happy Halloween!

Brad came home from his hunting journey last night to a family who had all sorts of pumpkin guts spread all over the breakfast nook table.  Tomorrow I will be posting photos of the creations that Mr. Olson made with the pumpkin shells we prepared. 

So, my blog postings will continue here, but will also move to another site as I was informed yesterday that I have posted too many pictures on this address to remain a free option.  I will post here without photos, but will be posting at www.theolsons5.blogspot.com with photos.  Eventually, I will be posting everything at theolsons5 location once the Blomgrens and Olsons have the new address is mind. 

Happy Halloween everyone!

empathy

With the hurricane bearing down on the eastern seaboard, I am so much more empathetic after weathering tropical storm Irene a year ago.  Thinking of all those who are affected.

party weekend

This weekend was a whirl wind.  Friday night, K and I went shopping for finishing touches in Halloween costumes, ate pizza, and then K & O went to the CHILD Center for babysitting night.  While they were there, A and I went out and rented the Hunger Games movie and went home to start watching.  Grandma Betty continued to watch the movie with A while I went out to celebrate a friend turning 40.  I then picked up K & O at 10pm and we went home and collapsed to bed.

Saturday morning was ice skating, chicken chores, laundry, playing, and lunch.  After lunch, Kathryn went to a Halloween party at a classmates house and I made a dish for the Halloween party we would attend that evening.

Mavis from Hotel Transylvania (needs to grow into her fangs)

Saturday evening was dressing for the party and going to a super fun party at the Harer family's house while Grandma and O stayed at home.  K and A didn't want to go home, but we finally got home at about 10:30pm.

O didn't know who I was with my wig...it was so cute

Sunday morning dawned very early and K, A and I went to Sunday School and church while Grandma and O stayed home.  Lunch, nap and then Kathryn and I went to pick up birthday gifts for Siri and Ivan's party next Saturday.  Sunday night was baking banana bread, homework and trying to get O to bed after a crazy weekend of late bedtimes.

This morning was another early morning and I am starting to wake up from the Monday morning fog...a great weekend, but probably good that it's over ;)

heading to state!

Mountain Lake Area, paced by individual state-qualifier Kyle Blomgren (13th, 17:56) finished a distant fifth with 223 points, followed by Murray County Central/Fulda (231), Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd (237), Pipestone Area (250), Springfield/Cedar Mountain (266), Yellow Medicine East (266), Windom (266), Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (270), MACCRAY/Renville County West (278), BOLD (312) and Jackson County Central (323).

Blomgren, the Red Rock Conference champion, put the capper on a stellar career for the Wolverines, as the senior benefitted from the new rule change this year —allowing the first eight finishers (not on one of the top two teams) to advance.

photo from race in Duluth a few weeks ago

Mountain Lake Area, paced by individual state-meet qualifiers Whitney Klassen and Liana Blomgren, also made a strong bid for a state-meet team berth as the Wolverines were a solid fifth with 103 points.

Blomgren, just an eighth-grader, qualified for her first state meet as the eighth non-state team individual (14th overall), clocked at 16:04.

photo of Liana from this summer

They will be running on Saturday in Northfield--I hope to be on the sidelines!

mampa

Grandma Betty has been spending time with us as Brad is way out West in South Dakota on a pheasant hunting adventure.  Osten has been spending a lot of time with her--Saturday night when A, K & I went to a rocking Halloween party at our friends' house and again on Sunday morning when K, A and I went to church and Sunday School.

This morning, he woke up bright and early and wondered "where's Mampa?" and proceeded to look all around the upstairs for her.  It was so sweet. 

flakey

When I was walking back to work from lunch yesterday, I was pelted with enormous snowflakes and I literally started to skip!  It has been a LONG time since I have walked in the falling snow.  I'm going to say it's been nearly 18 months.  Very light hearted and fun to dance in the snowfall.

the rain dance

Yesterday, I did a rain dance and lo and behold, it worked!  Just keep raining, just keep raining, just keep raining raining raining!

The trees, the shrubs, the grass, the animals, the people, the water table are thanking you for the much needed rain. 

one dozen...

Happy one dozenth birthday to the lithe and lovely Abby Rae Blomgren!

big sister Anna Gracious with the new 12 year old

to Ireland they go...

Last night we hosted friends for a final meal before they depart for Ireland this coming Friday.  Chenguan will be flying to Dublin while John and WenChow are flying to China for a few weeks.  They are a lovely family and it is sad to say goodbye, but they are on their way to a wonderful adventure. 

cinderella

On our way to the CHILD center this morning, Mr. O lost his little orange croc.  I heard him say "oh oh" on our trip, but I didn't know what he was talking about thinking he was talking about the leaves that had dropped to the ground.  We arrived at school and he said "shoe mama, shoe" and then realized the slipper had fallen when he said oh oh. 

