fun (and busy!) times

Apparently another two months have flown by. Wow. We were able to rest a bit on a family vacation, but since then we've had a lot going on. We are experiencing sports leagues for the first time. Violet wanted to play in a lacrosse league and Olivia in a soccer league, so we signed them up. We didn't really know what to expect; it has been fun, but lately we feel like our evenings have been frantic! Violet started lacrosse league at the end of April. She is enjoying it even though she is the youngest age on the team; the team consists of second through fourth graders. They've had a handful of games already and she is starting to come around with figuring out the rules and how to play. Olivia just started soccer yesterday, she enjoyed it and is looking forward to her first game next week. I am proud of both of our girls for trying something new; they signed up without knowing anyone else on the team, which is sometimes hard to do!

Here is what else we have been up to recently!

Second Grade Concert | May 5, 2016
All five of the Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion school second grade classes performed "La Mejor de Segundo Grado" (the best of second grade) on May 5. Each class performed their own dance, and then together they sang about eight songs. Olivia and Violet were very excited because they had been practicing for weeks! It was a great concert, the songs were fun and the kids really got into it.

Olivia performing her class dance

Violet as a princess during one of the songs

California Trip | April 23 - May 2, 2016
We went on a family vacation to southern California at the end of April. I could go on and on about our adventures, but here is the brief version! We drove about a 500-mile loop around the southern part of the state. I really enjoyed the various landscapes we encountered; we spent time in the desert, the mountains, the beach...quite a variety! We went to three state parks, one national park, Disneyland, Legoland, Huntington Beach and more. We also drove part of the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down on our rental convertible, which was pretty fun! Perhaps one of the most interesting stops was a Reptile Zoo where the girls held snakes, iguanas and as a family we held a huge Burmese python. Olivia and Violet loved it and asked if they could work there! We had a great time and enjoyed spending time together as a family (even though we got on each other's nerves at times). :) Each time the girls get asked what their favorite part of the trip was, they say something different, so I guess it is hard for them to pick one favorite part!

Burmese Python at the "Reptile Zoo"

Disneyland Park

Meeting Chewbacca!

Cruisin' with the top down

Font's Point in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Olivia's art on display at the public library | March 2016
One of Olivia's school art projects was selected to be on display at a local library. It was an oil pastel drawing she did of a butterfly in the sky. She was pretty proud of it!

Olivia showing off her drawing

Easter week | March 27, 2016
My parents came down to visit us on Easter and spent part of the week with us. They went bowling with grandkids Olivia, Violet, William and Noelle. They also visited me at work, took the kids out for ice cream, and also to the park. We really enjoyed spending time with them! They also took Olivia and Violet to get their hair colored. It turned out really cute but unfortunately didn't last very long!! Olivia and Violet really enjoyed spending time with Granny and Grandpa.

Bowling!

Violet's hair color

Olivia's hair color

High Tea | March 19, 2016

Auntie Terri took Violet to her church's high tea on March 19th. This is the fourth year of this tradition between Violet and her godmother. It is a fundraiser for the youth of the church; they put on a meal and entertainment for those that attend. This year's tea had a Disney theme so the youth re-enacted scenes from Disney movies. Violet thought it was very fun! She was also very excited because their table was the FIRST ONE into the infamous "dessert room"...literally, a room filled with all-you-can-eat desserts! She had a great time and really enjoys this fun tradition.

Violet and Godmother Terri heading to high tea

spring is coming!

Wow, have I really not posted anything since January 8th? Since spring is almost here it's probably time for an update! The past few months have flown by, even though we've pretty much spent them hibernating. The biggest thrill for Olivia and Violet was Valentine's Day. Other than Christmas, it is probably their favorite holiday of the year. They love making valentines for their friends and having a party at school. We made their Valentine cards this year, they both decided to go with a Star Wars theme. We punched a hole in the cards and inserted a glow bracelet to look like the light saber. The girls were pretty happy with how they turned out, although we kept accidentally snapping and activating glow bracelets when we were putting them together! Oh well, good thing we had extras. This is what their cards looked like without the glow bracelets.

Olivia's Valentine Card

Violet's Valentine Card

A few weeks before Valentine's Day, we were looking at some old pictures of mine. The girls found one of me and my sisters with the valentines boxes we had made that year, I was probably about 10 years old. They asked why we made boxes, I explained that we used to do that for school and that's what classmates would put your valentines in when they were handed out. Well, Olivia and Violet thought it was a cool idea and decided they wanted to make their own valentines boxes. They came up with several ideas before Olivia decided to make a soccer field and Violet decided to make a toilet (yes...as in the flushing kind). So one Saturday we got our supplies together and they worked on their boxes. Olivia cracked me up when she made a scoreboard for her soccer field, the score was Minnesota-92 against Spain-38. I don't think there will ever be a soccer score that high! They had a valentines party at school on Friday, February 12, and both of their teachers said they could bring their boxes in. They were beyond excited!

