back to the basement

Yesterday, all the snow melted and today, the bottom dropped off the temperature again.  I'm about to head to Anytime to get some exercising in, but I am going to have to wear multiple layers!

and a beautiful niece

and here is our sweet Dehlia Grace who turned 5 on November 23.  Happiest of days and years to you!

a third handsome nephew!

Here's to Isaac Michael Olson.  As I spent Saturday putting together family calendars, I happened upon these sweet photos of Isaac Michael:

the Boxcar Children

The big boys from our family headed up north for deer opener.  The two youngest and myself stayed home to catch up on laundry, sleep and cleaning.  On Friday night, we watched a really great movie called the Boxcar Children.  I think maybe we have to start reading that series!

another handsome nephew

My brother Cory and sister in law Joan have a son named Thomas who will soon be leaving the nest.  I found his photos on FaceBook and want to share with Grandma and Grandpa B--what a strong and handsome son, grandson and nephew!  I like how his photographer has the same initials as our sweet niece Liana Marie!

stuie the ghost is 21

Our ring bearer, Stuart is now 21 years of age.  He celebrated by competing in the World's Toughest Mudder.  We love you and wish you continued health and happiness sweet nephew!

quietest day in the classroom

Tuesday, November 18 is one of my most favorite days in the classroom.  It could be related to the fact that six students were out--not good because they had the flu--but it was quiet, kids got lots of work done and our principal, Mr. Schurman dropped in for a walk through.  He pulled me aside afterwards to tell me that my class was WONDERFUL.  It was nice to hear, but I did tell him of the circumstances and he smiled.  I am not going to get my hopes up for a repeat performance, but it was still quite nice!

funny kid

O is enjoying his time in Children's House and his teachers are so kind to him.  Here is a photo from Ms. Becki, who was watching him the other day--he was working with the knobless cylinders.

swim meet day 2

Day 2 of the swim meet was really great!  A did get three C times and looked super strong in the 100 breast stroke--almost getting a B time.  I think he had a lot of fun swimming and it was a lot of fun watching.  Way to go big guy!

big hero 6

Yesterday our family attended a really sweet movie in shifts.  O and Brad went to the matinee while A, K, the Thibodeau girls and myself went in the evening.

Super sweet show and now our family has identified themselves as characters:

A as Wasabi,
Mom as Honey Lemon
O as Hiro
K as GoGo Tamago
Brad as Fred

We decided no one should be Baymax because he was just so cool, everyone wanted to be him.

Highly recommended movie.

swim meet

Yesterday was K's first swim meet and she swam 3 events.  She won her heat of the 50 freestyle and posted a time of 56.14 seconds.  She swam the 50 backstroke and got 1:02 seconds which gave her a "C" time.  She will be able to swim some other meets because she has a C time.  She also swam the butterfly leg of the 200 IM relay.  She was DQed because she started doing the breast stroke and you can't mix strokes.  I was very proud of her tenacity in doing a relay with a stroke she just learned last week.

A swam in the afternoon and did 100 freestyle and the first leg of the 400 freestyle relay.  He looked great and just missed a "C" time by .16 of a second.  He did shave about 20 seconds off his previous best time though!

Today he is swimming 3 events--all breast stroke related so I will report his progress later on.  Happy Sunday!

remembering Grace

Today would have been Grandma Grace's 95th birthday.  Remembering a strong woman today and always.

The Spearman sisters--Martha, Norma, Nellie, Grace and Jean back in the day

respect

November 11 was Veteran's Day.  Here is to our nephew and cousin and our ring bearer Stuart Martin.  Thank you for serving our country.

holiday crazy

O was digging Halloween and now he is busy singing Christmas songs...adorable!  He wants it to be Christmas right NOW!

snow

It has hit--the swirling whirling snowstorm hit the upper midwest on November 9--it is beautiful, but I'm not quite ready for winter yet.

thankful

I am so thankful that I don't have to drive into the twin cities on a regular occasion for work.  On Monday, I had arranged to observe a Montessori classroom in St. Paul to watch a master teacher in action.  I had arranged this about 3 weeks ago before I knew it would take about 2 hours to get from River Falls to St. Paul.  I am so thankful that is not a regular commute--it would shorten my life for certain...

Turned into a beautiful observation as she is just so wonderful at her life's calling.  The day will come for me with lots of practice and reflection.

baby shower!

Another week has flown past!   Lots has happened, so I'm imagining that is why I have been absent from blogging.  Sunday night, I went to a baby shower for two of my lovely co-workers and one is O's teacher.

Markell is expecting a baby on January 1 and Abby is expecting a baby in March.  It was so fun to get together and celebrate two beautiful women who will be Mommy's very soon.

great heat

Brad has worked really hard to get wood cut and ready to keep our home warm this winter.  Here is our little wood stove and surround and some photos of the prep for it...

professionals making sure the chimney can accommodate the new wood stove

the hearth pad, the stove and the mantle--the clock was purchased from monies from my Grandma Blomgren's estate

Brad and O loading the nice little wood stove

happy birthday Kim

The truly wonderful Kim Blomgren is celebrating her birth anniversary on November 6.  We love you and are thankful that you are part of the family.

it's official Nels! was elected

My little cousin Nels Theodore Pierson III was elected to represent district 26B to the Minnesota State House.  His big dreams are coming true.

Love you little cousin!

eye to eye

It's official.  I am no longer in first place for the second tallest person in our family.  A and I are officially tied.  Bummer and Yahoo at the same time.

igo is 6!

Our precious Godson Ivan George is now 6 years old.  When his Mom asked him what it felt like, he said "faster".

fall back

One of the best days of the year and I was able to sleep in!  Brad and the kids are up north chopping wood.  I am at home because I had a math workshop yesterday and today I am going to do a little cleaning and also get school work done!  It's 6:45 and the sky is light.  It will be interesting to see how soon the sky will be dark this evening.  Happy standard time everyone!

(image found online)

counting the loot

Since we started trick or treating and having children in school, we have made it an activity to sort and count our haul from our evening...here is KGO sorting and counting...she found that Butterfinger was the most popular treat handed out in 2014.

carving

On Thursday night, Brad carved with the kids.  The kids still don't like to touch the "guts" of the pumpkin, but K and O did a nice job of carving.  Here are some photos of the finished product:

A's pumpkin carved by himself

O's pumpkin

Mom's pumpkin carved by K

Brad's pumpkin

the Littlest pumpkin on the top right and K's Elsa pumpkin on lower left

O with all the pumpkins

getting ready for Halloween

O was beside himself this year in the preparation for Halloween.  On Saturday, we went to the annual Mitchell Halloween bash were we were dressed up.  O thought that Halloween was then over.  But we got two more chances for celebration.  The first was family fun fest at church.  Here is O and K getting some face paint.  They had fun in the bounce house and enjoyed the evening.

happy 14th birthday Abby Rae

Sweet Abby Rae turned 14 on the 24th of October.  Wishing you strength, love and hugs from the Olsons.

Abby with her sister Anna and Dad Kent (Abby's in red)

big A

Also, another really nice photo from our 7th grader...those days are just flying by aren't they?

big O

He is happy on this one!

Thanks to Grandma B for teaching me how to have a nice conversation about taking a nice picture for our wall.  He even seemed to enjoy!