Valentines Weekend Festivities

Andrew and I enjoyed a "Mystery Date Night" at a church in town. You go to the church, drop your child off for free babysitting, and get in a drawing for date prizes. We won movie tickets but saved them for another time. We went out for dinner instead. Here are a few photos before and after.


Sunday night we also had our church's valentines fundraiser dinner. Here is Andrew and the youth and helpers he works with. Here is Andrew and Wade at the dinner. Wade helps with Youth Group.
Levi and I helped the youth decorate the dining hall. It looks so nice this time of year.
Here are a few photos of Levi opening his Valentines from Mimi and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa.Also, I just thought I would add this photo that a friend took of Levi and I. We attend a play group at our rec center on Thursdays. Here we were taking a snack break. Levi is very attached and takes about 2 of the 2 hours 15 minutes warming up to his surroundings leaving only about 15 minutes to play on slides and things before we have to go. :) It is a nice time to talk to other stay-at-home moms. Last week I was very proud of him though because he crawled all the way through the 8 foot tunnel by himself and went up and down the slides.

Post Valentine's Church Dinner

The Church Youth Group (and leaders) put on a Post-Valentine's Dinner at church to raise money for upcoming youth events. It was a pretty nice night of lasagna/chicken alfredo dinner, a bit of ballroom dancing, live music (thanks to a few church members and their fun band!) and fellowship.

Here are the high schoolers and leaders responsible for the fun night!
The church was really nicely decorated. It was a fun, and tiring, night. And... it was the first time someone noticed we are expecting. I guess because I am thin my belly kind of popped.

Weekend Fun

This is the second weekend in a row that Andrew and I got to go out Frisbee Golfing. (Last week we were wearing shorts! :) I had a lot of fun on this free date plus the fresh air was amazing.



This is the James River that runs on the outskirts of town. The Frisbee course is right next to it. No frisbees lost to the River yet.

Pirates of Penzance

I know there are some members of our family who enjoy a good musical. Besides, it is a free date night idea, ladies! I don't know if you are familiar with the musical The Pirates of Penzance.
I went to a free live theater version in Dubuque a few years ago and had some good laughs. They turned the musical from a stage production to a movie production. You can find/watch it free by clicking Here.

New Look and New Experiences

I like "date nights" but it is a little hard to have a homemade date night in our little apartment because we spend so much time in this little space we often just want to get out of it, so, I did a little brainstorming. Our coffee table can be raised to almost a dining table height so I raised it and put a nice tablecloth over it. Then I found some chairs and lit some candles. Next I baked this special dinner. (I baked the orange slices right on top of the chicken to help keep it moist and add flavor) and steamed some fresh veggies from our local Farmer's Market. I decided to post about this because the dinner itself turned out looking so colorful.
Last week, I drove myself down to Chamberlain for a 5 day training seminar for my new place of employment. I was pretty nervous about being gone that long and not knowing anyone or the area but the training went fine and the area was pretty. There were low hills as you can see from above.

Lucy has taken up with a new friend. During my Mental Health First Aid training we received these little Koala animals and she has befriended it.
The day after I got back from training we were scheduled to go out to a fancy dinner thanks to a member of the church who gave us tickets. The tickets were to an awards banquet that honored women who had helped their communities in South Dakota. It was a fun (and free) chance to dress up. By the way, while in Chamberlain I got this new haircut.

Happy Valentine's Day

This has been and is going to be a busy week. On Monday night, both Andrew and I were at the church for events. I attended my usual Women's Exercise Group from 6-7 and Andrew had his tech meeting from 7-8 pm. Tuesday seemed busy and I don't remember why exactly. Wednesday is always busy with choir practice but I had a few minutes extra so I prepared a special early Valentine meal for Andrew (complete with candles and nice dishes). Then we rushed off to choir :). Thursday, after work, Andrew taught a guitar lesson at the church. I spent the day cleaning and preparing for our small group after I went grocery shopping. When Andrew came home, we quickly ate and finished last minute prep such as making a bowl of popcorn. Small group was really interesting this week. Lots of good questions and discussion. We had a former Methodist, former Catholic, semi-Baptist-who-is-married-to-a-Presbyterian-minister :), a long time Presbyterian, and a Presbyterian minister in our group this week. It's exciting to see how much these individuals get in to The Shack. Even after small group, some of the individuals just keep reminding me how much they are enjoying the group. It's exciting. And then there was Friday. Andrew has to preach this weekend as well as teach Sunday school so he was busy working. We signed up for a couple's valentines dinner Friday evening at the church. We got dressed up and headed off. The evening consisted of a chicken or pork dinner, music by some local fiddlers, and nice intimate conversation by candlelight. After the meal and a time of relaxing, the director of ministries to families showed a "Making Marriage Work" video. When we got home, Andrew started scrambling around. I didn't think much of it because I knew he was anxious to work on his sermon. Then he walked out in to the dining room holding this:I was so surprised! He got me beautiful purple tulips, coffee (both ground and a frappaccino), local wine and some Dr. Pepper's to split. Plus a wonderful love letter cut in the shape of a heart. The evening was topped off with the first half of Fiddler on the Roof. The only other Valentine's Day that tops this was last year's proposal :) (and all this was early too!) Today is rather quiet. Andrew is helping out at a funeral. Then it will be back to the sermon writing. I have some house work to do.

