Readers Theater

Lucy's Kindergarten class has Readers Theater every few weeks and this January they read about a variety of animals.

Here is Lucy and her friend Caroline who is dressed up as a hippo.

Lucy was a hippo too!

Here are the kiddos with their scripts. They are such good readers!

Lucy wanted a selfie with Mama and her friend Maggie snuck in too!

Here are 2 sweet little Kindergarteners -- Lucy and Maggie! 

This & That

The Storm kids love to help our in the kitchen! We have made some of our favorite things - banana bread and bran muffins - this January. Grammy Nola made some fantastic aprons for Lucy and Roman and they love wearing them!

Roman's daycare has been working on winter art like this cute penguin.

Lucy sticks to sunshines and rainbows when she crafts!

The children learned the story of Jonah at Sunday school so they made these big fish out of paper plates and colored little Jonahs to drop in the mouth. 

Yay for baking and crafting!!

Outdoor Fun

We have been enjoying the great Northwoods this winter! Here are some of our outdoor adventures from the season.

 

We spotted this beautiful owl near our house! He was huge and I love how he blends into woods so perfectly. We stopped and watched each other for a couple of minutes before he flew away.

 

 

We took the kids out for some ice fishing on Free Fishing Saturday.

 

We visited Perch Lake on this day.

 

We didn't catch any whoppers but it was the perfect day to sit out! It was so warm that we did not need an ice shanty.

 

Dan and Lucy enjoyed their Daddy and daughter time on the ice.

The kiddos took a break from fishing to build a snowman.

 

Fast-forward a couple of days to a winter wonderland at our house!

 

 

These two love playing in the snow.

 

Here were are in the backyard.

 

Of course we needed a shot with bunny ears courtesy of Romy.

 

Ranger loves playing in the snow too! He has been a bit of a nuisance recently - he likes to run across the river to chase deer or zip over to our neighbor's yard and bark at their dog.

 

Let it snow!

Friday Funday!

Lucy didn't have school last Friday because it was a Record Keeping day for her Elementary school. While the teachers worked on report cards - we had a fun day out and about!

 

We drove up to Eagle River and visited the Children's museum.

 

The fishing area is always a hit!

 

 

Here is Romy with his whopper.

 

Here we are playing in the grocery store area.

 

I don't know why but the coin centrifuge always brings these two so much joy!  

 

 

Lucy tried on a gown and had me style her hair in the dress up area.

 

Roman loves playing with blocks!

 

After our museum adventures, we visited the Ice castle! It was so beautiful! Volunteer firefighters from Eagle River harvest this ice, drag it to town and build a castle.

We sat on the throne for just a minute because sitting in an ice chair is pretty cold business!!

 

We stopped for a quick lunch at McDonalds. Yes, this was the event that officially made it the best day ever according to Roman.

 

We returned to Rhinelander and  met up with our friend Izzy at the movie theater. We went to Paddington 2 and the kids had the best time! What an awesome Friday!

 

January Happenings

Happy Winter everyone! We are enjoying January at the Storm household. Here are some of the things that we have been up to lately ...

 

We have busted out the Valentine's crafts! I know that it is early but the kids had the best time making these little Valentine's pups.

 

 

Aren't they cute?

 

I love these little Valentine's of mine.

 

My work dismissed early due to snowy weather one Thursday so Roman and I headed to the library as we waited for Lucy to finish her school day.

I just love spending one on one time with my boy. He is still a big fan of the train table at the library!

 

We came home and dusted off our snowshoes for the season!

 

These two were eager to get out and explore with their snowshoes.

We built a big fire after our adventures outdoors.

 

We always have fun playing family game night at the Storm house.

 

 

Here is a selfie from the girls side of the table.

 

Lucy has been practicing her piano lately! Here is a new song that Ms. Joanne gave her - Ode to Joy.

 

If you want to watch a little video of Lucy at the keyboard - here is our girl!  

 

 

Now that our beloved Packers are done for the season, we have transitioned away from our Packer gear to other sweatshirts. Romy got this Hodag hoodie for the holidays and he wanted to take a picture.

 

 

 We were about to head to the sledding hill but, before we left, Lucy wanted a quick pic too!

 



 

We met up with the MacFarland crew at the golf course. These 4 sure love to sled and drink hot cocoa! I think that Lucy was standing next to Jacob but the sled is blocking her!

 

Hope everyone is staying cozy and warm!

Our First Days of 2018

We spent most of New Years Eve this year on the road between Fargo and Rhinelander. We had a full car for the journey home! In addition to our dog, kiddos, laundry and Christmas stuff -- Dan got a big smoker for his birthday and we took a keyboard/stand back to Wisconsin (Thanks to Uncle Brad for letting us borrow this instrument. :) The kids can't wait to show Ms. JoAnne some of the songs that they have been practicing!!) so our van was packed to maximum capacity. 

We had a very uneventful New Years Eve ... Everyone at our house was asleep before midnight! :) We were so glad to have the next day at home without work and school. We had lots of time to unpack, put away holiday decorations, clean up, and relax! 

Aside from grocery shopping, we didn't leave the house on New Years Day except for a quick walk in the snow. 

I have no resolutions to report for 2018... I mean there is always my usual list of stuff - more flossing, cleaning out a junk drawer or two, working out consistently, etc. - but this year the goal is to spend more intentional quality time with our little family. One of Lucy's best friends at the YMCA just lost her young mom to cancer so it has been a wake up call for us to not take these years for granted! 

After a week of getting back in the groove of things (Wowza -- why are short weeks so tough!?!) we had a nice first weekend of 2018.

We spent Friday evening lounging and watching movies. On this night the kids watched the Good Dinosaur.

Cozy Jammies - check

Beanbag - check

Warm Blanket - check

Dolly / stuffed animal to cuddle - check 

Popcorn - check :)

On Saturday we told the children that we would take them swimming if they tidied up their rooms. They cleaned up and we headed to open swim at the YMCA. The water slide was open so Lucy was pumped!

It was a relatively warm day on Sunday (read: above zero) so we hit the sledding hill at the golf course after church. 

It was so much fun!!

We even brought some hot chocolate along. Yum!

Both kids (and parents) napped after this adventure so you know that we all had a good workout! Hahahaha!

We had a momentous first at the Storm household this weekend - Roman attended his first birthday party all by himself! He thought that it was pretty special! :) Because Lucy and Roman are so close in age and because they have gone to daycare with the same families for years, they have almost always been invited to parties as a team. Now that Lucy is in Kinder full time, Roman is starting to really settle in to his own group of friends and activities. 

Side note - Roman was concerned that he would be getting Birthday cake and that Lucy would not so he suggested that I take her to Dunkin Donuts for a treat to make up for it. These kids!! Always looking out for each other when it comes to dessert!!  

Thanks to Kaya - Dennis' Dad - for snapping a few pictures at Cami's 5th Birthday party!

Here is Cami (in the ladybug party hat), Roman, Violet, and Dennis. 

Here is the whole crew - lots of kids from the Beaver Room at daycare. Love these guys!

And the beloved bouncehouse ... a winter birthday just wouldn't be complete without it! :)

Happy Birthday Cami! And Happy New Year Everyone!