Woodbury Days

We love Woodbury Days! It's a local town fair. Generally happening during the last weekend of August, Woodbury Days takes place at local park. The girls had a ton of fun grabbing candy from vendor booths, getting "fair" hair, riding rides, petting animals...there was a ton of fun stuff to do--some of which was free! Click here to see last year's visit!

Warning: An over-abundance of absolutely super cute and adorable photos is about to follow. May not be pleasurable for all blog viewer. Scroll down at your own risk!

Don't say I didn't warn ya!

Here goes........

Pony rides!

Petting Zoo

Okay, the child LOVES animals.

McKenna is always willing to pose for the camera.

Seriously! They are too cute! Look at those polka dots.

Getting a "Fair-Do"

We were back and forth to Woodbury Days several times during the course of the weekend. Each time we went, we had to stand in line to get a new or different fair-do.

Building our sailboats

Ridin' the rides....

Lookin' at the rides....

(Cobra Mustang!!!!!!!)

Bungee jumping on the trampoline. The girls LOVED it! Ella too. She's getting so adventurous now.

Preschool Open House

We were able to visit Ella's preschool classroom today. She met her teachers and saw a few friends from last year. The teachers had created a type of scavenger hunt to help the kids learn their way through the classroom. She had to find things like the water fountain, bathroom, cubby area, story rug, computer station, etc...

It was fun. She had a good time. I always enjoy watching the girls in their school elements.

Here's Ella and Mrs. Jan

Ella enjoyed putting a little froggy sticker by each "area" that we located.

The story rug. Maybe you noticed, but the room is in a frog theme.

Sitting in the "teacher chair"

Madagascar 2

This summer the girls went to their FIRST movie in a movie theater! The local theater was playing free kid movies on Wednesdays at 10am. So, we picked a movie that we approved of and talked it up! The girls have had this movie theater experience in their history and it helped to prepare them.

Since the movie was free, I knew to expect 2 things: crowds of kids, buying treats! In order to ensure a decent seat, we got there at about 15 minutes after 9am (that's early for a movie!). We were able to get GREAT seats. About 15 minutes before the movie started, crowds of daycare groups started piling in. Whew! We had our seats!

Yes, I let the girls get a drink and a treat. They each picked an icee, popcorn and candy. Whoa!!!

Movie, free!

Treats, $26.00

Experience, hopefully priceless!

They had a blast. Madagascar 2 proved to be a very funny movie. There were 1 or 2 parts that, in my opinion, were not necessary. Pardon the dark photos. It was in a theater and I only had my cell phone.

Happy Birthday Arthur!

Happy Birthday to my Christ following, hard working, basketball playing, daughter loving, grass mowing, spider getting, frame selling, Bob Dylan loving, silly lyric singing, back rubbing, deep thinking, shoe collecting, A+ getting, good looking husband!

Happy Birthday Aunt Lynda!

Today is Aunt Lynda's birthday. I pray her day be filled with the joy of simple pleasures!

Here's a funny story, somewhat in honor of "Hot Lips" Lynda. (For those of you who don't know her, she loves to wear bright pinks on her lips and nails!) For my birthday, last April, I received 2 gift cards to a local salon (one from Arthur and one from my mom). Last week I had a manicure and pedicure. I called Lynda to tell her about it. I was getting a margarita pedicure. I asked the salon to explain what that meant. I was served a strawberry mango margarita during my pedicure. Along with the "typical" cleansers and oils, my legs/feet were treated with tequila and a lime rub. Yep, I smelled severely of alcohol by the end of the night. Lynda said something to this effect, "You aren't gonna get a boring brown are you?"

"Well, I was thinking of a soft pink or an American/French manicure."

"Get you a bright pink for your toes. Pick something, I'd pick. Just think of Aunt Lynda's lips when she shows you the color wheel of nail polishes."

So, in honor of Aunt Lynda, I went with the brightest color I thought I could handle. It was WAAAYY out of my comfort zone! Enjoy the pictures:

Here are a few of the bright pinks!

Finally picked one: Pompeii Purple (thought it looked like hot pink!). Lynda also got this in her mailbox in a pretty pink sparkly package!

Yummy. It was a really good margarita! I was sitting in the pedicure chair getting ready for the leg/foot massage! My nails are done at this point. There were cute little touches in the room like a tiki torch, string of lantern lights, bright colors, beach decor! It was cute.

Empty glass! I told ya it was yummy!


Hot towel wrap! One of my favorite parts!

Final product....still wet!

The nail technician who tolerated all of my picture taking and learned a lot more more about my Aunt Lynda than she ever wanted to know.

When I got home I asked the girls what they thought. Ella thought they were beautiful. I asked if they looked like Aunt Lynda and McKenna said, "You are Momalicious!"

Happy Birthday Aunt Leigh!

Today is Aunt Leigh's birthday! I pray her day will brings to her the favor of the Lord.

Here's a picture of Aunt Leigh and McKenna playing the Thinking Game. They were playing hide and seek in their minds. (Only Leigh could come up with that.) However, Leigh seemed to think it was okay to hide in the trunk of the car!!


