Christmas Letter

2010 has been another amazing year!  The kids and I took a mid-winter trip to the cabin on Fish Trap Lake.  The kids were so amazed to walk on the frozen lake!  Madison and I enjoyed some time to build a snow fisherman and Madison enjoyed breakfast on the patio with her Grandpa!

2010 also brough the addition of Windsor to our family.  We adopted our sweet dog from small dog rescue of MN, although they warned us that they thought he had lab in him and would be more like a 60 lb dog.  That proved not to be the case as Windsor is only about 35 pounds and does not stand knee high!  He has short stubby legs, some wirey hair, and a tail that wags constantly!  Cameron seems to be the dog lover in the family and loves to cuddle with Windsor.  After a few ups and downs (house training, endless shedding, etc!), Windsor is an important part of our family and we would be lost without him. 

The summer brought lots of trips to the camper in Richmond, MN.  We added a deck this year and spent a lot of time getting the campsite just right only to have it taken out by softball sized hail.  It was devastating!  Thankfully, the insurance company totalled out the camper and then let us keep it without requiring a salvage payment!  We patched it up and are hoping that the roof holds through the winter.  The kids love the time at the camper - we spend most of our time on the boat.  They both became quite skilled at swimming in the middle of the lake and tubing behind the boat!  Madison caught one of the largest fish in a kid's fishing contest and learned to ride her bike without training wheels!  We also enjoy morning walks through the campground, the meat raffle in the bar, and nightly campfires.

Cameron has developed quite a vocabulary and is talking constantly.  He has become quite the little parrot!  He enjoys building with blocks, coloring, and playing with Playdoh.  He also likes to play with cars and look at books.

Madison is getting ready for kindergarten.  We recently toured Byron Elementary school and assuming we can work out transportation concerns, she will be attending Byron schools.  She is very excited for kindergarten and has been diligently working on her reading.  She is currently undergoing treatment for a lazy eye.  We were very shocked with the diagnosis, as we did not notice any outward physical signs of her condition.  The wonderful people doing her pre-k screening caught a small issue with her right eye and recommended that we see an eye doctor.  We are very lucky that we caught it this early!  We are hoping that glasses do the trick, but we will be learning more about patching her good eye in January. 

Mike is still working for Heartman Insurance as a systems administrator.  It is a job that he enjoys and continues to challenge him.  He also stays busy at night and on weekends with many of his old customers from his days at Venture.  He is still an avid Packers fan and says the Packer vs. Vikings game at Lambeau Field in October was the most fun he has ever had at Lambeau Field.  I agree as we had an absolute blast at that game! 

I am still with Mayo Clinic, working in research finance.  Over the summer I moved latteraly from my fiscal invoicing position to a compliance position.  This has allowed me to learn more about government research grants and keeps me busier!  I am still pursuing my MBA and will finish up my last two classes in early 2011.  I still love to scrapbook whenever I can find the time and recently spent a weekend at the Fish Trap Lake cabin scrapbooking with my Mom, aunt and cousins.

The end of 2010 brought the first ever Tigue Family Christmas Trip to Wisconsin Dells.  We just returned from a weekend at Kalahari, enjoying the tropical waterpark!  All of us enjoyed every minute of it!  It was a great way to spend time with the family and I hope we continue to make the trip for future Christmas celebrations!

We have some big events coming up in 2011 that we are looking forward to.  Mike and I will be taking a Caribbean cruise with our dear friends, the Dobbelaeres, in March.  We will be celebrating our ten year anniversary and the completion of my MBA program.  Before we know it, we will be opening up the camper and getting ready for another summer on the lake! 

2010 has brought many blessings for which we are grateful.  We pray that all of our friends and family are blessed as well as we look forward to all that 2011 has to offer. 

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Today, Cameron turns two.  I cannot believe how quickly time is flying - my babies are growing up too fast!

Some things about Cameron -
1.  He LOVES Elmo.  Which is why he is getting an Elmo birthday cake!
2.  He recently fell in love with Toy Story 3 - its one of the few movies he will sit still for!
3.  Cameron is a big football fan!  He sleeps with a packer football and says "Go Ack Go!"
4.  Cameron is talking up a storm lately!  He is saying just about everything now and even starting to string a few words together.  He even FINALLY said his sister's name this past weekend. 
5.  His favorite word these days is NO!  (Gee, I wonder where he heard that one???)
6.  He loves to sit at the table and play with blocks.
7.  He loves to color and play with playdoh too!
8.  He is very close to his sister.  They fight like siblings do, but he is very quick to come to her aid or look for her comfort when he is scared.  I'm quite certain that Madison feels the same way!
9.  Cameron learned to climb out of his crib about a month ago - and bedtime is a two hour ordeal.  He often falls asleep at his bedroom door because he can't always get it open when he gets out of bed.  He has been smacked in the head by that door numerous times!  He also plans ahead when he makes his great escape from his crib.  I usually find him crashed on the floor, with his pillow, stuffed animals and blankets. 
10.  Cameron will move in to his own room SOON!  It's been a work in progress for a few months and I hope to finish it up after Christmas.
11.  Cameron is learning his colors - but all colors are blue in his world. 
12.  He gives the best hugs and kisses -and his I yuv you will melt your heart! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Cameron!  Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back! 

