Janet on Minnesota Public Radio

Janet was interviewed by a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio.  Take a look at this link for the full article:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/11/28/english-language-programs

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  It was a tough one in some ways, as it was our first without my dad, but we still enjoyed being together as a family and remembering all that we're grateful for.  The day started out with the annual 5K and 10K race ("Fast Before the Feast") -- this was Brenny's first year running and he was the fastest of the family!!

Afterwards, we went to my sister, Ruth's, for our annual brunch.  It was great and we really relaxed and and fun.  Then we had my mom, Lois, and Laura + family over for the traditional turkey dinner.  Bill cooked a turkey, a ham, tomato soup, and many side dishes.  What a feat!!  All in all it was a nice holiday!

Charlotte's Leopard Paw Award and Brenny's Starburst Award

Charlotte received a Leopard Paw Award today for being a great student.  Her teacher is allowed to give out one each month.  There are 1145 kids in the school!

Brenny earned the Starburst Award for improvement as a Self-Starter!

Brenny's piano recital

Brenny had his first piano recital with new teacher, Chaz Fautch, today (and only his second recital ever)!  He played the song, "Jazzy," and did a wonderful job!  We were very proud!

Here is a little video of the song (we forgot to record it there, but we did get a picture, anyway!)

Carolina and our trip Up North

Our dear family friend, Carolina Tomic, visited us from Chile. Although the visit was short, we went up to Duluth, Lutsen and Grand Marais and had a wonderful time together!

Charlotte's birthday and Halloween 2013

Bill was in New York during Charlotte's birthday party (however, he was here on her actual birthday when we took her out to her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden.)  Here are some pix from the party:

Char went to her friend, Kennedy's, Halloween party as a zombie.  Pretty good costume that she made herself (and did the make-up herself!)

Bill went all out again with the Halloween decorations.  Brenny was a guy from the video game, Halo and Charlotte was a ballerina Bunny.  Bill took Brenny trick-or-treating, while Charlotte went with friend, Emma.