The Kobies

Disney

2012-01-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful trip! We had so much fun in Florida this year. Lucy and I got to leave a few days early to spend some very special time together celebrating Lucy's 5th birthday.

We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort and it was such a great place to stay. The first Disney person that we met at the shuttle at the airport was so nice, she gave Lucy a bunch of stickers and got us started on the right foot. At the resort, every person called Lucy princess, or by her name if she was wearing her birthday pin. We were upgraded to a suite when we got there as another added perk. Lucy was delighted to have her own bathroom! That day we hung out by the pool and relaxed in the warm sun.

The next day, we went to The Magic Kingdom and had a day full of castles, princesses & wishes coming true!

Here is Lucy in her Cinderella dress at the beginning of the big day.

We had lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table.

Once we were inside the castle, we got to meet and take some pictures with Cinderella.

Then we went up a beautiful staircase to the dining room.

They seated us at a table for two by the window. We had a great view of the new castle that is being built in a new area of Magic Kingdom.
During lunch, Lucy was presented with her own wishing star and magic wand. She also got to meet 4 other princesses!

Belle was feeling very humble that day and came in her regular attire. I guess she saves her ball gown for the parade.

Later that day, we also got to see a show in front of the castle, watch the parade and meet a few other characters.

Stitch completely won Lucy's heart. At first she was a little afraid of him and wanted me to stick with her. Then, he got down on all fours and came to her with his head down. After that, she was in love with him. We went back to talk to him, hug him and just be with him several more times.

Then, we made our way to Pixie Hollow.

We met Terrence, who is the keeper of the pixie dust. . .

. . . and, Tinker Bell!

The day ended with a spectacular light show and firework display over the castle.

The next day we headed over to Epcot Center

We started a full day of making new friends by meeting Daisey Duck.

Mulan

Marie

Lucy was very excited to meet Duffy. The hotel played a bedtime story every night about Duffy.

One of the most fun things we did, was become secret agents for the day. We stopped close to the entrance of the park and got a pass with a meeting time and place. We were supposed to be in Italy at 11:30. When we got there, Lucy was given a cell phone and was told to go a safe distance from the meeting place and open the phone. When she did, there were instructions to complete a secret spy mission. We had to go to find certain things all over the park. The phone would only give the next step of the mission when you were in the correct spot. It was so clever! Lucy really thought she was completing a real spy mission.

After that mission was over, we headed out on our own mission. To meet more characters:

Stitch must have really loved Lucy, too. He followed us to Epcot!

Later that night, after we napped for about three hours, Daddy & Ellen came to join us! Yay! The next day, all four of us went to the Magic Kingdom.

The girls met their Fairy God-Mother.

We went on lots of rides. Ellen had to go on the carousel.
The girls had tons of fun on the Tea Cups, too!

Since the tea cups were from Alice in Wonderland's Tea Party, the White Rabbit was there to greet us.

After that, we needed to take a little break.

Then, we were on a new search. There were two princesses on Lucy's list that she had not met yet. It took some coordinating, but we got to meet them both!

We even got to see Buzz as a bonus!

After all of this, we were pretty tired. We spent one more night at Coronado and had a day of relaxing at the pool before we hit the beach. We went over to Cocoa Beach for a few days before we had to head back to the snow.
I think this has been my longest post ever. There is smoke coming from my keyboard and my fingers are cramping up, so I'll save the beach and the end of the vacation for the next post. Check back. I promise I'll get the rest of the pictures up soon.

Day Off

2012-01-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

The girls and I had the day off today. Lucy didn't have school so we decided to take the day off from our regularly scheduled working out, running around, craziness. The 'girls choice' activities for the day were to get some more red paper and glitter to make hearts (Lucy cuts out her own now) and to have a tea party lunch.

Lucy reminded Ellen a couple of times to keep her pinky up. Cuties!

Doing a lot, Blogging a little

2012-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Sesame Street Live

It is really hard to get two little people to look at a camera at the same time in the midst of Sesame Street characters and hundreds of other people. . .

The main stage

Ellen's three favorites

Our real life buddies, Hannah and Cooper.

Our favorite winter pastime:

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:29:00.001-08:00

A 'Big Girl' Week

2011-12-11T19:01:00.001-08:00

Big Girl, Lucy, got her ears pierced this week! I have been thinking about this for a while, but I wanted to wait until Lucy asked to make sure that she was really up for it. About 6 months ago her friends told her that they got theirs done and it HURT. After that Lucy didn't mention it for a few months. However, now she was sure she wanted to do it, so we talked about it some more and watched a video about how to take care of them and even watched a few 'youtube' videos of other little girls getting theirs done. Then we made the big trip to the store to get it done. Thankfully, they had two people working so they could do both ears at the same time. It did hurt and it took a few minutes for the tears to stop trickling,

Here she is after she got them done. She said it hurt, but she was still glad she did it.

Here she is the next morning!

She wanted to wear all of her hair pulled back so everyone could see the new earrings.

Big Girl, Ellen, gave up her pacifier this week! Yay! She finally found something that was worth trading it for:

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-04T21:13:00.001-08:00

For a third year, we went to Hampton Hills Tree Farm to cut down a Christmas Tree. This year, we found our tree pretty quickly and Jer and the girls got right to work.

Lucy and Bella carried the tree to the car by themselves!

Ellen and Elizabeth pretended to help.

Then the Carters found their perfect tree and Ted got to work.

The ladies sent it over.

The girls recruited Lucille to help this time.

Jer recruited a little help to tie our tree to the car.

Then got another helper.

And then the shenanigans really started.

Hans and Ellen are pretty good behind the wheel.

We finished our tree hunt with a horse drawn sleigh ride. Um, I mean, a mule drawn wagon ride?

The kids didn't seem to mind.

The whole gang was happy. What a fun day!

I'm A Big Kid Now

2011-11-13T15:46:00.001-08:00

We have had a major shift in the Kobie household. Up until a few weeks ago, if you asked Ellen if she was a big girl, she would say. 'No, I baby.' Now she says quite frequently: 'I big girl!' I don't know how it happened, but it did. Sniff, Sniff.

Since we are trying to embrace the 'big girl' mentality, we got her a Big Girl Bed!

She is such a little peanut that you can barely see her in the second picture.

I'm trying to love this picture. It is a real representation of how we are at bed time. Of Course, I had the beds made and the toys put away. I even vacuumed, since I knew we would be taking pictures of the big girl bed. But then, life got in the way and by the time I got back to take the picture, our real life ended up on camera. The toys are strewn about, blankets are all over and both of my children are in their natural state, which is 'au natural'.

So, this is really the best picture for the blog, right? It is us, how we really are. My two silly, energetic, big girls.

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

The girls got to wear their costumes a few times this year. We started last weekend at a friends party. Although the kids were playing like crazy people, so the only pictures I got were when they were eating. Here are the 'Light Up Fairy and Minnie Mouse'.

We also had a special guest that weekend. Our friends Hannah & Chris let us keep their little monkey, Cooper, for the weekend while they went up north. It was so fun to have him!

Lucy had to have a fairy action shot

The girls and I also made a haunted gingerbread house this year. I helped put it together and they did all of the decorating. Pretty scary!

I think they might have sampled some of the black frosting while I was getting the camera. . .

