hoppy Easter

The Easter bunny came to our home last night and left yummy treats--including Magic cards, the Adele cd and a storm trooper. Our family attended the 8:30 service and were treated to the men's choir singing "Were you There?" They had performed the same piece at the Good Friday service and it was outstanding.

Missed being with the Blomgren clan, but did get a nice message from Mom to say that they were still celebrating with 19 people at about 8pm. We had a nice day with the Weaver-Olson family and all went to bed in the hopes of getting up for the sunrise service...didn't happen, but we are happy that we did make it to the early service.

Spring break is over and now it's back to school ;))))

shoes!

The shoes arrived this morning in the post...

pleased as punch with little brother running "the track" in the background.

where you there?

Tonight, Brad and A were asked to take part in the Good Friday service. They were guards that accompanied Jesus on his journey from the garden where he was betrayed and taken captive to his death on the cross at Golgotha. They also brought a wood cross from the back of the sanctuary to the altar while minister Kim and pastor Mark read and the congregation responded.

We left the service in silence. It was powerful and meaningful.

day 2 in the woods

Today we got about 3/8 of a cord of wood cut/split and stacked. While we did that, K and O built a great little teepee and O had the vision of making a bear trap. Here are some amazing photos of the day...

bear trap

brother hugs

snack time in the teepee

teepee with bark siding

dress arrived!

The Junior Bridesmaid dress arrived! It arrived on Tuesday in the mail and we posted the photos for Kye and Stuart to see. My friend Sharyl also saw and commented that she has some hemming to do ;). Some nude shoes are on their way from Zappos and then we can get the little beauty fitted.

wood choppin

Wednesday morning, our family (who is currently spring breaking in Grantsburg) went out into the woods to start cutting and stacking wood for 2017-2018 season. We saw a really neat flying squirrel, and some interesting evidence of what we think may be red squirrels scraping maple saplings. The trees were dripping with sap where the bark had been shaved away.

We then headed to Crex Meadows to see if we could see some water fowl and did see an eagle. Off to the Drive Inn in Grantsburg for lunch.

In the evening, we headed to Siren to watch movies--the kids and I saw Zootopia and Brad watched 10 Cloverfield Lane (he had already taken the boys to Zootopia in River Falls). We all really enjoyed ourselves.

smm

Wishes do come true! The will to persevere can work wonders. On Tuesday, the kids and I loaded up into the truck and headed to St. Paul to the Science Museum of Minnesota. We saw ancient mummies from Egypt and Peru, we watched a great movie about the National Parks in the United States and enjoyed seeing dinosaur bones and playing games about energy conservation. A great time was had by all!

out of the system

My classroom has been pretty sick for the past several weeks and now I fell victim yesterday afternoon and earlier today. I hope it is in my past so I can enjoy a restful and fun spring break. I did end up taking the kids to the Hudson library this afternoon and then to Knoke's chocolates, but I do want a chance to spend more fun time with them.

shout hosannah!

Today our family attended Palm Sunday service where the two youngest waved palms and sang the song "Jumping Up and Down" at both services. A and I were in the nursery for the first service (tiny baby Louis Larson came to visit and A was twitter-pated) and then I substitute taught 3rd graders for Sunday school. Now it's time to do some cleaning and relaxing.

Celebrating Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice.

3 peat

The River Ramblers 4H Club won the Play contest for the 3rd straight year. Many thanks to the kids and coaches--Teri and Sarah.

Congratulations!

pool/movie

On Friday night, the RF Swim Club watched a movie and floated in the pool. They watched Finding Nemo. It was really fun to see the kids floating and enjoying a fun movie.

concert

Another thing I learned today is that my brother Kurt took our Mom and our aunt to the Michael W. Smith concert in Mankato on Friday night. Here are a couple of photos:

keeping up with family

One great thing about social networking is that I see what is happening in my family's life. Dear Liana Marie was part of a 4H Regional Project bowl on Saturday. Here she is...

signs of spring

the grass is starting to green up and the daffodil spears are starting to appear. On Tuesday morning, I woke up to bird song. On the way to school I spied a robin!

20 years

20 years ago, a handsome young man named Brad took out a lovely young lady named Karen. They went to Applebees and the rest is history. Thank you Brad for taking the initiative and being my better half for 20 years.

Our date anniversary is March 13.

daylight saving time has begun!

