SCSU On the Move Mile High Challenge 5K

This evening Orn and I participated in the 5K Run/Walk that was the culmination of the SCSU On the Move Mile High Challenge that I have been partaking in all semester. It's been a fun program which has included weekly logging of the number of miles I put in walking, running, skiing, biking, whatever along with other 'challenges' that I could partake in each week. While I've always been one to do some sort of exercise on a daily basis, this program inspired me to push myself more. The end result has been to lose some weight and get in better shape - all good things as we head into the summer months.
Tonight at the 5K the weather started out fairly decent, even if it was overcast. By the end of the festivities it felt like the temperature had dropped 30 degrees and the wind had increased to 30-40 mph! It was cold! Orn and I power-walked the race, completing the 5K in just about 40 minutes. We're already planning for next year and a time around 35 minutes!

Since the boys were at home with a sitter, we took advantage of the evening and had a nice dinner out after the race. Great way to end the semester! :)

Chloe's Bridal Shower

This afternoon the Andersons hosted a Bridal Shower (kitchen theme) for Chloe (who is getting married in June!). It was a lot of fun. Nathel, who is finishing up at Chef school, made an amazing soup along with other appetizers. I used the excuse that I had driven down to Shorewood over the lunch hour and so ate them out of house and home. Great food! Chloe received many wonderful gifts...now she and Travis just need to move into bigger digs so that they can start using all the stuff! :)

Orn's turn - an Immigration Conference in DC

This past week Orn was able to sneak away to a conference in our nation's capital. He had a great experience, both at the conference and later in the week meeting up with contacts at the state department. He's looking forward to developing collaborative research relationships with people that met with this past week.

Orn also had the chance to meet up with my best bud from my Peace Corps days, Dana, who lives and works in DC. In fact, as it turned out, Dana's apartment was literally across Connecticut Avenue from the hotel that Orn was staying at! They got together one night and went for a long walk around DC before hitting a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The pictures are from the walk when Dana turned to Orn and said, "how about getting a picture here?" Orn looked around and said, "we're at the WHITE HOUSE!" Too funny. The gal who took the picture of the two of them apparently said to her friend, "I need to take a picture of this cute couple." Cute couple indeed! I received a very funny phone call from the two of them later in the evening! :)

AERA in San Diego

This past week I was out in San Diego at AERA - the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. It is always fun (and inspirational) to attend AERA. Fun because I get to reconnect with graduate school friends (see picture of dinner with Roger - my dissertation advisor and his current group of advisees), and inspirational because it is really impressive to see and hear about all the research that is being conducted in various fields of education. I came home with some interesting ideas for a new line of research...now I've just got to implement it!

The only bummer about this year's trip was that I was in southern California while they experienced a cold spell (it never got above 60 degrees) and back home in St. Cloud they were experiencing a warm spell (weather above 60 degrees every day)! However, my hotel had a fabulous work out room so I was able to crank out the miles on some great treadmills each day!

Hans's Birthday Celebration

Since I have to head out to San Diego tomorrow for my annual trek to the AERA (American Educational Research Association) conference, we celebrated Hans's birthday right after we finished up with our Easter Brunch! He was quite happy to dig into his presents and even happier when he opened his big gift - a set of golf clubs!

Of course, after that gift was opened we had to head over to Oak Hill (the boys school) and do some practice swings. I gave all three boys some pointers on how to properly hit the ball. It was a gorgeous afternoon to break in the clubs. After we all got some swings in, we came back here to the house to enjoy some cake. A great day to celebrate Easter and Hans! :)

Easter Morning

As is tradition, the boys hunted for Easter candy. The Easter Bunny had already put some books in each boys basket and some candy, but there was still much to find! The cats helped out a bit by sitting patiently near a candy...probably hoping that the candy would NOT be found and thus could be a toy for them! As it was, we think the boys found all the candy. Within milliseconds, Hans had quite a bit of candy consumed....Gunnar, on the opposite end of the spectrum, just might finish his by next Spring. How different can two boys be?

We had a wonderful brunch here at the house - the standard homemade cinnamon rolls, cheesy egg back, and sausage. A nummy feast...followed of course by more candy (in Hans's case anyway). :)

Has the EASTER BUNNY been here?

"MOM, CAN WE COME DOWN STAIRS YET??"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL YOU'VE HAD SOME COFFEE!!"

Preparing for Easter Fun!!

Tonight we prepared for the Easter Bunny by decorating eggs to go in both of the boys baskets. What fun that was! Both boys enjoyed the bright colored dyes for the eggs AND the stickers they could use to create the faces. Hans thought up the bright idea of using a Sharpe marker to really personalize the eggs...the craziness really got under way then! They had a ball and really created some fun eggs...I can hardly wait to EAT them!! :)

Hans turns 7 - Time to CELEBRATE with Friends!

Hans's actual birthday is April 14th, but seeing as the boys didn't have school today, we celebrated his birthday today over at the Skatin Place with some of his friends. What a great party it was (totally sold me on the idea that paying someone else to do everything is worth it's weight in gold!). There were 7 boys in total - they had a blast roller blading, playing in the game room, playing a round of laser tag, and eating, eating, and more eating. It was very cute as one of Hans's closest friends (Richard) came up to me at one point as he skated around the rink and announced in a very sweet voice, "this is the BEST birthday party ever!" Of course, I had to whole-heartedly agree with him as I sat stretched out on a bench and noshed on popcorn during the entire party. It was a blast...and most importantly, Hans had a fantastic time!!

Andrew, Matthew, and Kyle all ended up back at our house after the party, so it continued here until well in the evening. Tons of fun to celebrate a very special young man!!

Gunnar's 1st Communion at Bethlehem Lutheran

Gunnar celebrated his 1st Communion at this year's Maundy Thursday church service. It was a wonderful service followed by lots of picture taking of the proud 3rd graders. Gunnar went through the 1st Communion education with his good friend Andrew...and as it turned out, Andrew was wearing a very similar outfit (see 4 kids to the left of Gunnar, also in the front row). After the service Gunnar showed us his banner that he made for the celebration. Hans thought it was pretty cool. Speaking of whom, what was fun for me was singing throughout the service with Hans!! Now that he is a voracious reader, he was following along in the hymnal and belting out the songs like and old pro! :)

Gunnar's 3rd Grade Concert

Tonight Gunnar had his 3rd Grade concert over at Oak Hill. What a fun batch of songs the kids sang - all were songs with a friend theme of some sort. It was very sweet, especially when we saw some of the young men that Gunnar is friends with perform in solo's!! Gunnar commented that he might like to do a solo next year...of course, Orn and I were laughing inwardly at that comment, coming from the young man who doesn't open his mouth much at all during the entire concert!!