Christmas Play

Papa Paul and Teri swung by to take the two oldest to a play -0 similar to the Disney Snow White -0 The kids absolutely loved it~! They had a great time with the grandparents and enjoyed the actors letting the audience participate in the show. I've been emailed a few great shots of the kids with the actors.

It is hard to believe that today is the end of the year - yet when Acer and I awoke, it was 42 degrees outside and raining. We have no snow at all in our yard, even the small piles that managed to stay with us near the driveway are all melted. I don't remember a winter like this before.

By the way, the record for today is/was 41 degrees in 1999. The average is 23 for the high temp. Average low for Roseville today should be 9 degrees - we won't come within 15 degrees of that. It has been good for us and Tilia to have a warm winter, especially her first year.

+* Polaroid is sending us the cord -0 so pictures of the kids and family should be more prevalent in the upcoming months.

Spirit Invitational Gymnastics meet - Hamline University

On Dec. 17th, Salix participated in her first gymnastics meet. It was a great time for everyone. Salix's friend, Bryn, cheered her on with Mom, Dad, Acer, Tilia, Grandpa Paul, and Grandma Teri.

Salix looked great - finishing high in the placings and scoring very well overall-especially on vault. All of the hard work she put into training for this showed! We all look forward to more meets this winter and spring! Join us in Chicago...Chicago Style Meet - February 9-11, 2007 @ thee Navy Pier.

Busy month, this December...

Items of Note:

We found a dog for our home - Goliath - a Great Dane from Willow River, MN. He has been wonderful with everyone so far. He marked the Christmas tree the first night he was home. Should have seen that coming! He's about 32 1/2 inches to the top of his shoulders so he is just the right height to lick the pancakes while they are cooking.

We've got a backlog of pictures waiting to be shared- however, I lost our cord to connect our camera with the charger! *%$@ing Polaroid's website won't accept our checkcard...merry Christmas.

Hope your holidays are wonderful and restful!

Visiting Wisconsin

We all packed up the van and visited with Paul and Teri for the weekend. Papa Paul showed everone how to sing in barbershop style- with a solo even! Michelle and I were impressed. (Pictures to come - darn you blogger) We also checked out every tree on the lot at the Pleasant Valley Tree Farm.
It was 15 degrees on sunday - Teri thought this to be excellent tree shopping weather - the kids saw this as excellent hot cocoa weather. I can't blame them. Papa paul eventually walked off with a nice looking Frasier Fir. I'll get into tre types later. We've cut a deal with super Bill for a free tree - a balsam fir.
Not my favorite, but it'll work. I'm wondering what you all think of tree types for Christmas...which is your favorite?...What characteristics do you look for when choosing a tree?


Have a great week!

awhile..

With Tilia sleeping through the night, more than less, blogging hasn't been "on schedule". Iapologize. We've got some updates in the works.

Thanksgiving !

Seeing that stuffing the three kids and us into our van and driving around all weekend seemed like a bit more fun than we could handle, we decided to have a remarkably low key Thanksgiving dinner at our new house. I think everyone in the family enjoyed the lack of stress from the travel. The kids were able to play outside (57 degrees) and enjoy themselves while the adults enjoyed the great meal that Michelle cooked up. Hopefully, more of you can join us next year - or for Christmas day at our house! If you couldn't be here, we've done our best to make it virtually possible for you to experience our Thanksgiving dinner - through the modern technology of underground tubes:

We'll be traveling to Papa Paul's next weekend to help him choose a tree for the season. Acer is ready to cut it down all by himself. Have a wonderful holiday - keep us posted!

Wishing all a happy holiday.

We just recieved a shipment of wooden shoes - straight from Holland. Papa Paul must have had a great timee over there. The shoes made Tilia smile - the combination of wooden shoes and a the sight of Michelle is hard to beat no matter who you are. She sure looks an awful lot like Michelle. That's probably a good thing.

Definitely give us a call on Thanksgiving- Salix will be expecting it.

2 cute, hey?

