Jordan's Big Day (Finally!!)

Valley City State University Graduation - May 15, 2010It was an early morning to get to the 10:00 ceremony in Valley City. Allie was waiting every so patiently to get to see her Uncle Jordan and give him the card she had made for him

Morgan & Emily waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Paul & Grandpa Denny catching up during the wait.

Ty looking for Jordan's name in the program.

Yeah - here comes our favorite graduate!

Even sleepy Ty perked up and cheered along.

We didn't know where Jordan would be seated. Luckily we picked seats in the bleachers near his chair. Allie tried to get his attention through most of the ceremony.

Crossing the stage & receiving his diploma!

(Woody & Maite watched Jordan get his diploma via live webcast....we got fun texts from them during the ceremony....like "just saw Jordan get his diploma....you crying yet?")

Listening to the words of advice from the various graduation speakers.

Proud Mom with the graduate.

(The red paper in the diploma is the card that Allie had made.)

Proud Parents

Proud Grandparents who made the trip from WI for the special event.

Brothers

Jordan & Allie

(The picture seemed to be the right direction - but it wouldn't upload that way...hmmm.)

Our family - (minus Allie who didn't want her picture taken at the moment)

Jordan & his friend Amanda who had their grad parties together

(Amanda works at the Country Club and made all of the arrangements - it was really nice to not have to worry about food or other plans - Thanks, Amanda!!)

It was a beautiful day to sit on the deck at the Club.

Kara & Sheila

Jordan getting congratulatory calls from friends.

Great food - bbq, pasta salad, crab salad, pickles, chips, mini cheese cakes, cake & lime punch

Allie munching on chips and goofing around with Ty at the table.

(Hmmm....there was suppose to be a picture of Ty here.)

Jordan & Grandma Pat

Jordan & Morgan

We are so proud of Jordan and his successful completion of college.

Alice Blue Gown.m4v

Click here to view this video

Snow Storm??

This winter our neighbors put a feather mattress on the deck for their dog. The dog had a grand time shaking the mattress and dragging it all over the backyard. We knew that it wasn't going to be pretty next door once the snow melted.

One day I came home and there were feathers floating over the house tops in our neighborhood. Our front yard (and back yard) have a lot of white feathers floating around.

It is nothing compared to the yard next door!

This is all feathers - the snow is all melted and gone!
And you thought your dog made a mess in the yard!!!

Visitors

We had some fun visitors this week.My favorite little toddler came over to play while his mommy went running.
Later we were excited when Jordan showed up and brought Hurley along with him.

Ty played with Hurley for a while

(he was gentle - this is the face he makes when someone takes his favorite blankie (Duck).

Most of the time Ty just played contently on his own.

Hurley sniffed the entire house and then settled into one of her favorite spots for a little snooze. This little guy is a ham when Morgan gets the camera out.

Hurley got her share of camera time too.Little Cutie!!

Jordan also brought me this mountain of dirty clothes...

15 1/2 hours of washing & drying and it was almost done!

(3 loads of winter jackets, etc. had to wait until another day.)

Jordan, come back again soon!

(Hurry before you have another 3 months worth of laundry - ha!)

Go Bears

On Friday night Heather & Zac came over to play a little Qwirkle with me.

This little guy was running all over the place. He thought it was quite humorous to run away from me when I tried to take his picture. No Greatee....quit it with the pictures already!
STOP!!

I stopped....but only for a minute or two.

Here we are watching Austin's team play BB.

There is #10!!! Go Austin!!

Later on Ty spent time creating lovely videos on my webcam. He is such a ham when he can see himself on the screen. I am so glad these guys live close by!!

Morgan turns 15!!

The girls had a choir concert the night before Morgan's birthday. She was excited that Paul & Jordan were both able to come to this concert. It was a long concert, but the music was great. Afterwards the Borowski's (along with Tim, Ariel & G'ma Kay, the Lewis's & Fyllings all indulged in a chocolate extreme DQ cake. Happy Birthday, Morgan!!
Ty didn't want any cake, but there were other things to snack on as well.

On Morgan's actual birthday we went to Don Pablo's for some authentic Mexican food after her voice lesson. The employees brought out a huge sombrero for her to wear while they sang to her and served her some fried ice cream for dessert. We laughed & had a great time. (The singing was awful....that made it all the better for us!)

After we got home she opened her gifts. We played a game of Qwirkle and called it a night.

On Saturday she was able to go shopping for her new phone with her Dad.
Let the texting begin!

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day Jeremy, Kara & Allie were traveling through on their way back from ND. Sheila, Zac, Heather & Ty came over to spend a little time with them. (Wes, Emily & Morgan weren't back from their ski trip in Red Lodge, MT.) Allie cut and served this big Krispie Bar heart to all of us. She did a very good job. When it was time for me to do the dinner dishes Allie grabbed my camera and took pictures of everything in site. (And I do mean everything!)
She was excited to find people willing to say "cheese" for her.

This dork was her favorite subject.

Zac had spent some time with them recently and she grew quite fond of him.

Smile Mommy!

Auntie Sheila, you are silly!

Ty was just a few inches from the lens when this was taken.

He was hoping for a chance to play with the camera too!

There were about 20 photos of Zac on my camera.

I selected only the "choice" ones to post on the blog. (Sorry Zac!)

She was busy taking pictures of anything that was at the right height for her to see. Even the leftover turkey! There were about 30 photos of peoples tushies that I am not posting. (If you really want to see how big your buns are I can email them to you personally.)

A more "artsy" photo of Ty's juice.

(I didn't have a non-spill cup for him to use so he got to break out his old favorite "bobby" that I had in the cupboard. I have since upgraded my cuppy supply!)

After the camera battery died these two played with the Duplos for a while.

They play well together. After the kitchen was cleaned up we dug out the Play-dough ice cream treat machine. Heather helped Allie create all the treats "just like on the box".

Heather is the best sport!!

All too soon everyone had to head back to their own homes. It was fun to have everyone here even if it was for such a short time.

1 Act Play

Morgan auditioned & was selected to participate in the 1 Act Play Competition that was held in January. There were 4 guys and 4 girls selected. (She was the only Freshmen.) The play was about different people & events in Minnesota history. Here they are singing a jingle for a radio program. (I think it was the early days of WCCO radio.)
Here she is at a family dinner in the early 1970's that the discussion centered around the draft and how it affected families.

A women's meeting in the early 1900's.

Late 1800's

Treating a man with severely frostbitten toes.

Part of an elementary classroom in the early 1980's.

We were able to watch the play the evening before the competition. Overall they did a good job. On the way to the competition the director made some serious changes in props, costumes, etc. (They were not suppose to be judged on those items.) It turns out that the majority of their critique was based on props & costumes and ultimately they did not place in the competition.

Cookie Update....

This morning at work I went to the kitchen for a cookie. Our cook, Deb, bakes literally thousands of chocolate chip cookies each year. They are the best cookies you ever ate!

She told me that last week she decided to bake cookies at home and used the receipe on the Hershey chip bag. They were a flop & every one broke as she took them off the pan.

Morgan should feel a bit better about her cookie experience when I tell her about Deb's cookie disaster.

To Blog or Not To Blog....

Morgan has been missing a lot of classes due to weather, ski trips, music events, etc. She had an assignment to bake something for her Innovative Foods class (to make up for a food lab that she missed). She could pick anything she wanted. She used a new cookie receipe on the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chip bag.

Let's just say we won't be blogging anything more about these cookies.

Advise for you bakers out there.....stick to the Nestle Toll House Cookie receipe!