A few days later, it was on to pumpkin carving.

Lucy did her own carving this year.

Ellen had a little help.

We're not done yet! We got to go to the MN zoo for trick-or-treating on Saturday afternoon.

We even had a special guest with us!

AAAaahhh! A Moose!

Then, on Halloween, they got dressed up one more time for Trick-or-Treating in our Neighborhood. I get just as excited as the girls to see the awesome decorations that our neighbors come up with!

Here we are before heading out.

Grandma & Papa came to see the girls too. Grandma stayed behind to hand out candy so both Mommy & Daddy could go with the girls. That black eye didn't even scare the other kids away.

Here are Jer and Papa taking the girls up to one of the houses.

Tired little girls can still dump out their candy to see how much they got!

Now, I have to run to go get more decorations for next year!

Fall Fun

2011-10-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

This year we took the kids to a huge corn maze. Ellen, Emma, Natalie & Lucy ran through the maze and kept track of all of the check points on their maps.

Lucy got to bring Brown Bear home from school that weekend. He came to the maze with us.

Lucy also braved the giant slide.

So did Natalie.

And even Emma!

The maze was shaped like stars and planets this year. The girs pretended they were astronauts.

A few weeks later, four of us crazy moms thought it would be fun to spend a few days at a water park resort in the Dells with 9 of our children. Here are 8 of them on their way to swim.

Here they are at the end of the day before bed time. They actually did sleep pretty well.

Here is Katie with Ellen & Emma, then the big girls racing down after them!

We are always up to something fun. We are so blessed to have such good friends to share it all with!

2011-09-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

What a blast! The Mercy Watson series is a new favorite of ours. The production at The Children's Theater was great. The girls were completely mesmerized the whole time. They didn't even want to get up for intermission.

I guess any story where they love 'hot toast with a great deal of butter' would be a favorite in our house!

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival!

2011-09-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

Castles, fancy dresses, Fairies; these are some of Lucy's favorite things. We heard that you could find all of these things at the Renaissance Festival.

We did find some of each.

Before we went, we had to get ready. Lucy and I looked at period clothing and hair online and went through our dress-up and ribbon selection to see what we had. She wanted braids and ribbons in her hair. This is what we came up with.

Lucy made it on stage again. . . In the Children's Realm production of The Pied Piper, Lucy played a mouse. Can you see her scurrying across the back of the stage?

She is more in the middle of this picture in the purple and blue dress with the red mouse face.

We also found a ride to go on.

The girls and I loved this! The elephant's ears kept flapping back on Lucy's legs. At first she was a little startled, but then she thought it was pretty neat.

Hi Dad!

Then we saw a Knight in Shinning Armor! Lucy was going to go have her picture taken with him, but she was a little nervous, so mom went with her.

The girls each got to bring home a puppet. Here they are showing them off. Ellen was being such a goof ball, this is actually the best picture I have of her. We'll chalk it up to a long day. . .

Lucy was still quite smiley and excited. She wanted to take lots of pictures. So, here she is one more time with her new teddy bear puppet.

Vernon County Fair

2011-09-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

We made it to the fair again this year! One of our first stops was to the bunny building. The kids were extra lucky, they got to hold some of the bunnies.

Of course we had a 'fair food' supper. Yum!

There was a kids show on that night. All of the kids got to go on stage. Here they are 'freezing' during the freeze dance.

Lucky Lucy got chosen to go back on stage. She was a total rock star and got to do a drum solo.

Of course they went on some rides.

They even pet a huge boa constrictor!

Here is some video of Lucy rockin' it on stage:

Duluth & Gooseberry Falls

2011-09-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Near the end of August, we had a great trip up to Duluth. My camera wasn't happy with me or the sun that day, so many of the pictures that I took, just didn't turn out well. Here are a few that I was able to salvage:

Lucy was a fearless climber

Ellen's pockets were so full of rocks, we thought she would fall over.

The mamas made it into a picture: Me, Jess & Kimber

Jer & Ellen say "See Ya"

A Day with Ellen

2011-08-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

My day with Ellen actually starts with Lucy. This morning I got Lucy all packed up and she headed off for three days to the cabin with Grandma and the 'Big Girl' cousins. Jer drove Lucy up there today and stayed to be the boat driver, so it was just Mama and Ellen together all day today.

We started the day by heading to story time at a local book store. We were surprised to see that the main character of the book was there too. When Ellen saw Skippy John Jones, she sprinted for my lap and stayed there for the first few minutes. Then she whispered to me in her little voice "Cared Mama" (scared Mama). So we snuck to the back where Ellen waved bye bye to Skippy John and we went over to read a few books by ourselves.

After a few books and a new backpack, we headed out to do something that I knew Ellen would like. We went to eat!

She was much happier when she got to order her own lemonade.
Here she is, eating her kids veggie roll. Can you see her new backpack in the booth with her?

We headed across the hallway of the mall to the toy store and got a few stickers to put in the new backpack and made one more stop for a little dessert before we headed home.

It is rare that little Ellie and Mama get the whole day with just the two of us. We had a great time reading and snuggling together on the same side of the booth.
When we got back to the house today we just weren't ready to part yet, so we both had nap time together for some more snuggles. What a wonderful day it has been with my baby girl who is so quickly becoming more girl than baby.

The Alpine Slide

2011-08-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were up near Duluth, so we took the girls on "Timber Twister" the Alpine Coaster. For those of you who don't know, the Alpine Slide goes down Spirit Mountain and is powered by gravity. It is a cart on a track that zooms down the mountain and then is towed back up the track on a wire.

I had to buy the pictures, Ellen is so cute and little in the picture, I wanted to remember her doing this forever. Lucy went down with Jer in the cart before us. The whole time Ellen and I were going down she was shouting. "Luuucyyyy, Cooooomiiing!". Then she would give out a "Whooo hooo!"

I had the brakes on at first, so we wouldn't go too fast. Then I heard her say "Faster Mama!", so I eased up on the brake and off we went. She LOVED it!

The picture of Lucy and Jer is just priceless. Before they went, Lucy made Jer promise that he wouldn't put the brake on at all so they would go as fast as they could.

I'm thinking that I might be in trouble when these girls start driving!

Visitors

2011-07-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here at Casa Kobielush, we have had a few visitors over the past few weeks. Auntie Sandy was here for a visit. She brought her usual energy and craziness with her!The girls are fierce competitors. They'll do what it takes!

Don't let the small size fool you. Ellen is in it to win it!
She means business!

Gram was here a few days ago and also brought some wet fun. Lucy and Ellen battled the heat and humidity playing hopscotch.

I have no good pictures of the girls with gram, because she was busy taking all of the pictures. Here she is showing them to Ellen.

Lucy, Come here so I can take your picture. . .

Gram also helped the girls get their eye protection on. Safety First!

These pictures really do explain a little about me and my silly girls. We loved having visitors. We hope they come back soon and stay longer next time.

Greetings From Up North!

2011-07-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

We have had the pleasure of spending some time at the cabin this summer. Here are a few pictures to share all of the fun we have had there.

We have eaten a few s'mores.

Caught a few fish.
Had some fun on the boat.

Made some friends.

Lucy kept picking the fish out of the bin and telling them "It's okay fishie. We're gonna eat you."

