Taya's Choir Concert

May 10th was Taya's first choir concert. It was short and sweet and despite the five minute Justin Beiber montage they sang, pretty good! 

 

 

Heather's Baby Shower

The day after my birthday, we trekked all the way to Eau Claire, Wisconsin to celebrate Heather's baby shower. Heather is a friend of Corey's from work. It was fun to ride out there with Lisa and to see some of his friends again! Plus, I got to go shopping at Babies R Us in Maple Grove! I love looking for baby clothes. I used to shop there all the time when we lived in Brooklyn Park for the girls and I was so sad when they outgrew it! Sigh! Now I have to get my baby fix from other people! They had great treats and some really fun baby shower games!

My &*th Birthday

 

Even though I have decided to stop celebrating my birthday because I am just getting older, it still seems to come around once a year! Oh well, with age comes wisdom (and laugh lines EEK!). But I do have to admit, this year I had a pretty great birthday. I had the day off of work and the girls had the day off of school. When I asked the girls how we should celebrate mommy's birthday, they said we should go bowling (of course!) so that is just what we did. We went out to lunch with my dad and enjoyed a couple of games of bowling. At noon on a Friday, we had the place pretty much to ourselves and it was a blast! Dad had his own bowling shoes and bowling ball that he probably hadn't used in over 30 years! I think his shoes were way too slippery and the girls and I had a little fun at his expense watching him slip around on the lanes! Then, when Corey and my sister got off of work, we went out to dinner at Mexican Village. To top the night off, Corey and I went out with DeNae, Troy, Tracy & Mike to the comedy club and the Martini Lounge. It was a great day!

Dance Competition in Rochester

 

And our final dance competition of the year was in Rochester the weekend after Easter. This is always the biggest competition the girls go to. The competition includes teams from as far away as Illinois and Nebraska and runs from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening. I think they had over 300 routines in the competition this year. It's crazy! We stayed overnight two nights in Rochester so the girls could enjoy the water park at the hotel on Saturday! The girls walked away with two 1st place ribbons and a 3rd place ribbon to end the season! Whew! Competitions are a lot of work and it felt good to be done!

Easter 2012

The girls coloring Easter eggs with Ava!

Taya is concentrating hard!

Easter baskets

Unfortunately, I had to work nights over Easter this year. But when I woke up on Saturday, we had fun dying Easter eggs with Chloe's friend Ava. The girls also eagerly waited for their baskets from the Easter bunny!

Dance Competition in Whapeton

The last weekend in March, the girls had their first out-of-town dance competition in Whapeton! We spent the night at a hotel and the girls enjoyed swimming in the pool and relaxing. Then we had to get up early Saturday morning and get ready for competition! Despite a few melt-downs about hair not being quite right, it was a great time! Scratch that...I'm surprised the cops didn't come pounding on the door of the hotel room to see what all the screaming was about! Chloe isn't so picky, but Taya had a melt-down because her bun was 1 mm off to the side and must have tried to redo it 10 times before we finally had to give up and get going. Good grief! Must be a pre-teen thing! She gets more emotional every day! But, anyways, once we were actually at the competition and the girls were off doing their thing, Corey and I had a great time watching them!

Chloe getting sassy!

At Chloe's age level,  the girls only compete with their jazz routine. I love their bumble bee jazz costumes this year! They are so cute.

 

And a first place for Chloe's team!!



First place for Taya's team in kick!

Then, it was Taya's turn to compete. Her kick class competed with a brand new routine they had just finished learning and took 1st place!! Their routine was called Rock On and had all kinds of great music from Kiss to Lenny Kravitz! They rocked the house!



Taya, you are a shining STAR!!

And another 1st place in jazz! Way to go girls!

Grandma Olson

Grandma Olson, Taya & Chloe

Christmas 2003

Grandma getting her first look at Chloe

Visiting great-grandma

Thanksgiving 2004

Four generations!

Grandma Olson's 90th Birthday



On March 20th, I lost my last living grandparent. Grandma Olson, my mom's mom, died just 2 weeks after her 95th birthday. Unfortunately she had been in a nursing home and not doing well for several years. I remember Christmases with cookies and cakes for breakfast and unending goodies. Grandma and I would always be partners in Rook because we were shrewd bidders and we usually won! She was a hard worker and independent! She has gone home now to be with grandpa. Now my mom has her mom with her in heaven! You will be missed Grandma! Love you!