Great Wolf Lodge

We spent one night at a new lodge/indoor water park that just opened in the area on Sunday night - it's called Great Wolf Lodge and it was so much fun.  The kids were in heaven, and when I say kids, I include Leif in that as well.  It was a water park lovers dream!  So much to do, so many ways to slide, so much water to squirt!  The kids had a blast. 

 

Christian, trying to stay on a rocking beaver!

Campbelle jumped across the lily pads with ease.

 

The wave pool was fun, and at times a little crazy - it was always packed!!

Christian was such a big boy, he went down the water slides all by himself.  He was very proud too.

And no one has more fun blasting unsuspecting little kids with a sharp spray of water then Leif! 

 

Another really cute feature of this lodge were the rooms, or kid cabins.  Within each room was a separate little room with bunk beds for the kids.  They thought that was soooo cool. 

Now it is officially the end of the busy, fun weekend.  I think we might all need a day to recuperate, but Leif is back to work tomorrow and the kids are back in school.  Guess that just leaves me - I think I'll do my recouping with a morning of quietness and coffee at Starbucks! 

She's 5!

Wow... almost unbelievable that my little girl is 5.  Then again, somedays she acts so so much older that I get glimpses of her as a teenager and it scares me just a bit. 

Here's a look back at her birthdays of past.  (You see, we carry on the Dais tradition of sitting on the table as well!)

1st Birthday:

2nd Birthday:

3rd Birthday:

4th Birthday:

5th Birthday:

Surprise!!

Campbelle's party was a surprise.  I thought of the idea after she asked me if we could have a surprise party for her.  After explaining to her that it wouldn't really be a surprise if she already knew about it, I thought to myself - why not.  I'll just lie to her and tell her that the friends we already invited over could not make it - and then it would be a really big surprise.  So that's just what I did!  She got over the sadness of all her friends being busy that day amazingly quickly - but that maybe had something to do with the Waterpark bribe that was to come the day after her birthday.  But that's coming in another post.

Leif and the kids were at swimming lessons in the morning and around 12:00 all our friends gathered at the house.  All the kids were really excited to surprise her and waited so patiently for her to arrive home.

When she came in the front door, her reaction was a bit mixed.  She looked happy, scared and about to cry all in the same breath. 

It didn't take long for her to relax and let the goodness of the surprise kick in.  The weather was fantastic, so we spent most of the day (and mess :) ) outside.  BBQing, playing, eating cake and opening presents.

  After all that, we headed down the street to our park for some kite flying and more play.

Leif was liked the Pied Piper.... there wasn't much wind, so he had to run with the kite to keep it up in the air, and he had a trail of kids running behind him.

After the party, we had one more surprise in store for Campbelle.

She got a really big girl bike - which means no training wheels and best of all a kick stand (very important feature for her).  

It really was such a great day.  Beautiful weather, great friends and a little girl so grown up.  She was so sweet when she went to bed last night and thanked us for " the most amazing day of her life."  

Battle of the Butterflies

Leif and I do alot of decorating of edible things throughout the year...  kids' birthday cakes, gingerbread houses, etc... and we usually end up in a friendly little spat about how it should or should not be done.  Well this year for Campbelle's birthday, I resolved to have a cake decorating contest with him.  I made two cakes for Campbelle's birthday and then we each went to our separate corners of the kitchen and created our masterpieces.  I originally intended to make this a post where you can vote by clicking a button, but since I have no idea how to do that and the only person that does is still sleeping, I'm asking you - my dear readers - to vote for your favorite, most appealing cake.  White or Pink is all you have to submit in your comment line.  And to keep things fair, I'm not telling you whose cake was decorate by whom! 

America (and Norway)- you decide who is the Top Cake Decorator! 

Let the Birthday begin....

Tomorrow Campbelle celebrates her birthday at preschool. She wants a bug theme, but just "happy bugs, nothing scary like spiders." So we came up with bumblee, ladybug, butterfly and worm cupcakes. And go ahead and call me Martha, we had a great time creating these this afternoon!

10 Great Dates

Leif and I recently started this marriage 'class' that is offered through our church.  It is called 10 Great Dates and it really isn't so much a class as a really great night out.  The church provides childcare for 2 1/2 hours and the first 30 minutes we watch a video and get our 'topics' of conversation and then go out on our dinner date and discuss the questions.  It's brilliant and after just one 'class' we are really looking forward to the other 9!  (They are offering it once a month, with the 3 month summer break - resuming in the fall.  So the really great part is that will ensure we get one night out a month after the new baby is born - until that baby is 9 months old!! Hurrah!!)

Leif and I are not at a loss for conversation when we do go out on dates, but this curriculum gives you some focused topics to discuss.  We had a great time and so I wanted to share the questions (Not our answers!! ha ha) with you, so you too can 'energize your marriage.'  So here's the topics for Date #1:

A Trip Down Memory Lane

First time I saw my mate:

First Date:

First Kiss:

Favorite dates:

First time we talked about getting married:

Wedding Day:

First home:

First Anniversary:

Most romantic moments:

Happiest memories:

What's Great About Us!

1.  What are three things that are positive about our marriage relationship?

2.  What are two things that are fine about our relationship but could be better?

3.  What is one thing I personally could do to make our relationship better?

Post Date Application

Look for ways to compliment each other between now and the next date.  Give at least one honest compliment each day.  Do one thing to make your marriage better.

I love You too sweet girl!

