Happy Birthday Grandma Karen

Merry Christmas

Final Vikings Game at the Dome

Happy 10th Birthday Logan

Happy 10th Birthday Logan. Unfortunately Logan woke up with strep this AM - so we had to cancel his family birthday party for tonight. This afternoon he appears fine and was really excited to get one of his birthday presents - tickets to the last Vikings game at the Metrodome. The season has been horrible - but the last game in the Dome should be an experience. We actually got an email this week warning that extra police will be on hand and ABSOLUTELY no rushing the field of stealing will be tolerated. I guess the last game at the old Met was crazy and the crowd rushed the field and tore down the goal posts.

Rock climbing at the health club

Farmington Basketball Tournament

Logan had his second tournament this weekend and for the second time they won the Consolation Championship. Their first game was at 8am Saturday and it took them awhile to wake up and get in a groove. They lost the first game by 6pts then can back and won three straight against St Paul, Prior Lake, and Hastings. In the final game Logan had his season high 10pts. Next weekend is the Lakeville North tournament. Two tournaments down and six more to go. They are so much fun to watch!

Crazy Hair

Tough life

When it is cold out , Mojo has the right idea - a nap by the fireplace

Logan's Basketball Team - First Tournament

Logan's basketball team played in their first tournament a couple weeks ago (Eagan). They lost their first game to the team that eventually won the Championship (Inver Grove Heights). They quickly rebounded and won their next three games against Eagan, Park Center and Eden Prairie to win the Consolation Championship. They played very well and it was fun to watch them improve with each game. We have a break for a couple of weekends and then they have back-to-back tournaments the first two weekends in December (Farmington and Prior Lake).

Little Martha Stewart

Carter had to organize and count (224 pieces) all if his Halloween candy.

Carter: School Halloween Parade and Trick/Treat

Enchantment Springs Ranch

San Antonio Riverwalk & Alamo

MN Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers

The Vikings might be playing about as good as "dirt" in 2013 - but going to the Vikings/Packers game always has lots of drama and excitement. For the second year in a row, we were able to score (2) tickets for the game today! Logan is fired up and ready to squash some cheese heads.

scary carter

school pictures

MN Vikings Cartoon

Carter's sunflower at grandma closers

Starting to die. But look how tall it got from only a seed.

Resort at Squaw Creek - Lake Tahoe

Lake Marion Award

Exciting news about our elementary school. Got this email earlier this week.

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A message from LAKE MARION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Dear LME Families,

 

We were informed by the MN Department of Education this week that Lake Marion Elementary has been designated a Reward School for the third year in a row.  The MN Department of Education has adopted and used this rating scale the last three years to determine Adequate Yearly Progress Proficiency, Student Growth, and Achievement Gap Closure. All schools receive a score between 0 and 100 based on these performance areas.  LME received a rating of 98.82 on the 100 point scale.

The Reward School designation recognizes the top 15% of the highest performing K-12 schools in the state.  In addition, Lake Marion Elementary was one of the 20 K-12 schools in the state to receive the Reward School designation all three years it has been in existence.

 

This honor is a testament to the hard work of all our students and staff and the tremendous support we receive from our parent community.  Our systematic K - 5 approach to literacy and math instruction, along with the deep commitment of all our staff to help our students grow academically and socially has enabled our students to flourish.

 

Sincerely,

Dr. John W. Braun

LME Principal

Congratulations Logan!

Logan made the 4th grade Lakeville South traveling basketball "B" team. (34) kids tried out and Logan ranked number (12). (8) kids made the "A" team and (10) made "B" and (10) on "C". Very excited for him - he practiced a lot this summer at multiple camps. Most of his good buddies made "A" but he seems ok with it as he knows they haven been playing longer.

What does this mean for mom and dad. Lots of basketball. Practices 2x per week and 8 weekends of tournaments - some out of town in hotels. Oh are little boy is getting so old! Here is a link to the tournament schedule so the grandparents can plan.

http://www.lakevillesouthbasketball.org/page/show/145154-2013-2014%20%20traveling%20tournament%20schedule%20

Fall Baseball Team

The good - and the ugly

Great news for Logan. Last night his football team won their last game and will now play Sunday night for the 4th grade championship. Time is still TBD - but rumor is they play at Lakeville South High School under the lights in the stadium. What a great experience for the boys. They are a "scrappy" team with no dominant player. It was fun to watch them last night and how multiple kids stepped up to make BIG plays. They won 27-6! Will keep everyone posted - everyone is invited to join us. Should be a tough game as the other team is undefeated.

Carter - lets just say ugly! The poor little guy has been sick since this weekend with a fever. He stayed home from school Monday. We sent him on Tuesday and he came home on the bus crying because his head hurt so bad. After 2+ hours at the doctor drawing blood he came home with 7 different medications. They think he has bronchitis/asthma/virus something or other. Well he woke up this morning and has been vomiting about every 30 minutes.  Needless to say we have called the doctor again and they are determining if we need to come back and check for something else.