Tilia Pics

Finally, we have replaced our digital camera. Do I really need to say "digital" before camera anymore? It seems to e that since film cameras are used so infrequently that from now on, they should be referred to with an accompanied adjective (film) and "digital" cameras should now be referred to as simply cameras. Look for more pics soon. I just couldn't continue camera-less...If you need us we'll be out happily snapping the wonderful, yet fleeting moments that children bring.

Chicago Style Gymnastics Meet

Salix's team is all signed up. She is anxious - almost as much as Michelle. Join us in Chicago for a great weekend at Navy Pier. Dates - February 9, 2007 - February 11, 2007. If you've seen Salix lately, you know she's full of flips, spins, and splits-sogymnastics is perfect for her. We'll post more meet schedules when we hear about them. Oh...if you ordered a wreath,they should be in around the 19th.

Back2School Cyclocross - Northfield CX

Whoa...how do you say, difficult? This course had great variety in terrain and skills required. This was only my second race, but definitely the toughest. My favorite part?I caled it the "Nautilus". Riders went into a spiral set up and then out in a spiral - without crossing paths. It was a great place for me to gain time on some very fast riders. My least favorite area was the massive run-up, er...walk-up. This hill was terriblly long and steep. 90% of those in my race walked up the hill. I managed to not kick my wheel in and not crash! Mission accomplished. I'm through racing for the year. Maybe I'll ride my bike a bit in the winter months. We'll see.Anyone thinking of an Xmas/birthday idea for me?

More money to educate urban kids.

I just came across a ridiculous blog post attacking the notion that Urban public schools should receive as many per pupil dollars as they currently receive. Here is the answer:

Student A comes to Kindergarten knowing their name, most of the alphabet, and can do basic addition with their fingers, knows 5 shapes, 10+ colors, and can even write their name.

Student B comes to Kindergatern not knowing their name, knowing none of the alphabet, numbers up to 3, 1 shape(star), and cannot even begin to write their name (which they've just learned on the first day of school). I kid you not that some students in Urban areas are referred to by nicknames up until school begins - I'm not judging this, just stating a fact.

Which student will take longer/more effort to educate to an acceptable Kindergarten standard? Time + Effort = Money. Do the math.

We're Back On?

I apologize to no one...just a few issues with blogger this week, but isn't everybody?
Hopefully, all is good.

Acer came home with a pillow case full of candy the other night- as he should have. He then proceeded to sketch each type of candy(twix, 3 muskateers, M &M's, etc.) and write how many of each type he accumulated. Priceless - it took him a good hour to complete.

Como Park CX / Nature Valley Cyclocross...whichever.

So yes,this was my first cycling race (Those short triathlons are much different). I had a great time! I'm hoping to do one more race this year and try more next year.

Let's go through my pre-race "goals":
1. Don't cause anyone else to crash their pretty bike.

Accomplished- I started off very slowly (and only went downhill from there). This allowed all of the fast guys get out ahead and out of harm's way.

2. Don't drive my shin directly into a barrier.
Accomplished- Unfortunately, I did manage to somehow lodge my left foot in between two back spokes and the back of my frame. I said "Ouch", my bike said "What the F*#@k, you moron!"(That's a direct quote.) From that point on there was a permanent rear brake. I didn't need any help going slow!

3. Finish
Accomplished- I now have to bring my bike into the shop to replace a spoke and true the wheel.

Oh, I think I placed second to last in my cat 1 group. I'm okay with that right now. Next year? I'd like to place a little higher. I suppose that means I'll have to actually ride more than 500 miles next year.

Blogger problems...

You've been a bad little blog. Things just didn't work out. Somehow, I lost a post or two and lost my former design. Well, here is a fresh new template and color scheme. If you don't like it, blame the color blind dude (me). Fine, don't read anymore.

Somewhere out there, if love can see us through...

10:00 Local Time San Fransisco looking North

10:00 Local Time Roseville looking North

Sweet - no?

