Behind On Blogging? That's Just..."Nunsense"!

A couple weeks ago we headed off to the theatre. I've always wanted to see the play "Nunsense" and it was being performed at the Mantorville Opera House. I have to say it was one of the funniest productions I've ever seen there! It's the story of the Little Sisters of Hoboken who need to raise funds to bury the last four of their dead sisters that died as a result of a cooking disaster by Sister Julia, Child of God, and who are currently being preserved in the freezer. The nuns start out as you might expect nuns to be.

But a lot happens after that! One nun is Sister Mary Amnesia, played by a local actor, Cheryl. If any of you recognize her you know she can play some sorta goofy characters. In this case she really had suffered a case of amnesia two days before the play opened as a result of an incident at her job.  

A lot of shenanigans went on from start to finish in the nuns attempt to raise money.

In fact, it ended up that once Sister Amnesia remembered who she was she turned out to be the winner of the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes so their problem was solved. Everyone was kicking up their heels!

It was a packed house the night we went and, apparently, all the other nights too because it was held over for an extra weekend. I'm so glad it was well attended because it was really funny!

Red Letter Day!

Mom is having her 89th birthday today.

We're making a real fancy time of it. (Not!) Subway for lunch, cherry chip cake for dessert and, most likely, Dominoes after. Happy Day, Mom!

Going To The Bar

Last Friday we girls hung out at the bar for awhile....the ice bar celebrating WinterFest!

We had a hot chocolate drink laced with a vanilla liqueur and vodka. Tasted good on a chilly, but not as cold as last year day.

There were some pretty cool (pun not intended) sculptures...

...but a lot were just business logos. Since we were right there we had supper at Victorias and found another ice sculpture afterwards.

Jill's needing new glasses. These would be really "cool" ones to have.

On My Spring "To-Do" List

We had a couple elms that went dead last year and some hanging limbs from summer storms that needed cleaning up so we had the tree service come a couple weeks ago. It didn't look all that bad before... 

...but there's quite a mess left behind.

I think we can manage most of it when the weather's better and when my backside is recovered from my fall on the ice two Saturdays ago. I'm actually hoping my neighbors will let me burn on their burn pile which is almost right next to where this mess lays. Knowing them, they probably will. Thank goodness for great neighbors!

Several Weeks Ago...

...we celebrated Tony's birthday.

Everyone wanted to be by the birthday boy...

...or by Kate!

6!

Claire turns six today! We celebrated a little early on Wednesday when I was there.

I remember starting to count down about 21 days ago and the day is finally here. Happy Birthday, Claire!

Snowy Day

I saw it coming on the radar before I went to Claire and Cate's and by the time they got up it was pretty thick but I don't think we knew we were going to get that much snow!

While waiting to go to Cate's pre-school the girls had some fun scooping the drive and jumping in the piles of snow we'd made. Both Claire and I kept cautioning Cate not to eat the snow...especially if it was yellow! (That was Claire's advice!)

Not A Rain Shower But A Baby Shower!

So it's time to start thinking about showering the parents of the prospective new baby K with gifts. Tricia's future sister-in-law and cousin hosted a very fun gathering in the middle of January. I'm not always too excited for shower games but these weren't too traumatic. One was where you cut a string as long as you think it needed to be to get around Tricia's middle. I think that string is needing to be longer every day now!

There was quite a pile of gifts to open but this one was with Baby Daddy Tony in mind.

Both baby grandmas were there...

...as were the Knutson side gals...

...and the ones on the Fredricksen side.

Warm fun on a cold, windy January afternoon.

Dancing With (Our Little) Star

Natalie had a dance performance a few weeks ago geared towards getting the kids comfortable on stage for their BIG presentation in the Spring.

 I was so busy watching and trying to decide between taking still pictures or video that I didn't do a very good job of either!

For a better look at Natalie on stage take a glance at Tricia's blog.

Natalie's in a class with her good friend, Ellie, and they were our stars of the show afterward!

How DOES She Do It?!

