golden sun

This morning, I got up to get some laundry folded and put away and then went for a walk around the neighborhood. The sun was shining beautifully and it was the most incredible orange hue...I hope we have a great day as we are having our bridging ceremony this afternoon and we have our 6th grade graduation this evening. After graduation is our all school picnic.


Hopefully that golden sun will be shining all day!

and the Twins have a win!

Last night, Osten and I headed to bed with Twins ahead of the Brewers deep into the game (Top of the 8th). The Brewers had a little run but the Twins didn't fail...they ended up winning 5-3. Way to go Twins!

2 years

It's been two years since I have held my Dad's incredibly strong hand. A group of Blomgren's planned dinner together on Tuesday evening to celebrate a pretty incredible man. 

Yesterday, I was interviewing one of my second graders on his reading comprehension. The book he was telling me about was called A Trip Through Time. He asked me if I could travel through time, "I bet you would like to visit with your Dad a little more". My response was "Yes, I would like that very much."

What a sweet little boy to pick up my feelings of wishing to see my Dad. Kids are pretty incredible.

land of 10 million lakes

On Monday as I was driving home from southern Minnesota, I saw so many lakes forming in the fields. I hope they can dry out soon so the farmers can get their crop in the ground...

i o weigh

Today, Mom and I had a marathon trip to Iowa to watch the lythe and lovely Abigail Rae Blomgren graduate from Ballard High School in Huxley Iowa. We left St. James at 8:30 am and arrived back at Mom's apartment at 9:15pm.

We stopped by Kent's apartment, picked up some ice and water for the party, dropped it at Brenda's house and then went to the high school where we just happened to sit right behind Brenda and her family. We met her fiance Bob and her parents--Karen and Louis and her sister and brother in law and three nieces and nephews were there too. In our row it was Kurt, Kent, Mom and I.

Abby looked very serious coming up the aisle

and sang beautifully in the choir.

She received her diploma

and then we were on the way to her party. Got to see Anna and hang out before leaving at about 5:30.

Overall it was a really fun day, I thought it went well and new Kent's youngest has graduated from high school!

graduation party day

Today I started taking notes for our graduation party next year.


First stopped at a party of a boy from First Lutheran Church and whose uncle I went to school with...they did a nachos bar with little boats of chips, ground beef in crock pots and a inflatable ice holder with tomatoes/ lettuce/cheese/olives/cheese and then crock pots of queso, refried beans and spanish rice.

Second was my cousin Jennifer son Nick's party in Sherburne. I got to see aunts Ruby, Loie and Marilyn, uncle Butch and cousins Tammi, Missy, Jennifer, Andy brother Kyle along with Kim and Liana and brother Cory along with Joan and Trenton. Also got to see Nick, Sydney, Aliah, Adam and Greg. They had burgers/cheeseburgers along with pickles, potato salad and some of the most delicious cut out cookies I've ever tasted. They had a keg of rootbeer along with cans of beer/water

Jennifer decorated beautifully and the garage and tent were a perfect place for a graduation party.

After we returned to St. James, we drove over to Kurt's house and also went to visit Dad at the cemetery.

Here are a couple of photos of Kurt's place:

congratulations Ryan Edward!

Yesterday, my friend  Lynn agreed to hang out with my class as I departed for southern Minnesota to see my very special nephew and Godson Ryan cross the stage of Mountain Lake Public School as an honor student and graduate.

So proud of all your accomplishments and eager to see what impact you make on the world.

more sounds of spring

Katie's spring concert was very nice...she's in the third row third from right...what a talented group of kids!

festival of nations

Katie presented on the country of Singapore at the Meyer Middle School Festival of Nations. Her inspiration was in watching the movie Crazy Rich Asians...I love you sweet daughter and are so happy your find inspiration in interesting ways.

