I'm really a Cobber

My Godfather is a graduate of St. Olaf and thought it would be fun to give me this shirt.  My mom and I are NOT amused.  I really want to be a Concordia Cobber!

Dec.Pics

December has been a whirlwind of activities in the Wieland Household.  Sarah and Rachel started basketball practice twice a week in addition to their piano lessons.  I feel like a full-time teacher, full-time mom and part-time cab driver!  Todd was down in the Cities for a few days at the beginning of the month for a meeting and I have been EXTREMELY busy with concerts and programs.  I have had 3 Elementary Programs, 3 concerts, 2 recitals, 1 Church Program since Thanksgiving!  Here are a few pics from the month.  I forgot my camera for the programs and concerts so I had to rely on a few friends to send me some.  Enjoy!

 

 Christmas Card Pic 2012

 I'm not sure I like all of these kisses at once!  Let's spread it out a little!

 Ready for the Sunday School Program.

 Being hauled around to all of these concerts can really wear a guy out!

 Luke's first visit with Santa Claus.

 The whole family with Santa.

 Jordan performing in her program.

Sarah as a tree for her program (she also had to play Rudolph as my original actor had his appendix taken out 3 days before the show.)  Thanks Sarah!

A beautiful part of nature

A woodpecker in the tree outside of our office.

Sarah's 9th Birthday

We celebrated Sarah's 9th birthday over the 16th-17th of November (she officially turned 9 on the 20th).  We took Sarah, her sisters and friends to the waterpark in TRF on Friday.  A blast was had by all!  The next day, we had a family party complete with supper, cupcakes and presents!  Happy Birthday to our little Bear!

 

 Sarah's cupcake tower!

 How many boyfriends does she have?

 Having fun opening presents.

 Hanging with my sister and cousins

 Kylie Jo getting wild and crazy at the party!

 A bunch of wet party-goers!

A good pic of Sarah and a good friend!

Bibs Galore!

Our Little Luke loves his bibs!

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 Our little pumpkin!

Maybe Uncle Andy will let me ride his Harley when i get older!

Stage 1 Remodeling Finished

Well, after a lot of work - we are finally finished with our addition.  Since July, se have:
-  Added on 14 feet to the end of the house
- replaced all of the windows
- resided the house
- put on a new front door and storm door
- spray painted all of the shutters
- bought new carpet, ceiling fans and furniture
- completed a new office
- installed a fireplace

This was the first stage of our remodeling.  The next step is to turn the old office space into a new walk-in mud/laundry room.  We will also be working on the kitchen (new cabinets, countertops and flooring).  I am hoping that by the end of the summer we will have everything completed!  Enjoy the pictures of what we have done:

 Our new french doors to the office and our fireplace

 A view from the entrance to the new living room

 Ou new couch - very comfortable!

 New siding, windows, front door and shutters.

The house wouldn't be complete without a

Lafayette High School Music Department Christmas Wreath!

School Pics 2012-13

 Rachel Louise - 6th Grade

 Sarah Ann - 3rd Grade

Jordan Lynn - 1st Grade

Halloween 2012

 This is really tough to dig all the way down!

 Never too old to carve pumpkins

 I think she wears this shirt every year!

 The finished product.

 Our little monkey (complete with the bananna on his head)

 What a combination - Cleopatra, Vampire Princess, Little Monkey and a Deer Hunter.

 All ready for trick-or-treating!

~~ Spooky~~

 All ready for a movie night!

She still loves her moo-moo!

Snow Day

Only in MN can you have a snow day in the beginning of October!  We had 70 degree weather on Oct. 1 and a snowstorm by Oct. 4.  We went to school in the morning and were sent home by 1:00.  When all was finished, we had about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground.  It has all melted now but I decided to show some pics of the girls making their "snow family."  Luke is the tiny ball on the left-hand side of the picture will all of the family.  He melted first.  Poor little guy!

 Jordan and her snowman.  I think it was suppose to be Todd.

 Sarah and a "self sculpture"

You really have to look hard to see "Luke" on the left side of the last snowman.  He is pretty small!

Piano

Luke decided he should help Rachel practice piano.  Maybe a future Beethoven?  Let's hope he doesn't have Beethoven's temper!

 

Remodeling Update

I realized I haven't posted much recently on our remodeling project.  We had a stand-still for a while due to the fact that my brother-in-law was working on a big project in another town.  However, we are back on track!  Our office is complete - the floors were laid, french doors added to the entrance, closet doors installed, trim around all of the windows in the office and living room and baseboards put on.  We are waiting for the fireplace to be installed, carpet laid and the storm door for the front to be added.  Todd has been busy spray painting our shutters a cranberry color.  He only have two more sets to hang.  I will take a picture of the outside of the house when our storm door is put on.  Once the living room is complete, we can work on our laundry room.  We are planning on remodeling the kitchen this winter (new cabinets and flooring).  I am hoping everything will be

 completed by July 2013!

 

 French doors to the office.

 Corner where the fireplace will be next to the office.  You can see the trim around the window and some of the base board.  You can also see our new ceiling fan.  We also have a matching fan in the old part of the living room.

 Northside closet and a good look at the new flooring.  We installed a 40 foot closet in order to store filing cabinets for all of the farm paperwork as well as Todd's hunting gear and a few other things that I am hoping to stick in there ;)

A view looking from the corner (where our computer will be) into the living room.

Dry Creek

 

The year has been so dry that the creek 1/2 mile east of our place has dried up.  We drove a mile north and 1/2 mile east to take pictures from the bridge.  Todd said he has never seen the creek this dry.  Funny, less than 24 hours after these pictures were taken, we had a huge snowstorm that dumped about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground.  We were in a winter storm warning and school was let out early.  Only in Northwestern MN!

 

 Todd and his Dad in the creek.

 A view from under the bridge.

 This area should be filled with water.

 Todd and the kids in the creek.

 A view from the bridge.

 Having the kids be a part of history in the making!