Aiden's 2nd Grade Fieldtrip

ZOO TIME!

Aiden is in 2nd grade this year and for his fieldtrip, they get to go to the Chahinkapa Zoo!  It is in Whapeton, which is about an hour long busride from his school!  And guess what!?!?!  You got it!!  I was able to go with as a chaperone!  There are some pretty cool animals at this zoo and the place is large, but enclosed so I feel comfortable letting the kids run ahead of me a little bit as we move around....

They have 2 tigers at this zoo!  The other one is white.

 This is my darling little crew!  They were such a good group of kids!

 The 2nd graders had just finished learning ALL about ducks so of COURSE we had to have a picture of one.

 Even had 2 brown bears!

 And a sleepy cougar sunning himself....

 "Grandpa's Barn" was a little petting zoo area....there were miniature horses, goats, an enclosed flower/water/duck area to walk in and swans!  The alligator wasn't out today, I think it was a little chilly for his standards!

 Here are 3 buddies!  Ty, Benny and Aiden

 And the peacock....there are a group of them that meander aroud as they please.  I absolutely LOVE the colors of peacocks!!

I believe I ended up with 98 pictures from this trip ~ hahaha! It's a VERY fun place to go if you are ever in the Wahpeton area :)

BIG FISH

Dad took a quick trip fishing after work one day to Lake Olaf and caught a couple of HUGE FISH!  He was SO proud!! 

 I had to take the one below for a comparison shot!  The "little ones" are quite edible...big ones are "cool" but bony! 

 Aiden woke up (or more like, was WAITING and LISTENING for dad to come home!) and was "more than willing" to hold one of the biggies!!  tee, hee!!

 I wanted a pic of the teeth....maybe I could be like that Jeremy guy on River Monsters someday!!

Nice job, honey!  Way to provide for the family!  We had QUITE the fish-fry the next day!!!  YUMMY!!

Kindergarten Spring Field Trip

All right....confession time....I have a job.  It's not the job I invisioned myself having 10 years ago.  That being said, I also have to say that this job is also affording me opportunities that I have not been able to have in the past.  Currently, I am a Registered Nurse....well, a RN with a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology, which in itself, is an oxymoron, but I digress!  Bottom line: due to the fact that I have a ROCK STAR husband and the fact that I feel like I found a place I fit in...in a PROFESSION I have felt from the beginning that I DO NOT fit in, I am able to do what I believe is the most important job I will ever have: support and follow my children. 

Now, PLEASE do NOT get me wrong here...I am in NO WAY saying that women who work and are providing for their families, and in return are NOT able to attend their children's activities are not doing their jobs.  I have more respect for the woman that is at her job WISHING she could be watching her child at whatever activity they are in, than I do for even myself. 

What I am trying to convey here, is that I have been "meandering".... I may still be lost in the way of my professional life...but I feel CONTENT in the fact that I can spend the time I WANT TO SPEND with my kids.  I don't see going to all their activities as a "chore".....in fact, I'm not sure what the heck I'd be doing instead - if I feel like going on a trip - the first thought I have is, "where would the kids like to go".  NO...I'm not thinking I'm "special" or that I'm friggen' "mother of the year" - for those of you who know me, that is the FURTHEST thing from the truth....just ask my kids, hahahahhahaa!  I'm selfish when it comes to them and a slight control freak...I admit it ~ judge me kindly, please! 

Here is the poing of this blog (as you should be able to tell by now, this blog isn't supposed to be dedicated to what I think!!  HAHAAHAAHA!). 

Thanks to my husband and the current job I have, I am able to be home during the week to be a spectator in my children's lives FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!  I volunteered to be a chaperone for Savannah's class field trip!  Let's get to the important stuff, eh?  I rode the bus with my little Sweet Pea and we headed to Yunker Farm (I have blogged about this place numerous times in the past)....

Here is the outside park.  Yes, every school has one...no, I have NO idea why this one is so much more fun than the one at our school ~ HA! 

 This is the group that I am in charge of!  Aren't they DARLING Princesses!?!

 And LOOK!  We get to COOK here!  These little mitties are SO CUTE!  Not to mention how cute the little girl WEARING them is!

 They even got to ride the TRAIN!  There was a little covered "bridge" area right before this pic and the conductor had them all screaming VERY LOUDLY in there.  They had SO MUCH FUN!

 Finally, her class....ohhh how I admire teachers.  Lord knows I could NEVER do it!!  Thank you, Mrs. Kasprick for a WONDERFUL year and a SUPER introduction to school for Savannah! Keep up the GREAT WORK! 

Parker Gets BRACES!

MAY 11th, 2011

The dentist has been talking to Parker and I about the "possibility" of braces for the past 2-3 years.  When his adult teeth started growing in, it was obvious the teeth were too large for his little mouth!  In fact, in 2008, he had to have some of his molars surgically removed ~ OUCH!!  Yes, the Tooth-Fairy is VERY generous to little boys who have to go through surgery!  The funny thing is that Parker has been looking FORWARD to getting braces!  I guess it's the "in-thing" to do and they are putting them on kids at younger and younger ages.  I remember when I had to get mine, I was in 7th grade and one of the younger ones at that time to get them...PLUS, I didn't WANT to get them - ohhh dear....how the times have changed, huh (and not only just in PRICE - WOW!)!?