Quinn's amazing Mom, Molly got a photo and sent it my way. Q and K have been friends a VERY long time (back to Sheri days)

our very special 9 year old

Mr. Osten John Olson. You stole our heart 9 years ago and continue to hold it in your possession for all time.

we celebrated at Mariachi and passed around the birthday sombrero 

room switch

Last night before I headed out for the evening, we started the process of switching Katie and Osten's rooms. Katie has been upstairs and decided it was now time to head back down to the room originally made for her. While I was out, she and Brad finished the moving process and she slept soundly in her new room.

I snagged a couple photos of Osten's room:

old voltage

Last night, good friends, Trish, Julie and I met to listen to one of our friends from college play with his AC/DC cover band at a place called Jerseys in Inver Grove Heights. Jeff and his crew were spot on last night--passed out complementary horns and rocked AC/DC tunes for just over 2 hours straight. I got a lot of my daily steps in during the evening and had a great time being with the girls and then after the show, Jeff stopped by our table for conversation. We did a little reminiscing about our days at RAs at Mankato and touched base about our current lives.

Thanks Trish for setting up a really fun evening!

ah shucks

This morning was a double header for the Packers. They played and lost to the Vikings 24-30 and played and lost to the Seahawks 12-14. Osten currently has his buddy Coulter over for a play date. Katie is getting ready to move her room downstairs to switch spots with Osten and I am getting caught up on stuff around the house. Busy day!

Here are some photos that the lovely Marci N. took of our team and shared with me:

dinner theater RFHS 2019

The Dinner Theater at RFHS was pretty spectacular. The theme is decades and there were wonderful performances from all the singing groups and some great solos/ensembles sprinkled throughout. Anders had a short solo in the Rent piece. Osten, Brad and I attended all really enjoyed the show.

so long keyboard

On Thursday, I posted our keyboard on a few websites to sell and there was an overwhelming response. We have bid our keyboard farewell and a nice little family now has a keyboard for their two daughters who are interested in music.

green day on the river

Our annual Green Day on the River was picture perfect for weather and location. I had fabulous parent volunteers and we learned about many things that are part of our environment including pollinators, classifying living and non-living, birds of Wisconsin, pollutants of the river, macro invertebrates of the Kinnickinnic, classification of trees, learning about watersheds and the magnificent journey of the water cycle.

Thanks to all the volunteers that made it possible.

spring band concert for Katie

On Tuesday, Katie played her clarinet at the Meyer Middle School 7th and 8th grade concert. Love all the music in the air!

Katie's in row two 2nd left

mother's day dinner at Panera

Katie, Osten and I went to Panera in Hudson for Mothers Day dinner. Anders was working at DQ and Brad was fishing, so we were missing two loved ones, but we did have a nice dinner together. 

happy mother's day!

To my precious Mom

My sweet mother in law

and to me...

it's an honor to me a Mom and I learned from the best one ever. 

2nd loss of the season

On Saturday, Osten's football team suffered their 2nd loss of the season. He's ok now, but he was pretty disappointed (no tears) after they finished yesterday.

After the game, he celebrated his buddy Coulter's 8th birthday party at the Bowling Ally. Much better day!

a fishing he goes

Our family organizer--Bradley Cole has left for the great white north with his buddies for his annual fishing trip. I'm sure he'll make a lot of good memories in the five day get away.

play day

In addition to Osten's performance, we got an opportunity to head over to Meyer Middle School to watch Katie's performance in the 7th grade plays. Katie was a major writer in the production of The Bachelor--Middle Ages style.

She was very dramatic in her performance and her teacher said he put them on last because they had the best writing and delivery...pretty exciting.

Katie's character was named Lavina and she is center stage

spring concert

Today I took the afternoon off and first attended our sweet OJO's spring concert. I had lunch with him in his classroom--a few kids asked if I was Osten's grandma, it was pretty sweet. Then I met Brad and we watched our eager singer and dancer doing his very best at his concert. Way to go sweetheart.

He's the boy in the stripes and we also got a glimpse of his favorite piece of art from the school year.