It's amazing to me that a one-eyed mom can keep such careful track of her kids! :)

Lose Weight In 2013?

Lest you think we made a New Years's resolution and kept it I just wanted to confess to doing our share of eating already in 2013. We've been to the Pine Island Lion's Club chicken and biscuit dinner...

...we've been to Old Country Buffet for Mindy's birthday and G and g's anniversary...

(The kids decorated a cake for their mom...what a great job. You shoulda seen the card!)

...and we've been to McDonald's because G and g had coupons they wanted to use.

You can imagine that we've been out to eat more than that but this is all I'm admitting to! :)

Artistes!

Some mornings the girls get up early enough that there's plenty of time for a craft. One day it was paints and markers.

(Cate was thinking of me with her Vikings designs!)

(Claire loves rainbows.)

(And she knows how I like football so here I am all decked out...as a lineman, I think!)

One day at a quarter to 7:00, about 45 minutes away from their mom getting home and Cate still in her pj's they decided to create with shaving cream...a little food color added and a foam brush and voila'!...another masterpiece!

And it was all their idea. I didn't have a clue what was going to result when they were rounding up the supplies. Turned out pretty nice!

3D!

We celebrated the New Year in a big way by going to a 3D movie with the fam on New Years Day. We weren't entirely sure how the Greats would like it but I think it went okay. I didn't know they had kid-sized glasses but it was good they did.

The movie was Monsters, Inc. And now I see there's a sequel coming out this summer so I suppose that's why they're trying to generate interest in it all over again.

It looks like we might even have fit into the cast of The Blues Brothers as well!

Update On Claire And Cate

The girls were here a couple Saturdays in December. I love this picture of them laughing at Talking Tom on my phone.

The exercise bike gets them going pretty good too. I wish I had as much fun on it as they!

And then there are the early mornings when I can coax them into a picture with the old lady...

Thanks, girls!

Tacos For Tony

Today is my youngest nephews birthday and we're having tacos at his folks' house to celebrate.

He's got a really big present coming in a little over a month at which time we'll call him Daddy T but for now, Happy Birthday Mr. T!!!

Fractured Christmas

Bear with me. I'm just catching up from Christmas. I suppose one of these days we'll have to take our trees down too! :)

We had a three day stretch over Christmas where we got to spend time with my family. It all started early on the 24th when we headed out to Mom and Dad's. Mom doesn't get out their wafflemaker much so for a treat we fixed waffles for lunch. We just kind of hung out until Tony and Tricia made their appearance since they couldn't be with us on Christmas Day.

Mom got busy in the kitchen and fixed us oyster stew for supper. It was almost a new experience for her since she doesn't remember making it in the past. But it turned out just fine. Santa even left a few packages under the tree for us old folks so we all must still be on the 'nice' list!

Christmas Day we headed over to Cher's for dinner and the day with them and my other two nephews and their families. It was a struggle not to smother Maya with hugs because we don't see her very often but she needs a little time to get used to us.

There were some gifts for the kids that had to be activated right away and Harvey was having fun shooting folks in the butt...or wherever!

There was no shortage of Christmas cookies!

And we had a Domino game that lasted about 3 1/2 hours! I think Simon kept checking to see if we were done yet.

The next day Kate, Brian and Maya came over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house and this may be the first picture Maya has ever taken of her mom and dad. She's got a little special effects thing going on!

But we needed one, too, of all three of the St. Pete K's.

So there's my Christmas post. Now to catch up on everything else between then and now.

Presenting...

We traveled up to the State Theatre in Minneapolis on Tuesday to see Jackie Evancho in concert. Who's that, you say? Here she is...

...and would you care to guess her age?

She's twelve!!! And you CAN NOT believe the voice that comes out of that young ladies body!

She's still a little girl though...but very cute. She'd drink water between songs and wipe her mouth with the back of her arm. She'd giggle and curtsy. She'd bounce up on her toes. All very sweet and endearing.

Did I mention she's twelve?!

I think she'll be like when Josh Groban was getting started. We won't get a chance to see her in a small venue like this again!