Oct-Nov-Dec 2015

Where does the time go? 

Knute had a fun and successful hunting season.  Hana was a fairy this year for Halloween and walked with a bunch of friends from the neighborhood for the first time.  They had a blast and a LOT of candy by the end of the night!  In fact, I think we still have some in the house!!!

This year brought our first birthday with my mom in many years.  She's enjoying her "new" apartment and really loves it when Hana and/or Lucy comes to visit.  I actually think she likes the dog visits better than any human visits!  Lucy is a good girl!

We made the trip to MSP/IA for Thanksgiving again.  It's turning into a tradition, I think.  Aunt Gayle & Uncle John drive us to WI to meet up with Knute for lunch and we're off to Decorah.  We had a lovely time with the family.  We were quite proud of ourselves, as we made a gift for Knute's dad and we all helped out! 

When we returned, Hana had her first ever daddy-daughter dance and the Glenmoor Country Club.  I volunteered (couldn't miss it!) to take pictures.  The theme was Candyland and it was a blast.  I think all the girls (and dad's) had a really good, sugar-filled night!

After that, we met Aunt Gayle in Orlando, FL for a (relaxing?) week of fun and rides.  We went to the Wild Animal Park the first day.  There was only one roller coaster and Hana (my little adrenaline junkie!) was "bored", so we spent the other 4 days at the Magic Kingdom riding every roller coaster over and over!   After days of trying, I finally got a reservation for breakfast in Cinderella's castle!!  Hana got to meet Cinderella (again!), along with Snow White, Ariel (twice that week - the other time was in her grotto, where she was in her natural state - fins!), Aurora and even Jasmine!  I think Hana had a good time.

Last weekend brought our annual trip to see The Nutcracker downtown.  Hana got all dressed up and we went to lunch downtown (via the Lightrail) and then off to the show!  Our seats were right in front this year and Hana seemed to like it better than any other year!!  Not sure if it's her age or just liking the show more!  She wants to go to another show again soon!

The annual picture in front of the sign!  She's getting so tall!

 





We look forward to Christmas with my mom and the rest family over the next couple of days.  It's really been a magical year!!  :-)

September FUN!

September brought us to MN not once, but twice! 
We went as a family over Labor Day weekend.  We saw aunt Gayle, uncle John and my cousins and the next day, we went to the MN State Fair.  We ate too much, of course, but Hana has a blast and won many stuff animals. (yippee......) 

The following weekend, Hana and I flew back to see the Taylor Swift concert with my cousin Jennifer.  Hana loved it so, so much.  She was dancing and singing the whole time and I'm so happy I was able to do that for her. 

Hana is really enjoying her school and kindergarten and we are so happy about that!

July & August 2015

July flew by, with summer in full swing!  Hana continued gymnastics, wanting to go more than once a week, because she loved it so much!  The 4th brought a lot of fun activities.  We went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and met up with John & Karla and saw Erika, who was volunteering. 

 

 

For the actual 4th, we went to Elitch Garden's (Hana's new favorite place in Denver, our little adrenaline junkie!), then the lacrosse game at Mile High Stadium and saw our SECOND set of fireworks for the week.  They were amazing, and set to music, by the way. 

 

I spent time with my mom and Hana did a lot of swimming after school/camp.  Hana started "Bear Club" at her new elementary school and absolutely loved it!   We wanted her to feel comfortable at her new school and of course, she fit right in, making friend with some "big kids" in 2nd and 4th grade.  No problems.  We also went to a Rockies game and this year, Hana got to see Dinger up close.  (She also got FREE ice cream after the game was over!)

 

 

 

Knute's cousin Anna and her family came for a visit.  They stayed with us a couple of days and the girls had fun at the zoo and hanging out, playing.  It was nice that the cousins could get together too!

 



  

Knute has wanted to bring Hana to Nordic Fest in Decorah for years and I was looking into it for next year, when an opening came up at the hotel in town, so at the last minute, we decided to go to Iowa!!  Karla loaned us their mom's old (50 years old!) costumes for Hana  and me to wear in the parade.  Aunt Gayle drove down from MN too.  We went canoeing on the Upper Iowa River (so awesome!) and had a great time at the parade.  Hana's favorite was all the ice cream and Knute enjoyed Mabe's daily as well.  It was extra special that Solveig was there too!

