Growing up before my eyes!

Bishop and Nora are both growing up before my eyes! I am so proud of both of them and excited for all they can do on their own, but I'm also hoping to hold on to all these moments, as it seems like time is just flying by these days!!

While Nora is growing up and her vocabulary is increasing every day and she's becoming more and more independent (if that's possible for the VERY independent girl she is), this post is primarily about Bishop.

I feel like Bishop grows up 10 days for every 1 day that goes by! I love this guy so much and I'm so happy to see him learn and grow! Here are a few things he's been up to lately!

-He's been telling us what he's done and explaining in great detail what he does at school, at nana and papas, etc. While he does a great job of explaining I still have a hard time imagining what he's talking about--and soon after I will see what he's done and it will all make sense to me and his descriptions are right on!

-This morning he woke up, came downstairs, got himself a glass of water, put a bagel in the toaster and put jam on it (and got his own plate). He was very happily eating his BURNT bagel like it was no big deal! Once I pointed out that it was burnt, he asked for a new one! :)

-He's swimming like a little fish at swimming lessons! He can swim across the pool and back doing a great looking front crawl! He's getting his arms out of the water and he's improving every week!

-He passed a test at the pool so he can swim in the shallow water without an adult present. The lifeguard even let him go in the Vortex pool last week, as he can touch in that area.

-He's no longer napping at school. It was getting to be so difficult to get him to bed at night that I told him to try not napping at school and it's helped a ton! Some days he still falls asleep for a few minutes, but for the most part it's helping a lot.

-His teacher told me he's one of the best behaved kids in class! I never would have imagined this 2 years ago! He definitely has "boy" energy, but I'm so happy to know he listens and is well behaved.

-He's really interested in reading. We put him in Phonics Class at school (meets 2 days a week) and his teacher says he really focuses and does a great job (something I also would have never imagined 2 years ago)! :)

I'm posting these updates more as a journal for myself than anything else! Like I said--both kids are growing up so fast and soon we'll be taking all of these things for granted--in the meantime I hope to savor all of these "firsts" and help both kids learn and grow at their own pace!

The Birkie 2015

A few months ago Luke signed up to ski the Birkie Ski race in Hayward, WI. It is the largest and one of the longest (51K) ski races in North America. Just 2+ weeks before the race he wasn't sure if he was going to compete--he went back and forth almost every day as to whether or not he was going to ski. He finally decided to do it and put in a couple long training skis before the big race.

We drove up on Friday, picked up his packet and went to the lodge where we stayed with other friends who were skiing (some skied the full Birkie and some skied the Korte (the 1/2)--I did neither)! :) Luke was nervous as he didn't know what to expect and there is a lot of logistics in terms of getting to the starting line, etc. Since this was his first Birkie he was in the 8th wave (out of 9) and he started at 9:40. We left the cabin at 6:30am in order to have enough time to get there before the race. We got stuck in some traffic on the way to the parking lot. We had to take a shuttle bus to the starting line and we waited in a heated tent when we got there. The temperature that morning was around 10 degrees. He finally took off and I got back on the shuttle bus to get to my car. I planned to see him 2 places (OO and Mosquito Brook) and then head to the finish line.

Before the race!

Walking to the starting line

The heated tent

The starting line

Lining up

Running to get a place at the starting line

After Luke took off and I got to my car I had some time before seeing him ski by at OO. I stopped at Mooselips (and got the worst latte I've ever had) and warmed up a bit. It was a really cute cafe, but I'm not sure what the barista did to make my latte!

Skiing by at OO

Looking good at Mosquito Brook--about 15K left!

The finish line

Skiing up to the finish line

There he is!

All smiles to be done! Such an accomplishment!

After the race we met up with our friends at The Angry Minnow for some celebratory drinks and food!

Luke, Fred and Jeremy!

All first time finishers (Korte or full Berkie) get a medal and all other finishers get a pin.