Caught a few more fish.

Jer asked Lucy why she was catching so many fish and he wasn't catching as many. She quickly replied "Because I'm prettier, Daddy."

We also had some relaxing boat rides.

Back at the cabin, we had some time to read and take care of a little business.

We also got to celebrate Independence Day.

It was the perfect night for a fire by the lake.

And the perfect night to sleep in a tent.

We had plenty of time to hang around with family and be silly.

This time it was warm enough to swim.

Auntie Katie & Hans cooled off in the lake also.

Hans and Ellen took turns on the raft while Lucy did something new.

After a LOT of talking, encouraging and downright bribing. Lucy swam by herself with armbands on. She was so nervous and didn't want to let go for a long time. When she finally did it, she was so happy and she just loved it!

We are so proud of her!

I told her that if she did it, she could pick any reward she wanted. She picked Strawberry bubble gum. We got her a pack on the way home. She ate 4 pieces on the 2 hour drive.

Before we headed for home, the girls posed for a couple 4th of July pictures for me.

Here's to many more happy times Up North!

Talent Show 2011

2011-06-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

We know some talented kids! To showcase their skills our friends, the Swenkas, hosted a Talent Show last weekend.

Here is Drew Grismore rocking 'Should I Stay or Should I Go'.

Some of the Barnhardt Girls & Katie Bell Grismore did a choreographed dance.

The Selim boys did a stand-up comedy routine.

Chloe Johnson was a beautiful ballerina.

Jack Swenka showed off his biking skills (Just like his Daddy. . .)

Josie 'Evil Kenevil' Jones.

Elizabeth wanted to be just like the big girls.

They sang along with Go Fish!

Gracie, Katie & Olivia sang and did a little giggling too. . .

They were talented and unbelievably cute!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-06-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

A little late is better than never, right? How many times have I said that. Finally, here are pictures from Memorial Day Weekend.

We started the weekend out with a little trip up to Taylor's Falls with our friends, The Carters.

The big girls did a little hike while we cleaned up after lunch. Here are Bella, Lucy & Lucille.

Elizabeth and Ellen had to get some pictures in as well.
Ellen also wanted to demonstrate how strong she is.

Then we all headed up the trail. The big girls had the lead with Moms chasing after them and Dads & littles following behind.

As we hit some of the bigger hiking areas Ellen and I stayed closer to the bottom.

After Lucy came down, she let me get a quick pic too.

A quick shot of me and my gals.

Another attempt. . .

The girls hit the rock walls again.

Then we went out of the park for a sweet treat.

The next day we got to head up to the cabin for a little more fun. We got to hang with Sam, Paola & David for a few hours before they had to head back to the cities.
Lucy and David had some fun with new water shooters.

Ellen did a different kind of shooting.

That night, Ellen slept in a big girl bed for her first time!

However, It only lasted a few hours. She woke up 'scared', so I crawled in with her and spent the rest of the night with her.

In the morning, the three well rested members of the family headed out on the dock for some fishing.

While they were fishing, a new toy almost got away! Grandma to the rescue.

As punishment for not going in after it, we made Jer get in it!

Can you see Ellen's little face in there with Lucy?

Being a big blueberry seemed like so much fun at the time. . .

The girls climbed in with me and Dad sent us for a spin. Well, not really, the rolling happened one at a time, we just all had to get in for a picture.

Great fun. Great weekend. See ya next year.

Hopefully I'll blog before then!

Ellen's 2nd Birthday: Part 2

2011-05-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

On Ellen's birthday we packed up the car and headed to Viroqua for a few days. It had been Auntie Sandy's birthday earlier in the week and we thought the birthday girls should celebrate together. I snapped a quick picture of Ellen in the front yard before we left. She picked this dress out at the store and was so excited to get to wear it.

Ellen got to ride on the yellow donkey when we got there.
Other special guests were there for the party as well. We had the honor of picking up Molly from the airport in mpls and brought her with us. Mindi, Ryan & Jim were in Viroqua when we got there.

We spent some time at the park. Ryan found some treasures.

Mindi and Lucy loved just being together.

They were saying 'Buz Lightyear to the rescue!'

Ryan checked out the dragon.

Here is our attempt at getting all of the kids together for a photo. . .

The next day, the little monkeys made a banana cake for Ellie & Sanny's birthdays.

Since it was a banana cake and I'm a theme-a-holic, It had to be a curious george party. The banana cake was the 'yellow hat'.

Here are the birthday girls.

Gram & Ellen

After cake, we opened presents. Ellen had one big present outside. She pulled the cover off and said 'Now??'

Then she hopped in with Lucy.

And away they went for a wagon ride.

The next day was Mother's Day. After a big delicious breakfast, we headed out for a hike.

Lucy brought a few of her new favorite things.

Gram & Auntie Sandy took the girls to check out the view.

And Little Ellie enjoyed picking many dandelions.

Well, I'm tired just looking at the pictures. It was a fun filled five days!

Ellen's 2nd Birthday

2011-05-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Our busy little bee is turning 2! Even though her birthday is tomorrow, we had to start the party today since she is such a busy little girl.

Grandma & Papa, Auntie Katie, Uncle Tom & Hans came over for supper and cake to celebrate with the little 'honey' tonight.

Mommy & Daddy made her cake!

It is amazing that I got this picture. Ellen was VERY excited to blow out the flame for her birthday. She kept blowing out the match before Jer could get the candles lit. She finally let him light the candles for a split second.

We are headed to Auntie Sanny's house tomorrow for a few more days of partying and hanging out with more family.

Happy Birthday Ellen.

Easter

2011-04-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day we had celebrating Easter with our family.

The girls were so happy to be able to sit out in the grass for a picture before we went to church.

After church we headed up to Grandma & Papa's house to spend time with the whole Kobie family. We took a little more time for family pictures.
Jer's mom just got back from a trip to Peru. She brought these amazing boots back for us. We all got to be together to wear them!

After lunch, the egg hunting began. Here are Em & Al with Grandma and some found eggs.

Kim helped Molly find some in the high spots.

She found the low ones on her own.

I got a few close ups as the kids were looking through their treasures.

Ellen found some candy in her eggs.

And then someone helped her find some more. . .

Hans had some too. . .

All of the kiddos sat together for a few seconds.

What a beautiful day it was to spend with family and remember the amazing sacrifice that our Jesus made for us. He is risen!

Little Animals

2011-04-22T12:01:00.001-07:00

The 'Kobycousins' are all in town this week. It is always so much fun to get this bunch together. Grandma, Papa & I decided to take all of the little animals to see the little animals at the zoo. It is farm baby time at the MN zoo and the kids were excited to go see the animals and to get some play time together.

Our first stop was at the outdoor play area that just opened up this week! Lucy and Emily were weaving webs.

Ellen went for a boat ride

Then, all of the cousins went for a ride on the MN state bird. The mosquito! They are all shouting "Minnesotaaaaa'.

Then we headed out to the farm. The kids loved feeding the 'kids'. Har Har Har.

Then they went to see the baby chicks.

Baaaawwkk!

What a cute little farm baby!

They had a great time together. We missed Hans & Katie today, but all of the little animals will get to be together on Sunday. Can't wait!