Milestones

It has been a week of milestones in our house.  Actually, most of them occurred on Monday. 

Milestone 1.  Madison got glasses!  There is a little story behind them - at her pre-k screening last spring, they noticed a small problem with her right eye.  I honestly thought she was just bored and being stubborn - but at her 5 year well child visit, I asked them to check and we definetely noticed a problem.  It turns out she has something pretty similar to lazy eye, without the noticable wandering eye.  It was a very lucky catch!  Madison now has bright pink glasses with bling on the sides - so typical of her style!  They are very cute on her and definetely highlight her sweetness. 



2.  Madison is ready to graduate to a booster seat!  She has been trying to gain two pounds since the beginning of summer - to no avail.  She started the summer weighing 38 pounds and even weighed in at 38 pounds two weeks ago at the doctor.  She thought it was hopeless!  She even started pointing out kids that weigh less that get to ride in booster seats.  (I'm the meanest mom on the planet!)  Just after getting her new glasses, Madison decided to jump on the scale and it said 41 pounds!  A three pound gain!  So, we agreed that if she stil weighs 40 or more pounds this weekend, we will switch her from a carseat to a booster seat.  She responded to our agreement by saying "I'm going to need a bedtime snack every night to keep my weight up!"  STINKER. 

Now, she is OBSESSED with the scale!  She is constantly checking to make sure she is still over 40 lbs.

3.  Cameron has learned to escape his crib.  He decided to show us his new trick over and over again on Monday night.  He is extremely proud of himself.  Me - well, not so much!  We have been preparing because we knew it was coming.  We had bought a bed, but not a matress or bedding.  We have been getting his new room ready for his transition to a big boy bed.  I just didn't think it would happen before he turned two! 

It has gotten better since Monday night - he is escaping less.  Tuesday he got out 3-4 times and tonight he didn't try to climb out at all.  I'm knocking on all the wood that I can find as I type this!!  I am not quite ready to no longer have any babies in a crib, so I'm hoping to prolong it just a little bit longer. 

Indeed, it has been a week of milestones - little steps in this great big life. 

Look who is FIVE!

It's almost a month overdue, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on Madison at five years old.

1.  Madison does things when she is darn good and ready to - and she does it on her own.  For instance, we tried for over a year to potty train her without success.  So we gave up.  Then when she turned three, she decided she was done with diapers.  All summer, we tried to teach her to ride a bike, but she didn't want to.  Then she decided one day that she was ready - and she went and learned without us even knowing!  She also recently learned to tie her shoelaces.  I had tried to teach her without success and one day she asked me to show her.  I showed her one time and then she practiced and practiced until she got it. 

2.  Madison is learning how to pray.  I often pray with her - I pray and she repeats it.  I have tried to get her to pray what is in her heart, but she never wanted to.  Last night she told me that she wanted to say a prayer and that I should repeat after her.  She had me repeat one word at a time:
We.
Pray.
To.
Jeez.
Is.
I laughed so hard, I couldn't repeat her prayer.  It was almost as good as the Glee Grilled Cheesuz. 

3.  Madison loves to sing and dance.  She is watching the CMA's with me and pretending to be Taylor Swift.  Taylor doesn't hold a candle to my Madison.

4.  Madison is learning how to read.  She amazes me with her ability to absorb information.  She is one sharp little cookie.  Look out Kindergarten!!!

5.  I love Miss Madison's smile.  It lights up a room - and melts my heart.  Every.Single.Time.

Amazing weekend!

While at the camper this weekend, Jodi and I decided to take the kids to Collegeville Orchards. It's a small orchard/pumpkin patch in a small town not far from the camper. We visited the same orchard last fall as well.

The kids we able to pet sheep, alpacas, goats and horses. Madison and Sydney had a blast feeding the sheep! They also checked out the apple trees and posed for some pictures. The highlight, as always, was picking out and cutting their own pumpkins again this year! Madison and Cameron both found the perfect pumpkin!

We say the trip to the Orchard is for the kids, but really, its a trip for us Mamaratzi to pull out our cameras and get some great fall pictures.

