Count down to Kauai = 1 week

Officially beginning to pack. Steve & I are hoping to fit our stuff into one carry-on each and checking one bag with our dive gear. Not sure if we can be as efficient as the Matherns, but at least we have something to aspire towards!
I talked Steve into letting me get a new wide-angle lens for my Nikon today. I am so excited to try my best to capture the beauty of Kauai.

A day with my youngest daughter

Easter Monday (April 25) has traditionally been a no school day; however, the public school had to make up a snow day, so Abby had to go to school. Since Kippy attends private school (Our Lady of Victory) she got to have the day off. Steve had to work, so I decided to take a vacation day and spend it with my youngest daughter.

I told Kippy that Monday was going to be a Mommy/Daughter day and said she would get to pick our activities. She made some wise choices and even let me suggest a few things along the way. Kippy brought her own camera with to document our day, so be prepared because there are a lot of pics in this blog post.

Our first activity: Bike to the library

We enjoyed the beautiful spring day by biking to the library. It was 65 degrees out and our first bike ride of 2011.
Reading is a favorite activity for both of us. Here are our book choices. After selecting books, we stayed and read for a little while until until I suggested another activity.

Activity #2: Go to Somethings Brewing.
We ordered our hot beverages (Caramel steamer for Kippy & Almond Joy Latte for me) and went up into the loft area to enjoy with our books.
After some reading, we decided should go ahead and order lunch.
Taco in a bag for Kippy and
a chicken Caesar for me.

Activity #3: Go for a walk with Bella and the Hubert girls around Lake Alice.
We spied a beautiful crocus peeping out of the ground.
Dani, Madi and Kippy were very busy exploring the newly uncovered areas of Lake Alice due to the partial draining of the lake. Kami was very helpful in doggie sitting so Heather and I could get some much needed visiting in.

Activity #4: Baking banana bread
We use my Grandma Nita's recipe with the addition of some brown sugar sprinkled on top. I turns out perfectly every time.


Activity #6: Poop picking after Bella in the yard. Kippy was not happy about that one because she thought the whole day should just be fun. She insisted NO PICTURES.

Activity #7: Packing up the Easter decor. Another not fun activity with no pics, per Kippy.

And we wrapped up the day with Activity #8: Piano lessons for Kippy and house cleaning/laundry for me.

All in all, were able to do mostly fun activities, and got some necessary work done as well. Best of all was just spending time together and I hope Kippy remembers that part.

She makes a difference!

Angelique has had a wonderful teacher this past year for 4th grade who has made a difference in her life. Angelique always loved to read, but her teacher this past year has turned a love of reading into a passion for reading. Her teacher is generous with her time as well as having a spectacular ability to ignite the desire to learn in her students.  Kippy ended her 4th grade year with an award for the 2nd highest number of AR reading points for the entire school.  So glad OLV has Mrs. Pawlowski on our staff!  I also love that she let us know about this particular act of kindness that Angelique extended to her on National Teacher's Day otherwise, we wouldn't have known about it at all.  It truly shows how special Mrs. Pawlowski is to Angelique.

E-MAIL from Mrs. Pawlowski on May 3rd:

Hi Renae! I just wanted to let you and Steve know how much I appreciated the thoughtful and creative card Angelique gave me today on National Teacher's Day. (I wasn't even aware of this. Ha!) Your daughter is amazing in so many ways and has been such a pleasure to teach. I wish I could a find a way to keep her in fourth grade, but she is far too talented! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to teach both of your wonderful daughters!

Hollywood Nights

Saturday, April 30th was OLV's 2nd annual Steak & Wine Dinner fundraiser and the theme was Hollywood Nights. We were so excited to be able to share our table of 8 with my parents, as well as the Lance & Denise, and David & Kelly. We had so much fun visiting, laughing & talking each other into bidding on things during the live auction.
At one point, my mom grabbed Steve's bidding card and that is how I got my Mother's day present...
a rose a month for a year and a gift certificate to the a local jewelry store. Apparently she didn't think Steve had time to shop. Hahaha!

Mom & dad make a stunning red carpet couple. Don't you just love Mom's gold dress?

