Happy 100th Day!

Yesterday, February 22nd, was the 100th day of school.  The kindergarten classes at our elementary school always make a big deal about this special day.  Michael's teacher asked that each of the kids bring in 100 of something (it could be anything).  Michael is really into Legos so we decided to see if we had 100 minifigures.  I am not ashamed to say that I love minifigures as much as my children and I really enjoyed helping Michael find all of the figures.  I was a little nervous that we wouldn't have enough minifigures and was prepared to go buy some more (who needs an excuse to go buy more?).  I needn't have worried!  We probably have triple the amount that we needed!  There were a few minifigure accessories that we couldn't find in our, oh so organized, Lego drawers, so some of our figures looked a little funny.  This will be one of my most favorite memories with Michael - looking for minifigure heads, bodies, arms, hands, hair, etc. and putting them all together to make 100!

 

Haley's Week

Haley had a great week this past week!  She celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, the 13th, had a 50/60's party at school and her birthday party on Friday, the 15th.

 

 The Birthday - She's 11!

Haley wanted me to surprise her with her birthday cake this year.  I went with a flower motif.  She like it!  It was A LOT of cake though!  We still have not finished 1/3 of it!

 

They have these candles with colored flames now!  Cool huh?  I hope you can tell from the picture. 

 

 We had to rush through Haley's present opening because I had to get Nate and Andy to scouts (as evidenced by Nate pictured in his scout shirt)!  She was such a trooper though and went with the flow!  Our Michael is such a sweetheart!  Whenever one of his siblings has a birthday, he goes through his own toys and picks out things he thinks that sibling will like.  He gave Haley a scout wallet, some silly bands, and a few other assorted items.



 "A tennis racket!  But you don't even take tennis!" This is what her brothers said as she opened this gift from Grandpa and Grandma Bice.  I suggested to Grandma that Haley would love it because Andy got one for his birthday and she has not left it alone.  Of course she loved it!  She's planning on taking tennis after her dance lessons end in the summer.



 Her most favorite gift?  A new digital camera!  Nathan picked it out for her and chose well!  We thought she would like one for her trip to China coming up in April.  (For those who don't know, Nathan, Haley, and Nate and traveling to China to visit Grandpa and Grandma Taggart who are currently living there).

 

Not pictured, is another gift that Haley really treasured....  She got a phone call from her best friend in California, Audrey!  Thanks for calling and making Haley's day even more special!

 

Haley and her "load" of gifts!

 

The cake

 

The 50/60's Party

 This party at school was one of the main reasons that Haley wanted to have a poodle skirt for Halloween!  So he was already prepared for the party and even added her own touch: a "peace" sign necklace.

 

 Alina with the "big" girls!  Alina was also wore a poodle skirt for Halloween, so I dressed her back up in her "pretty" (as she likes to call skirts and dresses) and she was a HUGE hit!  Just look at my two beautiful girls!  I feel so blessed!

 

 Haley with her friends.  From L-R: Rena, Grace, and Jaewon.

 

 Haley won the "Best Dressed" award for her class! 

 

 Haley and her 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Sherman.

 

Alina was POOPED by the end of the party!  It was right during her naptime, but I think she did pretty well, until the end! One funny thing that happened: at the party, the kids can sign up to participate in contests.  They have a bubble gum blowing contest, a twist contest, a hula hoop contest, and a limbo contest.  Haley had signed up to participate in the twist contest.  They do the contests in "heats" because there are so many kids (it's both 4th and 5th grades).  Alina went out there and "twisted" with Haley during her heat.  It was so cute, I hope to convert the video so that I can add it to the blog (with all the other cute videos we have too).  After Haley's heat, she sat down, but Alina stayed and twisted with the next heat of kids.  While she was out there, the kids watching started chanting, "Baby, Baby, Baby!"  because they wanted her to win the heat.  It was so funny!  The teacher who was MCing said that they couldn't choose the baby to win and all the kids let out a huge groan.  After the party, we had a lot of kids come up and compliment Alina on her twisting and kept saying that she should have won!

 

The Birthday Party

 Haley invited her friends over for a late night "Girls Night Out" party.  To start the evening festivities, the girls made their own pizzas.

 

 Autumn and her pizza.  Autumn is Haley's good friend from church.  She moved here to Rochester just before we moved back from San Francisco.  Autumn has her mother's artistic abilities and made a very beautiful pizza!

 

 Haley and Jaewon's pizzas.  Jaewon is from Korea.  She will be going back to  South Korea with her family in July, so we were happy to have met her and to have had her in our home.  Jaewon moved to Rochester just after we left for San Francisco, so Haley did not meet her until this year.

Haley made her pizza into a HUGE pizza slice with stuffed crust ("MMMM, Stuffed crust!").

 

 Rena and Grace with their pizzas.  Grace and Rena were Haley's good friends in school before we left for San Francisco.  She was so excited to be back in Rochester so that she could see them again!

 

 Haley's big slice of pizza turned out so cute that I had to have her pose with it!  She almost ate the entire piece!  She must have been a hungry girl!

