Life at Shutterspeed

Cabin 2011

2011-05-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

Amy, Aaron, Meg, Scary Bear Nick, Hose, Jen, Allison, Mike, Mike, Chris & Susan pretty sure we might want to submit this photo to awkward Family photos!

Crawfish Boil

2011-05-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

A fundraiser for Ben's school or an excuse for a bunch of parents to sit around and tell crazy stories?

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

The card that Ben made me reads:

My mother's name is Jen.

She is 35 years old. (I'm actually 36)

She is 20 feet tall. (actually 5'6")

She weighs 30 (we are going to go ahead and go with that)

Her hair is Brown (lets just say the husband raised an eyebrow at that one)

Her favorite thing to eat is left overs. (ummm I very rarely eat left overs in fact we get made fun of as a family for NOT eating left overs)

Her favorite drink is water. (I'm very happy he didn't say Red Wine)

Her favorite TV show is "dancing and the star's"

For fun my mom likes to "play with me"

I love you too, BEN! VERY VERY VERY MUCH - and I think your favorite food is Mac N Cheese! And your favorite drink is chocolate milk, and your favorite TV show is Phineas and Ferb. And for fun you like to play Pokemon. And I think you weigh 58 pounds!

Mother's Day 2011 - Farmers Market and Brunch at Faces Mears Park

Super fun time with cousins.

Zero minutes spent in emergency room!

Husband and his Mother

I love my kids and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Emily can not keep a secret if her life depended on it! I loved my bird house that Ben made for me this year, and my potted plant the Emily made painted purple and gold (Vikings colors) because she thought that was my favorite. (Not to mention that Ben thought my favorite food was "Left overs") In a moment of clarity, Emily remembered my favorite color was PINK. So while I was out on a Sunday afternoon run, Dad and kids concocted a plan to go to the grocery store for Milk (the gallong in the fridge only expired 4 days ago) and chips but really it was a diversion to buy Mom PINK flowers. The minute I walked into the house from my run, Emily says, "Mom! Dad and I are going to the store to get you a REPRISE!" And I hear Ben yell from the other room, "Well EMILY you just ruined it, I guess you get NOTHING MOM!" Love you two! You are my special kids! I hope I never use the word SURPRISE AGAIN because REPRISE is so much better! Thanks for a LOVELY DAY and thanks for being the best kids I could ever dream of! (and Ben a really special thanks for not dropping any stools on your head!"

A plague on both your houses!

2009-09-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

Bee invasion and basement flooding all in the same week, same day actually. SERIOUSLY!!!

See the 3 tiny holes in the metal plate not covered by stucco? That is where the bees would fly in to their giant nest in our wall, from there they got in the house.

Bees in the house you say? Why yes. Isn't that totally normal? You mean you don't typically find 4-6 dead bees in your house when you come back from a weekend away? We thought that was normal.

When we started finding live bees in the house however we got suspicious. After weeks of speculating where the bees were coming from we finally figured it out. After hiring someone to come and kill our bees we ended up with over 100 bees in our house! By spraying from the outside it forced them all inside! The kids were getting quite good at bee spotting! All in all, I would say we had about 150 bees in our house over a course of 3 days!

To top that all off a pipe burst in the basement causing some major basement flooding. In the picture above you see the current state of our basement. We are doing some research to determine what we need to do to keep all future water out of our basement a believe a sub pump and drain tile system are in order.

As if we didn't already think there was a curse on our house, last night when we got home there was a giant branch that had fallen on Mike's car! I thought for sure there would be a dent in the car but there wasn't. It is a fairly large branch though!

Soccer Sidelines

2009-09-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

2007 (6 months old)
2008 (one and a half)
2009 (two and a half)

Emily's last year of cheering or should I say last year of being silly on the sidelines?
Next year Emily will get to play and she is thrilled!

3 years of Soccer

2009-09-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

2009 Soccer "Tigers vs. Lions"

2007 Wildcats Soccer Team

2008 Soccer Team

Soccer times three

2009-09-28T18:49:00.001-07:00

2007 2008 2009

A B C D Emily

2009-09-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

A is for ADORABLE

B is for BEAUTIFUL

C is for CUTE

D is for DARLING

E is for EMILY

Crocs

2009-09-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Based on my very scientific study I have determined the following:

1. Pink Crocs are for girls and red Crocs are for boys.

2. If you want to get a picture of more than 3 kids in one place just ask them to make funny faces.

3. You should never run in Crocs.

4. I'm not sure what the fashion police would say about Ben wearing a Super Mario Brothers T-shirt and Lighting McQueen Crocs at the same time. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that his underwear are probably Thomas the Train too! Oh whatever!

Suzette

2009-09-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

Suzette is our Nanny's daughter and she is wonderful. Emily just adores Suzzette and is currently going through some Suzette withdrawal symptoms now that school is back in session. Suzette recently got her drivers license and Emily now keeps asking me if she can drive! I'm serious. Tonight while reading a bedtime story (about a pig, Mercy Watson, that wants to drive) Emily asked me again if she could drive. Before I could even give my standard reply Emily said, "Me drive, when older?" Yes Em when you are older you can drive and while she thinks 16 is a long long time I know it is just around the corner.

Minnesota State Fair 2009

2009-09-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Time Warp

2009-09-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

The difference a year makes. The top picture is from September 2008 (Ben 4, Emily 1), the bottom from September 2009 (Ben 5, Emily 2). Going to the park and watching the kids explore the play ground always makes me stop and reflect at how much they have grown, developed and changed. Ben now walks across the chain fence and hangs upside down, Emily runs across the wiggly bridge and goes down all the slides by herself.

My fun new hat

2009-09-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Love Love Love

2009-09-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

No they do not always get along this well.

Seriously, where do they get those looks from?

City Kids on the Farm

2009-09-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

Why yes I did forget their swimsuits!

For some reason as long as I take one photo of Emily showing me her belly she will let me take whatever photos I want. I'm just going with it.

Any day now baby Noltnerwyss will be here!

Ben and Em actually planted those sunflowers earlier in the spring.

Daddy's Popcorn

2009-09-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

We love movie night because Dad makes the BEST popcorn!

Sassy Pants

2009-09-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

I wish on a bad hair day I still looked this ADORABLE!

