It's been a bit hectic around here the past week:  concerts, more concerts, and a few recitals for my students thrown into the mix.  On Thursday, Friday and twice on Saturday I had concerts with the Arrowhead Chorale.  Dr. Peds was on call, so our super duper amazing babysitter, Sophie,…

We snuck in an hour of great sledding right after school with our good friends from up the street at the top of the hill.  We loaded everybody up and headed to a perfect kid sized hill at the university that spills out onto a frozen pond.  Everyone had a…

This is just a quick snapshot that I very sneakily took in church yesterday morning before YaYa sang by herself.  The children's choir had their Christmas Program and sang at both worship services.  Sarah sang a solo in one of the songs.  She did beautifully.  She learned the whole thing…

My Auntie Joni sent this picture of Gramma Jan and me in my Christmas card this year.  I am so excited to have it.    

I've been baking cookies, lots and lots of cookies all day.  There are a lot of things happening next week that I need to bring cookies to.  I'm covered in flour, sprinkles, frosting, chocolate, and sticky stuff.  My kitchen is such a disaster that I don't even want to go…

We're not big sports fans around here, but a few weeks ago Dr. Peds bought some hockey tickets at a silent auction to see UMD play UND.  He though Mr. Sneaky Pants would enjoy going along.  The morning of the hockey game, I told Mr. SP about where he could…

Ya Ya won second place in the PTA contest for a story that she wrote.  You might recall a few weeks ago that she was working on a story entitled "Beauty is a Princess Who Doesn't Have to Eat her Peas."  It ended up to be quite a story.  I'd…

Every time I make soup (good homemade, amazing, onionless soup) the youngest kidlets complain.  They mope.  They protest loudly. They like the chunks and hate the "soup juice."  So we compromised, and tried the Grandpa Ron trick.  My dad loves soup, and he always crushes up saltine crackers to fill…

Saturday was Christmas tree cutting day a nearby patch of forest.  Dr. Peds and I had so much fun last year, we decided to make it a tradition.  Mr. Sneaky Pants and The Banana had been looking forward to the day for several weeks.  They were so excited to put…

Ever since the Christmas Parade a few weeks ago, there has been much fascination with the Grinch, (or the Grunch, as he's known in our house).  The kidlets noticed a few grinches at the parade, and I realized that I hadn't ever read them the story.  I really used to…