Thank you

I wanted to take a second to thank all of our family and friends for their undying love and support during this very emotional time since my Dad passed away.

I cannot tell you how much your thoughts, prayers, kind words, hugs, emails, cards, flowers, calls, & meals have meant to us. Your support is truly what is getting us through the hardest of times, and we cannot thank you enough.

Just know that your thoughtfulness with never be forgotten.

We are beyond blessed to have such amazing friends and family in our lives.

~~~

Rich is not how much you have,
or where you are going in life.
Rich is who you have beside you along the way.

In Loving Memory of Larry Alfred Smith

It is with great sadness that I post this message.

After a five year battle with kidney cancer, my beloved Dad is finally at peace.

He passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by family at 2:30 am on Saturday, 2/21.

He was 58 years old, and an amazing husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle & friend. We will all remember him for his dedication and love to his family, gifted wood working skills, LOVE for Harley motorcycles, black leather vest, & kind, gentle nature.

Though we will all struggle to figure out how to live this life without him in it, his love and memory will never be forgotten.

Memorial Service was held at Strike Funeral Home in Cambridge, MN on Tuesday, 2/24/09

Long Awaited January Updates.....

Yes, we are still alive and well.....just WAY behind on blog posts! :)

Let's see where to even begin.....we have spent most of January at inside venues because of the frigid cold temps, and we are BEYOND ready for Spring to come, but that is beside the point.

This is what Hayden has looked like for most of the month of January--really ever since Santa delivered this gift under the tree:

Our very own Clone Trooper...the kid is a Star Wars nut!

We have officially recovered from Christmas, and finally got the tree down a few weekends ago, but didn't get the boxes down to the crawl space until yesterday! Nothing like being timely.
I like to think we are just really festive people.

We enjoyed a trip to the MN zoo--always a hit with H&E--thank god for our membership. Even fun to go in the winter and do the Tropics Trail and Discovery Cove. They LOVE the aquariums.

A hog pile on daddy helped to burn some steam....

Many, many trips to Cambridge to spend time with Nana and Papa Smith:

We love, love, love these guys....

...and Nana always manages to spoil the kids with treats--on this particular day, she had popsicles, which were a HUGE hit!

Another fun family outing we had was to the St Paul Chamber Orchestra's 50th Birthday celebration. Jon's parents got us free tickets to a kid-friendly concert, with festivities before hand by Creative Kids Stuff to celebrate their birthday. We went to Cosetta's before the concert for pizza, and just had a great day together!

Making birthday hats for the concert...

Mesmerized by the percussionists, our kids didn't make a peep the entire concert.

Some video footage for your enjoyment:



Other than that, the kids (and Jonathan) had some fun experimenting with dry ice
from our grocery delivery:

Next Up....Swimming Lessons, and other exciting developments in the Sharpe household!!

Stay Tuned.

Ice Tubing!

We had great intentions of going sledding on Christmas Day, but ended up taking naps, reading, playing, watching movies, and having an ultra lazy day instead. We also got two awesome snow tubes as a Christmas gift from aunt Kathryn, so couldn't wait to try them out this weekend.

Saturday after nap, we bundled up and headed over to Creek Valley in Edina, which is the hill that Jon grew up sledding on. Despite the icy conditions....we had a BALL!! Again, I am not sure if the kids or Jon & I had more fun...until one of our tubes popped that is!! :)

Here is some fancy video footage that I just love.....
thanks to Jonathan, the camera stunt man~

Pre-Christmas Festivities........

The holidays are near judging by the view out my picture window, and by the crazy schedule we are trying to keep these days!! Our calender is full of festivities and here are just a few to share:

Hayden and Erica all dressed in red for their preschool Christmas party:

A little Santa action......

Erica sat on Santa's lap first, and was a little (ok, a lot) skiddish. He tried to get her to
talk about what she wanted, and to touch his beard, but she looked about like this (one step from tears) the whole time she was on his lap.

Hayden on the other hand.....had a list about a mile long for Santa!!
I think Santa had to cut him off half way through his requests!

A cute self portrait of Jon and Erica from the party...

Here is some footage of the kids singing Christmas carols in their elf hats:

And finally the kids and I this morning before leaving to go see Peef The Christmas
Bear at Stages Theater in Hopkins:

Well, that's all I've got for now--but definitely more to come on this subject!!!

A Very Belated Trick Or Treat!

Argh, I am finally getting around to posting these Halloween photos of the kids. They were saved as a draft from the day after Halloween, and then I forgot all about them. Oh well, better late than never, right?!

Here is Hayden the "Fruit Bat"
I brought the costume home for him, and after trying it on and flying around the house for a while...he let me know that he wasn't just any old bat, but a fruit bat. Apparently there is a huge difference, and he wanted to be clear about it! He is a very literal boy~

And Erica as a Monkey or "Curious George." You may recognize this costume, as Hayden wore it last year. Their mom is a cheapskate, so it only made sense to use get another wear out of this cute, little costume! She made the cutest little monkey noises to sound convincing, too!!

Here they are with their friends & neighbors, Kendall & Taylor. We trick or treated
around the neighborhood with them, and had a ball.......

......while Jon stayed home to hand out candy & scare our trick or treaters!
Our home all decked out for Halloween:

This was his remote controlled, pneumatic ghost in the bushes:

Look out trick-or-treaters next year, as he plans to "kick it up a notch" for the next spooky season! That's my inventor husband, gotta love him! :)

Leaf Pile = Kid Magnet

A few requisite photos of jumping and playing in the leaves before they get bagged up and hauled off by the garbage truck!! What is it about leaf piles that just BEG to be jumped in? I remember it as a kid, and our children are no different...as you can see, they are enjoying themselves thoroughly!