A Walhof Visit

The Walhof's came for the weekend from Sioux Center. Our kids love love love when we have visitors; it means going shopping, going to the MOA, and having an extended slumber party in the basement.

We also went out on Saturday night to the Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate Stephanie's birthday. The kids loved the food and entertainment and loved what they gave Auntie Stephanie to wear for her birthday song.

Carter with Trajan and Damon. (He loves those boys to death, but doesn't really take the time to memorize which one is which and so he used their name interchangeably all weekend.)

Stephanie dancing to her birthday song.

Carter trying on her mask

The Walhof family!

Taylor's 50th Day of School--Celebrated 50's Style

Kindergarten is all about having fun while learning. Every 10 days of school the kindergarten class is visited by a Super Hero named "ZERO THE HERO". The kids get so excited about his visit and learn about the power of the number "zero".

To make things even more fun, they celebrated the 50th day of school in 50's style. We did a lot of talking about the style of the 50's and showed them some clips and pictures from the 50's. I asked Hailey what she thought her kids would wear when they are in school to celebrate 2012? Her answer was "Well, we just wear normal clothes now mom."

Taylor with her teacher

Hannah, Taylor, and Lydia

Taylor, Braden, and Eli (I love it!!!)

Taylor and Jaclyn

Boston Bound

Well, it has taken a lot of thought, prayer, and acceptance (on my part) to come to the decision that we are moving our family to Boston, MA at the end of June 2012. It is not a permanent move however, but for about 14 months. This has been in "the works" for approximately one year already so it really is not "new" news, but I have never written about it in the blog.

Mike will complete his Fellowship in Cardiology at the University of Minnesota this coming June and we are so very excited and proud of him! Mike discovered through his training as a Cardiologist that his passion in the field was focused primarily on Cardiac Disease Prevention. He has been doing a great deal of research concerning this area of prevention and the health care industry is excited to hear his results. This focus led him to apply for a 1 year fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA that focuses entirely on the prevention of heart disease. Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston is part of Harvard Medical School and so in addition to completing this fellowship he will obtain a Masters of Public Health. The program starts July 5th.

The most exciting result of this adventure to the east coast is that Mike signed a contract with the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis where he will begin his employment as a Preventative Cardiologist in September of 2013!!

The road has been so very long for us in regard to Mike's training, but he has been blessed time and time again with open doors that led him into the desires of his heart. It has been a difficult process for me to understand how our family can fit and thrive in this new adventure, but it has become clear over time that is a blessing not only for Mike's career, but for our family as a whole.

The number of details to work out is very overwhelming yet at this time. We are planning to make a couple of trips to Boston for us to finalize plans for our time there. Mike has to begin some research projects out there, we have to find a temporary home, and we have to make some decisions regarding schooling for the kids. At this time, I am planning on homeschooling the kids with the curriculum from the school they are currently attending. The school here has been extremely supportive of my efforts and since we will be enrolling them in the same school when we return it seems to make sense. This being said, I never considered myself a "homeschooling family" and I have a great deal of anxiety concerning this new challenge.

Wow! So that is what has been going on behind the scenes of the normal happenings that I post on the blog. We are so thankful that God has made these decisions clear over time for us and we continue pray for discernment concerning all of the decision left to be made in the next couple of months.

Gymmastics--Winter 2012

Carter and Taylor are in their third session of gymnastics this winter and really enjoy going. We go during the day on Tuesdays to help break up our day at home on Tuesday and to get some energy out of the systems on cold winter days. Carter is in "Tots" and is really learning to do some fun things.

Taylor is back up to speed after having to take some time off from her broken hand in November. She is in the big gym and is doing some pretty cool things on the big equipment.

Carter and Taylor at home

One of my goals going into the new year was to make a better effort with academics with the kids outside of their school hours. Above is Carter's attempt at his name and below is Taylor writing her numbers to 30! I think we are off to a pretty good start, but some room for improvement.

The Syrjamaki Rink

The Syrjamaki rink next door was flooded and ready to go a month before we were able to go out and enjoy it. This has been one of the warmest winters recorded in Minnesota. Instead of ice skating we have been doing things like going to the park and riding our bikes!
This was Carter's first attempt on the ice with skates. He was awful the first time and as most kids do, he caught on so very quickly and was doing great already on his second time out.

Hailey resting.

Taylor resting

Both girls also have ice skating at school the entire month of January. It is quite the task to get 20 kindergartners out on the ice!

Florida............Day 6

Day 6 was our final day of fun in Florida. We went east to Daytona Beach and rented some boogie boards and beach chairs to take in the last of the sun before heading back to frozen Minnesota.
Taylor Ann-----6 years old!!!!!!!!!!

Sisters

Carter was known at the beach for showing some occasional crack and taking on the waves with his second sword of the trip.

Hailey's initial experience with the waves at Daytona was not so good. She was taken down under by a big wave but then got up some courage to brave the waves again on the boogie board with Maddie and Makenna.

TAYLOR ANN TURNED SIX IN FLORIDA!!!!

The attack on the cupcake pinata

Florida............Day 5

Day 5 in Florida was spent at SEA WORLD!

Above and below pictures are of the spectacular dolphin show.

One of the high lights of the trip was the Shamu Show at Sea World. These whale were simply fascinating and so incredibly powerful.

We did sit in the "splash zone" and walked away quite wet from these beasts. I think the kids will remember it forever.

Cotten Candy while waiting for the show to start

Hailey took just a sample of cotton candy

The ride "MANTA". I thriller for anyone over 50 inches. Very frightening; heart stopping.

Hailey, Taylor, and Makenna