Thankfully, the slipper was within eyesight--right in the middle of Wildrose Avenue so we scuttled over to pick it up and place it on his foot.  Belly laughs and giggles were experienced.  It as a great way to start the day!  When he walked into his classroom, he started telling the teachers all about it, it was so sweet!

cool delivery

When I arrived home from work on Friday, a lovely new canvas met my eye.  I had purchased a deal online several months ago and finally got my act together and ordered a new family portrait for our wall.  Here it is:

Haley had taken our photo near Rust Op Twist back in May.  I had to fuse a couple of photos together so everyone's eyes were open and tongues were in their mouth ;).  It is fun to see our St. Croix glow preserved for the upcoming winter days. 

what happened to the weekend?

Here we are, bright and shiny on a Monday morning and wondering what happened in the gap between Friday and today.  Brad and I went to a lovely wedding on the St. Croix on Saturday night with Brent.  The kids had a babysitter whom they loved.

Sunday was Sunday School, church, the movie Hotel Transylvania with the lovely Thibodeau ladies, drinking in of the lovely weather and capping the evening with a fire in the fireplace.  So wonderful and unfortunately fleeting. 

changes in latitude changes in attitude

one year ago today...O enjoying a smoothie in Christiansted, VI

view of Hovensa/ocean in far background

K in the pool with uncle Bruce

We are totally enjoying being home, but when I break out photos like this, it reminds me that we had a pretty incredible adventure in the 2011-2012 school year. 

like the wind

The twins running like the wind

The Blomgren kids had a great showing at their conference meet.  Kyle Jr. #1, Adam #2 and Liana #10 in the women's division.  They do NOT take after their auntie. 

Congratulations!

what did YOU do in school today?

My friend, Sherry posted this photo on her page this morning.  These are the days I miss St. Croix.

This was taken just off the playground and the turtle laid 119 eggs (our friend Tralice was the photographer)

fire truck

I have been meaning to get this on tape, but our sweet baby O's favorite song/book is Fire Truck.  He often sings this song and loves to turn the pages of the storybook that Sheri gave K several years ago.  If you didn't know him, you would have no idea what he was singing, but it goes something like this:
Fiya chuck, fiya chuck, I wowa wide on a fiya chuck (Fire Truck, Fire Truck, I wanna ride on a fire truck).

chilly drive

Brad, A & K drove the Model A from River Falls to Grantsburg yesterday afternoon.  The ride was chilly, but they all said they had a great experience.  K fell asleep on the drive home last night in the van and A's eye lids were very heavy  He denied being tired, but shortly after our evening prayers, I heard very light snoring. 

Grandma Grace in the Model A circa 2005

K's first model A ride 2006

O's first model A ride July 10, 2010

another photo of his first ride

tied for 3rd

Tied for 3rd place in the 5th a& 6th Grade The Yellow Wildcats!

The boys had a nice showing at the game on Saturday.  A made a fantastic game saving tackle in overtime!  Several parents commented that is something he will never forget.  It was a fun year.

saturday funday

Today has been a great day so far and is looking to be quite wonderful all the way around.

Kathryn went to iceskating this morning and virtually flew across the ice...she is getting quite good.  Now we are getting ready to attend Anders' last football game of the season--playing for 3rd or 4th place in his league.  After that we are going to lunch at Mariachi Loco, coming home to do some major cleaning and organizing, some school work and hopefully get a little jog in there somewhere.

It is going to be an enjoyable and productive day!

21 degrees

was the temperature biking to work this morning.  I took one step outside and realized I wasn't going to bike O to the CHILD Center as it was just tooooo cold.  I will need to leave a littler earlier each day and get him in the stroller.

Cascade Avenue is scheduled to open today...I will have to capture some snapshots before it opens or shortly after because it looks quite nice.

Happy Friday!

photo by Kathy Helgeson of the paving on 10.11.12

happy 10.11.12!

Thanks go my friend, Trish, I was reminded of this super cool date.

Two days ago, O's class enjoyed pumpkin carving and eating roasted pumpkin seeds.  His teacher also sent photos of the class digging into the pumpkin guts and I noticed O was no where to be seen.  I think he may be a neat lover like his Daddy.

Here are some photos:

life in the left lane

In the past two days, I have been on my bike and have had to stop and pause to remember what side of the road I'm driving on...living just 10 months on an island that drives on the left has made a lasting impression on my driving/riding habits. 

Perhaps we should all be driving in the left lane. 