Baby Newa

2009-09-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

After an entire week of dry pull ups Emily got to go to the American Girl Store at the MOA. There she picked out a new baby. Emily does not feel the need to name her babies despite my best efforts to help her name her babies. She kept calling this baby "New Baby" and she eventually turned it into "Baby Newa" and it stuck. Baby Newa goes just about everywhere with us now. You will note that Baby Newa always wears her pajamas which is a step up from her other babies which are usually naked. In addition to not wanting them named she also doesn't want them to wear clothes.

Emily has also taken to a new game where she will walk up to me lift my shirt and point to my belly and say, "Baby in there." You will note she doesn't phrase it as a question more of a statement. Thankfully there is not a baby in there and better yet just her saying so will never make it be! Both of my sister in laws on the Noltner side are pregnant and thus she has learned about where babies come from. I think she would very much like for me to have a baby until she would realize that would make her not the baby any more and then she would quickly be singing a different tune. So now when she says "Baby in there" I just respond with "Be careful what you wish for, Baby".

Duluth 2009

2009-09-26T12:50:00.001-07:00

Another great fall trip to Duluth, MN. For the third year in a row we have gone to Duluth in the Fall to watch Adam Wheeler play football. We stay at the Edgewater Hotel and have a great time. This year we actually had 11 people in one hotel room! After the evening game the gang came back to our room, we had pizza, wine and cookie cake. Yes it was the RETURN OF THE COOKIE CAKE! Amazingly enough the kids slept through our little party even though they were just in the front room of a two room suite.

What is it that they say about the apple?

2009-09-26T12:31:00.001-07:00

Like Mother Like Daughter.

Like Father Like Son

Mothers note: Even though he is looking like a teenage at the age of 5 it pleases me that he is wearing his Thomas the Train socks and proud of it! He is also wearing his "Ear Mouses" I hope he continues to call headphones that forever. I can just envision him in college asking his roommate to please use their "Ear Mouses". I want to be the fly on the wall when the first person tells him that they are not called Ear Mouses but actually called headphones!

Tin Fish

2009-09-26T12:16:00.001-07:00

Lake Calhoun Minneapolis, MN

We enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon lunch with our friends. The ice cream cone you see Emily eating was mine, I was going to share it with her but she apparently did not think she was sharing it with me. I will note that Ben was way to busy playing to even think about taking time to eat an ice cream cone! If I didn't carry that kid for 9 months I would swear he belonged to someone else!

Game Night

2009-09-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Dockerty Family Game Night

We have a few games that we can now play as a family although they often need to be modified to accomodate a 2 year old. One of of favorite games is called Hiss, and yes it is a snake game. Thankfully the snakes are cute colorful creatures if you can believe such a thing even exists! Here we are playing a twist on the game "Guess Who" it was pretty fun but the kids mostly just enjoyed trying the different frames on. Emily very much enjoyed being the baby. I'm not sure I enjoyed being the pig though! Other games we play are:

Go Away Monster

Chicken Cha Cha Cha (Grandma's favorite)

Mr. Mouth

Let's Go Fishing (aka Gulping Guppies) **

The kids of Carcassonne

Feed the Kitty (one of the kids favorites)

and I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting.

**Noltner family legend says that one Christmas all I wanted was Gulping Guppies and apparently it was the hottest Christmas gift that year my parents apparently searching high and low for one and then were very pleased when they found one, legend goes on to say that I only played with it once.

July 2009

2009-09-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

Emily's first time #2 in the potty chair!!! Proudly calling anyone who cares!

COUSINS!

Highland Fest 2009

Okay so I thought Ben wouldn't do this if I didn't do it first and I was secretly excited as it gave me an excuse to try it. WRONG, Ben was all about the jumping thing and he is the one that went first!!!

Ben and Sophie's joing 5 year old birthday party. Mario and Princess themed.

Lifetime Fitness Triathlon 2009

Kid Mania at Woods Family home

June 2009 in photos

2009-09-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.....

Dancing with the Stars

2009-09-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Dance Dance Dance!

It is no secret that I'm in love with the show "Dancing with the Stars". The secret is that the kids love it too! Our family joke is talking about how Mom can get on dancing with the stars, this season there are two super models (Kathy Ireland and Joanna Krupa), some singers (Macy Gray, and Mya), an Olympic gold medalist (Natalie Coughlin), and a rebel daughter actress (Kelly Osborne) I don't think I will have any luck with those routes. First of all I'm obviously not going to be a super model, we all know I can't sing to save my life, and after my poor performance in the swimming leg of my triathlon this year I'm certainly not going to be an olympic gold medalist in swimming! Not to mention I totally missed my opportunity to be a rebel daughter. So alas I'm still looking for ideas so if you have any, let me hear it. I'm afraid being an accountant/Mom is just not going to get me on the show. In the mean time I will just continue to dance in the living room with the kids.

First day of Kindergarten 9/10/09

2009-09-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ben's first few days of Kindergarten have been a little rough. The poor guy has been sick for the last two weeks and trying to start Kindergarten when you are sick is bound to be tough on anyone. Today 9/24/09 Ben has completed his fourth full day of Kindergarten out of 11. I don't think he will be winning any attendance awards! His teachers Mrs. Long and Ms. Katie are wonderful and are very encouraging and sweet to Ben. Apparently Ben enjoys his days so much with his Nanny and his sister that he would rather stay home than go to Kindergarten. I'm sure he will make several new friends and end up loving Kindergarten just as much as he did Pre school but so far its been a rough start. Just look at the pained look on his face on day 1!

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

D'orable

2009-09-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Watch the video to see for yourself. Emily's first time using the word Adorable.

Emily?

Are you a cute cat?

No I'm D'orable (aka ADORABLE)

Horses

2009-09-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Emily's first pony ride at Aadmodt's apple orchard in Stillwater, MN. Emily named her horse "Whitey" she is a clever one.

A is for....

2009-09-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

A is for Apple.

A is for Aadmondt's Apple Orchard

A is for Autumn.

A is for Animal

A is for Air (as in Hot Air Balloon)

Ben's very first homework assignment for Kindergarten was to make a photo book about the letter A. We just happened to have a trip to the apple orchard planned so I suggested we find things at the apple orchard that started with A. Ben and I then used the photos and some of my left over scrapbooking supplies and made a book. Ben also came up with a few more that he would like to add once he gets his book back from school. He took a picture of Apricot (his favorite stuffed animal) and he wants to add that to his album.

