HAPPY 2011!!
I cannot believe we are already at the beginning of a new year. Each year seems to fly by faster than the other.
2010 brought so many fun times and great memories and I am looking forward to a brand new start to many many more in 2011.
Here is a quick look at our past year....
For Easter, we took a trip up to Duluth with Adam's Mom to visit his sister, Andrea. She had a huge event she put on Easter weekend and wasn't able to make it home, so we brought Easter to her. We stayed at the Edgewater Hotel and Waterpark, which was super fun. The girls loved being able to swim!!
We also visted Gooseberry Falls while we were there, saw Lake Superior and went to Andrea's multi-cultural event that was held at the campus ballroom. Who's Who in MN - Linda was the guest of honor (which was a total surprise for her).In early May Adam and I hosted the 1st Annual Grout Family Reunion at our home.
It was such a special day/weekend because my Grandpa (90 years old) was able to make the trip down and see our new house.
The reuinion was a huge hit, ( a bit cold ) but a lot of fun!! My Dad's side of the family are such amazing people and I felt like we didn't get to see them enough - so, I got us all together and now have made it an annual event. The next one will be held May 14, 2011. I already can't wait.It was my golden Birthday May 28th, 2010. It was an incredible day for me. The hubs and kids took me out to eat at Chili's and then came home to an awesome surprise party put on by all my neighbors. It was amazing. My friend Jamie had 28 balloons scattered all over the yard.
It was a day I'll never forget.
The girls had a blast playing with all their neighbor friends this summer. They spent lots of time running through the sprinklers, playing in the pool, going fishing and riding bike together.
Tyler, Casey
It was a day I'll never forget.The girls had a blast playing with all their neighbor friends this summer. They spent lots of time running through the sprinklers, playing in the pool, going fishing and riding bike together.
Tyler, CaseySavannah, Lillian, Alexa, Taya, Madison and Cody
The last day of June was also the last day of preschool for Alexa at All Stars Montessori. Lucky for her, it was also a field trip day. I was fortunate enough to be able to chaperone and spend the day with her paddle boating on Cleary Lake in Prior Lake.
Alexa has definitely learned that 'practice makes perfect'. With hours and hours of time spent at the park, she was able to master the monkey bars over the summer and even learned how to climb and sit on top of them.
After the summer festival at Loring Park, we took the girls to the Minneapolis Aquatennial Parade. We always get seats right by the K102 booth, who announce the parade.
Alexa and Lillian watching the parade.
Another huge highlight of 2010 was our trip to Uncle Isaac's (Adam's best friend) organic dairy farm. We got to watch the whole process of him herding the cows, getting them into their stalls and milking them. I was the first female to milk cows on their farm - a big hit for me.
The girls both got to feed the twin calves a bottle of milk.
Alexa has taken a huge liking to soccer, so we enrolled her in a soccer camp in July.
The last day of June was also the last day of preschool for Alexa at All Stars Montessori. Lucky for her, it was also a field trip day. I was fortunate enough to be able to chaperone and spend the day with her paddle boating on Cleary Lake in Prior Lake.
Alexa has definitely learned that 'practice makes perfect'. With hours and hours of time spent at the park, she was able to master the monkey bars over the summer and even learned how to climb and sit on top of them.
The girls and I spent lots of summer nights attending festivals and events Adam put on for his kids at the parks he works at in Minneapolis. Our girls are spoiled in the way they are treated like VIP's at all these events by all his co-workers and youth.
After the summer festival at Loring Park, we took the girls to the Minneapolis Aquatennial Parade. We always get seats right by the K102 booth, who announce the parade.
Alexa and Lillian watching the parade.Another huge highlight of 2010 was our trip to Uncle Isaac's (Adam's best friend) organic dairy farm. We got to watch the whole process of him herding the cows, getting them into their stalls and milking them. I was the first female to milk cows on their farm - a big hit for me.
The girls both got to feed the twin calves a bottle of milk.Alexa has taken a huge liking to soccer, so we enrolled her in a soccer camp in July.
She did really well and seemed to enjoy it a lot.
After moving into our new home in Farmington and having the feeling of being part of a 'community', I decided that we should take part in National Night Out. In August, with the help of all my neighbors, we were able to put on a fun, successful event.
We had visits from the local police and fire departments, fun and activities for the kids and lots and lots of food. We were fortunate to get quite a few of the area businesses to sponsor our event and were grateful for all their donations.
Our neighbor Tori was big sister/babysitter to Alexa over the summer. They had a blast together, going fishing, doing various arts and crafts projects, baking, bike riding, playing with friends, swimming..ect.