All the first time finishers! Ang, Luke, Fred, Barry and Dan

It was such a neat event and it was emotional seeing Luke finish such a difficult race! He did awesome and I'm so proud of him! It definitely motivated me to get back on my skis! :) Congrats to all the skiers! Thanks to our friends for a fun weekend--I have a feeling we'll be back! :)

Dr checkups

The kids had their checkups on Friday morning. They saw a new Dr (Dr. Ishizuka) this time and I really like her! It was snowing out that morning so she was a little late--and the kids got a little restless waiting for her, otherwise everything went great! Both kids had hearing and vision tests. Nora went first and shut down and didn't say anything. Bishop went next and then Nora saw the Dr. After she was done seeing the Dr the nurse took her back by herself and it must have gone well because she came back and said "she passed!" That's good!

Here are their stats:

Bishop-48 lbs (88%) and 45 1/4" (90%)

Nora-36 lbs (89%) and 39 1/4" (92%)

Tall, healthy kids! Everything checked out fine and they are lookin' good!

Bishop did need 2 shots before Kindergarden! :( They were in his arms--the first one didn't hurt at all.....but the 2nd one hurt A LOT!!!! Poor guy!! I think the anticipation was tough on him too-the Dr told him he'd be getting shots and he got a little upset.  Nora was so sweet and was rubbing his legs and asking him if he was ok! :) He recovered and both kids got stickers and suckers!

After their appointment I took them to meet my parents in Northfield. Luke skied the Birkie, so they spent the weekend in Owatonna.

Waiting for the Dr.

Lots of love!

Still waiting.....

Birthday Party!

Sunday was another fun birthday celebration day! We went to church, came home and got ready for a day full of birthday celebrations! My parents, GG Ray, GG Darlene, and Jake came over to celebrate for lunch. Bishop helped me cut up vegetables. The Bormann's came after lunch to hang out a little before the party and the kids were SO excited to see their cousins....and open more presents!

My helper in the kitchen!

Luke's cousin made the cakes this year and they were absolutely amazing!! The kids have never been that excited about their cakes before!! The first thing they did was show everyone their cakes! Not only were they super cute, but they tasted amazing!! Thanks so much for the awesome cakes, Steph!!

Nora LOVED her Dora cake--it was perfect!

Bishop was SO proud of his Lego cake!

Nora and Nani (as she sometimes calls her!)

Nana with the birthday kids!

Always happy to be with Nana and Papa!

Nora with GG Ray--he looks so great for 91!!

SMILES with GG RAY!!

Silly picture!!

Nora said to Uncle Jake-do you want a hug from me too?

So excited to open presents!

With my 5 year old!!!

Thanks for the awesome legos, Auntie!

Auntie with the birthday kids!

My beautiful nice, Madelyn!!

The Bormann's with the birthday kids!

We had their party at the YMCA again this year and it was another fun party! They opened up the doors into the dance room, so the kids ran around in there before we had pizza and cake. We ate pizza, cake and then went down to the Play Castle and we ordered a jumpy house this year for the gym! Everyone had a great time running around and playing!

The birthday party crew!

Bishop and Asa

Paul and Carolyn

Jack, Uncle Ryan and Nora

My Goddaughter, Maia, and I!! WHEE!!

Thanks to everyone who came to the party and helped make it such a special day for both Bishop and Nora! They were on top of the world and we are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends!!

Valentine's Day 2015

Valentine's Day fell on Saturday this year and it was a cold day, so we headed out to the zoo to get out of the house and burn some energy! The kids got their faces painted and we checked out the animals inside! After the zoo we went to the Eden Prairie mall for lunch at Potbelly's and then we saw The Paddington Movie. It was a really cute movie. Bishop really enjoyed it and Nora liked it too--she was a little more rest-less than Bishop during the movie. We had popcorn as a treat, which is always fun! After the movie we came home to relax and celebrate the rest of the night. Luke and I made steak and shrimp while the kids watched a movie!

Silly faces!