The Pictures Before The Pictures

Here are a few shots we snapped in the front yard before heading to our family photo shoot.  Mom is excited to see the "real" pictures when they come back, but thought that we would share these in the meantime!

Happy Birthday Ada - for the THIRD time!!

Can you believe Ada is 3 already? 

I certainly can't!!

At our house we always let the birthday person pick what is for dinner on their special day so the four of us can celebrate together.  After weeks of insisting that she wanted McDonalds ("they have toys there mom!") Ada finally decided that Dairy Queen sounded like a good idea.

Ice cream out in the sunshine and some goofy pictures with the carved bears outside made for the perfect family evening!

Happy Birthday Ada!!

Sailing, Bayfield Style

Dan and I had the honor of attending our friend Mary's 70th Birthday Bash up in Bayfield, WI.  Among the FOUR fun filled days of activities around the town of Bayfield (more pictures and stories to come) we had the opportunity to go sailing.  Neither Dan or I had ever been, so we jumped at the chance to check it out.  In Mary's fathers sailboat the Mara we were "taught" the basics of sailing by one of the local sailors named Ted.  We must have been good students (haha) because he even gave us each the chance to steer the craft.  We had a beautiful afternoon and both really enjoyed our time out on the water with him.  I snapped a few shots of Dan playing captain, and I have to say he looks mighty handsome doing so!!

Surprise GG!

Great Grandma (GG) Dixie turned the big 7-0 this year and the family was quite pleased with ourselves that we managed to pull off an afternoon surprise picnic party for her.  Complete with more good food than you could shake a stick at, lots of laughs and even some yard games the afternoon was a success!  GG was surprised, which is a feat within itself, and everyone left with bellys aching.  I'm not sure if it was from overeating or too much laughing, but either way it was a wonderful day!!

Happy Birthday Gram - We love you bunches!!

Sweet Dreams

Ada snuggled in tight with a baby doll. 

I couldn't resist snapping a picture since she had her tv couch up on her bed and that is what she was snoozing in!

It's a what?!?

Dan was grocery shopping Friday afternoon with the girls.  Moms list had a cucumber on it for adding to a pasta salad I was going to make.  That night when I started making my salad and getting all my needed ingredients out I realized that Dan mistakenly brought  home a Zucchini instead of the needed Cucumber.

Tehya, who was standing near by hoping to be asked to help with the pasta salad making, piped in "For the record mom, I told dad that wasn't a cucumber.  I know that is a zucchini.  He didn't believe me." 

HILARIOUS in mom's opinion!  I guess all that time out in the garden with mom has paid off!

Justin Who???

Tehya and Ada both love music.  They love to sing along with the radio, dance along with music videos, make up their own songs with each other, you name it.... they love the tunes!

Recently Tehya has become very aware of "popular" music for her age group.  The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cirus, Justin Bieber, the list goes on and on for pre-teen rock sensations.

A few weeks ago when Justin Bieber had his new CD released, that was all Tehya could talk about:

"Can I have that new Justin Beaver CD mom?"

"Tehya, his name is Justin Bieber.  With a B."

"Mom, I really like Justin Beaver.  Can I buy the CD?"

"Tehya, you need to say his name correctly.  It is Justin Bieber...with a B."

And on........ 

And on........ 

And on........

And, well you get the picture.  I cannot count how many times I had this conversation with Tehya!  So many times in fact that I finally told her I would not allow her to buy the CD until she said his name correctly.  I was determined to have her learn the correct way to say his name.

Fast forward to a car ride with all four of us.

Dan was flipping through radio stations and low and behold guess who comes over the airwaves?

"MOM!!!!! It's Justin Beaver!!!!! I LOVE this song!!!!!"

Before I could even open my mouth to correct her yet again, Miss Ada stepped in without missing a beat and said to Tehya,

"It's BIEBER Tehya.  With a B!"

Tehya, obviously not liking her little sister correcting her just like mom does, replied:

"How would you know Ada, your just a BABY!"

Ada says:

"No, I'm a Big Girl.  With a B.  Just like BIEBER!"

I received a text message from Dan today:

"Need anything from Target?"

Apparently the toy aisle was quite enticing for him and Ada on their shopping trip today...

What a bunch of goof balls!

More Carnival Fun

Face painting fun at the Carnival!!

Good Neighbor Days Carnival

We had SO much fun at the carnival this weekend!  Mom was the designated tall person to ride with the kiddos that couldn't go by themselves, and oh my goodness ride she did!  Tilt-a-Whirl, Dizzy Dragons, Ferris Wheel, Zipper, The Giant Slide, and much much more!  Ada went on every ride that Tehya did and amazed us all even further when we were on the Tornado Twister.  Mid-way in the air tilted and spinning around she let go of the safety bar and lifted both of her arms up above her head....I think we have a fearless ride warrior on our hands!!  Tehya had a great time with her friends Leah and Mercedes and had a blast running into school friends all over the place.  We all had a great family day having fun together!

Hugo Good Neighbor Days Parade

Hugo Good Neighbor Days

2010 Parade

Hugo celebrates Good Neighbor Days each year, and each year as the town grows so does the parade.  We had over an hour of fire trucks, tractors, cool cars, dancers, and much much more to watch go by.  The amount of candy our girls managed to get into their bags was astronomical and we were grateful that Mother Nature held off the rain until right after the parade was finished. 

Graduating Kindergarten

Tehya's classmates Murphy and Matilda hosted a Kindergarten graduation party at their house last week.  Dan and Tehya both enjoyed the magician and the fun times with her classmates and some other parents.  We can't believe that she is already out of kindergarten!!!

Tehya's new Hair-do

Before and after pictures of Tehya's new haircut

Bubbles!!!

Ada has discovered the relaxing properties of a bubble bath at an early age!  After being a little concerned at the lack of splashing coming from the tub the other day I checked in to make sure Ada was ok.....I found that she was more than ok!  She was kicked back relaxing in the bubbles with a big smile on her face.  I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pictures - too cute to pass up!

Dance Recital

Tehya tapped, shuffled and shimmied her way through another season of dance and had a great time on recital day.  Here is a picture of Tehya and her dance buddy Elizabeth in their lion costumes.  They were adorable, even though they didn't really care for their itchy head pieces.  I will post Tehya's posed shots as soon as I get them scanned in so you can see more of the glittery cuteness!!

Tehya wins a bike!!

Tehya won a bike at school!

Oneka Elementary had a program this year they called the Marvin and Jessie assemblies.  They held monthly all-school assemblies to watch skits about using good life skills.  Teachers and school staff that saw students using these life skills during their school day filled out Core Value cards explaining the behavior they witnessed and these cards were sent home for the parents to see.  Tehya came home with several of these cards throughout the year, which made us very proud.  Some examples of these core values are Honesty, Friendship, Courtesy and Respect - all things that as a parent you hope your child knows and uses throughout the day.

I got a phone call from school a few weeks ago asking to speak about Tehya's behavior at school.  Needless to say my heart jumped into my throat and I instantly thought to myself that she must be in trouble.  I can't tell you how happy (and relieved) I was when they told me that Tehya's name had been drawn out of all the Core Value cards that had been given out to win a new bike!!

They had Dan and I sneak into the back of the school gym after the students were all seated so that Tehya wouldn't see us and have her surprise ruined.  We were so proud when they announced her name as the winner!  Not only did Tehya get cheers from the whole school and a brand new bike - Ms. Dahlem her principal even let her take it for a spin around the gym!!