Gingerbread Houses

An annual tradition at our house it to make gingerbread houses; this year also included the triplets next door and later in the afternoon another neighbor friend of Davids' so in all - I think a dozen houses were made. The photos are included below.

First Snow

Last year was somewhat disappointing for snow. We never really had enough to do much of anything. Especially not sledding. Well - the winter of 2012 - 2013 is off to a nice change. Saturday night - it started snowing, and this morning it was still snowing and this afternoon - it is still snowing. Probably a foot has come down already. For me, it means snowblower time, for the kids - it means sledding. Two years ago, when we did sledding with Katie, Emie and Annie - they needed constant supervision and help getting on the sled, up the slope and everything in the middle. What huge progress we have seen in the past two years. All of them are doing everything on their own, they love the outdoors, they love to sled and play in the snow. Katie especially loves to be outside, throwing snow, sliding on the hill and playing in the snow. Today we were about for about 1 hour - it was very fun. Here are a few pictures - Anne snuck inside before I had a chance to get a photo - but we'll get one sometime soon.

Overdue

Several things in our life seem overdue. We have had 2 overdue library books in the past few months and with getting back to school and all the other fall activities - posting is also overdue. This is especially for Vikas parents in Ukraine. We email with them and this is the main way they can see photos of their daughter. She is happy and healthy and growing. Her speaking of English has really improved; she is using bigger words and also more words in sentences. Here are some photos from the last few months:

This is Katie and her sisters and mom and dad at a summer picnic.

with all her brothers and sisters

riding on a trailer to go get pumpkins for Halloween.

In the US we have Halloween - the children dress up in costumes and go out and get candy - it is very fun and Katie likes it very much!

Pepper off to Kindy

Our last one is off to school! Hard to believe - we have sophomores in high school and a kindergartener! The WBL schools are full of Shervheims' right now. We were wondering how the school transition would go with him - because he is somewhat a homebody - and just tolerated pre-school last year. However, we are happy to report the transition went well and the year is off to a great start. This guy is liking school - looking forward to it and he has a bus ride home with his big brother Sam - which is pretty cool that he has someone to look out for him and help him get from school to home everyday.

Overdue Post from August

To celebrate the last week of summer and before school and fall activities start - we took a trip up to the cabin last week. It was a shortened week; only being there between Friday and Wednesday morning, but as always - we had lots of great family times. Our helper Kelsey was there with us too. A few of the highlights captured in pictures.

A trip to the Taconite plant in Two Harbors for a factory tour; we got to see how they make taconite pellets from the iron ore mined in Babbitt. Very interesting. Also, Anne seemed to have put away all her fears of vehicles, she rode on the 3 wheeler, 4 wheeler and was a huge sport to ride in the canoe as well. Sam took his first kayak solo trip on Delay Lake and did great. A morning spent at the beach in Beaver Bay, lots of campfires and s'mores and a great time was had by all.

Little Girls

We had the privilege of being with family and attending the 2012 Albert City Threshermens show this past weekend. One of the highlights was seeing family and visiting Karens' mom - who is a resident of the Pleasant View Nursing Home. We brought a musical extravaganza. The little kids sang songs and danced; Daniel played piano, Andrew juggled to fiddle music and the multi-talented Brown boys dazzled with their guitar, mandolin and fiddle playing. A few fun photos to remember the day.

Katie's 9th Birthday

Katie turned nine on July 19th. Here are a few photos from the day. We waited to celebrate until Andrew, Daniel and Sam came home from Sioux Falls. She had a great day; lots of presents and lots of fun.

Summer Vacation 2012 - the cabin

Some fun shots from our week at the cabin - lots of great times -

8 Years Old

It is hard to believe that eight years have gone by since Anne was born. She is a very bright light and it has been so much fun to be her dad. She has the most remarkable points of view and it has been so fun to see her grow and develop her mind. She is learning to read now - and doing really well at that. She loves life and we love her. A few photos to remember the day by; it started with breakfast in bed, pancakes and then we opened presents, had a cookie cake and just had a great day at the cabin. Anne talked to her nana on the phone today and despite being a gray and misty day - it was still fun to be out and about.

Happy Mothers Day

This post goes out to Katies' two moms! Katies mom in Ukraine reads our blog and we are very happy and proud to share pictures so she can stay in touch with Katie.

Katie has started playing in a baseball league on Monday nights. She loves to play ball. Last week she played third base and stopped 3 balls from going through. She was able to hit the ball two times and also took her turn playing really well. She is in a baseball league called Miracle League and all of the kids who play love to come and play ball. Katie is very good at ball. She can catch, through and and hit the balls. Katie is always happy when it is time to go play ball.

