Start

I love my Valentine's gift from Evan and the boys - a new cosmetic bag with one of my favorite pictures of the boys on it. It is a great way to start the day, don't you think???

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Jewelry Design

Well, I've had such a great response to the jewelry business, that I have decided to make it official. I ordered the cards last week. I am putting up a display in a local salon this week. I am very excited, but also a little nervous (mostly, where am I going to find the time to make the jewelry?) We'll see where this leads, but for now, I am following a passion of mine with the jewelry design!



Display arriving in the salon this week:

My new necklace (since mine went on the display above):

A high school friend's necklace, order on Facebook:

A friend's gift for her husband's birthday:

A gift for my computer guy's daughter's:

Another friend from the past, Facebook order:

Preschool Sunday

Ryan's preschool class sang 3 songs during the church service today. He did a great job - actually singing along, although he was a bit distracted by the giant images of the class projected onto the wall from the church video system. An unexpected participant, Carter, joined the kids up front for the Children's Message and sang along. He can't wait to do all of the things the 'big kids' do, so he is just starting now!!!!




Sitting patiently during the message (notice he's holding the Transformer Valentine's card we gave him this morning - he will not put it down today):

Singing with Mrs. Skaff (his teacher starting inthe fall):

Clapping for himself at the end:

Detail

Look at the detail in that frost. I went out to the mailbox this morning and filled my birdfeeders and I had to go back inside for the camera to capture the frost. It was incredibly thick!

Ice Rink

The boys and I loaded up the sleds and hockey equipment and headed to the ice rink at our local park. We had a blast - it was a gorgeous sunshiny day in MN. At first, Carter was very timid, not wanting to fall on the ice. By the time we left, he was yelling to go faster, faster, faster on the sleds. What a great time!!!

Slave labor - Carter carrying the sticks to the rink:

Wrestling match begins:

Take that, Ryan...

that...

AND that...

Payback time...

Pulling me on the saucer sled:

Carter's turn for a ride:

Ryan trying to get moving on the slippery ice:

Carter loving every minute of it:

Faster, faster, faster!

Ryan giving Carter a boost to his sled:

Foss

Ryan has Instructor Ryan this session for his class and the two of them have hit it off. He loves his teacher and has really made improvements in the past couple of classes. He looks forward to the last few minutes of class when they can dive or cannonball. Today they cannonballed:

Getting ready:

Monkey cheeks:

Post-cannonball:

They are doing full crawl strokes now with side breaths and a couple of different backstroke variations. I am amazed how much he has learned in less than 2 years with Foss:

Future Foss student (next session in fact). Proudly modeling his new goggles that he picked out for class:

Valentine's Party

Today I volunteered at Ryan's school for the Valentine's Party. He was giddy when we walked into the classroom and he got to sit in back of his class on the 'parent' chairs with me. I asked him if he was glad I was there, and his response "I love that you came to my school for my party, but next time, can you just send Grandma instead?" Where's the love???? :)

Chain necklace we made for him, using every last link in the container:

Circle time with his class:

Lunch room:

Dreaming of playing outside on the playground:

Practicing writing his name (first and last name now):