Swimming in January

 It's stinkin' cold outside, but Ramsey got some swimming in today!   He was invited to a gal pal's birthday party.  Unfortunately, we arrived when the party was ENDING.  I had written the invite info incorrectly on my calendar.  HUGE MOM FAIL.  When we arrived, people were packing up!   Ugh.

But, one of the little girls (Tage, a classmate of Ramsey's) stayed for a while before they had to leave for another event.   

Tage went on the big waterslide and I really thought Ramsey would follow suit.  I watched as he went up the steps.  I waited for him to come down the slide.  He didn't quite make it this time and soon he was coming back down the steps.  It's a BIG slide, so this one might take some time.  :-)

We stayed for about an hour and a half.   It was still time in the pool with waterslides and such, so Ramsey was still happy.

Winter Carnival at Church

 Each year, we look forward to the church's winter carnival, where they serve supper, snacks, have bouncy castles, and have all sorts of terrific games and activities for children of all ages.

Ramsey and went this year, as Eric was not feeling well.  

Of course, Ramsey's favorites were the bouncy castles.  He's still addicted to these things!  The one was a jumper only.  The other was a bouncy obstacle course with stairs, slides, and such.

They had games with ring tossing, Plinko, basketball, and bowling...

The free-will offering supper was Sloppy Joes and chips.  Ramsey had never had one of these sandwiches before, so when he tried it (and ate most all of it!), we celebrated!   The kid's quite a carnivore, so it was one more tasty vittle to add to his food repertoire.

The last game we played before leaving was the cake walk (er... cake chairs?).  Ramsey played and played and played, but kept coming up short.   After about the 8th try, he FINALLY won!  (They were calling multiple numbers, so the fact that it took 8 tries was quite astounding.)

He was SOOOO EXCITED!  There were four tables of cookies, bars, cakes, and goodies. 

After serious contemplation, Ramsey finally chose some chocolate chip cookie bars.

Then, we headed home.  We're very thankful to belong to a wonderful church that has so many family activities! 

Happy Birthday Ramsey!

 Happy Birthday to our amazing, super intelligent, sweet, caring, inquisitive, military-loving little boy. 

Connor was in town for a friend's birthday party over the weekend.  He stopped over and brought Ramsey a Roblox hat and some cash.  It made Ramsey's day!

For Ramsey's birthday at school, I made chocolate chip and red velvet "ice cream" cupcakes.  The kids always seem to think they're kind of fun.

Time goes by... kids grow up... it's bittersweet.  We're very fortunate to have a terrific little boy in our lives.  Happy Birthday, Ramsey.

Ramsey got some military dress-up and gun loot from Auntie Shana that he tried on for us after school. More gun gear!

Ramsey's 9th Birthday Party

We now have a 9-year-old in the house!  Whaaaaaaaaaaa?!?!?  Next year, he'll be in the double digits. Yikes!

Ramsey wanted to have his birthday party at Allevity.  We invited quite a few kids (with their siblings and parents) and had the soiree a few days before his birthday.  Luckily, we didn't have another blizzard to deal with!

The theme was Roblox (Ramsey's favorite game/platform currently).  I found a cute custom cake topper on Etsy.  I made cupcakes and a layered cake, smashing some Roblox figures atop as decorations.

We ate pizza and visited for a while.   Then... time to sing the birthday song and have cake!

Randomly, the little boys, one by one, got up in front of everyone to "toast" Ramsey, give speeches, tell jokes, and sing songs they'd made up.  It was quite the spectacle and had us in stitches!  None of the girls got up... just the silly boys.

Then, Ramsey got to open up a ton of super cool presents.

He received lots of Nerf and Roblox gifts, Robux, an archery set, Super Goo, and more.  He was pretty stoked!

And, we took pics of each of the kiddos with the gifts they gave Ramsey (so we could remember afterwards, when it was time to send thank-you cards!).  Unfortunately, we missed one pic of Ramsey with one of his buddies... bummer.

I'm sure Ramsey didn't mean for this picture to look so funny.  Whoops!!

Then, it was a free-for-all for the kids in the play area.  They climbed the rock wall, zoomed around in bumper cars, played video games, air hockey, and there was a LOT of laser-tag gaming. 

While the kids played, some of us adults played as well.   And, the adults got to chat and have some laughs.  There were some parents that we didn't know very well, so it was great to get to know them.

It was certainly a terrific day.  Happy Birthday, Doodlebug!  You're an amazing little boy.

Vikings Play-Off Game

Connor and some of his buddies ventured to Minneapolis to the US Bank Stadium to see a Vikings play-off game.  The Vikes played in a Wild Card game against the Giants.

Connor hadn't been to the new stadium before, so it was quite the experience!

The singing of the national anthem was something to behold.

Even though the game ended with a Vikings loss (24-31), the boys had a smile afterwards, whilst posing for a shot with some of the cheerleaders.

Kings & Queens of the Hill

We've had SO MUCH SNOW this year.  It's been a real pain.  But, the kids at school love it, as they have some monster snow hills to climb and play on.   Here's the entire third grade class on one of the hills.  

Ramsey is about the 7th kid from the left, laying on his tummy, wearing a dark green coat and black facemask.  His transition shades are in full force!

Here's a pic of this morning's glory; a beautiful flocked tree in our yard.  It was cold and foggy out, but the frost is beautiful.

I Remember...

 Just a few days ago, my cousin sent me this snippit that she had from the local newspaper.  It must have been from around 1979 (no date found).   I thought it was interesting and wanted to post it so I have it in our blog book.

"Grandma Schroeder" or "Grandma Annie" (Anna-Lena Mary-Maude) was actually my Mom's great aunt.  Mom lived with her (and daughter Rosella and Rosella's husband) a few years after her father came back from WWII. Grandpa had shellshock/PTSD and his nightly nightmare outbursts scared Mom when she was small.   Grandma Annie's house was her security.

Grandma Schroeder was an amazing and wonderful woman.  She was selfless and caring and she'd seen a LOT in her life.  I remember staying with her when I was small.  Every night we'd say the COMPLETE rosary.  And, she made amazing old-fashioned crunchy sugar cookies.

She was born on May 5th, 1890. The census may say 1981, but I heard she lied about her age while she was being courted.  So, who knows?!?  :-)   She died in the late 1980s.  I thought the article was very enlightening and it brought back many wonderful memories of a very cherished soul.

New Year's Day Chess Matches

 It was too cold and nasty to do much outside. Also, the football games were displeasing today.  So... we just hung out as a family!  Ramsey wanted to brush up on his chess skills.

Dad won this game and I won the next, but Ramsey can certainly hold his own.

Vikes/Packs - New Year's Game

The first Vikings/Packers game of the season was trimphant for the Vikes (23 to 7).  The Vikes have had a rough go of it lately (to say the least).

Eric thought that dressing Jango up in Vikings gear would help bring them out of the slump!

Turns out, it was all for naught.  The Packers beat our Vikes 41-17.   

Even Jango was hid his head in shame for them!

Not a great way for the Vikings to start out the new year.  Ugh