Owen's 7th Birthday

2009-09-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy day for Owen's 7th birthday party so we had to go with plan B. Owen had wanted to ride ponies but due to loads of rain his party was moved in doors. That did not stop the kids from having a great time at Eagles Nest. I even got to climb around like a gerbil too!

Madison Friends

2009-09-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our friends Holly, Sydney, Talon, and Janna came to visit us in June. We played outside with water balloons and had a day trip to the Mall of America. The 4 kids had a great time together and us girls did too.

3..4..5..7..9...

2009-09-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Emily can now count! Last night as she was laying down to sleep we
heard her say. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and then start
all over again. This past weekend she was in Rochester and Grandma
Dockerty called us to say did you know Emily can count to 9? I said yes
she has been counting along with Ben for awhile and I had been noticing
that she was actually counting more now instead of just saying random
numbers as she does when she sings the ABC's she just says various
letters to the tune of the ABC's.

Just this morning now Emily was counting for Mike but she would always
start with three and once she says nine she stops but if you say ten
then she will add on ELEVEN.

Funny girl! Who counts from 3 -9? I guess we will have to work on 1 &
2. Maybe she starts with 3 because she thinks she is 3. Lately when
I've asked her how old she is she will say 3, she knows Ben is 5 and
that 5 is 5 fingers too!

Father's Day 2009

2009-07-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

I know what you are thinking, what? no cookie cake?

The guys celebrated Father's Day by attending their last Twins game in the dome.

Human Scissors

2009-07-04T16:13:00.001-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday Ben! On June 24, 2009 we had a private Dockerty family celebration. Ben wanted Mac & Cheese, french fries, and cake. He also special ordered a specific Scooby Doo theme and I will tell you I searched long and hard to find Scooby balloons and someone that would make a Scooby cake. Turns out Target had the cake and the third Party Store had two Scooby balloons left! Seeing the look on his face make it all worth while! Being without a home phone means that no one can talk to Ben until his Mom or Dad ar around with their cell phones. Starting immediately at 6pm Ben received one phone call after another from his friends and family. He was honored to be the recipient of all the phone calls but when we were just about to have him open his gifts and the phone rang again and he said, "oh no not another one!"

In celebration of Ben I will relay my most recent favorite Benism.

Ben: "Grandma can you give me a scissors so that I can cut a picture?"

Grandma: "Yes, Ben here you go but be careful these are sharp."

Ben: Receiving an adult pair of scissors looks disdainfully at his Grandma and says, "Um, Aren't these HUMAN scissors?"

Preschool Graduation - 2009

2009-06-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ben's Preschool teachers, Miss Katelyn, Miss Carolann, and Miss Jenny

Ben and Ms. Katherine - Preschool Classroom Volunteer

Ben we are so PROUD OF YOU!

Ben's Y-Preschool 2009 Graduates and what they want to be when they grow up:

Aarti Girdhar: Princess
Andrew Escoto: Soccer Player
Anja Van Beynen: Spy
Ben Dockerty: Game maker (amended on graduation day to be video game maker and SPY!)
Charlie Aubitz: Pollice Officer
Danny Honsa: Home Depot Worker
Dobbin Chong: Police Officer
Eli Morgan: Veterinarian
Hari Gokul: Doctor
Isaiah O'Hara: Spy and a detective
James Hertzberg: Mailman
Jenna Halloran: Home Depot Worker
Jyoti Girdhar: Princess
Lilly Hanson: School teacher and part-time spy
Louis Morgan: Football player
Molly Todd: Spy
Natalie Darsow: Veterinarian and a nurse
Nina Kessler: Veterinarian
Rania Al-Kofani: Doctor
Ryan Rozack: Police Officer
Sam George: Police Officer
Soha Brahma: Princess
Tvisha Kamriddy: Princess

Our future seems to be in the hands of many Princesses, Spies, Police Officers, Veterinarians and Home Depot workers!

A letter from Ben's teacher:

Ben and Family -
I have loved every minute of volunteering in Ben's classroom. I have never met (in my 28 years of teaching) a little boy that loves his family and they love him. Ben is the most animated child we have. When he starts with that energetic hand in the air - followed by mm...mmm.mmm... you know some endearing comment is going to come out. I shared with his Grandma that I also have never heard any child so excited to see his relatives. He gives us a weekly update with his visiting routine! All students love Ben. His never ending optimism and love of life attracts his peers and adults to love him. Ben has gone from - I can't do it to Maybe I can and doing it! He has touched many adult and children's lives with that glowing personality. Good luck in Kindergarten!
YMCA - Preschool volunteer Katherine

Girl's Weekend 2009

2009-05-17T07:46:00.001-07:00

Rachel, Jen, Amy, Amy, Kris, Xandy & Amber

We had a fabulous 18th annual Girl's Weekend in WI Dells. We stayed in a lovely condo at Wilderness on the Lake. We started out our weekend with some shopping at the outlet mall and then ordered pizza and talked for hours and hours on Friday night. We had an amazing day at Sundara Spa on Saturday coupled with a fantastic dinner at Fields. Spending time with girlfriends is priceless! I'm super impressed that we all still make that extra effort to get together as it isn't always that easy. Thanks girls for a fantisic weekend!

Mother's Day 2009 and 2008

2009-05-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day 2008

The difference a year makes! I just took the opportunity to look through my Flickr photos to see what we did for Mother's Day last year. WOW, look at the difference a year makes! Emily was just trying out her walking legs. We spent last Mother's Day in Rochester and now I clearly remember what we did. We cleaned out the Dockerty Family Attic! John, Diane, Sheli and Mike had a lot of memories in that attic so they had a lot of fun going through old things. Tony and I played with the kids for the most part, if I recall the weather was a bit dreary but not horrible. I'm having a Mom moment here realizing how much Emily has changed in the last year! She was definitely still a baby last Mother's day this year I'm afraid she is quite the toddler with the toddler personality to boot! At 10 am this morning I called my Mom to wish her a happy Mother's day and reported that no one gave Emily the memo that she was suppose to be nice to her Mom today! We will see how the rest of the day goes.