Olivia with her "Soccer Field" Valentine box

Violet with her "Toilet" Valentine box

I took the day of February 12th off work so I could help with their school parties, which has been our tradition. Luckily, it worked out perfect that Violet's party was in the morning and Olivia's party was in the afternoon, with lunch in between. So I spent most of the day at school with them, which was fun. In each party, the kids rotated between four or five different activities - a game, a craft, a snack, a special activity, etc. I really enjoyed meeting some of Olivia and Violet's friends and getting a chance to see them in their daily school routine. It was a fun day!

Olivia and Violet also enjoyed playing soccer in the month of February. Violet was signed up to play lacrosse which took place at the same time as soccer, but the class was cancelled because there weren't enough kids signed up, so she moved into soccer class with Olivia. This was their first time taking a soccer class, and they both enjoyed it. Olivia actually asked to try soccer because she played it at school and (in her words) she is really good! :) And modest too...

The girls also participated in Junior Great Books at school. It's basically a book club that meets once a week to discuss what type of life lessons they can learn from the story they are supposed to read each week. Even though they have to get up extra early one day a week to make it to the meeting before school, they really love it and look forward to going each week.

On February 20th, we went to the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game as a family. It was Olivia and Violet's first time at a Wolves game. They had a lot of fun, but the definite highlight for them was meeting the mascot Crunch! He walked up into the stands near where we were sitting so the girls really wanted a picture with him. They told me later that he was pretty soft and furry!

At the Timberwolves game with Crunch

The weather has been pretty lovely here for March! Another sign that spring is on the way was having our spring conferences at school last night. We are very proud of both of our girls, they are doing well in school. Their biggest challenge is to improve on the more social side of things - Olivia's teacher challenged her to try to be more patient with others (not too surprising) and Violet's teacher challenged her to talk less in class (also not too surprising). Otherwise, they are both doing well academically and appear to be on their way to moving up to third grade!

happy new year

Happy New Year! Hope you've had a great start to 2016. We had a really fun holiday season. We celebrated our own family Christmas on December 23rd. Jamie and the girls were home during the day, so they made the food for our family meal that we had once I got home from work. They made sushi, lamb roast, mashed potatoes, asparagus and cranberries. The girls also set the table with our fancy tablecloth and dishes. The meal was delicious!! After all the dishes were cleaned up, we exchanged gifts. Olivia and Violet made several gifts for Jamie and me, which was pretty sweet. My favorite was from Olivia, a bunch of rocks covered in glitter. She was really proud and said she made the rocks pretty for me. :)

Christmas Eve | December 24, 2015
On Christmas Eve morning, the girls woke up to find that Santa had come early. He left a note saying that he knew that we weren't going to be home on Christmas Eve night so he decided to come early. The girls were thrilled that they received what they asked for - Olivia wanted Geronimo Stilton chapter books, and Violet wanted Diary of a Wimpy Kid chapter books.

After lunch, we left for Alexandria. We met the entire Thronson family at 2:00 for church. We went to a family service which was great for all of the kids. After church, we all went to the Thronson farm for our family celebration. The kids organized a talent show again. Olivia sang a song in Spanish and Violet made a balloon hummingbird. At the end of the talent show, all of the cousins sang together while holding battery-operated candles (their idea). It was really cute. Then we opened gifts, played Pictionary, and then just hung out together. All of the kids received matching Christmas pajamas as gifts, so they all put them on. We all stayed overnight at the farm which has been one of our traditions.

Violet and Olivia | Thronson Christmas

Grandpa & Grandma with their grandkids

Cousins in their Christmas pajamas

Christmas Day | December 25, 2015
In the morning, the guys cleared off the pond at the end of my parent's driveway so all of the kids could go ice skating. The weather was pretty mild so it was a great morning to skate. The kids all had a blast together! We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and relaxing.

Ice skating at the Thronson farm

Suchy Christmas | December 26, 2015
We celebrated with the Suchy family on December 26th. We ate a delicious meal, then put our special name ornaments on the tree. Nicholas and Chelsey opened their gifts before they had to go to work, then the rest of us exchanged gifts. Violet had to keep Grandpa in line because he kept trying to open his gifts when it wasn't his turn! After that, we played games (Olivia beat Grandma in Battleship) and just enjoyed being together. It was a fun day!

Suchy cousins

Violet and Grandpa

I had the whole next week off work, so the girls and I spent some time at both grandparent's houses. We also visited my sisters at their workplaces, saw the new "Star Wars: Force Awakens" movie (which was awesome), celebrated New Years Eve with Grandpa & Grandma Suchy, visited Jamie's grandparents, stayed overnight in a hotel in Parkers Prairie, and celebrated Chelsey's 16th birthday at a bowling party. It was a fun and relaxing week! The girls were pretty happy to go back to school this week though to see their friends, and it was nice for us to get back to a regular routine. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with our families and look forward to making more memories in 2016!

