The Gruffalo

This past weekend, some of my family came to visit. The girls (my mom, sister, Stella and I) went out to lunch and to a play called the Gruffalo at the Children's Theatre. It was really great to have this special afternoon together.

DC

A week after the big inauguration, I traveled to DC for work. My friend Missy, flew in from Chicago to meet me for a day. It was so cool standing in front of the Capitol, picturing the millions of people standing there a week earlier. We ran through the American History Smithsonian museum and of course needed to pause to take a picture with the tatonka for my Dad. We attempted to stop in and say hello to Barack, but unfortunately weren't able to get very close to the White House. I can't wait to go back someday with more time to visit the many museums and monuments.

What we've been up to in January

Sorry that I haven't updated this blog in a while. We've had a busy and exciting month. Stella had a dance recital earlier this month. She did great and Charlie was a very proud big brother! We went ice skating on a freezing cold day one weekend. Charlie wouldn't let go of his hockey stick and was very cute.
The kids got new bunk beds which was very sad for me to see the crib get taken down. Notice Charlie in his big boy bed, and yes he's now wearing big boy undies full-time. He suddenly seems so grown up.. No more baby. Stella and I went to see a play with friends last weekend, Goodnight Moon. The kids hung out in a phone booth with Uncle Ricky the other night after going to dinner. And yesterday we met the Knutson family at the St Paul Winter Carnival. The weather was so beautiful that the ice sculptures were melting. Lots of excitement though... Stella won a game racing to put clothes pins on herself and Charlie took third place in a dance competition!

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!!! We had a very busy and fun Christmas this year. We spent both Xmas eve and Day in MN, which was very nice and less stressful. It was great to celebrate with Aunt Mary and Uncle Luc who we don't get to see very often. Rick made his famous prime rib, the kids played the piano and had fun opening tons of presents. Christmas morning, Stella jumped out of bed and ran to check if the cookies we left out for Santa were gone. She was so excited, her reaction was priceless! It was such a joy to watch the kids have so much fun.

Christmas in WI

We celebrated Christmas in Wisconsin this year the weekend before Xmas. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. The long drive home on black ice wasn't so fun, but we're glad we got to see everybody.