Mother's Day 2009

Thanks to Mike and the kids I had a fantastic Mother's day weekend. My Mother's Day gift was having family photos taken and while they lost 1/2 the pictures we did manage to get a few good ones, which you will have to see in a future post as I do not have them yet. The photos of me above are of me just before our photo session. I had my own modeling moment, sometimes its nice for a Mom to feel pretty! So we were suppose to have the entire Dockerty and Telschow clan over for a Buca dinner tonight but John and Diane missed their flight home from Florida so we have to reschedule. Luckily, Sheli called to give us the news exactly two seconds before I hit the"place my order" button for loads of Buca take out! Seriously, I had the credit card number entered and everything! Now we just have a GIANT cookie cake to eat ourselves, and with my love of chocolate chip cookies it shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Ben's perfect Mother's Day gift to me was a flower pot he painted and he wanted to write "Mom" on it only he wrote "Mow" which I think is just priceless! He also painted a popsicle frame and put a nice head shot of him in it. In our photo above it is quite funny as he holds the photo over his face and it works perfectly!

Today was a great day it may not have turned out as planned but I enjoyed every minute of it. I was able to do so many things including, getting a manicure, enjoying a nice swim workout at the YMCA, finally locating the next book for book club "I was a really good Mom before I had kids" and organizing the laundry room! I must say when you ask for help finding that book on Mother's Day it does bring about a few chuckles. How could I forget Emily's gift to me was for the second day in a row to nap in her own bed!

We are now finishing up our Mother's day dinner of my favorite Chinese take out (PF Chang's). What a beautiful weekend and now I have a GIANT cookie to attend to!

Dress Up Play

2009-05-09T19:34:00.001-07:00

Ben had a great idea to dig out all of our old costumes and dress up gear. The kids had a great time and Ben made a pretty adorable little lady bug don't you think?

Gingerbread House Tradition

2009-05-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

It has become somewhat of a Dockerty Family tradition to make a gingerbread house for just about every holiday. Here is our Easter gingerbread house, and your thinking I didn't even know there was such a thing!

Big Girl Pants

2009-05-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Emily loves to dress herself. In fact I would be willing to say her favorite thing to do is to change her shoes! In early April she impressed us all one evening by putting her pants on entirely by herself. I had no idea she could do that! Well, she did put them on backwards but hey her older brother rarely dressed himself at that point and he was nearly 5. I will note that Ben was not going to let his younger sister show him up though and he now manages to get dressed entirely by himself every morning.

April 27, 2009

2009-05-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

April 27, 2009 was a big day in the Dockerty house. Emily used the potty for the very first time ever and Ben got all 10 0f his sight words correct! We are so proud of both of them. Emily has been sitting on the potty and reading books on the potty for months but April 27th was a break through day! Go Emily! The best part of it all was how proud her big brother was of her! He was over the top with excitement for her. I think all of our excitement actually scared her! (I will note that as of May 9th now she has not used the potty since April 27th!)

Good Hair Day

2009-05-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Emily had a big milestone today she took her nap in her own bed! I figure it was her Mother's Day gift to me. She is so different than her brother, when she knows she is in trouble she just goes to her room and lays down in her bed. I was having a hard time getting her to settle down for nap today and finally I just said okay time to go to your own bed and that was it, she walked to her room and layed down, I shut the door and moments later she was asleep. What the heck? I realize these photos have nothing to do with napping in your own bed but as her reward she received this pink ballet outfit with the Disney princesses on it. She immediately wanted to wear it so here we are post nap, tutu and all getting her hair done.

Easter Morning

2009-04-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that Emily had Croup and was wheezing with every breath she was in a good mood on Easter morning. Mom was off enjoying a great 8 mile run around Middleton. On my return I found Ben, Em and Grandpa taking a walk to see all the pretty windmills displayed in the neighbors yard.

The Little Princess

2009-04-25T10:38:00.001-07:00

Emily is very interested in the Disney Princesses now. She had one pair of PJ's that had three of the princesses on them and she wanted to wear those PJ's every night after several nights of trying to reason with the 2 year old I decided to just add two more princess PJ's to our selection. Her Dad did a bit of research to learn the names of the said princesses. Thanks to Wikipedia we are now well informed in the Disney princess lore. The most important thing we learned is that the princess in the pink dress is Sleeping Beauty whose name is actually Aurora. Emily is very pleased that her Dad has taken such an interest in her princess obsession.

Movie Night

2009-04-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

We love movie night, really who doesn't? The kids get very excited for Dad's old fashioned pop corn, and Mom's homemade chocolate malts.

A friday night at the MOA

2009-04-04T13:22:00.001-07:00

Photo DOCKumentary of Life in March 2009

2009-04-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

I swear Ben says something funny just about everyday and you would think I could remember some of his phrases to put into a blog post but I can't. I do recall this week however when he hurt his knee as he was trying to tell us about it he said, "ohhh I hurt my bender!"

Getting ready to go to a birthday party.

Emily loves to clean! I'm glad someone in our family does!

Em loves her new play kitchen that she received as a two year birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Dockerty, I love it because her Nanny put the whole thing together all 7,000 parts!

A Dockerty Family Birthday Celebration

2009-03-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

As we couldn't quite get an answer from Emily on what her favorite dinner would be Mom decided we should have spaghetti and meatballs followed by an Elmo chocolate chip cookie cake. We all know Emily's favorite anything is chocolate so I thought that would be okay. When asked what she wanted for birthday dinner her brother promptly responded with his favorite meal of Mac and Cheese, followed by the suggestion of salad and Apples. Emily agreed that apples sounded good to her.

As a special birthday surprise Emily received her first bouquet of flowers from her Daddy. She was very proud of her flowers and happy to report that they were "MINE" as any good two year old would tell you! MINE MINE MINE!

Happy Birthday Emily! Today I am reflecting on how for nine plus months I carried you and loved and hated every minute of it. I was so happy to be having you but also so miserable with pregnancy. I started a new job while 3 months pregnant with you and often joked with my new coworkers that I was not always this miserable and that they didn't know the real me because being sick everyday made your Mom a bit grouchy. You were a special baby to my new work family as the day you were born was the day the US BioEnergy first 10k was filed. Mommy worked very hard with her US Bio coworkers/friends to prepare that document and while US Bio is no longer in existance I will always remember that day along with your birthday. For months Mommy's coworkers half heartedly joked that you were not allowed to come one day early as Mommy had a job to do and that was finish the 10k. March 29th arrived and I left work knowing the 10k would be filed the next morning, at nearly the exact time you were born. Mommy actually listened to the US Bio Press Release from her hospital bed just hours after having you! You can look forward to me telling you this story along with your birth story to you every year from here on out but I will spare the internet ALL the gory details! For now we will just say two years ago today you blessed us all with your arrival and we have not stopped chasing after you or loving you for one tiny second!