Adventures in Hair Cutting

2011-04-20T18:48:00.001-07:00

'Mommy, I want short hair.'

'Well, let's talk about that a little.'

'Can I cut my own hair?'

'Absolutely not. . . Lucy, Did you already cut your own hair?'

That's how it started. Then, there was some talking, a chunk of hair found underneath the kitchen table, the dreaded consequence of no scissors for a week. But, all's well that ends well, right?

Here is her long hair, you can just barely make out a piece that she cut.

Here you can see some of it a little better (on the left side of the picture). It really could have been a lot worse. But, it is still quite a bit shorter than the rest of her hair.

I decided that I shouldn't try to fix it by myself, so I took her to my salon. Which. . . she LOVED!
Here she is at the beginning of the cut. She is smiling in the mirror.

When she was getting her hair dried, she was laughing and giggling the whole time. It tickled.

Here she is with her stylist, Amy. She loves her new shorter hair.

Today, she was bummed that she still couldn't use the scissors.

Easter Eggs

2011-04-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Lucy and Jer got the tablets all dissolved and the eggs supplies ready. Here they are trying to say 'Can we start yet??'.Ellen was happy to wait for Mommy! She wasted no time getting started when she could. And no time getting messy!

Lucy chose the multiple egg strategy.

She loved her new bunny ear tongs.

This is one of my new favorites. Their faces are just too much!

Ellen had just as much fun putting stickers on her as she did on the eggs.

Lucy was excited to peel one at the end.

Some of the finished masterpieces.

Is tomorrow too early to have egg salad?

A day at the park

2011-04-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally wonderful again in Minnesota. Yesterday we spent the day at a local park. The girls ditched their shoes and socks the moment we got there and loved every barefoot minute!

Ellen wanted to get right into the swing.

Lucy followed and showed me that she could pump her legs and swing by herself! She had a great time playing with the big sand crane.

Ellen spent a little more time on the swing.

Then she hit the slide. I have a picture of Lucy at just about the same age on this slide. It just tugs at my heartstrings to see Ellen there now.

I brought lunch with us, so we could have a picnic. Someone else almost beat us to it!

A quick note to Annmarie - this is reason #452 why I hate squirrels!

Whenever the girls see a squirrel, they shout at it. 'Go Away, you pesky squirrel!'

We chased that squirrel away and we did get to enjoy our lunch.

Lucy wanted me to take a picture of her "Happy" face. Here it is:

Ellen too (of course):

After lunch the girls played some more.

They had to dig in the sand a little, just to get as dirty as possible! This is a favorite picture of Ellen. If her hands aren't in her pockets, they are on her hips.

It was such a great day! The fresh air and sunshine did wonders for us. When we got home the girls slept for about three hours and mommy got a wonderful break!

The Superman Prayer (The silly version)

2011-03-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just a few more pics from Sanibel

2011-03-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

St. Patty's

2011-03-17T19:51:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patty's everyone!

While Jer was out getting a complete corned beef and cabbage dinner for us today, Lucy and I made a baked ham and cream cheese filled shamrock. I thought that the girls would end up eating only the shamrock for supper, but, the corned beef and cabbage won. I can't believe I haven't had this before. It was so delicious!
A quick shot of the girls and I all in our green. Ellen made her hat at the YMCA yesterday. She loves wearing it.
We also had our first bike ride of the year today. The sidewalk was finally clear and it was almost 50 degrees.

Ellen was happy to go along for the ride also!

Sanibel

2011-03-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

My Valentines

2011-02-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

My special girls woke up to a special breakfast this morning. They were excited to have the table set and treats at their places.

Last night they helped make their place cards.

Happy Valentines Day to my two very special valentines!

And to you!

The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon

2011-01-30T19:31:00.000-08:00

Just a few pictures from the Sled Dog race. Camera battery issues and children wanting to be held limited the amount of time that my camera was out and snapping.

The hotel that we stayed at has an outdoor pool on the roof that is open year round. Sunday morning we just had to hop in.

The white stuff on the pool chairs is snow. It was about 15 degrees outside, but in the water, it was great! Ellie just popped up for the picture, we all hunkered down and had such a fun time.

Lucy's Fancy Fourth Birthday Party

2011-01-18T21:04:00.001-08:00

Fancy Lucy really got to have a spectacular weekend of birthday celebration. We started with an overnight at Lucy's great-grandparents house. There she was pampered with presents,

(a lot of) cake and ice-cream and tons of love and attention from the 'corkers'.

Then we headed down to Milwaukee for a few days in a hotel. These next few days were inspired by one of our favorite Fancy Nancy books. Lucy and I did a 'hunt' for an automatic ice dispenser and a candy machine, just like Nancy. Lucy had a mini spa day in the posh, spa-like bathroom in our room and to top it all off, she had her party at the hotel.

Here is Lucy with her Fancy Nancy doll.
Here, Mindi and Lucy are doing poses for the camera.
Side note: Lucy has always wanted to buy a huge jug of cheese balls. Don't they look fancy on the table???

I managed to get pictures of the birthday girl with most of the guests.

Here she is with 'Auntie' April.

Gram, Lucy, Annmarie & Earley

Auntie Mal

Auntie Ginny and Geno

Grandpa Steve & Anne

Of course she got some new dress up clothes. She wasted no time trying them out!

The girls! Mindi, Addy, Ellen & Lucy

Ellen and Michael.

Ellen had the candy necklace and a pink sucker at the party. When I took her shirt off after the party it was hard and sticky!

Little Ellie barely made it to the bed. She crashed after the party.

Lucy found the strength to try on a few more outfits and play with Nancy and a new doll. Here she is finally winding down for the night with Gram.

It was a fancy weekend for a fancy girl.

New Years Eve with the Crazy Grays!

2011-01-10T18:49:00.001-08:00

We started the weekend off with a toast!

That is one of the few pictures I actually took. Sorry guys! I did manage to get one of each of the girls opening a present from Gram. Here is Lucy opening her new Fancy Nancy doll.
Ellen with her Elmo package.

So - the rest of you need to post some pictures online so I can steal them!

Thanks to everyone for coming. Miss you!

Help Lucy become a character in a new Fancy Nancy Book!

2011-01-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

http://photocontest.fancynancyworld.com/photos/view/629

Vote For Fancy Lucy!

Christmas with the Kobs

2010-12-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

This year we got to go back to Westboro for Christmas. We got to spend a few days with Jer's grandma. Her house holds so many wonderful childhood memories for Jer. We love that we can bring our girls to spend time with great-grandma Kobielush. Here are Lucy and great-grandma.

The whole family came back this year. On Christmas Day, we all went on a horse drawn sleigh ride through the snowy forest. It was so beautiful! The horses had sleigh bells on, the snow crunched, we sat on hay and plaid blankets. It was exactly what you would imagine it would be.

After the ride, we went into the lodge to warm up with some snuggles. . .

...and hot chocolate.

The next day, we all bundled up again and went sledding.

The kids had a blast!

Along with sledding, there were 4-wheeler rides,

fort building,

and general winter cuteness!

A gathering with all of the cousins wouldn't be complete if we didn't try to get a picture of all of them together. Here it is. All of the kids with great-grandma. Yep, Molly is in there at the bottom, so it counts!