Last night, lovely Bradley Cole got all the clocks set correctly and we ventured off to bed at a reasonable time. I think due to the plentiful events at the beginning of my weekend, I still managed to sleep in and miss church. I do need to get O ready for bed in the next few minutes though...

shower the people you love with love

Darla, Teri, Kim, Joan, a bunch of women who are friends of Kurt and I joined forces for a lovely shower on Saturday. Darla did most of the coordination--the venue was just right and decor outstanding. The highlight of the day was the beautiful couple, Stuart and Kyeanna. Wishing them loads of love and happiness in their future together.

60s

The temperature on our way to southern Minnesota on Friday was a balmy 67 degrees. K and I stopped at Sam's Club and Target to do some shopping for the shower and to bond as Mom and daughter. We really enjoyed the journey as it wrapped up at about 11:30pm. K fell asleep about Madelia and stayed asleep as I brought in yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, beef sticks, chocolate chips and cheese for food stuffs, gifts, gift bags, some new clothing and our packed bags.

Mom woke up as I was bringing in the last of the stuff and then I went and woke sleeping beauty. She came in wrapped in my baptism blanket and crawled right into bed. I joined her not long after.

The temp was still 57 when I crawled into bed at 12:00am.

carrom

The two eldest males in our family are playing a friendly game of carrom tonight. Mom and Dad Blomgren sent us home with a carrom board last night as they are ridding themselves of family heirlooms in preparation to downsize to a new place. 

The game is heated and I'm staying out right now :) The younger two are acting as encouraging cheerleaders.

lovely friendship

This is a post from my sweet friend, Julie Annette--I had the pleasure of visiting one of the sweetest couples on earth today -Vivian and Clarence Blomgren! It was so great to catch up with them for a few minutes.

She stopped by my parents home on her way to Mitchell, South Dakota for a pharmacy visit.

I called Mom to ask her about it and she said that Julie stopped in at about noon and that Mom knew her right away. Dad also enjoyed visiting with her and gave her a quarter for stopping by to say hello. I love all the people involved very much.

bikes!

Last night, after we got home from practice, our family unloaded and stacked wood and then we cleaned out the garage so we could get our bikes down. Today, we all rode to school on our bikes. It was a fantastic day!

cardinals

Today, I drove K over to Spring Valley along with two of her friends to practice their play "Annie" for the 4H Fine Arts Extravaganza on March 19. It had been nearly 10 years since the last time I visited that sweet little town. It made me sad to see how many businesses have closed. The school did still look the same which was comforting, but I hope life in Spring Valley continues to flourish. Small towns are priceless.

g man

Brad just spent the evening celebrating his friend Gerard at his bachelor party (wedding in July). Gerard was a member of our wedding party nearly18 years ago. Now he's getting married himself to a woman who appears to be lovely and caring.

Congratulations, Gerard and wishing you lots of love and happiness.

lovely light snow

I'm thankful that it's looking a little more early March like here instead of late March/early April. After we got back from the symphony yesterday, the skies opened and a lovely little snow drifted on our community and made it look lovely again...not just all muddy and melting.

symphony

On Friday, our classroom walked to the UW River Falls campus to hear the symphony. The walk was refreshing and the music was magical. I had the third graders really watching the different string groups and noticing how they sounded and worked together. Fun day of applied learning.

heading for a wedding

The excitement in getting ready for the Blomgren wedding this early summer is mounting. The first event that will take place is taking place next Saturday--the Hoppe Blomgren shower in St. James. I get to bring fruit, cups and yogurt for yogurt parfaits. The Blomgren aunts also have purchased sheets from the Target gift registry.

Sheets are what we all remember receiving from the Pierson aunts so the tradition continues...

ry guy

Sweet Ryan Edward Blomgren is now a 15 year old. I just found out that he is going to be taking his driver's test on Monday. I told him that scared me. Not that he was driving, but that his cousin A could potentially be getting his driver's education in the very near future.

on oldie but a goodie photo of our sweet Godson

march

came in like a lamb! I love how beautiful the weather has been, but I am a little worried about the early nature of our spring. It is showing signs to me of global warming.

leap day!

How exciting to have a leap day. I think it is pretty cool when you see a 6-9 year old realize that this is only their 2nd or 3rd leap day of their life. One particular 6 year old just kept shaking his head and said "Wow, this a really special day!"

hello...it' me

I am sitting in a math grant meeting and realizing I haven't updated the blog in about a week. Time just keeps slipping into the future.