Will he be a vegetarian?

The kid loves salad.

Carter playing goalie against MN Wave

Fantasy Football

Logan has become addicted to FF after a bunch of his friends started talking about their various leagues at school. We got him set up with a user account this week and finalized his draft on Wednesday. At first he was "so-so" when he found out he got Peyton Manning as his QB. But after last nights record performance and his 47 FF pts Logan was ecstatic this AM. I tried to tell him it is a long season, but he is flying high on Week 1. Of course neither of us have ever done FF so we are learning right with him. I guess you could say it is forcing him to do a lot of reading to understand the rules and how to play.

Carter's football team won their second game last night: 2-0 so far. Logan plays his second game tomorrow AM. They won their first name and play a difficult team tomorrow. He also has a baseball double header on Sunday and basketball camp.

More First Day of School pics

1st Day of School

This is one of five bus stops in our development. The parents were joking it could be an advertisement for Under Armor - with all the AM shirts, shorts, shoes, and backpacks

Fall Madness Has Started

Fall always seems to come to fast and is the busiest season.  Both boys are involved in several activities:

Logan has football on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He is playing on a fall traveling baseball team which practices on Wednesdays and plays double headers every Sunday in September. He also has a fall basketball camp on Sunday evenings to prepare for traveling basketball tryouts in late September.

Carter has flag football on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He is also still playing hockey every Wednesday PM till the season begins in November.

Tomorrow both boys go to school for their assessments - the official start of the school year. Logan is playing in a golf tournament tomorrow afternoon.  Somewhere in between all the activities we are enjoying the last days of summer at the pool.

Carter is practicing for his goalie debut tonight.

House Before & After

House is 98% done

Still need one coat of paint on west side of house and repair the driveway. Our little 4-6 week project is almost done after 3 months. It will be nice to have our house back.

New friends

Got a new kitty last week. Name is M&M - can you guess that the kids named her? Mojo is getting used to her.

Golfing at the neighbors

Our neighbors cut a 9 hole golf course in their backyard and invited the boys over for a breakfast golf outing on Saturday. Last night Shawn and Logan played 18 holes at Heritage with some friends. Logan got his first "real" par. He is turning into his daddy's golfer. He played in his first tournament last week and plays in the Lakeville Pan-o-Prog tournament tomorrow.

Golf Camp at Willingers

Picture of Logan and Carter with some of the neighbor kids at golf camp.

House Status

Maybe we will finish this week. Just need shingles, electrical, paint and columns.
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Evening Basketball Practice

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Schools out.....

Today marks the end of the second week of summer for the boys. The weather has finally turned and they have kept busy with friends, camps, and various summer sports. Quick update:

-Last week both boys did a basketball camp during the AM.
-Logan and (7) neighbor boys created (2) four-somes and joined a Tuesday golf league at the course adjacent to our development. It is a full length 18 hole course so the boys have been exhausted learning to play the longer holes.It seemed like just yesterday he was learning to hold a golf club on the short little par 3 course and now he is out there by himself managing the 500+ yrd par 5s.
-It must be birthday season as Carter has been to multiple birthday parties the past two weeks
-We have been taking full advantage of the pool with almost daily trips. Carter has mastered his bike and rides there with no issues.
-Carter and Shawn continue to play hockey every Wednesday PM with 30 other Mites. Seems like half of the boys are from our development....it is going to be scary in this neighborhood when these kids start to drive.
-WE SOLD OUR HOUSE! On Wednesday we closed on our old house after renting for (2) years. It was very cute....on Tuesday Sara and the boys stopped by to pick up the last few items in the house. Logan asked if this would be our last time there. Sara said we will be in the neighborhood visiting friends but probably will never be inside again. He asked if he could go in and spend some time alone one last time - not sure where we got this sensitive little boy from.
-Logan's football team starts the playoffs on Sunday night. They are going into the playoffs in 1st place!
-Logan's baseball team continues to do well. This is the first year of kid pitch and depending on who is pitching basicallly determines the outcome of the game. Everyone gets a chance during the season...some kids literally walk every single player till the team gets (6) runs and they switch...others can pitch smoke down the pipe every throw. You never know what you will get each night.

That is a quick recap of the first 2 weeks of summer. Looking forward to a couple weeks of vacation in July.

P.S. No our house is still not done....They get closer every day...maybe sometime next week. Hoping to get the electrical signed off today so they can start closing it up and painting on Monday. Our little 4 week project has turned into a BIG 7-8 week project.

Chilling at the pool

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A fabulous weekend hanging out at the HOA pool with neighbors. Summer is finally here.

Carter Basketball Camp