Out and About with the Boys...

The boys and I went to the Minnesota Historical Society today. This photo is a little out of order. But we got to sit in a rocket simulator, play in a grain elevator, sit through a tornado and have lunch with my good friend Sharla. We had a great time. Asa's favorite part was getting his photo taken with Spider Man. He is located by the offices at MHS so not everyone gets to see him. My friend Sharla works there so we got the behind the scenes look at the place!

This was so pretty, you can't tell from the picture but it is lit from the inside.
This was fun, you get to sit in a "basement" and go through a simulated tornado. Asa loved it!
Asa running about the grain elevator.
Zeke didn't like being so high in the grain elevator. But he sure liked being in the cart!

Finally, what Asa had been waiting for!
Trying to figure out the web tossing finger position.
Got it (thanks to Sharla)!
Getting tired.
Zonked.

The Great Helper

Our housemate Jen makes amazing tortillas from scratch. Asa has become her assistant. He helps by beating the dough and flouring the roller. They have it down to a science!

Asa rocking the NKOTB apron (thanks again Scott and Brandee!)
Showing that dough who's boss!
Asa is showing Coal the technique.

To Protect the Girls!

Asa has decided to be "Luke Skywalker" every Sunday. For the past 4 weeks Asa has dressed in head to toe black (today he thought that the navy blue was dark enough to pass) and carried his light saber. He protects all the girls from the Dark Side (Asa is the only boy in the Sunday School Class). How sweet is he!

Family Day!

Barnabas and I decided that at least once a month we should do a "Family Day" where we go out on an adventure. We go do something "fun" of the kids' choosing and get lunch out (yes usually Mc Donald's is the request). So here is this months Family Day adventure!

We started our "Family Day" at the Science Museum. The kids had a great time with all the hands on fun. Some of it was over their heads but they still had a great time pulling levers and seeing what might happen.

We then walked to Barnabas' work but came across the Winter Carnival en route. We hung out on the 29th floor of the Wells Fargo Building ate lunch and watched as the Winter Carnival Parade went by. The kids had a great time playing in Barnabas' cube too!

Zeke chatting with a wolf in the MN out door exhibit.
Asa hanging out with the guys learning how to time the liquids and see if the bottle size or liquid consistency changes how long it takes to empty.
These boys are all high school volunteers. Asa felt pretty cool to hang out with them.
Grace studying how wind affects airplanes. As always Grace wanted to be dressed up for family day. Nothing says fun at the science museum like blue velvet!
Asa messing around with a steam engine.

On our way to walking to Reuters we came across the Winter Carnival. We had no clue, it was our lucky day! The kids loved the ice sculptures. The fun part is they watched a special on how ice sculptures are done just last night!

We ended the day by going to Barnabas' work and enjoying a picnic lunch and watched the Winter Carnival Parade from the 29th floor.

Eat Your Heart Out Auntie!

So the boys took off their shirts and started boxing today. Then they started doing muscle poses. Professional body builders in our future?

A Birthday Party at Last!

We finally got a chance to celebrate Grace's Birthday. You can tell in these pictures that Grace still isn't feeling all that well but she really wanted to celebrate her birthday with her friends. We had a double birthday party with her friend Briana. It was a great time. Briana and Grace have all the same church friends so it was great to got it all done in one shot. We had games and even a pinata! The kids left well sugared and happy! My good friend Jen made the cakes. She does amazing work!

The Fever is Mono

And to top it off Zeke has a random rash on his face. Tomorrow I am expecting a plague of Locusts.

This Sign Says it All

And now for the photos

A moment where Zeke and Coal were not trying to bite each other!
Zeke fell asleep while watching Mister Rodgers.
The boys playing dress up.
I knight thee Ezekiel!

Fighting the dragon (note the new color of the walls! The other wall is sort of a pumpkin brown, nice and cozy!)

Finally a Post

Hello all. It has been quite sometime since I have posted anything. It was a very strange holiday season for us. We had a great trip up to Duluth for Christmas. New Years Eve day we celebrated Grace's 7th Birthday. New Years Eve we spent some time with our friends Jeff and Le Que but our evening was cut short when our friend Emily died. She had just had lung surgery 4 days before and all that could go wrong did. She was 25 and we are still stunned and saddened. I helped with her memorial service this past Saturday and went into the hospital Saturday night. I came home Thursday afternoon and am scheduled to have another colon resection on February 7th at 1pm. I am looking forward to feeling better. During this last hospital stay they finally found the culprit to all of the blockages I have been having. There is a 9mm stricture where my colon was reattached 11 years ago. So I will have it fixed and feel like a new human! The really good news is the the Remicade is doing its job and the active disease looks to be reversed! Yay for Remicade! I am going to post some pictures of the kids being cute. Oh and we were scheduled to have Grace's birthday party today but she is on day 5 of a fever. Poor kid. But we are rescheduling to next Saturday and its going to be a dual party for her and her friend Briana. It will be a great time and I will post pictures next week!

Well Blogger is telling me it "is not able to post pictures at this time" so I will try again later.