Sunday, February 16, 2014

Photo and Video Dump :)


This post is a totally random photo dump from the last two weeks...

Enjoying free, family fun at Apple Valley Mid-Winter Fest

with Klondike

putting practice with Daddy

Summer trying all by herself

Both kids were particularly fond of this guy and kept returning to him to give him high fives...

Colton's first try at hockey

There was a goal on the other side.

Summer's turn

Go Summer!

 Videos:

Kiddos at the reptile exhibit petting snake:



Colton's first Bounce House:




Cold Day Fun - "Making Ourselves" - Summer's idea







 Story Time at the Library
While we go to the library often, this was the kids first time getting to use the computers for any length of time...Colton was pretty pumped!


Random Photos
Family date to Mall of America--Summer "helping" daddy pick out work clothes--and encouraging him to wear all pink and purple ;)

Kids had fun creating a "carwash" out of a large box

Shaking up some Puppy Chow with Daddy before the Super Bowl

Summer reading to Colton

We have a lot of snow...Daddy and Summer's snowman is "drowing", with 4-7 inches more predicted for tomorrow!

Last day of gymnastics--Colton and his teacher

Last day of gymnastics--Summer and her teacher
Random Videos

Unfortunately, due to cold, my runs have all been treadmill runs for the past several months, which means Tucker doesn't get out at all.  This is the result...(note no one is chasing him!)

Verse of the Week:  Matthew 16:15-16 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Verse of the Week: Matthew 17:5  "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”


In complete seriousness, the most excited person in our family for the Super Bowl this year was Summer.  She has been talking about it all year (since last year) and asking when we get to pick out special snacks, eat on the couch (which we NEVER do!), and watch football!  She and Daddy sort of have a tradition now, where they go pick out snacks for the family together.  They came home with QUITE the assortment of treats :).  We had a few friends over and had a great time.  Here is Summer, giddy with excitement, ready to go out with Daddy for their annual snack-getting grocery trip ;).

Our sweet friend, Ms. Lisa, found some cute things on sale and picked up a new water bottle for Summer and a new hat for Colton, just for fun!  The kids made thank you videos for her, and enjoyed hamming it up on camera...after asking to do "another video" they created some sort of thank you rap ?  Not sure what it was, but I thought it was too funny not to share.

Here is a video of Summer reading Colton's favorite book to him (well, she has it somewhat memorized -so she is not actually reading it!)  It is a long video, but I want to remember the book anyway because it is Colton's favorite, and I also think they are so sweet together in it!


A Few Random Thoughts
  • Colton has been consistently identifying the color blue correctly, however he identifies it as "Colton's favorite color" each time.  Literally, anything that is blue he will point at and say, "that's Colton's favorite color" (as taught to him by Summer!).   Yet if you ask him what color it is, he will state the name of any random color (i.e. he does not associate the color blue with the word "blue" but definitely identifies it correctly each time!)
  • Colton is picking up his sister's good manners and now says, "No thank you, Mommy" when he doesn't want to do something his Mommy asks him to do!  Hard to get too mad, yet correction is still necessary!
  • Summer is quite the socialite everywhere, but especially amusing at church.  She buzzes around the sanctuary after church saying hi to all number of people and all variety of ages.  I think it is pretty funny because I was so shy at age 3!
  • Summer is getting so much better at stringing sounds together and identifying words.  She loves to practice while we are eating lunch or breakfast, and asks for the flashcards so she can sound out the words. 
  • Colton, too, loves doing flashcards at breakfast and lunch.  He will ask for them at meal time by saying "do Colton's letters" or "do Colton's numbers".  We are working on counting and numbers with him right now--he can identify 0 and 1 somewhat consistently, but that is about it!

I think I'm caught up for now!  Have a good week!

Bathroom Remodel

I have been quite behind in my blogging lately, so following this post will be a random photo dump post :).  One of the biggest reasons I have been behind is because we have been remodeling our bathroom and choosing/gathering the items needed, painting, etc has taken a lot of time!  Yes, it was time for the 1960's green tub and tile, stained linoleum floor, and musty smelling cabinets to meet sledge hammer and dumpster :).  While we have many fond memories of bathing our two kiddos in that, um, amazing tub....we are excited to usher in a new tub for our third to get his/her tub experience in!


Old sinks

New toilet amongst the old bathroom (Paul replaced it this past year when the old green one finally bit the dust)

Old tub

A closeup of one of the problem areas...water getting where it shouldn't...

Redoing the bathroom has been on "the list" since we moved in...we even applied to get on HGTV on their bathroom remodel show when they were in the Twin Cities last February (in this video 2 year old Summer tells the camera why we would like to be on the show while giving a tour of the bathroom!)  Last year at a family fun event we threw our name in the hat for a free bathroom remodel for a few different places.  This past December, we received a 40% off offer from one of those places Great Lakes Window and Siding Co if we signed on in their slow month and were flexible on start time.  That, combined with the fact that our tub faucet was leaking behind the tile (meaning we would have to pull off the tile to fix it) precipitated our decision to "go for it" and redo the bathroom now.