Rainy Saturday #2

Katie and I drove over to Blaine on Saturday afternoon; we have signed Katie up for Miracle League Baseball. Katie is such a sports nut. She loves any sport where a ball is involved; and she is pretty good and handling. We play catch and basketball and she is learning. Katie has a lot of energy and we thought that Miracle League ball would be a good fit for her. I will be her coach and we will be playing our season starting next Monday night in Blaine at the Miracle League field.

I bought Katie a glove yesterday too - we are still trying to figure out if she is right or left handed - right now she can throw equally well with either.

rainy Saturdays

Today was a rainy Saturday in Minnesota. It was a good day for mom to run off to do some of her own things and KJ (super-nanny), Andrew, Sam, David, Katie, Emie, Annie and I went down to the Childrens Museum in St. Paul. It was a fun afternoon, visiting 4 rooms - the two traveling exhibits, How It Is Made and Grossology, and two favorites, the Neighborhood and Ant Hill. Face painting was done as well and everyone came home happy and tired. Overall, a good day. Katie especially like the neighborhood. They have a pretend store, music studio, restaurant and they can dress up and pretend to be shopping or cooking. Katie pushed a cart around the whole time; full of groceries. Annie handed out flowers, and David drove the bus from stop to stop.

Where do I start?

Since we have moved into our house; Karen has had the idea that she wanted to move the playhouse that she had as a kid to our house. This playhouse was built in Houston, MN in the late 60's or early 70's (memories fade over time), and was trailed to Albert City, IA - where it sat at one farmstead for probably 30 years and was played with by Karen and her sisters. It has been moved back and forth in Albert City and was used as a stand to sell cider out of at the Albert City Threshermans Show and also was moved finally to an area behind some buildings at the farm; where it has been for the last 10+ years. Anyway; on Friday - it made the 200 mile trek back to MN - where it is now in our back yard. Thanks to Poppa Lind for carrying it; Andrew and Jake for helping skid it across our back yard to its final resting spot. A new foundation, sill, roof, trim, floor and paint and it will be played with again by three little girls named Anne, Emie and Katie!

Boys Fun in Minneapolis

Last week the boys and I went to the Northwest Sports Show. In addition to trout fishing, shooting and looking at travel trailers and 4 wheelers, the big attraction was Jack Dagger; world famous knife thrower, roping expert and whip handler. He actually was quite impressive. We caught one of the shows and Sam was invited to come up on stage and help with his roping.

Juggling

Andrew has taken his talent to a new level. He is now juggling with fire. We made some juggling clubs and use citronella oil and he is becoming quite good. Pepper decided to draw a picture of this today and the picture is really good for a five year olds interpretation. He has the fire, the colored balls and then he decided the next thing that Andrew should start juggling is lamps.

It has been a little while

One of our after Christmas activities has been ballet. Annie started about 2 months ago and then kind of lost her way; so the teachers asked if she had a sister that could come too. Of course, Emie is all over that; so Emie and Annie have been doing ballet together on Wednesday nights. A few fun photos.

February Madness

Katie, Emie and dad ventured off to NW College in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon to watch Kasie play basketball. Kasie is one of our helpers for the girls and was a regular fixture for a big part of last year and also the summer. She is a freshman at NW and plays forward for the Eagles. We have been meaning to get to a game and this was the last game of the season; it was really fun. Eagles lost - but a fun game to watch. The girls got to go into the locker room after the game and meet the players. We'll be back next year for one or two!

Sam Turns 11

We have had a big week here. Sam turned 11. We had Nana & Poppa S here last weekend to help celebrate and they stayed through Sams recorder concert at school on Tuesday night and then this past weekend - Sam had 4 friends over for swimming, pizza, movies, games and a sleepover. A pretty big birthday week for a great 11 year old.

A Brave Little Girl

Our brave little girl Emie had her tonsils and adenoids taken out during surgery on Friday @ St. Paul Childrens Hospital. Emie has had some swallowing and breathing issues and after seeing a specialist last fall - one of the main causes is that she had VERY large tonsils. She would aspirate and have trouble swallowing and choke and she was such a good sport about it - but we think this surgery will give her a huge improvement in eating, breathing and just being a normal little girl.



Everyone at St. Paul Childrens was so pleasant, helpful and caring - it was really a good experience. Emie and I (dad) got to spend the night there last night and other than being woken up every 3 hours for meds - it wasn't too bad a night. She hit the popsicles and ice cream pretty hard yesterday and this morning.

We got home around 10:00 AM this morning and she is doing well. She will be sore for a few days; and probably not see much school this week - but it won't be long and she will be back to 100% again.

We love our Emie :)