Happy 2nd Birthday Little Lady!

2009-03-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

March 14, 2009 Emily's Second Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Emily! Tomorrow my little lady turns TWO! While we celebrated her birthday two weeks ago, her actual birthday is March 30th. As Elmo or "Melmo" is the only character she knows we had an Elmo themed party, it was absolutely adorable if you ask me. For the first time ever my entire family was here along with Mike's entire family. It was a big birthday celebration weekend. We had beautiful weather and a great time. I find I don't have the words to describe how much Emily has grown up in this last year. I look back at the photos from her first birthday party and am just amazed that it has only been a year. She has gone from learning to walk, to running, dancing, spinning, jumping, talking, and just being the sweetest feistiest most adorable little girl around!

Mom's Birthday Breakfast

2009-03-29T12:21:00.001-07:00

Minnehaha Falls and Bowling

2009-03-29T11:52:00.001-07:00

On March 16, 2009 both Ben and I played hookie from school and work (everyone else was on Spring Break). Turned out to be a GREAT day for that as it was unseasonably warm with a high of 67 degrees for March 16th! We spent the day with my brothers, their wives, and Gabe. We took the light rail train to downtown and had lunch and then went bowling at Gameworks, we had a great time but learned that we are a pretty poor group of bowlers!

Cousin Gabe

2009-03-29T11:38:00.001-07:00

We only get to see cousin Gabe a couple times a year as he lives in Texas but we sure love his visits! Ben and Emily adore Gabe and Gabe plays with them so nicely. The weekend of Gabe's visit was the weekend when most of the snow melted for the year. The kids had a great time playing in the mud at the park, splashing in puddles, playing Rock Band, tag, and hide and go seek. We also went to the Mall of America and to see Minnehaha Falls. The kids of course loved the rides at the MOA but the Falls were a bit of a disappointment as much of the viewing area is under construction and due to the recent thaw there were HUGE puddles to navigate around and thru. Pictures of that will follow...

Happy Ben

2009-03-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

For the second time this season MN has beaten WI in basketball. This makes for a very happy husband and father in law. Last night I had the pleasure of attending the big game here in MN at The Barn. It was a very exciting game, down to the wire. Before we left for the game I asked Ben who he thought would win the game and he said, "the good guys" not able to resist I had to ask who the good guys were and he of course said, "The Gophers". Today he said the reason that the Badgers lost was because they were too slow which is quite funny given that WI does actually play really slow basketball. I think that I have lost this battle, there is no way we can live in MN and I can raise a Badger fan. Although I still have hope with Emily, very little hope...

Ben is so proud of his sister. Every day Ben says something adorably sweet about her. She thinks the sun rises and sets with him and never wants to be left out of anything he does. One day this week Ben introduced Emily by saying..."We have a pretty girl coming, she is pretty cute" Here is the photo from her entrance....

A few weeks ago Mike and Ben were in St. Cloud, MN and Emily and I were in Madison. Mike sent me this adorable picture of Ben getting ready to go to sleep with the caption:

Ben, in bed for the night: "I want mama!"

It sure is nice to know that my little boy still misses his Momma! Look at that face! It reminds me of a scene from the movie ET!

Daily Dockerty Life in Feb 2009

2009-03-05T19:39:00.001-08:00

A little cleaning.
A little ice cream eating.
A little train playing.
A little dancing.
A lot of love.

The Big Girl Bed

2009-03-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

Our little girl is almost two so we decided it was time to take down the crib and get her the big girl bed. (Not that we expect her to sleep in it or anything) She loves to play on her bed, and her brother loves to talk about how she is going to sleep in her new bed but when it comes time for bed she high tails it to find Momma! Don't be fooled by all the smiles in these photos!

Someday she will sleep in her bed, when both her and her Momma are good and ready but until then it looks darn cute and makes her Momma shed a tear that she is no longer a baby anymore.

Miss Emily seems to pick up one or two new words a day now. Just tonight while watching the photos scroll by on the Apple TV she kept pointing to the photos of her as a baby and saying "Baby, Baby". I asked her if the baby was Emily and she said no, just "Baby". She will occasionally say her name now and it sounds like "Meme" which goes right along with Elmo whom she calls "Melmo". Emily equal "Meme". Works for me!

Sibling Love

2009-03-05T19:05:00.001-08:00

A Valentine's Day Wedding Reception

2009-02-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Girls on Valentine's Day.

Brandon and Dera wedding reception 2/14/09

Emily and I were in Madison for Valentine's day, Ben and Dad were in St. Cloud. We had to divide and conquer as we had too many things going one. The Valentine's Day wedding reception for Brandon and Dera was a lot of fun. Emily LOVED dancing with the big girls. She quickly learned that the in thing to do was to dance with your shoes off.

Ben and Mike had a good time attending the Wheeler boys Hockey games however I don't have any photos of that. Ben had fun hanging out with the Wheeler family, there he is known as "Taco" as one weekend when Ben was two he used to tell the Wheeler boys and their girlfriends that his name was "Taco" and the rest is history.

We should make a sign

2009-02-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Actual conversation between Ben and Mike during a bed time story this week (as later relayed to me):

Ben: "Daddy what is prison?"

Mike: "Prison is a place that people go when they do something bad, like stealing."

Ben: "We shouldn't steal then, I know what we should do and that is make a sign and say 'No Stealing', we should sign it Ben and Daddy, and it should say no stealing in this house...."

KTN Christmas 2008 (but occured in Feb 2009)

2009-02-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

The year we were almost out numbered by the kids; let's check the status on that:

Adults:
1. Joe Kruchten
2. Kathy Kruchten
3. Janna Kruchten
4. Jay Kruchten
5. Lisa
6. Cassie Noltnerwyss
7. Mike Noltnerwyss
8. Jim Noltner
9. Gayle Noltner
10. Mike Dockerty
11. Jen Dockerty
12. Dera Johnson-Tracy

Children:
1. Daryan
2. Adelia
3. Gretta
4. Mathias
5. Anthony
6. Ben
7. Emily

Okay 7 vs. 12 if felt a lot closer than that! The kids had a great time playing together. We were sad to miss, Ryan, Vanessa, Gabe, Rick, Dan, Candy and Brandon this year. Looks like we may have a few more years of adults still outnumbering the kids! The party was great although next year I vote for everyone feeling good as there were just too many of us sick this year!

