Frigid Winter

The winter of 2013-2014 sure has been a long, tough one.  We've had so many days with temperatures below zero with wind chills  anywhere from -40 degrees F to -60 degrees F!!!  Dangerously cold! 

One night I was parked in my car and looked down to see -4 F, so I snapped the photo below.  Yes, it's gotten much, much colder than this, but usually I'm not out when it's colder than that!  There was a point where our temperatures were colder than those at the North Pole!!  Brrr!!!

Today (1/26/2014) on the weather channel.com:

Tomorrow's outlook:

2013 Holiday Season

Charlotte's friend, Marin, Charlotte and Brennan (a.k.a., "Santa") at Char's new favorite restaurant.

Honey

Bill looking a bit confused decorating the little Christmas tree.  This was the first year we had two -- a small fake one and a real one.  One could be seen from our front window and one was in the back of the house in the family room (where we spend most of our time).

Brenny's new favorite "chair" -- the cat's scratching post!

Janet and student, Kubisa at Hubbs Center.  Kubisa has a tremendous background in saving women and children who have been kidnapped or drafted into the military.  He led a program in Congo to rehabilitate them and train them for future employment and self-sufficiency.  Watch the videos about his work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWmxvLYgdts and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n79pf0WbSAA

Jeffrey

Christmas Day at our house.

janet and sisters, Laura, Gayle and Lois at the Russian Musem of Art.  

Special Exhibit of the Romanovs.

Out for a beer and lunch at George and the Dragon.

A winter walk on a very frozen White Bear Lake.

Auntie Lois styled Charlotte's hair beautifully!

Honey in "baby" position.

Janet took Brennan and friend, Jason, to PINZ for the day off school.

Charlotte's Choir Concert

Charlotte is in both the 6th grade choir and a smaller singing ensemble called the Rising Stars.

Brenny the pianist

Brenny is cruising along now with his third piano recital.  His first recital ever was with teacher, Jeremy Walker, playing, " ___"  His second recital was with teacher, Chaz Fautch, playing "Jazzy."  HIs third recital (again with Fautch) was a Holiday recital and he played, "Believe" from the movie, The Polar Express.

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!