The company allowed us to choose our vanity, flooring, etc from anywhere which allowed us to shop around for deals and see what we liked.  We just needed to have everything at our house for our start date.  Then, they did the demolition, haul away, and plumbing installation.

"Mr. Joe" (as the kids called him) was awesome to work with.  He began work last week, tearing out our old stuff.

The sink wall (you can still see some of the gorgeous wall paper....)

"Behind the toilet" wall and the new underfloor put down because the old subfloor was falling apart due to water damage

Where the tub used to be
 After a few days of demolition, we got to see the new stuff go in, which was fun!  Mr. Joe even put in new woodwork (baseboards and window and door frame) since our previous owner has painted all the wood black) and he did an awesome job.  The kids loved talking to Mr. Joe and watching him work, though they were a bit nervous when the work got noisy.  Colton had some trouble napping etc with the loud power tools, but felt better when he carted around his own "pretend" power screwdriver just like Mr. Joe ;).  Summer loved to tell Mr. Joe everything she did and was going to do....needless to say, we tried to spend as much time out-and-about over the past week so as not to distract Mr. Joe too much :-).  Thankfully, Mr. Joe likes kids, so everyone seemed to get along fine! 

Mr. Joe finished up his work this past Tuesday, and while we still have a bit to to do before it is completely finished (we need to touch up paint, do some electrical work for the outlets, paint the woodwork, etc) the bulk of the work is done (yay!).  Here are a few "almost done" shots of our bathroom. 

sink wall

new tub and shower board (the color came out funky in this picture, but it is a caramel brown)

same toilet but new tile

another view of the vanity
Feeling thankful.

My Favorite Guy

Valentine's Day offers a great time to remember how much we love those around us, especially the hubby God gave me!   And we had an AMAZING day out alone on Saturday just loving being together- perfect.

Ready to go out for our Valentine's date
But really, when I think about it, tough days like today really PROVE the love even more...a leaky roof under tons of snow, a husband making multiple trips to Mendards, freezing his fingers in hours of cold to rake snow off the roof, lugging buckets up to the attic to catch water....seeing my man completely covered from head to toe in insulation dust, taking care of the kiddos and I all with an amazing cheerful attitude even knowing that he has piles of stuff he needs to get done for work on Monday just waiting for him, and then stopping in his tracks when passing his daughter to kiss her and say he loves her...THAT is true handsomeness.  I am so blessed to be married to such an unselfish, loving, put-others-first, do-his-best-at-everything, provider, protector, prayer warrior, God-first-lover, man and he is so handsome to me--inside and out--whether dressed of up for a date or covered in insulation.  I love you, Paul Stuart Tommerdahl.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentine's Day

Summer especially has been so excited for her Valentine's Day party this year!  We started a few weeks ago, making their Valentine's Day boxes...which they really got into!





We then made their Valentines, based on an idea I saw here.  We took a bunch of pictures of the kid's holding a paper towel wrapped broom, and played around with the pictures in computer editing software, and, printed them, and inserted lollypops.  I told them to pretend they were holding a giant sucker...here are a few of the options we came up with, along with the final product...




Summer helped me make some strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting for the party :)

The first year of Valentine's Baby Parties was at Ms. Rachael's house, when most of the "2nd kiddos" were still in their Mommy's tummy's.    Last year we had the party in our basement, and many of the 2nd siblings were still immobile.  Well,  the group is growing bigger baby by baby...the "2nd kiddos" are all mobile now and several "third kiddos" have already been born!  So we decided to hold the party at Good Times Park this year with lots of room for all the kids to run around.  Everyone brought their own picnic lunch, a treat to share, a Valentine's Day box, and Valentines to pass out. The kids played hard, snacked well ;), and we mom's had a bit of time to catch up amongst chasing the little's all over ;).

Colton loving the soccer field.

Summer and the hula hoops

Engineer Colton....

Building something cool...

Playing ring a round the rosy with Sidney and Layla

Climbing WAY above mommy

Big hug for Addison!

Fun to see all the Valentine's Day boxes

People brought yummy treats to share


Lunchtime!

Great group of kiddos...

Yum.

Not all the kids pictured here, but the majority of the oldest ones....from left to right, Lilly, Ian, Colton, Summer, Layla, Brandon, Sidney, Rylan, Adry, Addison, and Adelyn. 

And the best part??? Opening our boxes when we get home....!
 Here is a little video...



Colton was most excited about the suckers.

Summer enthusiastically but methodically went through each Valentine and treat

Pretty fun!

Tonight we are celebrating with a "red" dinner of favorite foods, including Spaghetti and Strawberries. 



My favorite little pink and little red waiting for daddy to come home!
Tomorrow Paul and I go on a long afternoon/evening date (which Paul is planning) and I am SUPER excited for time alone with my favorite guy :).