We were blessed with so many gifts this weekend, the wonderful weather, gifts under the tree and a whole family to celebrate the most amazing gift; the gift of a Savior!

Merry Christmas.

2010-12-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

From

The Kobies

Grandmas

2010-12-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

Our girls are so lucky to have two grandmas and two great grandmas that love them so much. Both girls love spending time with their grandmas and get very excited every time they get to see them.

We talked about those grandmas a lot today. Lucy's school was cancelled, so we had all day to hang at home. It was too cold to go outside. As I was getting their clothes out, I saw t-shirts that Milwaukee Gram sent to them. They say 'Mom's little cookie taster'. So, they got dressed in their shirts and down to make cookies we went.

They did all of the cutting out and decorating with sprinkles.
According to the shirts, they had to be the tasters too!

Last weekend, Grandma K. watched the girls for an afternoon. She made them mac-n-cheese for lunch. When we came home they also had a new song to sing for us. Today, they had mac-n-cheese for lunch again and were singing the song again:

We love you Grandmas!

Snow Day

2010-12-12T11:37:00.001-08:00

Maybe the title should be 'Snow Days' since we are on the second day of confinement. Yesterday it snowed and blowed all day. The girls and I did not venture out. It was treacherous! Today we are officially stuck. It is 2:15 and our street has not been plowed yet.

Here is the view from my spot on the couch under my electric blanket. I think it is so beautiful! I love the branches, the lights and the snow. Both girls snuggled with me in this spot yesterday and watched movies. It was great.

Here is the view out my window this morning. Jer had to go out and move the cars to the other side of the street for the snow emergency. FIVE of our neighbors came to help him dig the cars out and dig a new spot for them on the other side!
After the cars were moved, the girls got to go play while Jer got started on the walkways. Ellen went as far as it was shoveled and then came running back to safety.

Both girls loved running in the trenches.

Can you see Ellen?

Sidewalk?

I ventured out past the shoveled walk to get this picture. This is our street!

The girls got a little tired from all of the playing. I hurried inside to get the hot chocolate ready! Ellen wore her hat and snow pants for at least an hour after she came in. Maybe she will turn into a winter lover after all.

St. Nick

2010-12-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

After a long day of lollipops, chocolate & gifts, the girls are asleep upstairs in new jammies that they got this morning from St. Nick.

The stockings were set up under the tree when they woke up. Somehow, before I was even out of bed, Lucy was running into my room with a lollipop.

Ellen loved the Elmo jammies the moment she saw them.
Lucy was still loving the lolli. She did put her new jammies on to eat breakfast in too.

This evening, the girls got to open some St. Nick presents that Gram sent. This isn't the greatest picture, but I just had to document that Gram got to watch the girls open the presents via skype. I LOVE skype!

Before bed, I wanted to get a picture of the girls in their jammies. They would only do it if Daddy would be with them. So cute!

Happy St. Nick Day to all.

Nashville

2010-11-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

We have just returned from a trip to see Uncle Bruce and Auntie Julie. We all had such a blast. Jer got to spend some time with Bruce and do some fly fishing, I got to hang with Julie and do some serious power shopping and the girls got to:

Have a tea party as soon as they arrived, in jammies and all. They also got to go to a great place to eat with some real down home cooking. Lucy had biscuits and jam and Ellen tried grits for the first time.

Here are Bruce, Ellen and Lucy at the cafe. Well, Lucy's hand holding up Brown Bear.

The girls also got to have a little tractor ride.
We did a tour of Nashville this visit also. Jer and I loved seeing 'Music Row'. Here is Jer playing Elvis' guitar. He wishes! He is in front of the building where Elvis recorded some of his hit songs.

While we were on our tour, Julie was setting up for a very special tea party.

Lucy found a special gift on her place card. It is a ring with three tea cups on it.

I was lucky enough to be invited also. Here we all are in Julie's tea room.

Here is the guest of honor taking her first sip of tea.

There was also a spot for Brown Bear, who is a special guest from Lucy's school.

Lucy and Julie

Ellen returned from a trip with Daddy at the end of the party and got to sit with us for a little snack.

Here is Lucy on tea party day.

Ellen wanted to be part of the fanciness too, she pulled Lucy's tutu skirt from the suitcase and pulled it on.

The looks on the girls faces sums it up. We had a great time. Thanks Bruce and Julie!

Halloween

2010-10-31T19:54:00.001-07:00

What a Happy Halloween we had. We started the day with a quick, but fun, breakfast of pumpkin pancakes before heading off to church. Here are the girls with their pancakes.

Then we raced back home to start preparing some special treats for some special guests.

The whole group headed out for trick-or-treating. Well, not the whole group. Grandma K. stayed behind to hand out candy at our house and Papa K. was the photographer in this one. Thanks Guys!!

Here are three of the little munchkins giving a final pose before taking off in search of lit porch lights.

Our neighborhood totally rocked it this year! Here is Lucy across the street from our house. Can you see her in the scary graveyard?

David and Lucy just wanted to hold hands as they went.

Pao & DavidHere I am with spider girl and the pink puppy.

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day of silly, spooky fun!

Fall Fun

2010-10-14T19:42:00.001-07:00

Another fall means another trip to our favorite fall place. Fall Harvest Apple Orchard!

The girls had fun picking out pumpkins!

Aww, Ellen and Jack, so cute. . .

Oh, wait. This is where you end up when you hug the 'Jack Attack'.

Good entertainment while waiting for the tractor ride.

The kids got to stop in the field and pick an ear of popcorn and a gourd. I love Melissa taking a picture of Tarek doing the same thing in the background.

The girls got to carve at home. They are serious goop lovers!

Happy Fall Everyone!

The Wedding

2010-10-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here comes the bride. . . This has been the song that has been in our house for weeks. Lucy has been humming it and singing it since her flower girl dress arrived and she got to start practicing. Well, last weekend the bride and the groom went down the aisle and we got to be there with them.

At the rehearsal, Molly and Scott gave each of the flower girls the most gorgeous personalized pillows that Scott's mom made. Lucy is sleeping with hers as I am writing this.

Then it was the big day. Molly's colors were all fall inspired.
The reception was decorated with fall flowers, carved pumpkins and was warmed by a huge fireplace. At the end of the evening I got to look in from the parking lot and it was glowing with white lights and the light from the fire. It was so beautiful!

Lucy and Mindi were off to their own imaginations while waiting for the wedding to start.

The kids played on the porch of a little historic cottage.

Then, down the aisle they went.

A beautiful day, a beautiful wedding, a beautiful couple. Thank you to Molly and Scott for letting us be a part of your day and for making it such a special day for Lucy. You have always been special to Lucy, she is still talking about Scott being the 'ring bier' at her wedding. Scott just might get to be the worlds oldest 'ring bier'.

Preschool

2010-09-08T19:49:00.001-07:00

Today was the big day. It was Lucy's first day of preschool. She was so excited to go. She had already met her teachers and had her backpack all packed and ready. Just before we left, she decided that she needed to bring a special friend with her (just in the car, mom). So, here is my baby girl. . . ahem, big girl on her way out the door.

She is showing off her backpack.
On her way down the walk.

At school!