At the beginning of August we were SO fortunate to be able to take a little over a week off work and head north up to our cabin for a nice needed family vacation. We were able to spend the first few days with my family celebrating Elbow Lake's town festival, Flekkefest.
Flekkefest is a troll festival - above is Alexa in a troll mask.
Adam also catered a wedding of 300 guests for a friend of my brother's. Considering it was Adam's first time catering for that amount of people - it was a HUGE success. I'm so proud of him.
After moving into our new home in Farmington and having the feeling of being part of a 'community', I decided that we should take part in National Night Out. In August, with the help of all my neighbors, we were able to put on a fun, successful event.
We had visits from the local police and fire departments, fun and activities for the kids and lots and lots of food. We were fortunate to get quite a few of the area businesses to sponsor our event and were grateful for all their donations.Our neighbor Tori was big sister/babysitter to Alexa over the summer. They had a blast together, going fishing, doing various arts and crafts projects, baking, bike riding, playing with friends, swimming..ect.
At the beginning of August we were SO fortunate to be able to take a little over a week off work and head north up to our cabin for a nice needed family vacation. We were able to spend the first few days with my family celebrating Elbow Lake's town festival, Flekkefest.
Flekkefest is a troll festival - above is Alexa in a troll mask.Adam also catered a wedding of 300 guests for a friend of my brother's. Considering it was Adam's first time catering for that amount of people - it was a HUGE success. I'm so proud of him.
We spent the rest of our time and vacation at our cabin. I could have posted a million pictures of this trip, but I chose this one of our whole family enjoying some good times in the sun.
The cabin is my favorite place in the whole wide world and now it's a favorite to Alexa and Lillian, too. We spent lots of time in the lake, swimming and in the boat.
Lillian finally was tall enough to reach the pedal's of her trike and was so happy to be able to ride around with the 'big kids'. We took so many family bike rides together over the summer - a definite highlight.
Adam hosted the 2010 Fantasty Football Draft at our house again in September. With all his buddies in town, the girls and I let them have their fun by going up to the cabin. When we got home - we were surprised with a huge gift in our back yard - a trampoline from our neighbor Grandma Debbie. We spent so much time jumping over the summer - and even put the sprinkler underneath on hot hot days. Thanks Grandma Debbie!
We spent a fun evening with Lillian at her school, All Stars Montessori on Family Fun night at the end of August. We had a big picnic with all the families of All Stars and the kids got their faces painted, played in the jumper and got a tour of the Apple Valley fire truck.
There were a lot of "firsts" for Alexa in 2010. She lost her first tooth - and then 4 more shortly after - and she had her first sleepover.
Lillian is shown in the picture above even though she did not spend the night. The sleep over was at Alexa's friend Hannah's house, who is our neighbor and family friend. Hannah's Mom realized that this was quite a big deal for (me), so she kindly invited us all over for pizza and to hang out before I left Alexa for the night. I did end up going back over there around 1:30 am to 'check' on her, but over all I think (we both) did great.
The cabin is my favorite place in the whole wide world and now it's a favorite to Alexa and Lillian, too. We spent lots of time in the lake, swimming and in the boat.Lillian finally was tall enough to reach the pedal's of her trike and was so happy to be able to ride around with the 'big kids'. We took so many family bike rides together over the summer - a definite highlight.
Adam hosted the 2010 Fantasty Football Draft at our house again in September. With all his buddies in town, the girls and I let them have their fun by going up to the cabin. When we got home - we were surprised with a huge gift in our back yard - a trampoline from our neighbor Grandma Debbie. We spent so much time jumping over the summer - and even put the sprinkler underneath on hot hot days. Thanks Grandma Debbie!
We spent a fun evening with Lillian at her school, All Stars Montessori on Family Fun night at the end of August. We had a big picnic with all the families of All Stars and the kids got their faces painted, played in the jumper and got a tour of the Apple Valley fire truck.
There were a lot of "firsts" for Alexa in 2010. She lost her first tooth - and then 4 more shortly after - and she had her first sleepover.
Lillian is shown in the picture above even though she did not spend the night. The sleep over was at Alexa's friend Hannah's house, who is our neighbor and family friend. Hannah's Mom realized that this was quite a big deal for (me), so she kindly invited us all over for pizza and to hang out before I left Alexa for the night. I did end up going back over there around 1:30 am to 'check' on her, but over all I think (we both) did great. At the begining of September we had some AWESOME visitors come and stay with us, Adam's Aunt Nellie and Uncle Fred from Texas. They always bring with them lots of joy and smiles and we were so happy they could come and stay with us.