*San Fransisco should probably have a bit more light pollution - sorry*

thanks to - James Ingram and Linda Ronstadt - That song makes me want to vomit.

Flashback- to summer

Acer enjoyed a bit of fossil hunting this summer. We collected lots of super cool fossils of crinoids, brachiopods, and bryozoans. For those of you interested in how we could manage to find sea dwelling creature fossils in the middle of land locked Minnesota...well, there surely must be a web animation to explain that...oh yes, look here. Yes, at the time that these babies were alive, Minnesota was situated roughly where Florida is today. Okay, more than you'd ever wish to know. Fossil hunting may seem a bit nerdy, but Acer sure rocks it with the 'hawk.

On forgetting how tiring teaching can be...

Let me just say that you've all heard the horror stories that go with teaching in a high poverty school. This is more a reminder for me...Teaching is difficult, even on the best days. However, I think most of the difficulties arise from the situation that we adults put these children in. No more on this for awhile.

Michelle began her new job today! All seems to be well. I am so happy for her...She's worked hard for the last 7 years, never seeming to catch a break. Here's hoping this will lead to more "beneficial" possibilities.

The Club Part Deux

Here's why the Club is so amusing. Only yesterday, Michelle was commenting on the fact that she hadn't seen one in awhile and reminiscing on how often her father used one down in Tuscan. Now, there isn't anything wrong with the club, it just seems to me to be past its prime. Similar to those early 90s Button your fly t-shirts. So yesterday I found a Club. For me, this was a coelacanth moment...I'd thought the Club was long extinct. Michele and enjoyed a good chuckle about this.

**Not-So Closed Circuit to Mark: Yes, we will hold onto your precious theft deterrent.-thanks**

The Cl*b

When was the last time you thought of this?


Yeah, I thought so. Found one tonight on a shelf in our basement - and all I was looking for was a flat head screwdriver..hmmmfff. Do you suppose it will deter house work?

Peace out, Homies

Como Park CX Race

For anyone interested, I'll be attempting my first cyclocross race at the Nature Valley CX - Date: Oct. 29th. This should be amusing since I haven't ridden a bike in over a month. The operation seems to be healing up well- so I should be okay on that end. Fitness will be lacking after my post operative laziness. Another month off of work and I might be this talented.

Final Day of Paternity Leave

It went by so quickly! Tomorrow, I have to go into my classroom and sort out what went on over the last four weeks. Any volunteers for that? I can only hope it looked like this while I was gone.

IVY

New Job for M!

We both are excited for her to move on from her current post and learn a new type of chromatography. She'll be starting on Monday...Good Luck!

Ivy

 

Can't ignore these kids!...Too cute!

For those about to rock...


Ivy

Who's English do you speak?

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

15% Yankee

0% Dixie

0% Midwestern

Thought you might enjoy this. I wonder how my famiy scores on this?-let me know.

I suppose you could say I speak G.U.M.Y. English. Much like this thing probably does.

Blog Things

Ever break into your own house?

I'm such a loser. I couldn't even break the small window in our basement. It has come to our attention that when we moved in, the former owner of our new home didn't leave a key for the lock - only the deadbolt. Somehow, the door was locked today - leaving us outside. Try as we might, no car key could open this door. Eventually, I had to break the window and then run over to Ace and replace the glass --- yes, I replaced the glass. Family leaf raking time!

Ivy

"Minor" Surgical Success

Operation complete - let's hope that Codeine kicks in...OUCH! Think a knee to the groin, then walking over rake like in this..., then this, then this. That's about how I feel right now. This guy and I can commiserate together.

Cyclocross season may have just been set aside. I was hoping to race at 2 or 3 of Boom Island, Como Park, or Powderhorn. I was especially looking forward to competing - wait...getting yanked - in one race. My doctor won't allow me on my bike for at least two weeks. He tried to match his recommendation with my training schedule. One bike ride every two weeks.

------Closed Circuit to Chad---happy birthday- have a laugh on me-------.

Back from West Virginia!