We just got Campbelle's 5 year pictures back today via email..... I didn't order this combo 'I love You' ones... but I love it... especially the sassy looking 'You' one

Soon she'll be turning 5!  Yikes!!  So stay tuned for 'more than you'll ever want to see' photos of all the birthday extravaganza!!  :-)

Dave Matthews and the Dalai Lama

 

Last week in Seattle,  a Seeds of Compassion event took place and it focused on youth and educators and trying to raise awareness of each other and helping to foster compassion in our community and around the world.  There were many seminars and panels and a youth rally throughout the week, and many of those events featured the Dalai Lama.  As a fundraiser to the week long event, Dave Matthews held a concert that Leif and I went to on Friday night.  It was incredible. 

Before he played though, he had an interview with the Dalai Lama.  It started a bit strange and stiff, and you could definitely see that Dave Matthews was very nervous - which he candidly confessed later during his concert.  It was Dave, the Dalai Lama and Ann Curry (who I really admire for her style, but can't stand her interviewing skills!)  So it was a bit awkward.  But the messages of the Dalai Lama were clear  and inspiring:   He spoke about making your enemies your friends - and to hear him speak so kindly and gently about his enemies in China and all the turmoil that has evolved was very humbling to hear.  He also spoke about females being the source of compassion and how it stems from a mother nursing her newborn baby.  He suggested that with more female leaders in the world, perhaps this compassion would be more widespread  (which I gladly took as a political stand - but I'm pretty sure he stays out of such things :-) ).

It really was a great night of inspiring philosophy and poignant music.  And I hope the week long event resulted in changed hearts and minds.

Campbelle's Preschool class

This is a picture of Campbelle's preschool class.  It is a class of her peers - some are a bit younger than her and some are older than her -  I know I've said it before but seeing it so obviously lined up all neatly in a row - wow, that kid is tall!!  Yikes!

4 Things

Oh fun, I haven't done one of these in a long time.  Here's my list (after trying desperately to erase all Tammy's answers from my memory - which is hard to do after reading hers and then trying to answer fresh for myself)

4 CELEBRITIES THAT I DO NOT FIND ATTRACTIVE (So Stop Trying to Tell Me They Are)
1. Johnny Depp
2. Paris Hilton - but she really isn't a celebrity now is she....
3. Antonia Bandaras
4. Ben Affleck

4 PLACES I WILL NEVER LIVE
1.  Never is a strong word, and you just never now where life will lead you.... but I don't think I'll live in my hometown of Eureka, SD again - not that there's anything wrong with it.  Just can't foresee that happening

2. Florida - just too humid, my hair would be in a constant state of frizz

3. On a houseboat in Lake Union - cool, hip and would like to know someone that lived there, but that will never be us.
4. At a religious compound in the middle of nowhere Texas - no thank you!

4 THINGS THAT ARE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL
1.  Downy with Lavender - way better than plain Downy
2.  HDTV - vs regular TV (swore to Leif I couldn't tell a difference, but honestly I can)
3.  Kettle chips vs regular chips
4.  Xbox 360 vs Xbox .... can you tell I was struggling for a last one, can you make a guess as to who helped me??

4 PEOPLE I WOULD TAKE TO DINNER
1. Bono
2. John Stewart
3. The Dalai Lama 
4. Leif, just Leif, once a month, regularly

4 TIMES I BOUGHT INTO THE "HYPE"
1.  LOST - had to catch up the first 3 season just to be 'in the IN crowd'
2.  Blogging
3.  Airborn tablets - and to this day I swear by them to fend off a cold.

4.  Trying to be more 'Green' - I'm totally into it too - and that's a good thing
4 TIMES I DID NOT BUY INTO THE "HYPE"
1.  SMS/Texting.... or maybe that's yet to come
2. 
3.
4.  Wow, seriously can't think of any more - think that means I buy in way, way too often!

4 SONGS THAT I AM SLIGHTLY EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT I THOROUGHLY ENJOY
1.  Elvira - by the Oak Ridge Boys
2.  Friends in Low Places - Garth Brooks
3. Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
4. Ticks - Brad Paisley - heaven help me, that's sad and ridiculous

4 HAMBURGERS I ADORE
1. This one is impossible for me as I could probably count on one hand how many times I've ordered a hamburger.  So my answer can only be the ones I make at home - about 2 times a year.

I WOULD WALK ACROSS A DANGEROUS INTERSECTION TO SLAP THESE 4 PEOPLE
1. Dick Cheney - or is just saying that going to be me on some Patriot Act 'watch list'  (what??!?!  I didn't say the President now did I!?!)

2. Howard Stern
3. Rush Limbaugh
4. Ann Coulter

And I had to totally copy Tammy on those last three... I guess we have very similar animosities.

4 IRRATIONAL FEARS THAT OCCASIONALLY AND UNSUSPECTINGLY POP INTO MY MIND
1. Trapped in a car submerged in water
2. Clowns chasing me

3. Being attacked by flock of birds

4. snakes in the toilet - I think it was from a movie my parents let me watch at a way too young age

Kids' Bathroom Makeover

This past Sunday we did a Bathroom makeover.  We are all really happy with the results!   A bathroom fit for a couple of monkeys (make that soon to be three little monkeys).

This is not an April Fools Joke!!

Yep! We are expecting baby #3 in early August!! We couldn't be more thrilled. Campbelle and Christian are so excited - we had an ultrasound today and took the kids with us - they thought it was so cool to be able to see the baby and see all the baby's bones (Christian's really into bones). And we found out that we are having another Brenne Boy... hurrah! Campbelle is ok with the fact that "that means the girls will always lose and boys will always will win," because she know that there may be more of them, but the girls will always have more power!! :-) haha And Christian can't wait to teach him how to talk 'Pirate'.

We feel so fortunate and so blesssed and are anxiously awaiting this new addition to our family!

We've got a secret

But we promise to share it with you. Just not yet.... but maybe later today.