Dinosaurs!

Elliot has taken after Ethan and fallen in love with dinosaurs. We took them to Walking with Dinosaurs at the Fargodome and were convinced that they would both love it. Chris, Ethan and I all thought it was amazing. Elliot went from mild fear to completely terrified within 10 minutes. We took turns playing in the lobby with him and coming in for brief peeks at any new dinosaurs that had come out. Then Elliot would point to the lobby and say, "I need to go. They gonna bite me!" The next day he wanted to go and see them again, so apparently we didn't scar him for life. -RL

Cousin Time!

The Es have a new cousin! Danika Jo Roberts was born on February 17 and she is a precious addition to our gaggle of blonde children! The boys had a fun time this summer holding Danika and wrestling cousin Julia....as pictured below. -RL I can't believe I captured this photo above. Mid-wrestle, looking at the camera and smiling?! That's a feat.

Julia looking so adorable.

New baby Danika giving a glimpse of the dimples. Awww......

Elliot LOVED holding Danika, calling her buddy, and saying, "Oh hi, sweetie boy" to her. He's got a way with the ladies.

Look at these kids and try not to buy them a pony. I dare you...try.

24/7

Ethan and Emma got to be in the church musical "24/7" together this past spring. It was the first church musical for Ethan and the last one for Emma, so it was nice that they were in it together. Emma had the lead, Avery, a radio talk show host. Ethan was in the chorus. It was fun to see them together and I think Ethan thought being in a show with his big sister was pretty cool. -RL

E's Dominate Marathon

Both Ethan and Elliot ran in the kid's run for the Fargo Marathon. Elliot ran 1/2 mile with Chris and Ethan ran the mile with me. Ethan is really fast and I couldn't keep up with him. -RL

We had Dairy Queen afterward to celebrate their running accomplishment!

They are just too cute.

Down on the Farm

This summer we bought a CSA share from Bluebird Gardens in Fergus Falls and this is how we feel about it:
We love our produce boxes each Tuesday and everything has tasted so delicious. It's easy to get used to grocery store produce, but you can really taste the difference when you get it directly from the farm. This past Saturday, it was the pea pick event at the farm. We had so much fun walking through the fields picking peas.

Even Elliot was able to help out.

Ethan did a little of this,

And a lot of that. He must have eaten his weight in peas.

The E's on a very large swing in front of the pig pen.

We also visited the chickens, which was Elliot's favorite part. "Can I have one? Those are my chickens."

These fun people came with us! Dave and Bonnie met us at the farm and helped us pick 3 big bags of peas.

After all the peas were picked, we had a picnic lunch in these woods. All in all, it was a great day and we're excited for more harvest events! -RL

Elliot Starts Gymnastics

Elliot had his first activity this summer when we enrolled him in Tumble Tots gymnastics. He was so hilarious and had a lot of fun. He would basically do the 2 things in a circuit that he liked and then bounce around and do his own thing, which is very Elliot. Watch and enjoy my little tumbler! -RL

Yes He Can! Yes He Can!

This week marked a huge accomplishment for one little 6 year old. Ethan rode his bike without training wheels! And loved it! Now, this may seem like a small, easy task, but it has been one of the bigger struggles for us. There have been several tantrums, lots of tears, and bouts of screaming ......from Ethan, not us. :) If you are nervous that he is not wearing a helmet and cursing us as irresponsible as you watch, please know that we went out and bought him a helmet right after this and he has worn it ever since. -RL

New Year's Day/Christmas Cleanup

After New Year's Day ebelskivers (see previous post), we had a Christmas Cleanup Extravaganza. It took close to 2 hours, but we got every scrap of Christmas cleaned up, organized and put away. Ethan then wanted to immediately put up Valentines Day/St. Patrick's decorations, and was a little disappointed to find that we don't have any. -RLBefore

2 Hours and some caffeine later

Happy New Year 2010!

We may have a new tradition for New Year's Day at the Lien household. New Year's ebelskivers! Santa Claus brought me an ebelskiver pan that I had been eying from Williams Sonoma for some time. My first attempt ended with a strong verdict: Ebelskivers are awesome and delicious and awesomely delicious. Adorable little pockets full of yumminess. I filled some with brown sugar and some with pumpkin butter. I have several other varieties to try that will no doubt end up as posts on this blog. Come on over for some! -RL

New Year's Eve

We didn't do much for New Year's Eve this year. Our winter break was pretty fun-filled and busy, so we actually looked forward to staying in. We had a big batch of carbonara and Chris watched Lost all night. I fell asleep reading, so we were pretty much party animals. Chris did play outside with Ethan and Elliot for most of the day and part of the night. It was -15 degrees out, but it didn't faze them one bit. -RLThis is the drift in front of our house. It's very tall, there is a tunnel going through it and the kids love to play on it.

Ethan and Chris played football in the snow for about an hour. Ethan was all smiles.