This is in her classroom. When they get there each morning, they find a place on the rug for story time. This was just before she turned around, held up her little finger at me and said. 'Mom, it's time for you to go now.'

Unexpected Sparks

2010-09-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”
Samuel Johnson (English Poet, Critic and Writer. 1709-1784)

Family Picture

2010-08-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

The crazy mom vibe took over once again, except this time it took over 5 women at the same time. Kim, Katie, Paola, Grandma Kobielush and I all decided that we should have a picture of all of the little cousins together. This seems like a reasonable thing for a family to want, right? Other families have this, right? Well, we have some pictures. Here they are:

The next one is my personal favorite. Allie is just priceless!

And... We're done.

Yep, that's it.

The more I look at them, the funnier they get. I just might turn out to be one of the people who sends the worst snap for the Christmas card picture.

Family Camp

2010-08-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Year three of family camp has come and gone. A highlight for Lucy this year was catching her first fish. Here she is just after she reeled it in.

She gave it a little kiss to send it back home.
Heston also caught his first fish.

And Bella!

I think Seth caught his first fish too. Can you see it?

We also had some smores by the camp fire.

Some of the parents snuck out after the kids were in bed. . .

Here is the whole crew

Family Camp 2010!

MOPS Convention

2010-08-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending 4 days with 3 of my girlfriends and 2 thousand other MOPS moms at the 2010 MOPS convention. It was a great time to learn, connect and get energized for another year of serving moms. Here I am at the convention with Katie, Mallory and Kimber.

All of our kids spent the time back home with grandparents and aunties. Here are just a few pictures of one of the special days that my girls had while I was gone.

I know there were many more pictures taken, but after many e-mails and at least an hour trying to get them to upload, these are the ones that made it.

The girls had a blast with Auntie Sandy, Gram and Mandi while I was gone. I've heard stories of build-a-bear, mac-n-cheese, trips to Target, special sleeping arrangements and many other 'special' events while I was gone.

I'd like to give a 'special' thanks to Sandy & Gram for traveling far to take such wonderful care of my babies while I was gone.

My house this morning

2010-08-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

Stinky AND Stinkin' Awesome. . .

2010-07-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

. . . to steal a phrase from a friend. Perry, the corpse flower, was both stinky and stinkin' awesome.

On Sunday, we drove down to Gustavus Adolphus University to visit the biggest flower that I have ever seen! Perry began to bloom and give off his repulsive odor on Thursday and the green house where lives was open for viewing until Sunday. This is only the second time we have had a corpse flower bloom in Minnesota, so we just had to go see it for ourselves.

Here are some pics:

Here are the girls before we went in. I don't think they knew what they were in for.

And, the girls inside:

That gives you a pretty good view of the size as well. The bulb is filling the pot. It is getting so large, that the pot is buckling. You will see in the next picture, that it has grown to be over six feet tall. It is quite a bit taller than Jer!

So long Perry - I hope you live to bloom again!

Summer Fun

2010-07-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Girls Weekend

2010-07-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

Another fun weekend in Viroqua has come and gone. We had a great time at the farmer's market and 'Crazy Days' and even had a FABULOUS Mexican dinner at a new restaurant.

We also had some fun at the house. The girls were 'bathing beauties'.

Of course, they had their special yogurt breakfast

Mighty was banished to, I mean escaped to, the deck for most of the weekend.

We did join her for some relaxation. I managed to get one picture of Sandy smiling. I don't think she knew I was taking a picture.

If she knew I was coming with the camera, she would have done something like this:

Gram had time for a smile and so did the girls

Lots of fun, but way to short. Next summer, we need a week!

4th of July 2010

2010-07-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

I had dreams of taking the greatest pictures of my girls on the 4th of July, in their newly created t-shirts, with awesome fireworks behind them. Of course I had dreams of 'the perfect family picture' of all of us with red, white & blue on. I had dreams of me posting a video of Lucy reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Here is what I have in real life:

"Mom, I have something on my head."

"Mom, Ellen has something on her head."

"Hey mom, my friends came over to watch fireworks. We want to pose for a picture."

"Sure hon, Lucy and I will be in a fireworks picture."

We are still working on the Pledge of Allegiance too.

4 ways we are getting ready for the 4th

2010-07-03T13:28:00.000-07:00

Lucy and I are getting festive nails
We are going to a friends birthday party
Red, White, and delicious!

We're getting a little creative

Happy Fathers, Shabby Mamas & Buz Lightyear

2010-06-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well, not in that order, but that pretty much sums up our weekend. We started on Saturday going to the 'junk market' with the Shabby Mamas. The Shabby Mamas are a group my friends who are amazingly talented and have taken old furniture and home decorations and refurbished and recreated them into beautiful new pieces. I was just delighted to be able to display some of my shirts in the Shabby Mama booth. The ladies sold many of their items and I even sold two shirts! Here is a peek at some of the things in the booth.

The Shabby Mamas

Later that afternoon, Jeremy and I met his cousin Kathy and two of her kids to see Toy Story 3. Here are Lucy and I with Kathy and Mary.

Lucy and Mary

Here is the group getting ready for the show to begin.

For Father's Day, we made our yearly trip to the strawberry field. This year we went with our friends, the Carters. Here are some pictures of our gorgeous girls picking and sampling some of the berries.

Ellen

Elizabeth

Bella

Lucille

Lucy

The girls picking in their own spot.

When we were done picking, Jer and Ellen went to order us some ice cream with strawberries, Yum!

Good to the last drop!

Got ice cream?

The whole group.

Happy Father's Day guys!

The Cabin

2010-06-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

This post could also be titled 'Better Late than Never'. A few weeks ago, we were able to get up to the cabin for the day. I forgot my camera, but Grandma K. snapped a few cute pics for me.

It was a little chilly to swim, but Lucy still tried on Davids spiderman goggles and fins.

The two of them also played ping-pong on the new table.

Hey - Can I go out there?
O.k. I'll just stay in here and snuggle with Papa.

We have a few big things coming up this weekend. I'm charging the camera battery as I'm writing this. I WILL take pictures!

These Days. . .

2010-06-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since our last post. You may be wondering what we are up to these days. We have been doing a lot and Mommy has been bad at bringing the camera. We did manage to catch a few things with the phone, so please forgive the photo quality. Here is what we have been doing:

Lucy had a friend over to watch a movie

She has been hanging out with her playgroup buddies
Every once in a while, she even smiles for the camera

Ellen is now driving. She is very serious about it, as you can tell from the expression on her face. She has mastered 'reverse'. We will keep working on going forward.

She has been playing in her new playhouse with her big sis

She has also started to feed herself with a spoon

So, there are a few snaps of our life from the past few weeks. We'll try to be better at keeping you all updated over the summer.

How To Create A Monster

2010-05-19T21:04:00.001-07:00

1. Allow my three year old to get out of bed early

2. Go shopping then have friends over

3. Allow child to skip her nap

4. Go to another friends house for a late dinner

5. Stay out past child's bed time

Ohhhh. . . Wait. . . that is another kind of monster. . .

This one was easier to make and easier to pin down.

I did create both kinds of monsters this week. Lucy is back to her usual sweet self and this little guy will be heading to a 1st birthday party and going home with someone else this weekend.