 

 







We started to get "complaints" for lack of weekly cupcakes at the nursing home, so Hana and I whipped up another batch and brought them over that very afternoon.  Mom enjoyed having lunch with Hana again, since I usually go alone lately.  I think Hana liked it too.... cupcakes and two kids of ice cream.  The wait staff really spoils her when she visits!  :-)

 

 

The BIG news this August is that we now have a Kindergartener in the house!!  Hana stared this week and just loves it so far.  We are happy that her friend from BECC (who also lives around the block!) not only goes to the same school, but they are in the same class and even sit around the same table!!  She is having fun every day and enjoys art and all the recesses they have!  We really like her teachers and hope she has a wonderful, fun and productive year of learning.  Yeah for Hana!

 

New backpack with matching lunchbox that she picked out.



May & June 2015

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've been able to update this blog.  It HAS been crazy busy though!!  I guess it started the first day of May too!  That was the day we got Blossom!!  She's our sweet blue doberman rescue dog.  She was about 10 months at the time (we decided to make her birthday July 5th - Hana's "Half Birthday" because she is Hana's dog.  Well, Hana will tell you that.  I thought she was my dog.... Knute says she is, every time she does something naughty!  At any rate, we've all fallen in love with her (although Lucy might disagree some days!) and she fit into the family right away! 

I should mention that she came from a rescue is south Texas, right by the Mexico boarder... A few days after she arrived, we had snow.  Let's just say she was not a fan!  It was so funny waiting her jump around in the snow.  Actually, after a while, she seemed to get used to it, but her favorite spot was by the fireplace (which we turned on for the first time this year, I think!!) She's a funny dog!!

May also brought a out big block party.  Unfortunately, it rained all day and then that turned to snow!!  It was freezing, but we all had fun.  A firetruck even came (per our request) and the kids got to go in it.  Hana, of course, also managed to jump in the drivers seat for a few minutes.  Glad they took the keys out!!  Hana also went to her first Kentucky Derby Party (wearing her best matching hat!) and that was fun!  Knute won the tri-fecta! 

We had a nice Mother's Day with my mom this year.  It was the first time in MANY years we were together for that day, so it was extra special for me.  We took her to brunch at Rob, because we knew it would not be busy.  She really enjoyed the music on the jukebox, especially Earth, Wind & Fire.

We went to a few other parties, including our friend Irene's 40th and neighbor Liam's 6th.  Hana had fun on the slip n slide and hitting the pinata.  At the end of the month, aunt Gayle and uncle John came for a visit.... mostly to see my mom, but they stayed with us and we had a blast, as usual!

Perhaps the most EXCITING thing that happened in May, was that Hana "graduated" from Pre-School!  They had their annual Spring Sing at Bethany and afterwards, Hana received her "diploma".  She is all to happy to tell you that her teacher, Mrs. Alicia (especially) and Ms. Nicole tell her she was the smartest kid in the class and they will miss her terribly.... In fact they "don't know what they will do without here there!"  It's nice to be liked so much!  Hana had fun with Ryvers & Bleu (and Kaya too, although she not pictured here.)

I should also mention, Knute started to demo our kitchen floor after a month and a half long fiasco with HomeDepot (I'll never shop there again!) and as I type this on June 25th, it's still not totally done, but we hope to put the toilet back in the bathroom tonight!  Finger's crossed!

June brought more parties and trips to the park!!  Glenn & Jane came to visit and to celebrate his birthday!!  We all went to Fresh Fish Co... His favorite, because they offer your age as a percentage off... although, now that he's in his 80's, they usually just give him his meal for free! 

Hana at her (former) favorite park - MacWilliams, which she calls Dinosaur Park! 

Hana's new favorite Park is Belleview Park.  We celebrated her friend Kaya's birthday there and went back again the following Tuesday after swim lessons.  Knute was fishing in Canada on his annual trip with his dad, so I took a vacation day and we went crazy!  Although we didn't play in the river or have a duck race, like at the party, we did get to ride the train again (twice) and went to the petting zoo.  After that, we went to Noodles for lunch, Cold Stone for ice cream after that and then shopping to finish getting Father's Day gifts for Knute.  Later that evening (after seeing my mom with cupcakes that we made) we even went to Hana's favorite - Red Lobster with the Turner's.  Busy day!!