Merry Christmas!

We went downtown to see Macy's "A Day in the Life of an Elf" display on Sunday, December 20th. Going to Macy's has been our family tradition for many years. At the end, we had our visit with Santa. Violet asked Santa for "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books and Olivia asked for "Geronimo Stilton" books. They also told Santa they were going to spend the day watching football!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! All the best to you in 2016!

eight is great!

Olivia and Violet turned eight on November 29th. As part of our celebration, we went to a Minnesota Wild hockey game on November 28th with my whole family. Olivia and Violet's cousin Evan played hockey with his team during second intermission, which was pretty cool! It was the girls' first time at a Wild game and they really enjoyed it. They even got a hockey puck and certificate to commemorate their first game. The horn blast after each Wild goal was pretty exciting (and loud!) to them. The Wild were up 3-1 in the third period but somehow managed to lose in overtime, but we still had a lot of fun.

Olivia with her "first game" puck and certificate

Violet with her "first game" puck and certificate

We also had another first sporting event for the girls, a Gopher mens basketball game on November 15th at Williams Arena (otherwise known as "The Barn"). It was a non-conference game so there weren't many people there, which in a way was kind of nice. In the third quarter, Goldy Gopher came into the stands near us so the girls were able to meet him. They thought that was pretty exciting!

With Goldy Gopher

On Olivia and Violet's actual birthday, we took them out to eat at Don Pablo's. My sister Terri and her family came with us. Violet won a gift certificate to eat there back in first grade and we hadn't had a chance to take them so they were pretty eager to go there. Every time we go up to visit our parents, the girls can see Don Pablo's restaurant from the freeway. Therefore, every time we drive by they look at it longingly and say "There's Don Pablo's!" So that's why we ate there. What cracked us up the most is that the girls both ordered corn dogs! At a Mexican restaurant! Sheesh. After we were done eating, our waitress came over with two sombreros for the birthday girls to wear, and several staff members sang them a birthday song. They thought it was awesome.

Birthday senoritas

We are winding down now with activities but Olivia has been in tennis class, Violet in lacrosse class and they both have been in swimming lessons. They are looking forwarding to having two weeks off school during winter break. And of course, they are VERY excited for Christmas! They've been counting the days and have told me numerous times how excited they are.

fall fun

Grandpa Pomeranz's 90th birthday | 09.19.2015

We celebrated Jamie's Grandpa's 90th birthday on September 19th. It was pretty amazing because all of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were there! I think Grandpa had a good time, a polka band played for a few hours which he really enjoyed.

Suchy family

Second Grade Update | October 2015

We had school conferences at the beginning of October. Olivia and Violet are both doing their best, so we are very proud of them. I think they are enjoying being in separate classes, although they do miss each other during the day. Olivia's teacher mentioned that she has noticed that Olivia usually needs to go to the bathroom about the time Violet's class is walking down the hall to go to music or gym!

Olivia's second grade school picture

Violet's second grade school picture

Carving Pumpkins | 10.22.2015

Uncle Joey gave each of the girls a white pumpkin that he grew in his garden, so we carved them on October 22nd. Olivia & Violet each did their own face design but Daddy did the carving. Olivia thought her stitches on the face was cool, and Violet loved her screaming mouth. We dug out the pumpkin seeds and later ended up baking them, but after the carving was done Olivia and Violet thought it was pretty funny to make it look like the pumpkins were throwing up.

Olivia and her pumpkin

Violet and her pumpkin

Thronson Birthday Celebration & Halloween | 10.31.2015

We celebrated Emma, Olivia & Violet's birthdays with the Thronson family on October 31st. We had the party during the day - the kids had fun going on a scavenger hunt for candy, breaking a pinata and spending time with each other. Olivia and Violet loved opening gifts (of course)! They were really happy with everything - a fun Ripstik, a cuddly blanket and stuffed animal, Legos and Star Wars clothes. They had to try their Ripstiks right away...it is like a skateboard but the top pivots and it only has two wheels...they had a few falls but got right back up and tried again!

Birthday girls Violet, Emma and Olivia

In the evening, we went trick-or-treating with Emma, William and Noelle around Alexandria. Emma, William and Violet were especially into it-running from house to house and not wanting to quit! At one point, Emma collapsed in someone's yard because she was so tired, she told us to leave her there so she could rest. Olivia dressed as Darth Vader and Violet dressed as a raccoon.

The force is strong with this one.