Ellie Bellie's Parties

2010-05-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

Our lucky little one year old got to have 2 parties for her 1st birthday. The weekend before her Birthday, we were in v-town having a bridal shower for Molly. It was also Auntie Sandy's birthday that weekend and since the whole fam was around, we thought a celebration was in order. Here are the birthday girls getting a first glimpse at their cake.

Elle even got to have her own cupcake.

Lucy really wanted to get in on the cupcake action and since it was actually Sandy's birthday, she just had to jump in! The following week we had Ellen's party at home.

Here are some of the party goers singing Happy Birthday to Ellen.

More party people.

I was trying to get nice pictures of all of the party attendees. I abandoned that plan after this picture.

Here is Ellen enjoying her cake. She had practice with the cupcake, so this time she was ready to dig in!Momma & Daddy with the birthday girl.

Yay cake!

Then it was on to presents. Elle had a few helpers.

The happy birthday girl.

I haven't been too emotional, but I'm a little teary eyed as I am writing this. It sure goes fast.

Happy First Birthday Ellen!

2010-05-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Gum

2010-04-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

I don't post videos very often, but this one is just so good. I had to share it.

Check It Out

2010-04-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

OK - I actually believe that people besides my family read this blog. I got a comment today from another blogger about the flower t-shirt that I made for Lucy. She is doing a 'Make it, Wear it' day at her blog. I added my t-shirt to her list. Check it out:

P.S. I LOVE the name of her blog!

I'll be a tree hugger. . .

2010-04-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

...once I get my newest creation:

on my newest nephew.

I sewed the shirt today. I snapped this pic of my nephew, Hans, a couple of weeks ago when I had the pleasure of watching him while Tom and Katie celebrated their anniversary.

I don't think I have to clarify, but I will. I'll always be a Hanshugger, even if he isn't wearing the shirt. What a little cutie!

New Obsession

2010-04-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a new sewing machine. I did a little upgrade from the one that I had previously been using. I hadn't sewed in a while, but yesterday I got the machine all set up and did a few test strips with Lucy. Then the sewing bug bit me. Last night I was laying in bed, thinking about all of the kids clothes that I see in boutiques that are soooo cute. I always think, 'I could make that'. Well, last night I thought of a design and I gave it a try today.

I started with an old stained t-shirt of Lucy's. I used some left over fabric and a few remnants that I bought today at the fabric store.

I cut 'petals' and pinned and sewed them on one by one.
Then I added some twisted green ribbon.
I also sewed on some fabric button flowers for the middle. My new machine even sews buttons!!!
Here is the finished shirt!

I absolutely love it.
I'll try to get a pic of Lucy wearing it tomorrow.
Stay tuned for more cute kid's clothes.

I'm linking up! This shirt inspired me to create many more. Maybe it will get you sewing too!

The CSI Project

Sleep Over

2010-04-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last night we had our first real sleep over. We had our friends, Pete & Jess and their family, over for dinner and Molly got to stay to spend the night. Here are just a few pics of the 2 big girls getting ready to sleep.

Here is Molly saying 'I'm tired'

Here's Lucy with a big yawn.
These two tired girls must be just about ready to sleep, right?

They did sleep, eventually. They had a few more minutes of talking and swapping stuffed animals to sleep with and then Molly said "Lucy, I tired. I go sleep now." Then, of course, Lucy talked to her a little more and then they both drifted off to sleep.

Morning came and we had to get up and ready for church. Here are all of us girls getting ready.

The girls had one final good-bye before we headed off to church.

Tutus and Training Wheels

2010-04-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last week I took Lucy out for a bike ride. I had Ellen in the backpack and Lucy was pedaling in front of us. She had fallen earlier and had a skinned knee. I could still see it through the pink tutu that she was wearing. I was just watching her thinking of how I loved that she was riding her bike, wearing tennis shoes and a tutu and had her skinned knee. It was such a wonderful image of her at this stage of life. I thought of her in her tutu with her training wheeled bike. I thought of what a perfect metaphor it is for our life. Girly, yet practical, learning as we go. That is us, on a daily basis.

I realize that this doesn't really include Jer. But, this blog is really about the girls. I don't think he will mind. . .

So, this is the inspiration behind the new look and the new title. Tutus and Training Wheels.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Rejoice! He is Risen!

This year we celebrated Easter in all of the most traditional ways.

We decorated Easter Eggs.

The girls searched for and found their Easter Baskets.

Lucy had several Easter Egg Hunts. This was by far the cutest picture. . .

And we even got one more shot at the 'perfect family portrait'. Yep, we're still working on it. . .

We also read tons of children's books about Easter and celebrated at church on Sunday morning. We are so glad that we get to teach our girls about the amazing sacrifice and resurrection of God's own son.

He is risen indeed!

Lucy's Three Year Portraits

2010-03-31T12:49:00.001-07:00

Spring Fever Part 3 - The $5 Challenge

2010-03-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

I've been reading the 'crafty' blogs lately, they have been inspiring my 'redo' projects around the house. I love a limited budget or no budget project. A friend's blog lead me to Living with Lindsay. Here I found the $5 challenge. The challenge was to create a spring decoration with only supplies from a dollar store and only spending $5. This was screaming my name! I headed out with the girls to the dollar store the next day. By the time I saw this blog, I only had 3 days to come up with a project, make it and blog about it. Here goes:

As I was shopping, I saw a basket with blue polka dot trim. I decided that I would make my own Easter basket, since I only have baskets for the girls. This would be something just for me, just for decoration and NOT for little hands. This is rare in my house.

I purchased the flower frames $1 each, the basket $1 and a package of the eggs on sticks (I'm sure there is a real name for these, I think they should go in a floral arrangement) in a package of 4 for $1. I got the ribbon in the dollar spot at my favorite store. . . It was part of a 5 pack for $1. This is how I spent my $5. The rules also allowed the use of paper, glue and tools if you had them on hand. So, I added some scrapbook paper that I had been saving for a rainy day.

First, I took the handle off the basket. I didn't like how it looked and as above, this would just be for decoration. Not something for little ones to carry around, so no handle needed.

Then, I needed some filler. My $5 didn't allow for a bag of Easter grass, so I made my own. It is so much cuter than the stuff in the bag! I just used my zig zaggy scissors and cut up some of the paper.

Ok, little hands were involved in the project. I just can't keep them away. My little helping hands crumpled up the strips that I cut and filled my basket for me.
Then, I used some of the other paper to embellish the frames and the basket.

Viola! Here is Mommy's Easter Basket. What could be better to fill my basket with than pictures of my little chicks!

I left the little boxes empty just in case someone wants to stop by with some chocolates or jelly beans. . .

That's it for my $5 challenge and maybe for my spring fever. The weather has been beautiful for MN lately. Do I dare believe that spring is actually here?

Vacation

2010-03-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

It was hard to choose just a few pictures for this post. . . so, I didn't . I took over a hundred. I know my mom is the only one that would actually want to see them all, but there are so many that I just love.

MUCH to my dismay, there isn't a good one of all four of us. It might take me until our next Florida vacation, but I'll get over it eventually. Here are my favorites of Jer and I with both girls.

I also have quite a few pictures of the scenery, the shells and the wildlife. Here are my top three. I loved the pelicans. They were huge. I only saw one swoop down and grab a fish out of the ocean, but they were everywhere on the beach.