The Amazing Emily

2009-02-10T19:27:00.001-08:00

Emily has her own idea of what clothes go together and how many different pieces of clothing you should wear at once. Here she is wearing lady bug PJs, a swimsuit cover up, a shirt, and a swimsuit as a cape. Her and Ben were having so much fun playing "The Amazing Emily".

Giant Snowman

2009-02-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is the GIANT snowman on Mineral Point Road in Madison, WI. Ben was very impressed with this snowman and was very excited to show it to Dad, Mom, and Baby. He was able to see it the day before and he was so excited to tell us about it and his exact words were, "Emily will love this she will say, "WOW"". This photo was taken in early January, we actually just saw this snowman this past weekend and he was looking very sad, the only thing left standing was his scarf and he was no longer white more of a dingy grey. Guess that's a good sign that spring is on the way! Sad for the snowmen of the world but happy for the rest of us who long for the sun and and trees!

The Trick to the hair.

2009-02-10T18:48:00.001-08:00

Step 1: Sitting on the counter
Step 2: Something sweet to eat
Step 3: A lot of Love!

A Beach Wedding

2009-02-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

In late January we added a family wedding in Cancun, Mexico. Brandon Tracy and Dera Johnson married on Friday January 26, 2009 on a beautiful beach. It was an incredible ceremony complete with blessings to all 7 directions, North, South, East, West, Sun, Moon, and Earth. We all stood around the couple making a circle of love that was not to be broken. After the ceremony people were welcomed to one by one give their blessings to the couple. I thought this was absolutely beautiful. This coming weekend on Valentine's day will be the wedding reception in Madison, should be a good time if the fun we had in Cancun is any prediction.

Our Little Valentine

2009-01-17T20:10:00.001-08:00

A Roaring Good Time

2009-01-16T19:13:00.001-08:00

Nice James, you have your machine gun pointed at your daughters head! Blake, James, and Cheryl Hartung Cheryl and Blake had the fabulous idea of carrying candy trays! All night they delivered gum and chocolate to everyone.

Tony a soon to be Hartung and Heidi, Michelle and BeJoe Hartung

Mom and Dad

Aunt Tara, Aunt Rosemarie Hartung and myself.

Sister in Law Vanessa and brother Ryan. Ryan surprised his wife by renting this fabulous red suit. Up until 10 minutes before we left for the party Vanessa didn't know what Ryan was going to wear as he had told her he didn't go and rent a suit as they had discussed. We were all very impressed with Ryan's effort! However he did try and convince me to give Vanessa my red dress as her black dress is the exact same dress as my red one but I convinced him that her black dress would look a lot better with his red pin striped suit than my red dress!

Jen and Neil, you have to love a man that is willing to wear a yellow suit!

My cousin Heidi Hartung, and myself.

Kathy & Don Hartung and Julie and Dan Hartung (the Hartung Twins) I'm told they didn't plan their complimenting suit, tie and hat choices.

Last weekend was the Hartung Brothers, Inc. 34th annual holiday party. Growing up a Hartung I can tell you that the Hartungs know how to have a good party. I'd like to say I've been to every Hartung Holiday party as the company started the year I was born but some how I bet there were a few years in there I wasn't allowed to attend. This year Hartung Brothers, Inc. is celebrating its 34th year and they threw one was especially fun party as it had a roaring 20's theme and dressing up as a flapper is just down right fun. Many of the ladies were totally into it along with many of the guys. I was very impressed by my twin uncles Don and Dan they actually managed to wear suits with opposite accents. As if dressing up as a flapper isn't fun enough they also had a casino night which was quite fun despite the fact that it apparently was the slowest game of craps ever known to man. I apparently didn't pick up on that but it could have been due to the fact that I had a few Brandy Old Fashioned Sweets. I've totally turned into my mother. Which isn't really all that bad. I really wanted to win at craps as I wanted to win Ben a tractor that didn't happen but I did get to keep one of the center pieces which was a giant martini glass full of flowers. I hope to use the giant martini glass as a festive M&M dish. This was such a great party with so many great costumes!

The Chocolate Bar

2009-01-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to get a picture of Emily in this cute outfit but she was not having it. I decided to bribe her with chocolate and here are the results. Like I've said before the girl will do anything for chocolate and as you can see from the photos she is very serious about her chocolate!

The Lorna in her

2009-01-04T15:27:00.001-08:00

My Grandmother, Lorna Hartung, was the most fashionable woman I ever met. Emily loves being pretty when we found this outfit in Las Vegas I knew she had to have it. I came home from work to find her wearing this outfit and she was thrilled to show it off.

Melmo Live

2009-01-04T10:21:00.001-08:00

In my opinion Elmo Live is the cutest of the robot toys. Emily just loves Elmo only she calls him Melmo. I'm just amazed at the toys they have these days, to a 2 year old I think they actually think Elmo Live is the real deal. When Elmo falls over he says, "Uh oh Elmo fell over, can you help Elmo?" then when you pick him up he says, "Thank you, you're Elmo's best friend" or "Elmo loves you". It is down right adorable.

Night Night time for Emily

2009-01-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

This one speaks for itself.

Disney Dress Up

2009-01-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

My niece Sophie loves to play dress up. When she opened her Christmas gift she literally screamed with delight. She immediately left the room with her chest of Disney princess dress up clothes and proceeded to model them all for us. It was all we could do to convince her to open her other gifts. I think she was happy to receive her other gifts too as both the pink pig puppet and the Madeline doll also received shrills of delight. I am proud to say the gift I picked out for her, a princess castle with princess dolls that have snap on clothes and the tiniest of shoes ever, was also a hit. If you asked Sophie what she wanted for Christmas she would tell you a pig puppet, we were all a bit perplexed by that one but Sophie was thrilled to receive it.

