimming in the pool, listening to Blues Traveler (who happened to be playing live, just across the parking lot Saturday night!) and eating food form our favorite places in K-zoo.  We had dinner with mom and Adrian Sunday night at Bickford.

After saying goodbye to mom on Monday morning, Hana and I went to GR to see my friends and John & Gayle headed north to Traverse City .  Amy came over with her son Ethan and we met up at Liz's ranch.  After seeing the horses, we all headed to her lake house, where Bruno and Alexandra were waiting.  The girls had a total blast, as usual.  We all went for a boat ride (along with their lake house neighbor buy) and left exhausted at about 7 pm.  Hana and I got up super early this morning for our flight home.  Knute picked us up and dropped me off at work.  What a whirlwind!!