Friday Favorites

Here are some of our favorite things from the week -

The weather is starting to feel a bit more spring like up North! After I returned from my Ladies Weekend, I promptly met up with Daniel and the kids at Pioneer Park. Lucy and Roman love to swing.

 

 

We had some movie time with extra cuddles on Sunday night. Love these two so much!

 

Lucy brought some of her Earth Day coloring projects home from school. Her penmanship and coloring is getting so good!

 

 Our typical evening routine is to finish dinner and clean up while listening and dancing to the Trolls Soundtrack. Lucy and Romy clear their spots and put dishes in the dishwasher but on this night Lucy asked to wash the pots and pans in the sink too! She was a hot mess of bubbles but had a good time!

 

Another Easter craft from school - I just love these art projects!

 

 

While we were on our ladies weekend, Grammy Sharon bought a container of alphabet cookies for the kids. Lucy and Roman are so excited when I take the time to find their names. :) Of course I needed to find Lucy another cookie so that she and Romy had the same exact number of treats. Haha! On this night we had tea and cookies and played a couple of games of Uno.

 

I bought a container of this coffee from Trader Joe's recently and we love it! I don't like flavored coffees - chocolate, raspberry, etc - Yuck! but I do like this pinon stuff! Very delicious and nutty. I definitely recommend it.  

 

 

We have been reminiscing about our trip to New Mexico which was one year ago next week! Here are the kiddos in Karl and Shoshana's backyard. :)

 

What fun we had at turkey camp! I wish we could go back!

 

 

Next up - local maple syrup. We had breakfast for dinner this week and busted open this bottle of syrup. So delicious!

 

 

And ... one last thing that is definitely NOT my favorite. We are still getting occasional winter weather around here and I am so over it!! This was my car after work on Thursday. Insert a big Boo here. We are ready for spring and summer around our house!

 

Have the best weekend everyone!

Ladies Weekend

Every year we have a Hoekman ladies weekend where my Mom and sisters in law get together for shopping, eating, pampering, etc. We always have the best time and it is one of my favorite weekends of the year!

 

On my way to the Twin Cities I stopped in Wausau for a quick Target run! Gotta visit my favorite place. :)

 

 

We always spend our days with a mix of thrifting and shopping. Here are Mallory and my Mom in the basement of the Salvation Army/Target thrift store in North Minneapolis. We always find lots of treasures there.

 

Next stop - Ikea! Here is a selfie before heading into the showroom. Notice how Katie and Mallory are twinning in matching shirts? Well, I had an epic fail and lost my shirt in the shuffle of transitioning winter and summer clothes. Oops!

 

 

Mallory likes to goes through Ikea at her own pace! Haha! Here are the rest of us on our leisurely stroll through the store.  

 

After a busy morning of shopping we got pedicures after lunch! Shout out to my Dad who treated all of his girls to a pedi. :)

 

 

Here is the finished look - much improved! I am now ready for summer!

 

As you know, I can't leave Rhinelander without having a little ethnic food. We shopped until we dropped and stopped at a delicious Indian restaurant for dinner on Saturday night. Gotta love a little Tikka Masala!

 

Mom, Katie, and some cheese Naan. Yum!

 

What a fun day!

 

Meanwhile, back in Rhinelander - Daniel held down the fort with these two monkeys! They had a great time - multiple visits to the park, picnics, and a trip to the giant Hodag - can't beat that!  

 

 

Thanks for another great ladies weekend Mom, Mallory, and Katie! Love you!

Friday Favorites

I have a few of our favorite things to share this Friday. :)

First up - stamps! Lucy received a few new stamps from the Easter bunny this week. Couple that with the Paw Patrol stamps that Lucy got from Auntie Amelia and Uncle Brian for her birthday and these two were in stamping heaven. They love crafting. 

Next up - Romy got this fun Spider-Man plate for Easter from Austin, Mallory, and the kids. He is a huge fan!

Dan and I love quinoa! This is one of our favorite dishes - chicken, broccoli, quinoa and cheese. It is delicious! Let me know if you have any new quinoa recipes for us to try. ;)

Lucy's 4K class had a Donuts and Dad's event in late April. Lucy and her Dad had the best time! They had a treat and crafted this donut together. 

On our trip home from Fargo we made a quick stop for cones at Dairy Queen. This was definitely a favorite for the kiddos this week. :) 

Finally - a big shout out to friends and colleagues across the country participating in the March for Science this weekend! This is such an important effort. We absolutely need people with science backgrounds and technical expertise to vote, run for office, and demand funding for their work. Our politicians should use science to make wise policy decisions! Daniel and I are working hard to raise children that love and appreciate science so this is a topic that is near and dear to our hearts. :) Have a good weekend, everyone! 

Happy Easter!

We woke up early on Sunday morning and hopped upstairs to check out the Easter baskets. The Easter Bunny brought a bunch of good treats!

 

 

Roman got a little Rocky toy - he is a big fan of Paw Patrol!

 

Next up - we headed outside to find Easter eggs! The Easter bunny hid some candy filled eggs as well as hard boiled eggs in Grandma and Grandpa's yard.

 

Roman was a bit of a stinker on Easter morning. We said that the kids could have 1 treat before church ... then Roman slipped away from the breakfast table. He was missing for a while and we noticed that it was very quiet. Roman was found underneath our bed eating every single piece of his Easter candy. Sigh!  

 

Later that morning - Romy emerged from Grammy's dress up storage closet stating that this is what he would be wearing to church. Ai yi yi!

 

We managed to get everyone dressed and ready for services! Here is our family picture from this Easter.

 

Here is a photo of the children. What a bright and beautiful morning! 

 

After church we attempted to get a picture of Grandpa Ken and Grammy Nola with the babies. It was pretty sunny and were only moderately successful at getting everyone to look at the camera. 

 

 

After Easter brunch we celebrated Amelia's birthday with some delicious cake!

 

I would be remiss to put a bunch of Storm family blog posts together and not include a photo of these two! Although we did not see Grandpa and Grandma Storm during our Easter vacation, they are always in our hearts and prayers!

 

Happy Easter everyone!

Family Time with the Storms

We had such a nice Saturday afternoon with the Storm crew.

 

Here I am snuggling with two of my favorite little people - Lucy and James.

 

 

We got to work dyeing Easter eggs!

 

It was James' first time coloring eggs.

 

 

Roman, Lucy and Grammy with their colorful eggs! Don't they look good?

 

 

 After our egg decorating was complete, Roman stayed at the little table and helped Grammy decorate Auntie Amelia's Birthday cake.

 

 

Isn't this fun and spring-like? Angel food cake, lemon frosting, green coconut, and Jelly Beans. Yum!

 

 

Roman was so proud of the creation! Maybe he will be a chef someday! :)

 

 

Of course we spent lots of time playing with Baby James. Here are our two boys playing with the farm.

 

We had our big Easter meal on Saturday night.

Remember our favorite free range organic piggies that were raised by Dustin and Susan?

 

 

Well, they contributed to our Easter dinner

! And, oh my goodness - what delicious ham we ate!

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this amazing spread! All of my favorites - deviled eggs, fruit, asparagus - it was great! 

 

 

After supper, Amelia opened birthday gifts. We were celebrating her 30th birthday over the weekend. :) Now Amelia and I are both 30! Bhahahaha!

 

No better way to wrap up the evening than a good walk. The humans and dogs had a great stroll. Love these North Dakota sunsets!