Beautiful Day...

A beautiful jacket A pretty picture

Courtney Darlene and her Grandma Darlene

It was a beautiful day to celebrate Grandma's birthday with high temperatures of 50 degrees, it felt like spring! We had a great day filled with food, family and fun. The girls and I are anxious to have Eric home later this evening. We'll be taking food over to the Hagen household tomorrow to watch the big game. Happy Superbowl Sunday everyone:)

Courtney and Kelsey

Today I am enjoying my day off. Due to a girls and boys basketball tournament in Huron, we do not have school today (however we did have school on MLK day). Eric has been gone since Wednesday, since he is on the Board of Directors for the tournament.

I spent the morning at school finishing some paperwork and then came home to work out and relax before the girls come home on the bus.

The photos of Courtney are from last weekend. She attended a birthday party for her friend, Hema, at the Holiday Inn Express in Watertown. The girls went swimming and Hema's mom gave the girls facials/spa treatment. Courtney had a lot of fun!!

The photo of Kelsey is from yesterday. Her class celebrated their 100th day of school. Her crown says, "I'm 100 days smarter!" It's decorated with 10 strips of construction paper each containing 10 stickers.

The girls and I are going to Sioux Falls tomorrow to help Grandma Darlene celebrate her birthday. Have a good weekend everyone:)

Happy Birthday Grandma Darlene!

We would like to wish our wonderful mother, mother-in-law and grandmother a very Happy Birthday on Thursday. We love you so very much and are blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for all of your support, advice and love through the years. You have been my role model, teacher and constant source of strength. The girls are fortunate to have a grandma that enjoys playing games, going to the park, baking and spending time with them. You are an amazing woman and an inspiration to many! We look forward to celebrating with you on Saturday. Thank you for everything you've taught me, but most of all for being my mom:)

Pictures from St. Louis

Legally Blonde the Musical....
Mindy and Me

The four of us with Dr. Reid Lyon an expert in the area of Reading...

My trip is coming to an end. The weather here has been nice 40-60 degrees. We will be flying home tomorrow, where I know it is extremely cold. This evening we ventured to Union Station for some shopping, supper at Landry's and a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe. It has been a fun trip, but I'm ready to see my girls and Eric!

Happy Birthday Sheila!

I would like to wish my dear friend Sheila a very Happy Birthday today! She is a wonderful teacher, counselor, and most importantly friend.....I hope you have a super day:)

St. Louis

This is what my room looks like.....

Here is a picture of my hotel...

Hello from St. Louis. I am here until Saturday for a reading conference. Mindy, Karen, Jenn and I flew from Fargo to Denver yesterday. The weather in Denver was 66 degrees and the weather here is nice as well (55 degrees). Our hotel is across the street from the Arch. Tonight we attended "Legally Blonde," at The Fox Theatre, which was excellent! Our speaker today was Dr. Reid Lyon who has done extensive research in reading, including the National Institute of Health's report and National Reading Panel, which I cited in my dissertation. It was an honor and priviledge to meet him-we hade our picture taken with him as well, which I will post later. Have a good week everyone!

Happy Anniversary Ted and Pam!!

Happy Birthday Shelly!

We'd like to wish our sister-in-law and aunt a very Happy Birthday on Monday! Have a great Birthday:)

American Girl....

Courtney and I just returned home from a quick trip to the Mall of America. Courtney's friend, Kyler is a big fan of American Girl dolls, so for his birthday we went to the American Girl store. We drove to the Cities Saturday morning, picked up Miranda in Shakopee and headed to the mall. It was a very busy place as the National Cheerleading Competition was taking place there as well. We battled the crowds and had a good time.

Eric will be staying home with the girls tomorrow as they don't have school and I do. I will be leaving for St. Louis on Tuesday for a BIE Reads conference and will be coming home on Saturday. Have a good week everyone:)

American Idol Season 8

American Idol Season 8 started this evening in Phoenix. Courtney and I are big 'Idol' fans, but we've also started watching 'The Biggest Loser,' so we didn't watch very much of the Idol try-outs. This year is a little different because they've added another judge, Kara Dioguardi. I think she'll be a nice addition to the show-what do you think? Stay tuned for more auditions tomorrow night from Kansas City....

Another Snow Day!

Eric and I received a phone call at 6:15 this morning letting us know that there would be no school today. We watched the local news channel and found out that the girls would not have school today either. We received an additional four inches of snow overnight and it is still blowing. The girls wanted to watch videos of themselves so Eric got those ready and we've been watching 'home' movies all afternoon. It's amazing how fast 8 years have gone by...... Here are some photos of outside our home.

Ice Skating Jackets

The girls were able to attend ice skating lessons in Watertown this morning and were excited to get their new jackets. The jackets were supposed to be ready before Christmas, but for some reason didn't come in until last week. So, thanks grandma and grandpa-the girls really love their new ice skating jackets:)

Williams and Ree

To celebrate our anniversary...Eric and I along with a few of our friends went to see the comedy act of Williams and Ree at the Dakota Magic Casino. Williams and Ree are also known as 'The Indian,' and 'The White Guy.' We really enjoyed the comedy and it was a fun way to celebrate 11 years of marriage.

We are supposed to be getting another storm, with the possibility of 3-6 inches. So, it may be another snowed in weekend for the Heath family and others....

Andes Mint Cookies

Saturday, Courtney and I decided to bake a batch of cookies. I borrowed the recipe from Laurie's sister, Shari and am posting the link for others to try:http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--2343/andes-mint-cookies.asp Shari suggested using one mint per cookie instead of half, which I agree with. The cookies turned out great. We took some to Sunday school and they were a big hit with the kids and adults!

Happy Belated Birthday Carrie!

I need to send a belated birthday wish to my dear friend Carrie. Carrie is a wonderful friend and teacher. We both started working at Tiospa Zina in 1995 and she is a great person with a charismatic personality. I hope you had a great birthday on Wednesday! Love ya:)

A Day for Sledding....

Playing in the Snow
Give us a push....

Trudging up the hill

The Sledding Sisters

It was finally warm enough for the girls to go sledding yesterday. They stayed outside and played in the snow for quite awhile....

New Year's Eve

Enjoying the Wii
Andrew, Kelsey and Blake listening to music

Hi Ladies...only 3.5 hours left until midnight!!

Happy New Year!

We hosted a New Year's Eve party at our house this year. The kids played games in the basement and the adults visited and played games in the dining room. The kids and some of the adults enjoyed the Wii as well. Everyone brought a dish to pass and it was a fun time.....