 

 Again, Haley wanted me to surprise her with the cake for her party.  I thought that since we were having pizza for dinner, we may as well have it for dessert!  The "sauce" turned out really pink, because I was trying not to use a lot of red food coloring.  We mad that mistake with Alina's "Elmo" cake and it made the frosting taste a little weird.

 

 Nathan was playing around with lighting settings on the camera with these two pictures.  We had turned out the lights, so it was dark.  But I like how these pictures turned out anyway!

 

After cake and ice cream, the girls had pedicures.  I found these bath "fizzies" that turn your water colors, so the girls chose a color and then turned their little pans of water into a fun color.  They soaked their feet for awhile (I wish that I had gotten some pictures).  After the soaking, we did some painting!  I had several colors of fingernail paint in a bag and the girls would take turns choosing a color.  After choosing a color, they'd spin the bottle on the table and whomever the bottle stopped on had to paint a toenail that color.  It was a lot of fun and the girls had fun painting toenails in a rainbow of colors!  The girls each got a small pedicure set, a bottle of fingernail polish, an emery board, and flip flops to take home.  I had made these simple fabric "goodie" bags and the girls each chose a ribbon to  use as a tie.  The girls also got to decorate their flip flops with water balloons and/or ribbon (again, should have gotten pictures!).   Jaewon's father emailed me and said that his daughter had so much fun at Haley's party and he felt like it would be her best experience here in America!  We were happy to provide some good ol' American girl fun for Jaewon!

 

Haley is turning out to be such a wonderful young lady!  She can be so kind and thoughtful and never forgets to thank anyone who does something for her!  Haley is a great friend!  You could just tell how much these girls enjoyed being around her.  Haley is also a great big sister!  She is always so helpful with Alina and Alina just adores Haley!  We love you Haley!  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Pediatric Dinner

Every year in January or February the Pediatric Department at Mayo Clinic has a dinner to show appreciation for their residents and fellows.  Even though it's for the residents and fellows, the consultants are invited as well.  They have made it a family affair and our kids look forward to going every year.  This was Nathan's first year as a consultant and it made it all the more fun. There was dancing and karaoke after the dinner, but we didn't get any pictures of that.

 

A new family moved into our ward when we moved back to Rochester, the Towe family.  Eric Towe is a pediatric cardiology fellow, so he works with Nathan every day.  We were excited to meet them because they have 4 girls and Haley really hit it off with all of them.  Danyelle (the mom) says that Haley is a great friend because all of her girls love to play with her.  Their oldest Autumn is Haley's age and their second daughter is named Hayley as well (she spells it different).  Any way, a long explanation to explain the picture above.  Three of the Towe girls were seated at our table: Autumn (to our Haley's right), Hayley (to our Haley's left) and Ella (to Andy's right).



 Haley with Autumn and Hayley Towe

 

 A new thing this year was these fake mustaches.  They had little boys passing them out and all the kids went crazy.  Here are Nathan, Michael, and Andy posing with their new facial hair.  Andy was trying really hard to pose like his dad.

 

Nathan takes "the Plunge"!

Two of Nathan's colleagues sent out an email asking for volunteers to sign up for "The Polar Bear Plunge".  The money raised goes to the Special Olympics.  I guess they hold these plunges all across Minnesota on the same day.  Rochester had the plunge at Foster Arend Pond.  They actually break the ice and have an area where the plungers jump into the frigid water.  Nathan signed up to jump.  Their group called themselves the "Mayo Clinic Pedsicles".  After the jump, they got to sit in a hot tub for no more than a minute.  Then they went to a warming tent to change into dry clothes.  I asked Nathan how the water was, he said that it was cold but not as cold as he thought it would be because walking outside in a swimsuit makes you already cold.  Everyone dresses up, so it was fun to see the groups and their costumes. Hopefully we will include a video of their plunge as soon as we figure that out.

 

The "Mayo Clinic Pedsicles" after the plunge (can you say BRRRR?)

From L-R: Jay Homme, Jim Homme, Katie Homme (Jim's daughter, age 8), Nathan, Brandon's wife (couldn't recall her name - sorry), Brandon (a pediatric resident).  Jay's sign says, "Mayo Approved Swimsuit" and yes, he actually jumped in with the suit on!

 

 

Classic Nathan poses!

 

 

Braggin about the Nate

 So, as parents, we reserve the right to brag about our children every once and awhile!  Nate had a fabulous week 2 weeks ago.  He earned 2 ranks in Scouts (1st class and 2nd class), he got all straight A's (his GPA is 4.110 because of a few A+s thrown in there), and he was nominated by one of his 7th grade teachers for Student of the Month.  Nathan and I went to a breakfast (doughnuts, fruit, & juice) they had for the students of the month before school.  Nate recieved his award because he is "an excellent student. He contributes to class discussions and asks inquiring questions.  He is an excellent role model."  Nate is a great role model for his siblings as well!  Great job Nate!