Fly in friends!

Lucky for the St. Paulie Gal Pals, our friends Dawn and Derek were travelling from Dawn's home in Colorado back to their own home in Massachusetts and had a long lay over in Minneapolis this past Sunday. Dawn took up residence in MN post college. Somewhere along the journey, Dawn entered a circle of gal pal friends, starting with me. Derek came into the picture numerous years back, and joined her in MN briefly before they married. Then Derek whisked our dear friend off to California to complete seminary, then to Germany to intern, and then our Lutheran pastor friend took a church on the East Coast. WHAT!!! You two decided not to return to MN, the epicenter of the Lutheran's in America!!! Too cold for you???

Well, at least we got the pleasure of a quick fly through visit this past weekend. Jess shuttled them to and from the airport. We met for brunch at Bonfires on Grand Avenue, our old stomping ground. There were plenty of babies to hold and toddlers to run after (niether of which existed when they left). The crew was either a great motivator for Dawn and Derek to start a family, or the best method of birth control. I am not sure which...

Dawn is the tall one near the back.

Only two of the six children present are pictured.

NOT PICTURED - all of the men in attendance.

Katelyn & Kalvin's Birthday Party

Saturday afternoon I loaded the Twinners into the Pacifica and we headed in the general direction of home (A.K.A Renville County, Hector, the Farm, etc.). Just after Brownton, we hung a right at the four-way on Hwy 212, and a few miles later we pulled into Koenig Park. We were attending Katelyn and Kalvin's joint b-day party at their home.

K & K are the children of my dearest childhood friend - Cindy K. We all had a fun time. Look at all the kids!

Once in a blue moon I get to see Cindy's sisters, Lori and Jenny, and the rest of her family, which is fun for me. On the car ride home through the dark countryside, my brain washed over long ago memories of Disco Mickey Mouse in their living room, Lori getting sick from pizza (or the cheese), the playhouse, Debbie's baked goods, the pond Chip flooded outside their house one year to skate on, their two tone Suburban, bike rides, cats, sleep overs, Cindy's room in the basement, and so on.

While I took a trip down memory lane, Marly and Dean giggled and babbled for about 15 miles, then drifted off to sleep... (they had Capri Sun juice boxes for the first time. What a treat! Not even the sugar could keep the tired Twinners awake after all the party excitement!)

Kalvin is right in the middle in red - Katelyn is to the left of him & Marly.

Family Photo Fun

Last week we had family photos taken at Victoria's Gallery. I picked this studio in Hastings because I had met one of the photographers from the Gallery at a Gillette event I attended. Nick had helped plan a lovely wine tasting fundraiser, and had a great personality I suspected our family would enjoy.

We had fun at the shoot and Nick just sent me this sampling of photos to share on the blog!

Dean acted like he was the GAP baby. Marly stayed true to form and choose to save most of her smiles for at home. This was not unexpected by Mark and me.

We are delighted with the images Nick and Victoria captured on film.



Click on the photo and it will enlarge on your screen!

The boot hoopla!

There is just a bit of snow on the ground this morning in Blaine. I suspect Marly & Dean will be outside with Nanny Auntie Kelly to check out the white stuff. They have coats, they have mittens, they have hats, and they have snow boots.

Finding snow boots was actually more of a challenge then I anticipated. I wanted PLAIN, sturdy, warm boots. I did not want them to light up. I did not want them to have princesses or hearts or soccer balls or spider man on them. Is a plain jane children's product too much to ask for in this retail driven mass marketed world we live in?

Saturday Mark and I went to Kohl's (I had a coupon). We went to JCPenny (I had a coupon). No snow boot luck. The more we looked, the more we got ticked off by the crowds, the lack of choices, and the lack of costumer service. The truth is, I don't even want more choices. I just wanted to see one good option amongst the sea of branded kiddy stuff. Deep down, I knew I would NOT find this at a big box retailor. Deep down, I know this is why I shop at smaller stores which specialize in a given area.

Monday I went back to the mall and went to Stride Rite. I purchased Marly nice simple pink boots. I purchased Dean nice simple navy blue boots. No coupons, but at least they have a 10% Twins discount. (Although I appreciate the twin's dicount, how am I any different then someone with two kids who need shoes??? hmm...I degress...)

Next year I will be buying their snow boots online at Land's End and avoid the mall all together. Two mom's did alerted me to this fine option before I even started my boot quest. Should have went their FIRST and LAST.

Oh to be Marly & Dean! They don't have to do the shopping, but they were interested in the purchase. Monday night they stomped about testing out their new PLAIN footwear. Then each took theirs off and insisted on wearing the other's for a while.

I do feel slightly redeemed in my wasted time spent boot shopping. I was able to share my experience with my friend Molly (whose son is the same age as Marly and Dean). She has a brand new baby besides, so I bet she is online today shopping Land's End from the comfort of her home for Charlie, and ordering two sizes larger then his shoe size for correct winter fit!

Shoot... they do still need snow pants. NO stuff embroidered on them PLEASE! Well, almost there!

Overall weekend update....

Friday evening I attended an event for work at a small private school hosting a waffle supper and silent auction. Several kids from the school come to Gillette, thus we were being granted some of the funds. Much to my delight, there was a gift certificate on the silent auction for a sitting with the photographer who shot Mark and my wedding - Dietrich Gesk. SCORE for the Thomberg's. I won the item for a very good deal. We just got family photos taken last week at a wonderful studio (also a Gillette fundraising connection), so we will be saving the sitting until next year. The best part is we get the CD after the shoot to print as we like.

Saturday I brought the kids to Rachel's for an overnight. She took them to the Macy's auditorium display. Mark and I had a great evening out with the Lyon's. We ate at the Talk Town Diner in Mpls and had drinks at the View and Figlio's afterward in Uptown. The lights turned on Figlio's at 1:30 am and the parental group could not believe we were out so late. Photo was taken at the View, as we enjoyed espresso martinis.

Hope you all had a nice weekend too. Stay warm!

Weekend Pass

Tomorrow around 10 AM I am dropping off the twinners with Auntie Rachel... and we won't get them back until Sunday morning. Wow! What a deal! Mark and I aren't quite sure what to do with ourselves. We can sleep when we want. We are going to dinner with friends. It will be a nice time for sure.

Thank you Auntie Rachel. Rumor has it the kiddos are going to the zoo and will be meeting new friends too!

Halloween 2008

This Halloween we went to Grandpa David's and Nana Chris's for pizza & trick or treating. Brett and Rachel joined the fun. Obviously both kids loved the candy! I swear, they had a good time and were full of smiles... but not for the camera. We should have taken the pictures FIRST, and then given them their candy. Their only concern once they tasted the sugary treat was getting MORE in their mouth. Notice they have candy in their hand & mouth in every single photo.

Before we left for my dad's, we saw the neighbor girls in costume and collected candy from a few folks who were home.

Where's mom's princess costume?

We were blessed with beautiful MN fall weather. It was a perfect Friday.


Jammies and more candy later in the evening at Grandpa's.
Dean got scared of some the costumes on the trick or treaters that stopped by. Of course they fell sound asleep on the car ride home.