I had a few other pictures of Aunt Leigh....but each picture was of her hair swinging around the camera as she tried to dodge the lens or of the palm of her hand as she tried to cover the lens before I snapped it.


Happy birthday Aunt Leigh!

Kjelshus Family Reunion

This August we went to the 2nd Annual Kjelshus Reunion at Kjelshus Point on Lake Hanska. What a pretty lake and what a gorgeous spot! The day was fun. The girls had a blast. They swam in the lake with Daddy. Later, Daddy brought them (and a few other cousins) on a paddle boat ride. McKenna also got to ride a jet ski for the first time. I was in high school the first time I rode a jet ski!

A special thanks to Frank and his crew for planning and organizing. Thanks to Anne and Dave and family for hosting. Thanks to Dave for giving the kids jet ski rides for 2 hours!! And, thanks to Aunt Virginia for taking and sending pictures!

Here are Cousin Kelsey, McKenna and Ella. They picked flowers, twigs, cat tails, etc and made "nature wands" for a while. Here, Ella was a little fixated on binding her wand together with a long piece of grass.

Afterwards, we stopped by Aunt Virginia's farm. This time of year most farms have lots of kittens wibble-wobbling and pouncing around the property. Hers was no different. Those of you who know me, know that I cannot be around kittens without touching them. I'll tell ya what...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. McKenna and Ella couldn't stay away from them. There was one particularly cute kitten. It was black with longer fur. It had subtle markings around the face and tummy. It reminded me of a cat my family had growing up (We had a white cat named Crocket and a black cat named Tubbs). I REALLY wanted it. Almost this bad! I still want to drive back down and get it. It was the healthiest of all the cats and the calmest! Aunt Virginia....hold on to it. I am still trying to convince Arthur! Arthur, PUH-LEEZE!!???

When we asked the girls what their favorite parts of the day were....Ella said, "definitely the kittens." For McKenna it was a toss up between the kittens and the jet ski!

PS: That black kitten that Ella is holding! I want it! It's so cute. I cannot kiss it enough!

Wordless Wednesday

Amusement Park Fun

Recently we took a little trip to Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America. We joined our friends the "J's." They had some season passes that were soon to expire. McKenna will pretty much ride anything she is tall enough to ride. Ella is a bit more selective, but having a fearless friend along helped her quite a bit. She rode the log chute for the first time--and loved it. Here are a few cute shots we managed to get.

Ella really enjoyed the characters. She is quite the kinesthetic learner. We could hardly keep her from pinching, pulling, prodding and poking the costumed employees. It was funny.

Mmm...mmm....Monday

Again, these recipes are from church friends. Enjoy!

Caramel Chex Mix

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. Corn syrup
1/2 c. margarine or butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a GLASS bowl, mix first four ingredients and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Mix once. Add baking soda. Micro 2 minutes. (Should be at full boil.) Add vanilla.

Dry ingredients could be a variety of things.... Here are a couple of suggestions:

option 1:
10 cups cereal (chex or crispex work well)
3 cups mixed nuts
4 cups mini pretzels

(I have also used Cheerios and Total!)

option 2:
3 quarts popped popcorn

Pour syrup over dry ingredients. Micro 4 minutes stopping at each minute and mixing well. Pour out onto cookie sheets to cool. Break apart and serve!

Almond Bars

Crust:
1 c. butter (softened)
2 c. flour
½ c. powdered sugar

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
2 eggs
½ c. sugar
1 t. almond extract

Frosting:
2 c. powdered sugar
¼ c. butter (softened)
1 ½ T. milk
1 t. almond extract

Crust: Mix butter, flour & powdered sugar until crumbly & press into 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.

Filling: Mix softened cream cheese, eggs, sugar, & extract. Spread over crust & put back in oven for 15 min.

Frosting: Mix together powdered sugar, butter, milk & extract. Add more milk if needed & mix until spreadable. Spread onto cooled bars.

Variations:

Use orange extract and orange food coloring to make "Orange Dream Bars" or peppermint extract and green food coloring to make "Christmas Bars."

Little Fire Fighters

A friend from church organized a trip to the local fire department. I did this at a different fire department about 3 years ago. It was interesting. The fire department that Stephanie brought us to was fantastic. It was HUGE. The firefighters that gave us a tour were so patient and understanding of our kids. They just let the kids go in and out of the trucks, try on the clothes, ask questions. Kudos to the NSPFD!!!

McKenna's Gymnastics Show

I told you about Ella's ceremony, right? Yea, I thought I did. Over Memorial Day weekend, McKenna was in the Spring Gymnastics Show at Rising Stars! The show went ALL DAY LONG. Thankfully, we just went during her class time slot. Whew!

Here's a picture of her age group warming up. There were a lot of girls in her age group. They broke them into groups of ten after the warm up. It was a little like a 5 ring circus.

A part of McKenna's floor routine.

Here she is receiving her medal on the plat form. Before they announced her name I watched the announce whisper something to McKenna and McKenna responded back. What do you think that was about? Maybe name pronunciation? That's my guess.