Spring break stay-cation

Wheeee, spring break is finally here. Since we had already had our big cruise vacation, we decided to make it a productive, stay-cation, and get some medical work done at Mayo Clinic.

Our kids enjoyed doing simple adventures around the town like playing around with the mannequins at Old Navy. Hahaha!

They also had fun exploring parks around Rochester.

Teyah was living dangerously on the balance beem.

Pure joy.

Pure joy.

And more joy at the park.

The also loved creating their dinner and seeing it cook at the Mongolian grill restaurant.

Once we returned home, the fun didn't end. Our kids loved touring St Paul's Cathedral and then flashing a #hashtag afterward.

Although Kyler was pretty much done with the day, our kids had fun exploring the James J. Hill Mansion. Simple, inexpensive and low-key -- yet memorable!

First time snow bunnies

To kick off spring break, Ellie and Aubrie decided to give downhill skiing a try for the first time ever.

Although we live just minutes from the slopes, we've never given it a shot. In order to get Ellie and Aubrie started, we enrolled them in a beginner lesson. It didn't take long for them to catch on and give the bigger slopes a try.

This is Ellie boarding a lift for the first time.  She was fearless as she zoomed down her first real hill.

As we made our way around the mountain, Aubrie hung out with her buddy Lucy.

Smooth landing off the chairlift. There were no major crashes all day.

Forget the snowplow she had just learned, Aubrie was cruising parallel at times.

It was amazing to see how quickly Aubrie and Ellie caught on.  On the way home, Aubrie suggested that we make the trip to the slopes an annual tradition. We are happy we could expose them to something new.


We met up to grill for lunch with a big crew of church friends; the Mowers, Swifts, Loveridges, Owings, and Parkers.  It was a perfect, sunny Spring day!

Battle of the Books

Much of Ellie's nights have been spent gobbling up books in preparation for the "Battle of the Books" competition.  Ellie loved teaming up with these girls each week, especially Brooklyn (far right) who moved here this year and helped ease the transition to her new school. This picture shows how little Ellie is compared to her peers! She's is in the 5th percentile for height.

Her team ended up in 4th place, which we thought was pretty impressive. It's fun seeing Ellie become more involved at school.

Celebrating a decade of Elliana

Ellie's 10th birthday was full of artistic expressions.

Rather than a big birthday cake, we decorated individual cupcakes with a pallet of creative options.

They girls also expressed their individual creative expression in shirt making.

And the amazing results

It was fun to see Ellie's three worlds of friends (church, school and soccer) combine to celebrate with Ellie.

Ellie loved her special day!

10 things about Elliana:

1. She is such an impressive soccer player. Her footskills and dribbling skills continue to impress coaches. She loves it and switched to a more competitive club. She plays so much soccer, but never complains that she doesn't want to go or that it's too much. We do our best to keep up with the intensity.
2. Ellie switched schools this year and almost seamlessly transitioned to the different learning environment. She is an excellent student. She is responsible, works hard, and is smart!
3. She is shy still, but is overcoming it more and more each year. It's fun to see her come out of her shell!
4. Ellie has a definite talent with her hands. She can knit, create bows, sew things, shape dough, etc. -- even better than her mom sometimes.
5. She is becoming an impressive baker. She makes amazing rolls and desserts with no help.
6. Ellie has a sensitive body. She still gets mouth sores and her body seems to overreact to the tiniest of stressors -- bug bites, cuts, infections, dehydration, hunger, etc.
7. She is such a wonderful and helpful daughter! She loves to help and it only takes one time to ask.
8. She is fiercely competitive, intense, and a perfectionist and sometimes this creates stress.
9. Ellie had a new friend move into our neighborhood who ended up in her school class. This was a huge blessing in helping her transition to her new school. And it has given her a nearby friend to play with after school and on weekends.
10. Ellie made the 5th grade math class this year, and not only that, but she excelled in it.