So, TODAY is THE DAY!  Parker gets his braces and they even let me tag along to snap a few pics!

Here he is in the car BEFORE:

 ummmm.....anyone else think this looks PAINFUL!?  Goodness!!  They stopped midway through and gave his jaw a break!

 And AFTER!  He chose blue and green bands alternating on the brackets:

I was suprised that it didn't take very long to apply them.  He also did not have to get the metal bands around his molars like I did (whew!).  Tylenol every 4 hours, a bite plate and instructions on how to brush and floss - even gave him a travel toothbrush for school!  I think we are SET!  I offered to keep him out of school the rest of the day, but he wanted to go back and show everyone!  Ahhh my cute little brace-face!!

FUN Grilled Cheese Recipe!

Parker and I were watching the Food Network and Giada (below) has a special program geared towards kids.  We saw her make these grilled cheeses and HAD TO TRY THEM!  I'm so glad we did because they were DELICIOUS and SO GOOEY/CHEESY!!  Even better, you couldn't even taste the spinach (this would be a good one for you to try, cousin Laurie ~ Wink!)!  The kids even had seconds....so THANKS GIADA! 

Here's the BEFORE:

 And AFTER: They were SOOO YUMMY!

Grilled Cheese with Spinach and Pancetta

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Total Time: 47 min

 Prep - 10 min

 Inactive -7 min

 Cook -30 min

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 6 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mild Cheddar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil, plus extra, as needed
• 2 packed cups coarsely chopped baby spinach
• 16 (1/3-inch-thick) slices country-style white bread

Directions

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray. Lay the pancetta in a single layer on the prepared baking sheets and bake until crispy and brown, about 12 to 14 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Cool for 5 minutes and crumble. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the butter, cheeses, salt, and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Blend until smooth, adding extra oil, as needed, until the mixture is spreadable. Add the spinach and pulse until just combined.

Preheat a panini maker. Spread the cheese mixture over 8 slices of bread. Top with the crumbled pancetta. Put the remaining bread slices on top. Grill the sandwiches, 2 at a time, until golden and crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes, then cut each sandwich in half and arrange on a platter.

~*ENJOY!*~

Chalk Time

May 7th, 2011

Today Savannah wanted to sit outside and draw with the chalk.  She did most of the artwork herself; however, she did ask me to come out and "add a little something" to it!  For some reason, I don't mind having this kind of stuff decorate my walkways! 

I just love taking pictures of shadows...

 The ARTIST and her canvas....

Ohh Savannah....you creative little thing....you bring so much joy and color to my life.  You are always so quick to smile and to comfort those around you who are sad.  You are SUCH a blessing!!  I love you VERY much!

Summer Outfit

MAY 4th, 2011

We were worried that spring/summer weather would NEVER make it to Minnesota this year!  I believe we had rain/snow in April this year!  FINALLY it started warming up in May and you know what THAT means!!  Time to get some SUMMER OUTFITS!!  I'm gonna show this one of Savannah's off because she picked it out and LOVES IT!!

 She even got some new sparkly flip-flops...see the cute gems at the base of the leggings?!  SO CUTE!

 I just happened to take this one while she was looking at her shoes...what a honey.

 One happy little sunshine girl!!

Family Pizza and Fun Night!

Chad and the boys decided that it would be a "groovy" idea to have a night set aside where we all get to make our own pizzas & have family game night!  Sunday became that day and while we may not be able to do this EVERY Sunday, we do it AT LEAST 2 times a month!  Check out THESE masterpieces!!

Here the kids are with their "creations" (below) - tonight, the boys shared a pizza 1/2 and 1/2 and Savannah and mom did the same!  One ingredient both pizzas had in common was SAUERKRAUT!!  Yes, we LOVE it on our pizza!

 Savannah showing off our final product!

 Of course the boys think that theirs is the best!! 

I like that they came up with this idea....it seems we are ALWAYS so busy running around and Chad spends most of his time at work.  At least we can look forward to quality five-on-five time once a week!



Savannah's Spring Dance Performance 2011

She has just completed her 3rd year of dance with the company Just For Kix here in Dilworth!  The pictures didn't turn out so great, not that they EVER do in a gym - but for some reason the director thought it would be fun to do the entire show with just a couple of spotlights....hmmm....I couldn't even fix the red-eye with my editing program!  Grrrrr....oh well!

 Kicking line :)

 Ta-DAAA!!

 They were able to dance with surf boards as well!  Just think...BEACH BOYS!

 THEN...the coaches painted white shirts for the girls so they could wear these cute outfits (above) for their "Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny-Weeny, Yellow PolkaDot Bikini" routine!  It was SO CUTE....we didn't even get to see the finished product before their show :)

 Such a poser....wonder where she gets THAT from!!  HAHAHAHAHAA!!

 My little dancer-girl!  She is growing up SO FAST!!