Happy 10/10!

the voice

At work this morning, the office was flooded with the richest voice I have ever heard in a live setting.  Orien Samuelson of WGN is here on campus to speak to an audience about Agricultural Issues.  I couldn't help thinking of him being in a classroom of young people reading a story...what an amazing experience that would be!  I was star struck as he shook my hand and genuinely greeted me.   Thanks, Mr. Voice.

Samuelson as a youngster photo from Audio-Video Barn site

dinner theater

We had a super fun impromtu time with our friends Alex and Sharyl a few weeks ago.  It was Friday night and we didn't have any plans and in walk the our friends Alex and Sharyl.  They joined us for dinner and the kids put on a show with their Grandma Betty Nisse hats.  They formulated several different skits.  It was delightful. 

Alex the dramatic

A the caring and silly O the innocent bystander

sassy K

6 and sensational

Happy Birthday to the dear Siri Audree Olson!

Siri meeting Great Grandma Grace

flower girl

Serious Siri this summer in Montana

a hunting he will go...

This morning, A's football team played their last regular season game.  They fell 18-0 to the undefeated white Wildcats.  I was very proud of Mr. Olson as he maintained a stiff upper lip.

I think he was focused on the main excitement of the day...going hunting with Dad on his first youth hunt.  I am realizing I didn't get a picture of him before he left, but hopefully Brad will capture a photo of this important rite of passage. 

cleaning his gun after target practice at the gun club

CHILD center STARfish

O received his school pictures...I would say he is having a fun year as a starfish!  Here is the latest story of his day from his teacher, Miss Chelsea:

Talkative Thursday Families!

It has been an extremely talkative Thursday indeed! This morning we talked more about leaves and the colors they are in the fall. Miss Chelsea cut a bunch of leaves out of paper and showed them to us. We talked about the colors red, orange, yellow, and brown. Then Miss Amy took us out into the hallway while Miss Chelsea hid the paper leaves around our room. When she was all finished we went back into our classroom and went on a LEAF HUNT! It was so much fun! Once all the leaves were found we sat with the leaves on our circle rug and talked about the colors some more. We were very interested in our family pictures today. Miss Amy sat with us while we looked at all of our families. It was sure neat to see our friends' brothers, sisters, moms, and dads...even some pets, too! Then Miss Amy and Miss Chelsea showed us pictures of their families AND their puppies! We really liked seeing pictures of Miss Amy's dog, Daisy. The sensory table was open for us to play in this morning, too. It is full of the leaves we collected yesterday! The leaves were crunchy and we had a hard time keeping them in the sensory table. We just wanted to throw them all over the room! Today we read "We're Going on a Leaf Hunt!" which was so neat because we DID go on a leaf hunt today! Miss Chelsea also taught us a new song about leaves. We sang it three whole times! During outside time it was chilly and windy, brrr! We almost blew away, just like the leaves that were falling off the trees. When we came back inside we played with cars and trucks and drew pictures. Lunch was delicious again today! We had Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, peas, and peaches...it was yummy in our tummies! We all fell asleep on our cots really fast today...it sure has been a busy, talkative Thursday at school.


*If you'd like to sing the leaf song with your child at home it goes to the tune of "10 Little Indians"

• 1 little, 2 little, 3 little leaves
• 4 little, 5 little, 6 little leaves
• 7 little, 8 little, 9 little leaves...blow them all away! WHOOSH!

Have a fantastic Thursday!
Chelsea Carlson
UWRF C.H.I.LD. Center

elb is 14

Happy Birthday to one of the coolest people I will EVER know. 

Ev is the cute kid with the black t-shirt and ball cap

who are you going to vote for?

Last night K, O and I went out for a nice jog/bike.  I pushed O in the jogging stroller while K rode her 2 wheeler.  As we were tooling around campus and town, K noticed all of the political signs and kept asking me who I was going to vote for.  I told her that I need more information before I form my opinion.  When I asked her who she would vote for, her response was "ROCKO BAMA!"  When I asked her why she would vote for Rocko, she said "because he has the coolest name!"

Out of the mouths of babes.

tuffy

Miss KGO and brother OJO were "helping" Mom with dishes last night.  They were having a great time splashing and cleaning and both layed claim to a wooden spoon. 

After a chase around the living room and bedroom with the spoon, K declared that her tooth was bleeding.  O had poked her face with the spoon and it landed on her wiggly tooth.  We talked about the fact that the tooth should come out because an adult tooth was growing behind the baby tooth.  We talked about flying to St. Croix to visit Ms. Bicette and K thought that might be a little drastic.  Less than a minute later...

here comes the girl I affectionately refer to as Tuffy because she grasped that little tooth and pulled with all her might. 

Shortly after cleaning up, she was on the phone to Grandparents regaling the story of her accomplishment.  Way 2 Go, Tuffy!