Knute & Glenn in Canada

Last weekend was Father's Day.  Knute was home for the first time ever (I think?!?) since we had Hana!!  His annual trip was moved up a week this year, so it worked out.  He got to open his many presents and cards and pictures (mostly from Hana) in the morning and take it sort of easy most of the day.  Hana and I went to the salon for a trim.  Well, I went for a trim.  I ended up having 9-10 inches cut off to donate again and Hana decided to get a trim that turn into 4 inches.  She looks so adorable and her hair looks so healthy now!  I've been trying to talk her into a trim for months..... But bringing to the salon was apparently all I needed to do!  She couldn't wait to jump in the chair!  Afterwards, we stopped at Bonnie Brae ice cream to get some Butter Brickle for Knute and Leif & John (their Father's Day present from me!)

That evening we had the Balk's (Erika is back from a semester in Malta!!) and Nelson's over for dinner to celebrate The Longest Day Alzheimer's awareness fundraiser.  We're Team Barbie.  We had a nice time and made s'mores and ate Sonja's perfectly decorated cake.  I don't think Knute ate again until the next night... we all had too much to eat.  But it was a nice time.  

 

Next weekend is the Turner's party and then it will be July... which is just as crazy.  Actually August is too.  A lot of fun things are planned.... including Nordic Fest in Decorah, the Minnesota State Fair and some special surprises for Hana.  OH!  And after she finishes Rainbow Trail Lutheran Day Camp this week, she starts summer school (it's actually called camp) at her new elementary school 3 days a week until "real" school starts in August.  We want her to feel very comfortable there when school actually starts in August.  Exciting times ahead!!

April 2015

Another busy month is almost over!  We started out with our (almost) annual tradition of Britta (and Allen) coming over to dye Easter Eggs and eat tacos.  It was a fun evening and we did 2 dozen eggs!

It was nice to finally have my mom here for a family holiday, although it might have been too much family!  She had a nice time at first, but then got a bit overwhelmed with so much activity.

Hana had fun with her cousins and they even did a practice Easter Egg Hunt (since we go together on Saturday).

We had a nice Easter day that started with a huge Easter Egg hunt for Hana and ended with her biggest basket ever from the Easter Bunny!   She was excited to get so many interesting things and even got a beach towel with her name on it!  The Easter Bunny ate all the carrots we left out too!

 

 

We went to go see my mom again, but she decided she didn't want to go to church after all (a first, I think!) and just wanted to rest at her place instead.  We just had a mellow afternoon brunch and saw some other friends. 

 

We had a fun gathering for my first crawfish boil (yuck!) at Zokas with 14 of us mid month.  I also started the process of having a new floor put in our kitchen.  Not really happy with HomeDepot at the moment... hoping that I actually get a new floor this year.  Unfortunately, the flooring I fell in love with is only sold at HD, so I'm kind of stuck.  We shall see.

 

Last weekend, we brought some planters of flowers to mom's place and a Roma tomato plant as well.  Hana was an amazing helper, pulling weeds (she wanted to - I didn't even ask her to do it!) and sweeping.  Then, she went inside and brushed grandma's hair... after pelting her with a balloon in an active game of balloon volleyball.  She is such a sweet little girl (most of the time!) and I am really proud of her!

 

 

She has a play date tomorrow with her friend Kaya, who will be joining her at Greenwood next fall for Kindergarten.  Should be a fun day.  

 

February/March 2015

I can't believe I totally missed February and nearly missed March as well!  We were super busy (obviously) and had plans literally every weekend.   In February, Hana volunteered at Bethany Lutheran for a food drive, went to friend's parties, had play dates, visited grandma a lot and we got her a "big girl" bed for her bedroom.  She loved it at first and then decided her furniture was too brown, so we got pink and purple pulls for everything.  Now it's "perfect" she says!! 

 

 

Hana wrapped up her ski lessons last weekend and is starting to learn to turn!  Mom is doing well in her new home here in Denver and loves how often we can see her (many times a week).  She really loves the visits from Lucy and Hana the most though!  We even had another travel adventure to Grand Cayman earlier this month.   Knute and I got to dive again (our friend Laurie watched Hana this time) and it was relaxing, but too short!!  All in all a good month.  We're excited for Easter and mom being able to join in the family fun!  We're going to be a group on 19 people this year!  Hopefully I'll remember to post about it!  :-)

How we all feel now!  :-)