Violet = raccoon

Suchy Birthday Celebration | 11.01.2015

We celebrated Olivia & Violet's birthday with the Suchy family on Sunday, November 1st. We met at Pizza Ranch in Alexandria for lunch, which is one of our favorite places to eat. The girls really enjoyed seeing everyone, and they were so happy (again) with all of their gifts. They couldn't wait to get home and start playing with everything. It was a fun time!

Even though we celebrated their birthday early, it is still hard for me to believe that they are almost 8. This age is so great because they still love to cuddle with me but yet they are very independent....and yes, definitely frustrating at times, but I am so proud of them!

Update!

Thronson Family Reunion | August 29, 2015

We went to Luther Crest Bible Camp on August 29, 2015, for a big Thronson Family Reunion. A member of the Thronson family was instrumental in the development of Luther Crest many years ago. I went there every summer throughout my school years, so it was fun to see that the camp really hadn't changed that much. The cabins were still rustic, which really intrigued Olivia and Violet, and the chapel was still without air conditioning. There was a great turnout for the reunion. I enjoyed hearing my Dad and others speak about some family history and memories, we had a great lunch, and then the kids went swimming at the Luther Crest beach. It was fun visiting with so many of my cousins that I hadn't seen in awhile. We also got to spend the weekend at my parent's camper, which Olivia and Violet really enjoyed. They went swimming, caught frogs with their cousins, played at the park, and of course enjoyed ice cream from the resort office. Plus, Granny made us some very delicious meals, including fried green tomatoes which Olivia & Violet thought were pretty interesting. It was a very enjoyable weekend!

The whole group at the Thronson Family Reunion

Granny treated the kids to ice cream

Olivia catching frogs

Meet the Teacher Night | September 2, 2015

Olivia and Violet had "Meet the Teacher" night at their school on September 2nd. This was the first time they were going to be in separate classes, which they were a little nervous/sad about. We had to divide and conquer - I went with Olivia to her classroom, and Jamie went with Violet to her classroom to meet their teachers. Both teachers were very nice of course, and it was interesting to see the different teaching styles. Violet's teacher had the room set up with desks in clusters of four or five kids, while Olivia's teacher had all of the desks down the middle of the room, lined up in two rows facing each other. Luckily, the girls' classrooms were pretty close to each other which they were happy about!

Outside of school on "Meet the Teacher" night

First day of second grade | September 8, 2015

Tuesday, September 8, was Olivia and Violet's first day of second grade. They decided to wear matching shirts and necklaces, so if they missed each other during they day they could look at their necklaces and think of each other. (Awww....love those two!) They were pretty sad about being in separate classes but I told them to give it a chance. They were really excited to get on the bus and be on their way! When they got home, they said they had an awesome day and actually enjoyed being in different classes (see...Mom and Dad know a thing or two!). They think second grade is WAY better than first grade. They are doing well, making new friends, reuniting with old friends and having a great year so far!

First day of school

Waiting for the bus

There they go!

Family fun | September 12, 2015

On September 12, Olivia & Violet went to "Cinderella" at the Orpheum Theatre with Granny, Auntie Rhonda, Auntie Nikki, cousins Maya and Emma. They wanted to get dressed up for the occasion and had a great time! They really enjoyed the play, they talked a lot about it the next day and how it deviated from the traditional Cinderella story.

Emma, Violet, Olivia & Maya at the Orpheum Theatre

Why wasn't I at the play? Because I went to the Taylor Swift concert, which was AWESOME! Sang at the top of my lungs with my niece Chelsey the whole time. The effects, costumes and choreography was pretty neat. She even had a runway that lifted up in the air and turned in circles! It was a great time.

YEAH! Taylor Swift concert!

"vacation"

Olivia and Violet spent last week with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They called it a “vacation.” They had a blast and enjoyed spending time with everyone, and they did many special (and of course fun!) things. Here are some highlights:

• Catching frogs at the Thronson farm and at Granny & Grandpa Thronson's camper:

• Getting a horseback riding lesson at a ranch near the Thronson farm (they even had to shovel up the horse's poop at the end):

Olivia

Violet

Shoveling poop

• Tubing/boating up to a restaurant with Thronson cousins:

• Riding in a convertible with Auntie Jill, Rick and cousin Claire, while throwing candy in the Brandon Mid-Summerfest Parade:

• Going to the Glenwood Fair with Suchy's:

• Making homemade ice cream with Granny Thronson
• Getting a tractor/trailer ride from Grandpa Suchy
• Staying up until 10:00 or later (one night they even made it to midnight!)

We missed them while they were gone, but managed to have some fun of our own! Jamie and I went to a movie, went out to eat, and played a round of golf which was a nice treat. We were happy to welcome the girls home yesterday, the first thing they did when they got home was crawl into their beds and tell their blankets and stuffed animals how much they missed them! They had a great time with their grandparents and created many wonderful memories!