Music at Sibley and Other Stories

We have had a fairly busy week! Last Monday evening from 6-7 pm I attended a women's exercise group, for the first time, at church while Andrew was in a meeting. It was actually really energizing. This cold weather has sapped any desire to walk out doors so it was encouraging to "walk" to a tape with other ladies from the church. In all it was a 2 mile walk. I then waited for Andrew while he attended another meeting from 7-8 pm.

Tuesday we had a date night to see the movie "Mall Cop" and consumed a large amount of popcorn. I found myself laughing a whole lot more than I expected. The only people in our little theater were Andrew and I and one other man.

Wednesday night we were expecting to attend choir practice from 7-8 pm but I came down with a migraine and it got so bad I was quite nauseous. Andrew opted to stay home with me to make sure I was surviving the best I could.

Thursday I worked the majority of the day on house cleaning and preparing snacks for our first small group fellowship. I made brownies, popcorn, dip for the chips and washed some grapes to put out. I was able to use several of the beautiful serving pieces we were given for our wedding to host this event! We had no idea how many people to expect but ended up with a happy little group of 4. We spent the hour (7-8 pm) getting to know each other and eating a few of the snacks I had prepared. Oh, and Andrew brought home beautiful flowers as a surprise to help me decorate the home for our first small group!
We are both excited also that a few more people are planning on coming to the group next week!

Friday, we worked on projects around the house. We almost finished filing our documents in the filing cabinet now. I did some mending. Andrew did some reading. When it came time for dinner we decided to cook together. It was so much fun. We made Pollock fish with a coating that tasted like KFC. I had some and actually liked it (although that was probably due to the coating). I even tried my hand at tartar sauce. Andrew was the one that actually cooked the fish. It turned out wonderfully.

Saturday, we went to Willmar and found Andrew some running shoes with our $25 off any purchase. I also got my hair cut. Saturday evening was the official lighting of the Spicer Castle. We were planning on staying home due to the -20 degree weather but as I was doing the dishes and heard fireworks. We jumped in the car to head down to the shore but they ended before we got parked. We walked to the castle and watched kids of all ages slide down the giant slide. I tried to hover around the bon fire but it just didn't cut it so we headed home. Sunday, we got to church by 8:40. I read a little while as Andrew prepared for Sunday School. From 9:15-10:00 I practiced with the hand bell choir. From 10-10:20 we practiced with the choir. Church was from 10:30-11:30. We had a pot luck after a church meeting. I made a jello fruit salad and corn bread muffins. Then we were invited by Maggie, the music director, to play music with a "jam" group of fiddlers from 2-3:30 pm out at Sibley State Park. I played percussion: a frog, "spoons" (a single item carved from wood so you cannot drop them; pictured below) and egg shakers. Andrew played the guitar and his Celtic drum. This is a family of home schoolers that all play the violin around here. There are nine children (not all pictured here) and all are skilled violinists. I hope this shows you a little of life here.

Ice Skating and an Ice Castle

Our "date" this week consisted of icy things. It was very cold but felt downright balmy compared to last week. We decided to get some exercise by skating around on the smooth little rink over by the Spicer school. They smooth the ice there and have a warm place to put on your skates. I am a bit weak ankled since the last time I went ice skating! Andrew brought his hockey stick and puck and played around a little.We then headed over to the edge of Green Lake where it is a tradition to build an ice castle out of lake ice blocks. This is a picture from the local paper showing it being built.And these are my pictures of my first castle experience!

Christmas Date Night

Both Andrew and I were sick over out 6 month "luna-versary". In the past, for every luna-versary, we had at least had a bottle of sparkling cider and a special meal (which I usually cooked). Due to illness we put it off till last weekend. Not bad, only a week late. Andrew surprised me by bringing home a beautiful Christmas flower arrangement.

We also celebrated by enjoying a free Christmas show put on by the Assembly of God in Willmar. On our way we stopped by DQ for ice cream. Heehee. Then we continued on to the show. It was called: It was sort of a play/musical. There was a whole choir and many of them acted as well. The "baby Jesus" was a real baby that behaved so well! I wanted to take pictures of the event itself but my camera is big and loud and I didn't want people looking at me :). Instead I just got a couple pictures off the Internet from the same musical done by other churches.

The Rabbi that played in this version was hilarious! It really was like the Christmas story meets Fiddler on the Roof. My only complaint was we were in the last row of the balcony and it was freezing as they were pumping in cold air when outside it was below zero plus windchill. There was lots of cuddling in our pew :).