Monkey See Monkey Do

2009-01-03T16:47:00.001-08:00

Emily mimics everything I do now from shaving my legs to carrying a purse she wants to do whatever I do. She received this purse for Christmas and every time her and I go somewhere she always goes to find her purse and keys. Just this morning her and I were off to get my morning coffee and she had to bring her purse and keys with her. (Thankfully she knew right where they were) You should see her try and put her leg up on the ledge to shave her legs its pretty darn cute. If only she could get the potty training down as she mimics that too only she doesn't ever actually get the concept of using the toilet she just likes to sit and wipe. I won't be posting any photos of that!

I shouldn't say Emily mimics everything I do she actually mimics everything we all do especially Ben. Whatever he does she wants to be doing it too. Just take a look at a few of the photos and you will see that she is often looking to him to see what she should do.

Emily's words update: Her new word of 2009 is "Yes" with a long drawn out sssssss at the end. She has also added the word Juice to her vocabulary.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

2009-01-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

One afternoon the guys took the kids to The Bounce House and the girls stayed home to watch Mama Mia. We went all out and had margaritas and chips and guacamole too!
The Rochester Bounce House a great place to take the kids to play in the winter! Emily loved the bounce house and wanted to do everything on her own but Ben was a bit scared at first. After about an hour of him just wanted to ride the train (the one that Uncle Ryan gave him for Christmas 3 years ago) we finally forced him to go down one of the slides. He of course LOVED it and after about 4 times he was off on his own having a blast!

This years Christmas PJs, were cow PJs purchased in Alaska. They read: Pasture Bedtime.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

2009-01-03T16:24:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for bed after playing Mr. Mouth and running the remote control truck.

Emily playing - let's pack up the van after Christmas! The van overflowing with My Little Ponies looks very much like our van after a week of celebrating Christmas with friends and family.

Christmas Day with the Wheelers. Cathy demonstrating her bottle tree.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

2009-01-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Dockertys

Christmas Morning

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

2009-01-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

Biscuit the robotic dog, one of several robot toys.

Christmas eve dinner.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

2009-01-02T19:13:00.001-08:00

Dockerty family Christmas. Due to more snow predicted in Madison we drove to Rochester one day early. This ended up to be a smart plan as we ended up having great weather for our drive. The kids were very excited to have an extra day with their cousins Owen and Sophie. Sophie really liked Emily's Wolf Wolf named Biscuit. The kids also loved Grandpa's new theater seating.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

2009-01-02T19:05:00.001-08:00

Hartung family Christmas with a visit from Saint Nicholas.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

2009-01-02T18:56:00.001-08:00

A Christmas playdate with Sydney and Talon Stoenner. Ben always loves to play with Sydney and he had a great time showing off his new Dinosaur Spike. Talon and Emily enjoyed Roaring while the big kids operated the big dino.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

2009-01-02T18:43:00.001-08:00

Bed head. Emily tends to have very crazy hair in the am.

A Christmas Quiz: The Kruchten, Tracy, Noltner, Dockerty, and Noltnerwyss families all took a Chistmas quiz to determine the order of picking gifts for the white elephant exchange. Some of the white elephant gifts were pretty funny. This year the prized gift was a snowman cookie jar. Some of the gifts to make the rounds were: a set of CDs from the 80's and 90's, A Chia Pet, old Christmas lights, a lamp, a law school text book, a $15 gift certificate from 1999 and a set of colorful knives.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

2009-01-02T11:58:00.002-08:00

Cleaning up the house to get ready for a gathering of friends.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

2009-01-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning Noltner Family Style (Sunday December 21, 2008)

Opening our stockings!

Hauling the gifts from under the tree to the living room.

Waiting ever so patiently for the go ahead to open the gifts.

12 days of Christmas - Day 2

2009-01-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

A gathering with good friends Amy, Nick and Jack. Jack has recently learned to walk, he is just five months younger than Emily and it amazes me the difference five months can make (as Emily now runs and jumps and gallops around the house). Jack is just two cute in his frog sweater and his wobbly legs! The kids just love having Jack over to play.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

2009-01-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

A visit with the train store Santa.

The Christmas Dress

2009-01-02T11:22:00.001-08:00

Ben 5 photos - Age 4 and a half

2009-01-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Emily - 5 photos age 20 months

2009-01-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

Duluth Bulldogs National Campions

2009-01-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Mike's cousin Adam Wheeler plays football for the Duluth Bulldogs. His team won their National Championship this year. We watched the game and even took some pictures at the very end. You can see Adam in the pictures he is number 59. Mike and Ben helped to point him out.

Grandpa's Birthday

2009-01-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa Noltner come to Minnesota in late December, their timing was perfect as they were able to haul all the Christmas presents back with them. We were also able to celebrate Grandpa's birthday with him. I made Grandma Diane's famous lasagna and Ben and Emily helped bake a cake for Grandpa. Ben picked out a Harley Davidson shirt and a snow globe for Grandpa and we had our own mini birthday party, Ben thought it was just GREAT! He even insisted on having a piece of cake that had the letter B on it.

Playing in the Snow

2009-01-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

We have no shortage of snow this year. Although we have nothing compared to what Grandma and Grandpa Noltner have in Madison! The kids and I had a good time sledding after the first big snow fall in December. This was Emily's first time playing in snow as she was too little and she also had a broken arm last winter. Emily just loved it although she preferred for her Mom to pull her around instead of her brother as he tended to go too fast for her! Typical right?

Candy Expert and Puddy Pajamas

2009-01-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

Twenty months in to this parent of two children thing I'm still amazed at how different my kids are. One big difference is their palates for different foods. Ben can really give or take any candy or chocolate but if he gets his eyes on a bag a chips watch out, especially if those chips come from Chipotle! Emily on the other hand loves chocolate, who doesn't really but this girl attacks it! (She definitely gets that from both of her parents) I found this adorable shirt that says Candy Expert on it and it is just perfect for her!

Ben just loves his Puddy Pajamas, yes that's right puddy pajamas. No matter how many times I tell them they are footy pajamas he just says, no I call them Puddy pajamas!

5th Annual Thanksgiving in Florida

2008-12-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

For the fifth straight year we went to Florida for Thanksgiving. We had a lovely time. We stayed at the Great Outdoors in our own fifth wheel, the kids went swimming every day (sometimes twice a day). Ben and Gabe went on an alligator hunt. Mike felt that the alligator farm was a very creepy place and would be a great setting for a horror film. They had a pet pig whose name was something like pork chop or ham bone. I wisely stayed away as I made an assumption that they would have other reptiles at this alligator farm and I was correct. There were a few giant snakes lurking around, thankfully no one took any pictures of them.