Savannah's Yellow Belt Test

Following in her brother's footsteps, here we have Sweet-Pea testing for her Yellow Belt - it is the 3rd belt in the colored series.  She has been practicing VERY hard and is excited, but a little nervous as well!

For those who follow this blog, you've seen NUMEROUS pics of TKD testing between the 3 kids, so please bear with me, I'm going to go through the sections of her test:

Combination Kicks: she has to know numbers 1-6 and each number has 3-4 different kicks in the series (24 kicks in certain order total)

Basic One Steps: another series of moves, in order....she is responsible for knowing sections 1-5 (again, 4-5 moves in each series)

Pattern: this is a series of movements, usually @ 20 that are done in a specific pattern (a-ha!) - she is also required to know the pattern name - her current belt it is named: Pal Gwe Il Chang (Korean)

Board Break: she needs to do a running side kick (in the air), jumping over one person and break the board (hope her legs are long enough!!)

Oh!  Her current belt color is Orange and it signifies "Becoming a Recognized Student" - If she were to advance to Yellow, that signifies "Warmth, from which a plant sprouts and takes root as the foundation is laid"

 Sliding Side Kick

 Axe Kick - the foot needs to come up above the head and then the force of the kick is concentrated on the way down.

 Here she is giving an elbow punch to the neck....ahhh....a mother feels good when she knows her daughter can punch a guy in the neck!  HAHAHAHAHAA!

Here, Master Chris is testing the board

by knocking her on the head with it.  Her response is "Thank You Sir"....no, I'm not kidding!

Savannah did struggle with the board break....she was VERY concerned about landing on the poor soul who volunteered to lay there!  She innately kept jumping off the wrong foot!  Since she is 6, she got a number of tries, but did not pass this night.  The good news is that she gets to try JUST THE BOARD BREAK PORTION of the test at our next class!!  I told Master Chris to have Aiden be the one to lay there, I'm sure she would be less worried about landing on him!  HAHAHHA!! 

The good news is that she DID (eventually...it took 3 classes, but she got there....Master Chris calls that PERSERVERENCE!) pass and is currently a Yellow Belt!  YAY SAVANNAH!  We love you and are VERY PROUD!!



Red Senior Belt Testing

April 19th, 2011

This is a very exciting day for Parker Steven!  He is testing for his Red Senior belt - it's quite an elaborate test too!  There are additional sections to the test (5 total) and those that are observing him are VERY pickey about what will "pass" and what will not!

 He has to memorize a series of punches for this section (above) - it usually entails 6-10 moves and there are about 5 of them to get through. 

 Moving on to kicks....same concept as above - multiple moves in each series and between 4-6 of the series!

 For this particular test, he had to do TWO board breaks (usually there is just one) - he did one with his hand, called the "hammer fist" and then a roundouse (above) with his toes!  He broke BOTH of them on the FIRST TRY!!  YAY!!

As you can see, he PASSED!!  WAY TO GO PARKER!  I am SO PROUD OF YOU!!  He started Tae-Kwan-Do at age 8 - we go twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and RARELY take a month off....although, during the summer activities we do sometimes take 1 or 2 months off because of how busy we get!  Your dedication and PERSERVERENCE have DEFINATELY paid off!!

NEXT STEP: BLACK BELT, BABY!!  How many 11 year olds can say that!?  WHOO!!



Meet Bella Blu!

MARCH,2011

We added a new family member to the Juntunen clan!  This adorable little lady above is Bella Blu, she is part Lhasa Apso and part Bichon and she is SO SOFT and FLUFFY!  We went to the pet store in one of the local malls....we were lookin' through the glass and the kids and I were just drawn to her!  So, we took her home!  Hahahaha...no, we really don't know anything about an "in house" dog, but we're learnin! 

It was about 8:30 when we got home, and right away she had a favorite blanket and stuffed animal ~ thanks, Aiden for offering her your things!  I got out the camera and she posed PERFECTLY for the picture!  Guess we knew then FOR SURE she was PERFECT for our family!!

Parker's 1st Communion Gift

It is SO HARD to find a "neat" Communion gift for a boy...believe me, I looked and LOOKED.  I finally decided on this (above).  I wanted Parker to have something that represented his Christianity AND marked this special day in his life...not to mention let him know how proud we were of him.  I thought this was "neat" for a few reasons: 1) Yes, I know it is a "necklace"; however, the style of the chain and the dog tag seemed to make it more masculine, 2) You can see the cross...I found some really cute chains that had sports on them, but they did not represent FAITH in any way!  3) I had it engraved - the front of the dog tag says, "The Lord's Angels Watch Over and Guide You In All Your Ways", the back of the dog tag says "Parker Steven Juntunen - 1st Communion - 4.17.2011" and on the back of the cross are his initials "PSJ", after all....we chose that name special for him, it's important where it came from and I'm so glad he doesn't "hate" it!  We may have gotten to name him, but the Lord is the one who gave him to us and I get teary-eyed thinking about how grown up he is....how special he is....and how much I love and adore this first born son of mine!  The Lord will bless you Parker....I'm just blessed to have you!