Super Bowl and Valentine's

Esme enjoyed her friend Najee's birthday party at Grand Slam last weekend.

Parker tried out this recliner that helps you stand up.  He was so confused at what was happening.  We had my parents and brother over for the super bowl. Our spread included the shrimp hot dog I made earlier in the season, mississippi meatballs, queso, guac, salsa, and peanut butter brownies.

Each grade at Esme's school does a stages/theater performance each year. In third grade it's a Black History Month play.  Her class was asked to perform at the district wide celebration on January 12th.  She got to perform on the big stage at Robbinsdale School.  Jimmy attended this performance and I will get to see it in person at the end of the month.

Jimmy made some red velvet valentine's cupcakes for work.

We celebrated with cancy gifts for the kids before enjoying our traditional fondue dinner with Rick and Heidi.

Beer cheese fondue entree.

Chocolate fondue dessert.

Esme didn't want any cheese, but was excited to partake in the chocolate course.

They brought these adorable strawberry shaped marshmallows that had a little chocolate inside.

We ended the night with Esme reading silly MadLibs and quizzing us on movie release dates and run times.  This has been such a fun friendship to foster.

Happy Valentine's!

 

Finishing Out January

We had one last afternoon at SkyZone befroe out memberships expired.  We will be taking a break for a bit, but will do it again! Parker still asks often about going.

Parker's floor hockey season is in full swing now with lots of games.  I can see his skills and comfort growing along with the rest of the team.

We had another big crowd on January 29th with an amazing group of women from his elementary school.  L to R: Social worker, Renee; 4-5th grade teacher, Stacy; 3-4th grade teacher, Anne; educational assistants Amber and Mary.  They were so pivotal for him over the years, especially during Covid.

They had a pizza party after the game with the team from Moorhead.

Esme and I took in an opening weekend showing of the new DogMan movie.  It was so cute.

Parker asked to bring his dino stuffy to church and made sure he had a good view.

More Floor Hockey and Other Fun

We had a proper Coney Dog for the Vikings last regular season match-up with the Lions. They lost, but are still in the playoffs.  Parker had lots of fans at his floor hockey games this month.

Church friends, Tom and Jo, along with Grandpa and Nana came to the game January 13th.

I made a riff on a specialty hot dog from a YouTube channel I follow for The Vikings playoff loss to the LA Rams.  It had french fries, cheese sauce, bacon, and jalepeno relish. It was supposed to have ranch as well, but I forgot.

Esme enjoyed playing with cousins and I subbed for a friend's broomball team in negative outside temps.  My entire body still hurts, but it was so fun!

Esme spent MLK day with nana and a friend at Skyzone and we had a girl's night out with dinner at Applebee's.

Non-Stop Sky Zone

We have been so grateful to have SkyZone as an outlet during winter break.  We went at least once a day from the 26th to the 5th.  Esme is bummed we can't go every day now that school is back in session.

Parker is really getting good at the foam pit rope ladder.

It's gonna be a fun month of jumping!

Happy New Year!

Another low-key holiday for us.  We made an afternoon trip to SkyZone

Then we all got in our jammies and made some New Year's snacks.  Jimmy even tried on Parker's pizza union suits.  Here was the variety of chese we had on our charcuterie board.

Shrimp cocktail and a chicken pizza with gorgonzola cream sauce.

Esme decided she wanted to stay up until midnight so there were lots of activities to keep her going.

She did her final countdown with Animal Crossing on the switch. She was so excited to make it!

Happy New Year!

The last of 2024

We had a quiet Christmas morning with a single gift for each kid.  Parker got a toy dishwasher and Esme got a gymnastics bar.  THey played for a bit before we drove up to Two Harbors to visit the Schottenbauers.

We only got pictures of the dessert! It was a fun, relaxing way to spend the day.

Parker was gifted a SkyZone membership for Christmas and Esme chose to use some of her Christmas money to get her own!  I was back at work the day after Christmas, but Jimmy took the kids for their first session.

They ran in to our niece, Emma, and her boyfriend, Asher.  We also took a family trip to Mall of America!  Esme got a gift card to Build-a-Bear and was excited to use it.

Esme picked out Isabelle from Animal Crossing. They were having a sale so Parker got a chameleon too.  He did so good listening to the instructions they were giving.

We squeezed in a couple rides while we were there too.

We broke out our Seinfeld Trivia cards and Esme loved reading them to us, it was hilarious.

We closed out the weekend with cheddar brats, kraut, and mustard for our 27-25 win over Green Bay in the penultimate game of the regular season.