This year we went to Disney Hollywood which was okay, not my favorite of the Disney parks. Ben however thought it was GREAT as he got to see the Little Einsteins and get Leo and June's autograph. The Little Einsteins are some of Ben's favorite characters and the number one item on his Christmas wish list is a "Take a part Rocket" which is from the Little Einsteins.

The all time favorite thing to do in Florida (for Ben) is to go to the beach. Unfortunately it rarely gets into the high 70's when we are in Florida in November and thus we waited until our last day which was our warmest day to go to the beach. Although the temp was warm it was very windy at the beach. That didn't stop the boys though, Ben was super excited to run in and out of the ocean. Crazy Uncle Ryan and cousin Gabe actually went swimming in the ocean. Here are a few photos from our beach adventure.

Twin City Ten Mile

2008-12-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

Way back in early October I ran the longest race of my life to date. The Twin City 10 mile. I loved it! Never considered myself a runner until this year. As I type this post I'm wishing I had kept up my runner as I'm feeling very out of shape after all the extra eating over the holidays. I hope to do this run and many more next year. I had so much fun. Here is a little video of the race, you can see me at the very end. One interesting note is that just 5 seconds after I crossed the finish line it started pouring rain. Thankfully Mike could not find a parking spot so he missed me crossing the finish line but he was ready just two blocks up to pick me up and drive me straight to Starbucks for a much deserved Peppermint Mocha!

Build a Moose

2008-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

As a special treat I took the kids to Build a Bear late Thursday afternoon. They had a fun time designing their own Christmas animals. Ben built "James" the reindeer/moose with Christmas lights intertwined around his antlers. Emily made a moose named Holly that has two hearts. If you have never been to build a bear there is this whole ceremony called the heart ceremony and you have to jump start the heart before you put it in the bear. The kids have to rub the hearts on their elbows, and blow on the hearts and then jump up and down. Emily enjoyed that part so much she wanted her moose to have two hearts. I was very impressed with the nice man at build a bear that helped us design our animals. He was great with the kids and since we were the only people there he took extra time with us and made it really fun for them. So maybe the down economy isn't such a bad thing after all? At least it makes for less people at Build a Bear. Ben picked out Christmas PJ's complete with red slippers for his moose to wear. Emily picked out a silver skirt and black sweater with sparkly red shoes. Actually all Em cared about were the sparkly red shoes, she wanted to wear them herself which is why the moose does not have them on in the photo! The big highlight for Emily was to push her moose in the doll stroller. She looked so adorable walking through the mall pushing her little stroller! She was so proud.
When we returned home Emily even shared her cookie with Holly the moose. And as Emily had on her favorite navy blue Mary Janes she allowed Holly to wear the sparkly red shoes.

Future pianists

2008-11-22T08:43:00.001-08:00

The girl loves her shoes!

2008-11-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

Emily loves shoes so much she spends the majority of her day putting shoes on and taking shoes off. This past week she has insisted on wearing shoes to bed! In this collage are 3 pictures taken just this last week of Emily in her pajamas with her shoes on.

Twilight

2008-11-22T05:21:00.000-08:00

What could be better than a room full of teenage girls in hungry anticipation of the vampire love story Twilight? How about a room full of smart, beautiful, fun, thirty something Mom's AND the lust hungry teenage girls? I had so much fun last night attending opening night of Twilight with 10 lovely women. You can't beat opening night of a much anticipated movie especially when the audience if full of teenage girls who are infatuated with Edward the sultry vampire and Bella the "everyday" girl who falls in love with him. What girl doesn't want to be Bella? I thought the movie was fantastic as a whole but as with many movies created from books they can't quite capture it all. The opening night atmosphere just couldn't be topped. The screams as the movie started, as Edward made his first appearance, as Jacob make his first appearance, and of course for the first kiss were just priceless. Despite the fact that the ushers asked everyone not to scream, the girls did not disappoint! I will say if you have not read the book I can't imagine you would find the movie even the least bit tolerable. For the Twilight series enthusiasts out there I do not think they were disappointed in the least. I for one was not. And unlike all the teenage girls who had to go home to their slumber parties full of Mountain Dew and Oreas we were able to discuss the movie in a much more refined way over bruchetta and wine. I am very excited that I get to go see the movie again tonight! I know my SIL thinks I'm doing a favor for her going two nights in a row but not so secretly I couldn't be more thrilled to take a second 2 hour look at the beautiful vampires. I don't think you have seen the last of these vampires we still have 3 more books to go!

As for the lovely lady in the bear nightgown. Just know that it is a book club inside joke and we are all trying to figure out how we can possibly top showing up to the yummy vampire movie in the huggable bear nightgown! Grrrrr! (I especially love the photo where it looks like Edward is reaching around Catherine!)

Christmas socks

2008-11-18T18:59:00.001-08:00

You can not really tell from the photos but the kids are each wearing a pair of light up Christmas socks. They were both so excited about the socks they had to put them on. Ben then suggested we take a picture and he even suggested that we have props. Am I rubbing off on them or what? And yes I realize it is not even Thanksgiving yet!

Life at the farm in November

2008-11-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ben showing Grandma the Dora the explorer ice cream Grandpa dug out for him. One of my Dad's rental properties went broke leaving my Dad with yet another store to clean out and an excess of convenience store inventory, which if your a kid is great as it means you now have 562 ice cream treats and freezy pops to choose from.

Nothing stops these two from riding the horses at the farm. Emily thought she should not be wearing her hat, mittens, or coat. I drew the line at taking off the coat!

November 16, 2008 We were in Madison for the Wi/MN football game. It was a very close and cold game this year. I had a great time with my Father in law, husband, and father. We actually tailgated for 3 hours before the game. I'm not sure I ever tailgated that long even when I was in college! It was great to see many of my aunts and uncles at the tailgate party. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me so there are no photos.

Car Naps

2008-11-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

I love it when Emily crosses her feet when she sleeps in the car. I have taken a series of photos of her napping in the car for this blog post idea but of course at this time I can only find three of the photos. At least it's a start. She used to always put at least one hand behind her head when she was tired but as you can see she is only doing this in 1 of the 3 photos. I know there are several photos of her with both hands behind her head and her feet crossed. I'll find them someday.