Wow...what a trip!
If any of you have been to West Virginia, you know about the fantastic sense of community the Appalachian people have - in spite of their impoverished towns and dying hamlets. I had the great opportunity to talk to Lee Silver! For any geology buff this is cool - for anyone else, perhaps not. Lee Silver was instumental in the training of astronauts during a few apollo missions - most notably Apollo 15.

IVY

Time for West Virginia!

I'm off to West Virginia - with a group of teachers from Minneapolis. We'll be enjoying the festivities of the October Sky Festival in Coalwood. I'll have the extraordinary luck of speaking with many of the Rocket Boys and associated people involved in this great West Virginia community. I'll post more about this trip when I return. I return Sunday to paternity leave and a "minor" medical procedure.

Chad and Mila brought over a huge Mum plant for the outside of our house. I love native prairie plants, so this isn't normally my style, but it looks great and is so colorful. Thanks, you two!

Ivy

Damn Squirrels!

We're trying to make a natural" fence -out of cup plant and prairie sage...the squirrels have other ideas. Last night, 4 of 6 cup plants were gobbled up and 3 of 6 sage plants destroyed. We'll update you this spring on survival.

The fam headed north to D.D. Kennedy County Park yesterday. Nice area, I haven't been there in 10 years! Michelle surprised me and Salix made we wear a ridiculous blinfold until we got there. Michelle says that it would be the perfect place for a fall 5K...she's right.


That's it today...

Ivy

First day of paternity leave!

I had the baby shift today. Wonderful!! Baby T and I checked out Better Homes and Gardens Magazine back issues at the Downtown St. Paul Library. 2 things...1-you could have taken our house right out of those pictures/article's from 1955. 2- That building is tremendously cool. I like our local library, but the downtown library is a LIBRARY. I know that the new MPLS library is supposed to be the cat's meow, but I enjoy the almost quaint historicity (beat that Colbert) of St. Paul's. Any place having back issues of BH&G from 1950 is doing something right.

Ivy

Jon, your blog is a little dusty...

Yep, that's my brother. Alas, he is correct. I'm not trying to make excuses, but if I was:

Some yahoo stole our camera and the neighbor's maternity bra...don't ask.

Michelle is doing the Birkebiener 15k trail run this Saturday. She's a trooper.

We'll get some shots up later this week.

J

Welcome baby Linden (Tilia)

After what I consider a long labor, (and I didn't have much pain) - 11 hours - Tilia August Iverson joined us in St. Paul. Essential Stats: 7 1/4 lbs. 20 inch 7:21 per mile pace with a killer sprint kick at the end.

For those that love pictures...more will come.

Much more to come, we are a bit busy with the baby and our "other" baby that needs constant watering.
More on that later as well.

Ivy

Chisago Lakes Triathlon (Kids)

The kiddy race today in Chisago Lakes...Great time for the kids, but the worst managed triathlon ever (I checked).
Both tried hard and left with medals for finishing. Salix wants to do 4 more this summer, and Acer requests a morning jog every day immediately after he wakes up (well, almost). Michelle is looking forward to having baby! It should be anytime now. I don't organize triathlons, but I think that with 300 participants some things would have been worked out. #1 - participants should not use the same exit/entrance for all transitions (both out of and into bike). #2 - do not force competitors to cross paths with other running/biking competitors. I am shocked that no skulls were cracked during this race. If anyone skulls were crushed...I think mohawk boy could've been involved.

Chaska Triathlon 2006 - appropriate sign

Just finished the one triathlon I'll try this summer. The wifey couldn't have framed this shot any better...because I felt about as fast as the sign above me indicated - a slow walk. It doesn't seem possible, but I swear it is true - the whole bike course of this triathlon is uphill! I'm not the only one saying this.

Ivy

Here we go...

Thought I should begin biking to work today - no, not everyday. As I go about this, I'll be meticulously documenting my transition from car commuter to Tour of Flanders champion. From what I hear, the internet won't be free too long anyway, so let's get this blog started.