The drive to the Orchard was nothing short of amazing. At one point, you drive down a deserted dirt road, in the thick of the Minnesota forest. The trees are all around you, displaying God's magnificent color pallet. It is silent except for the crunch of your tires and the chirp of the birds as they prepare to migrate. Leaves softly fall to the ground all around you. It reminded me that soon the snow will be falling in the same way. I wanted to stop and take a picture or at the very least, just sit there enjoying the peace.

But the tranquility is quickly shattered by little voices in the back seat saying "Are we there yet" and "how many pumpkins can I pick out, Mamma?"

It comes to an end...

Well, the 30 day blog-a-thon end winding down. Counting today, I have blogged on 24 out of 30 days. Not bad. I'll take it!

What I have learned:

1. I blog purely to share the funny things my kids do and say with my friends and family. I am not blogging to make money, generate a lot of hits, or for any other type of gain.

2. I often get trapped by feeling like I need to include a picture in every blogpost. This thinking tends to limit my blogging. I've learned I do not need to always include a picture, but they are nice!

3. I will not likely jump at any opportunity to attend one of the many blogger conferences - my time is precious and its just not something I want to devote a lot of time to.

4. I have a lot of stories that I do want to tell through the blog. I brianstormed a list of things to write about and after a month of consistent blogging, there are still a lot of stories left on that list.

5. Blogging is a great way to share stories, but also to reconnect with friends. My blog is a place to share triumphs, joys and even some failures. Why failures? Well, someone out there is finding a way to make it work and if we all share what makes it work - we might learn something!

6. I am still searching for that magic pill to do it all - be a good Child of God, Mom, Wife, daughter, sister, granddaughter, employee, housekeeper, chef, blogger and artist. If anyone finds it - please let me know!

My Crafty Shortcomings

Sorry. Life has gotten in the way of keeping up with the blog challenge! I’m only about 5 days behind. Maybe there is still some hope for catching up?

I was inspired today by another blogger participating in the 30 day blogging challenge, The Vosberg View. Jill talks about how she feels like a failure as a mother because she is not crafty (and has little desire to be) then goes on to discuss how she overcame that by inventing a fun and definitely crafty scavenger hunt for her and her son. (BTW, would LOVE to see pictures of the finished product!) As I read the post, I was forced to think about my own craftiness and my shortcomings in that regard.

I’m quite the opposite of Jill. I am quite crafty and I want to be crafty. In fact, others might even say I’m talented in that regard. I love to put colors and textures together. I love to create whether it be with my hands and scrapbook paper, or with images on my computer, or even with fabric (MHS quilt club, anyone???). I have a laundry room of shelves that is chock full of scrapbooking supplies (my true crafty passion), a hard drive full of photos and journals full of page layout ideas, sketches, and journaling. I love to make gifts for my friends and family because homemade gifts truly come from the heart. I get my creative side from my Mom, without a doubt.

I can wander for hours through Archiver’s, Joanne Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby is my favorite for their amazing prices and for the endless inspiration that I find in their stores! Then there are the local scrapbook stores here in the Med City – again, I could fill up my cart and empty my pocket book in a hurry. Michaels – not so much. I just do not find that store inspiring. Sorry fans of Michael’s – I am spoiled by Hobby Lobby!

So, how am I a failure in my craftiness?

I rarely make time to celebrate and honor my craftiness. My scrapbooks are not even close to current. The pictures frames on the walls at home – do not contain pictures of Cameron. I just haven’t gotten around to it. I MUST get on that soon before he recognizes this and ends up on a shrink’s couch with a complex caused by this. He is nearly two and will begin to notice this shortcoming VERY soon! I have piles of half completed projects on my craft desk. I have endless lists of craft related things I want to do. I rarely find time to plan and do creative projects with Madison and Cameron (although Madison loves to do “praw-jects!”!).  I feel my spirit being pulled towards all things creative and then I feel let down because I simply cannot find the time. Sadly, that let-down can sometimes border on resentment.

There are noses to wipe, diapers to change, boo-boo’s to kiss, laundry to fold, dishes to wash, floors to scrub, dogs to feed and bathe, husband to spend time with, bills to pay, and investments to make. There are a million things that seem to require my attention more than my need to create.

And I can feel something missing in my soul as a result.

After a weekend of crafting, or even an evening of it, I always feel so much better. It is like the feeling of peace that you get after leaving Worship at Church. Like my soul has been filled and my spirit renewed.

So, my blogging friends, I ask all of you; how do you find the time to do the things that renew your spirit? Which of the spinning plates do you let fall to do those things, whether it be craftiness, spending time with those that you love, or pursuing other things that you enjoy?