The first day we were there, we were greeted by a dolphin. It came so close to us. It was chasing a fish around and actually caught it and threw it up in the air once. Awesome.

The gators! We had to do it, maybe you thought we were kidding, but Jer for sure had to go to a 'gator farm'. The ones behind Lucy are real. . .

Here are my faves from the beach.

We made a stop at the Twins spring training facility.

On the way down and the way back, we stopped in Nashville to visit Jer's aunt and uncle. Here are some pics of the girls at Uncle Bruce and Auntie Julie's.

Lucy was pretty much given carte blanche in Julie's closet. Jewelry, shoes, handbags etc. Lucy tried it all and loved every minute of it!

Bruce and Julie have a beautiful home and a beautiful yard. They put this bench in the back yard with the hopes that little visitors would enjoy a rest there. Lucy had the honor of having her picture taken there.

A very special date was set for our return trip. Julie invited Lucy to a tea party. Here they are making plans.
On our way home Lucy got to have her very special tea party.
Here she is at the table. It was completely set with real china, candles and Lucy got to pick which of Julie's tea cups she wanted to use for the day.
Here she is being served her 'tea sandwich'. It was such a special occasion for Lucy and a wonderful stop for all of us on the way home.

We made it home last night, tired, but with smiles on our faces. I think we were in the car for 54 hours round trip. That sounds crazy, but with some toys, books and movies it was a great trip.

I can't wait to do it again next year.

Spring Fever Part 2

2010-02-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

I think the Kobie girls are feeling the spring fever also. We have been going through bins of clothes trying to get things out of the attic for our upcoming Florida vacation. The girls don't want to wait for the vacation. They are ready now.

Of course, when 'headware' is being chosen in our house, the accessory of choice is always. . .

Spring Fever Part 1

2010-02-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

Here in the land of the Minnesota Winter, the Kobies have got a bad case of 'Spring Fever'. Even though it is 25 degrees and there is still snow on the ground, I have spring on the brain. I've been doing little re-do projects around the house to keep me occupied. Here is one I did today.

before

after

A little bit of spring cleaning and spring inspired decor will have to keep me going until the snow stops falling.

Stay tuned for a peek at what the girls are doing. . .

Home-made Granola

2010-02-17T13:03:00.000-08:00

Mix it up

Bake it & Let it cool
Put it over your favorite vanilla yogurt.

Enjoy!

Valentines Fun

2010-02-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

Check out the 'Lovely Day' we had earlier this week at http://justablink.com/2010/02/lovely-day/

Princess Lucy's Third Birthday Party

2010-02-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

When we started thinking of Lucy's birthday party, I had her look through a book of cakes with me. The moment she saw this cake, this was the one she wanted. Since Lucy really loves to play dress up now and also loves the princesses, we decided to go with the princess party.

We invited everyone to come dressed as their favorite prince or princess. Even the grandma's got into the fun.
Grandma K. painted faces.

Castles, balloons and a bubble machine helped keep the kids entertained.

Even Ellen got into the fun.

Mommy and Daddy with our little princess.

Here are most of the kids from the party. There are a few missing, we just couldn't get them all in one place at one time.

The pinata was a 'hit'.

The sugar had no affect on the party goers. . .

Lucy was sad for the party to end. Here she is saying goodbye to some of her guests.

She sees these girls on a weekly basis. However, each time they see eachother or say goodbye, it is such a big ordeal. Little girls are so cute!!!

Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us. We had a great time and hope you did too. For those of you who couldn't make it, we hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

2010-01-25T07:37:00.000-08:00

Our Little Lucy is Three Years Old!

On her birthday, yesterday, she woke up to a festive table so we could do a little celebrating before we were off to church.

Here is the birthday girl opening her princess card. It sang a birthday song to her. If you have seen these cards in the store, you know that they are a little expensive. When I bought it, I thought it was a little ridiculous, but when she opened it and I saw that smile. . . totally worth it!!
Then she opened a few presents.

And had a special birthday breakfast.

Our big girl is also working on potty training. Here she is having a chocolate reward for doing a such a good job.

Later in the day we went to the Mall of America and let Lucy go on some rides. She usually picks the carousel first. Yesterday was no exception. I think she is saying her version of 'cheeaaassseee' for the picture.

She also got to go on this HUGE ferris wheel with Daddy.

They waited in line #3. Jer caught this one of her on her special number.

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet Lucy!!

Thank you to all of you who called and left messages for Lucy. We listened to them all and she loved them! You all helped to make her day very special!

At the Rink

2010-01-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

Little Lucy started ice skating lessons last week. Here is her class in their first few minutes. They are telling the kids to put their hands out and bend their knees. Lucy is in the purple coat and bright pink pants.

Here is a VERY rare moment. All of the kids are standing at the same time!!

Ellen wanted to get in on the action. Here she is waving at her sis.

2010-01-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

We hope you have a fun 2010!

It was a Merry Christmas

2009-12-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

My little cuties by our tree.

We had three Christmas Celebrations this year. One with each side of our family and one at home with just us on Christmas morning.

We celebrated first with my family at Auntie Sandy's. Here is Ellen opening her very first Christmas present ever!

Lucy had a few favorites this year. She loves to play dress up. Here she is in her new wedding outfit.
And look what else she got.

We were at home for Christmas morning. Here is Lucy again demonstrating her opening procedure. Neal on the gift and pull!

Here are Lucy and Ellen opening together. I kept putting the pacifier in Ellen's mouth. Whenever it wasn't in there, she would shove wrapping paper in.

The paci smile.

Later that day, we headed over to Jer's parent's house to celebrate with his side of the family. Here we are getting ready for a delicious dinner - notice poor Katie on the right 37 weeks pregnant and on crutches with a broken ankle!

Elle Belle going for a new toy.

Here is Lucy with her new chalk board. She is also wearing new jammies that came with a matching red tutu!

The fam. This picture was taken with my new remote for my camera!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas. . .

2009-12-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

The tree is up at the Kobie Home. We went to the tree farm again this year and cut down the perfect 'little' tree for our house. Here are Jer and the girls checking out the tree that Mommy likes.

Lucy is supervising while Jer makes the cut.
Lucy was so excited to get a candy cane to eat on the way home. It was actually a good way to keep her awake until we got home, so she would nap in her own bed.

We brought the tree in while she was sleeping and she helped me decorate later that night. I got new ornaments at IKEA this year. It was a great way to have a cute, Scandinavian tree on the cheap. All of the ornaments were under $1, so if any of them broke while going on, it was no big deal. I bought some that were wood and paper and let Lucy do most of those.

Here is our finished product. What a beauty! It was up just in time to put the St. Nick stockings underneath for the next morning.

Here is Lucy on Sunday morning with her stocking.

Here is Ellen with a new Jack-in-the-box that was left in a load of St. Nick gifts from Gram.

Lucy with one of her favorite stocking stuffers.

This picture is a perfect glimpse of the girls right now. Ellen is stuffing something in her mouth and Lucy is stealing Ellen's new gift.

Cuties!

The girls got ornaments from Gram this year also. Ellen wasn't ready to have hers on the tree yet.

Both girls with their ornaments.

Merry Christmas to all. . .