While they were here, we celebrated the engagement of Adam's brother Benny and his fiance Amanda with a party in Albert Lea at Adam's parents.
While they were here, we celebrated the engagement of Adam's brother Benny and his fiance Amanda with a party in Albert Lea at Adam's parents.
I didn't get a picture of the happy couple, but below are Alexa and Lillian with their cousin Zac.
Another HUGE event in 2010 was Alexa starting Kindergarten. It was very very emotional for me at first. The thought of my baby being 'school aged' was too much for me. But, she was sooo ready and was so excited to ride the bus and be a part of Ms. McCloskey's class.
She got on the bus without hesitation and absolutley LOVES going to school. She is Little Miss Social Butterfly, so it doesn't surprise me a bit. She has made so many new friends and gets phone calls for playdates non-stop.
Another HUGE event in 2010 was Alexa starting Kindergarten. It was very very emotional for me at first. The thought of my baby being 'school aged' was too much for me. But, she was sooo ready and was so excited to ride the bus and be a part of Ms. McCloskey's class.
She got on the bus without hesitation and absolutley LOVES going to school. She is Little Miss Social Butterfly, so it doesn't surprise me a bit. She has made so many new friends and gets phone calls for playdates non-stop.We had a GORGEOUS (beginning) of fall here in MN, so we were able to sneak in a trip to the MN Zoo before winter. The girls had a great time seeing all the animals and playing at all the activity centers around the zoo. Below they are pretending to be turtles.
Alexa dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz this year for Halloween and Lillian was a cheerleader. We went to a Halloween party at Lillian's school and trick or treating around our neighborhood.
Alexa counted 205 pieces of candy in her bag.
In late fall we took a trip up to my Grandpa and Grandma's house to help rake leaves in their yard and put their Christmas lights up on the outside of their house and garage. Some of my cousin's were there and we all pitched in to help. We've done this in past years - and although it seems like it's a lot of work, it's so much fun. We work together and have a great time doing it.
This time the weather wasn't as cooperative - it was a bit chilly and rainy - but, we got all finished before it started to pour.
Adam turned 27 this year. He is still such a little baby and makes me feel old.
Alexa dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz this year for Halloween and Lillian was a cheerleader. We went to a Halloween party at Lillian's school and trick or treating around our neighborhood.
Alexa counted 205 pieces of candy in her bag.In late fall we took a trip up to my Grandpa and Grandma's house to help rake leaves in their yard and put their Christmas lights up on the outside of their house and garage. Some of my cousin's were there and we all pitched in to help. We've done this in past years - and although it seems like it's a lot of work, it's so much fun. We work together and have a great time doing it.
This time the weather wasn't as cooperative - it was a bit chilly and rainy - but, we got all finished before it started to pour.Adam turned 27 this year. He is still such a little baby and makes me feel old.
I love him sooooooooo much!
The gorgeoud weather didn't seem to last long, we got a huge snow storm over Thanksgiving weekend. Adam's Mom and Dad were able to make it, but his sister and brother were snowed in. Below is Lillian, Alexa, Grandma Linda and I in the kitchen cooking Thanksgiving dinner.
With all the early snow, the girls and I made snowmen and got a chance to play in the snow while the temperatures were still above zero.
After that, it was snow storm after snow storm with the snow making huge accumulations.
With all the early snow, the girls and I made snowmen and got a chance to play in the snow while the temperatures were still above zero.
After that, it was snow storm after snow storm with the snow making huge accumulations.
Below is Adam and our neighbor Dave snowblowing. This particular storm we got 17-20".
In early December we went to the Christmas Village at the Dakota County Fairgrounds. We took horse and trolley rides and visited all the holiday decorated buildings in the village. The girls wrote letters to Santa, made holiday crafts and toured the train depot, county jail, barber shop, general store and much more.
Love, The Lares'
In early December we went to the Christmas Village at the Dakota County Fairgrounds. We took horse and trolley rides and visited all the holiday decorated buildings in the village. The girls wrote letters to Santa, made holiday crafts and toured the train depot, county jail, barber shop, general store and much more.
Mentioned above are just a few of the highlighted events of 2010.
We were so blessed to have so many visits from family and friends in between.
We hope that 2011 brings us another fantastic year full of fun, family, laughter and friends.
Love, The Lares'
Adam, Dawn, Alexa and Lillian