Lance & Denise look fabulous as always. Plus they gave us a ton of insider information about our upcoming trip to Kauai, HI since they had just been there 6 months ago. Brac, who just turned 5, had a great time with Kippy & Abby at our house and didn't want to leave on Sunday. He is such a charmer!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of David & Kelly, but if I did, I would have inserted it right here. We had such a great time, that our table bid on next years VIP table for 2012. So, we get to do it all again, but with special VIP status, including a limo ride. We will be large & in charge next year, for sure!

I love to have the opportunity to dress up at least once a year with my sweetheart. Getting to dance with him is a rare treat & bonus!
My fancy hair was compliments of Carla at Attitudes for Hair, because truth be told, I can't fix my own hair AT ALL. As my daughters would say, I have depithia (a.k.a. issues).

It was a great evening, although the low was it was snowing heavily by the time we left at midnight. Boo for snow on May 1st!

A pleasing piano performance

On Friday day night (April 29th) the girls participated in their Spring Recital. It was the 7th recital for Abby and the 3rd for Angelique. And the end of their second year being instructed by Betty Bermel. True to their natures, Abby was relaxed about it and Kippy was nervous and stressed. {I'll let you decide which daughter takes after her dad and which one takes after me.}
In the audience were a few special guests. Grandma Rose & Grandpa Rod were able to come for the event, which I believe is the first recital they have been able to attend where both granddaughters played.
Angelique played two pieces. The first one was Overture by Rossini and the second piece was a memorized piece called Scat Boogie by Bastien. She did a great job. After the performance she confided to us that she had made a mistake in Scat Boogie and said, "I should have done ba-da-ba, but instead I played ba-dom. Never mind, I'll just show you when I get home."

Abby tackled two difficult pieces and played them both with a lot of emotion and dynamics. Tarantella by Beaumont was light and playful, while Fur Elise was both familiar and dramatic.
So proud of both of them and as you can see, so are the grandparents!
Such a fun night listening to all the students perform, enjoying the fruits of all their practice time!
Another special guest was in the audience... Ms Lori Reader, who had driven all the way from Omaha, NE for the performance... well, actually, for the Prom which her daughter was attending... but she got in on listening to the 2 Lindgren girls and 4 Hubert girls play their hearts out. Free entertainment, how great is that?
Since we had neglected to take any pics of the three of us when we were last together in February, I made Abby take pics of us on Friday night. Unfortunately, Abby wasn't happy with how squinty my eyes were and kept saying, "Open up your eyes!" So, we all three gave Abby our best open-eyes. Rather freaking, huh? But I love my PEEPS!

Countdown to Kauai - 2 weeks

We were so lucky to spend time with travel experts and fabulous friends, Lance & Denise, who have traveled to Kauai and gave us insider information on where to eat, what beaches they loved & great activities like a helicopter ride over the island. We are definitely getting excited about this once in a lifetime anniversary trip!

Easter Activities

Easter morning, we were ready to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, but first we needed to get to the church. And that meant being able to drive through water, too bad we couldn't have Moses' staff to just part it.
Steve took over driving the Ridgeliner because my mom was almost hyperventilating just watching Randy's Ford drive through the water.
So once Randy's family safely made it across, Steve carefully drove us through and got us to church on time.
After church, we made a brief stop to get a few pictures of our family. Carefully changing out of our knee-high- waterproof-mud-boots to put our fancy shoes back on.

But the kids put their mud boots back on for Egg Hunt 2011. The Easter bunny got pretty creative with hiding those candy-filled plastic eggs. Some were spotted even up in the tree. The kids were happily swapping candy with each other and getting glossy-eyed from their sugar coma shortly after the 108 eggs were found.

My mom put on a bountiful spread of food for Easter dinner including ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, numerous salads and pie, pie, pie (thanks to my SIL, Anna). Lots of laughter and stories were exchanged by the attendees which included: Uncle Jim, Aunt Judy, Uncle Bob, Randy, Anna, Kaleb, Logan, Russ, Kristy, Nixin, Noah, Grandma/mom Rose, Grandpa/dad Rod, Steve, Abby, Kippy & me. All those mouths to feed and there were still oodles and oodles of leftovers.
I think my boots look rather snazzy with my Easter dress, don't you?