And More Superior Times

Kate on the chair lift going up to the alpine slide.



Nick and the kids with the alpine slides. Ready to go! Lake Superior in the background.


Kate and Mags on the gondola ride up to Moose Mountain.


Maggie showing off her "road rash" from the alpine slide incident. Kind of hilarious, actually.

Liam and his camera that we gave him for the trip (disposable). He took it very seriously! :)

More Superior Times

A hike on Moose Mountain




Nick and the kids on spur trail Moose Mountain. Fun hike!


View from Moose Mountain - lots of damage, still, from the ice storm in March which was quite devastating.

Kate curling up with a book in the cabin.


The view from our cabin. Insanely beautiful.

Bring on the mortar boards!

Kate and Liam graduated from Preschool! Well, Kate graduated FOR REAL. She is moving on to Kindergarten in the fall! I cannot believe it. I just cannot believe it. She is smart and sweet and darling and fun and tall! She went to kindercamp at the start of summer and loved it. Liam still has two years of preschool left, but they both put on a great performance at their final show/graduation ceremony. Too cute. Liam is hilarious and a smarty pants. He is rough and tumble and a snuggle bug all at once. He melts my heart daily.


Here is Kate on her final class trip to the zoo.



Me with my kindergartner to be!!!! WHOA!


Liam and Nick at Liam's graduation show.


Liam the big boy with his diploma.

A Toast to Kids

Wine Celebrations! Nick and I were fortunate enough to attend the famous Twin Cities Winefest for the second year in a row. This is an amazing event that raises money for pediatric health research and care and is so lovely and so much fun. This year we went to the Grand Tasting with Mom, Dad, Patrick and Jillian where there were over 80 vineyards (with about 3-5 wines from each) offering samplings. That was a fun night!!! :) The next night Nick and I joined our good friends Jeff and Megan for the fine wine dinner and auction, which was a blast. It was so nice to get dressed up, enjoy a nice dinner, and dance to a live band in the name of fundraising! :)


Here we are at the fancy dancy fine wine dinner. Delish.



Here we are at the Grand tasting - lots of fun was had as evidenced by my goofy grin.

Water bugs

The Lake and Pool are Open! Mom and Dad are officially moved into their retirement palace. :) The lakehouse is stunning and they are having a great time setting it up "just so". We are thrilled to take regular advantage of the pool and the lake with lots of kayak time. In addition, the boat is in on the St. Croix river this year (rather than the lake which is a little low thanks to some drought conditions here in Minnesota). We have had a couple of lovely jaunts down the St. Croix which is a federally protected natural river and is absolutely gorgeous.


Gramps and Kate captaining the Kanpai on the St. Croix.


I took Liam for a spin. He loved it, and insisted on helping me paddle (not so easy with the 3 year old helping! :)


Kate was big enough to ride in the double kayak with Uncle Pak!


Maggie going solo.


A view from the fire pit out onto the point. This is Nia and Gramps' property.

Come fly with me

I got to visit several college Theta chapters as College District President of Theta. I am getting to know my territory and am continually impressed by the poised and bright young women, as well as the dedicated, intelligent, and warm advisors that I continue to meet across the country. Lucky me! I visited University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, University of Kansas, Westminster College, and University of Missouri this spring. These ladies are doing amazing things with their lives and, while I certainly have the opportunity to inspire them, they really serve as inspiration to me.

Here I am with some ladies from the chapter at Mizzou as they celebrated their 100th chapter year.



I am very proud of this young woman, Taylor. She was my advisee last year and was just awarded the highest honor that Theta has to bestow - the Bettie Locke Hamilton Founders Scholarship! I could burst with pride! Watch for this one - she will change the world!

Ever After Gowns 2009

Ever After Gowns celebrated it's 5th year serving young ladies in the Twin Cities by providing them with a free, elegant boutique experience in which the teens get to select free formalwear for their Prom! It was the best year ever and we helped over 300 young women. I am so honored to be able to serve these ladies and work with so many great volunteers as President of the organization. What a blessing in my life.

Here is a pic of one of our guests, her personal shopper (holding the dress she chose), and a media representative who covered our event for a cable show, Girl Talk! Look at those SMILES!!!!!!

Insert Sheepish Look Here....

I know. I have been a terrible blogger. After years of fairly faithful posts, I have been woefully tardy in my updates. It seems I HAVE reached maximum capacity, finally. My schoolwork, in addition to raising two kids, running a nonprofit, and working for Theta has me "maxxed out".

The good news is - I have a small (6 week) summer break starting NEXT week. So as soon as I finish this FORTY FIVE MINUTE presentation of an organizational analysis of Major League Baseball (not kidding) I will post all kinds of fun pics and news. A family vacay, preschool graduation, and tales of the 3-year-old's civil disobedience will all be discussed soon!

In the meantime, if you have stuck around through my lapse, thanks! :) Talk to you soon!

-Maggie

Hoppy Easter

A few pics from a visit with the Easter bunny and the kids at the North Oaks Egg hunt. Kate announced that the bunny was not real because she could see that the bunny had on sneakers and said "REAL Easter Bunnies do NOT wear shoes".

Happy Easter!

Some more easter pics. I truly cannot handle the cuteness that is Liam. I adore that boy. Kate was thrilled to find the special silver egg in our PJ Easter Egg hunt

Lake times

Finally the snow is gone. While it is still chilly (50s with QUITE a brisk breeze) we were thrilled to get out and wander the lakepoint at Nia and Gramps' place. The kids love to look for rocks to toss into the lake and we threw the football around a bit.

Hut, hut! Go long!

Some shots of Kate and Liam "playing" football on the lakepoint with Nick. The ball is not in any of these shots, but I was there so can attest that it was being tossed around. :)

Whistle Kiss

The other day Liam figured out how to whistle! He was blowing me a kiss and out came a whistle noise! Now he thinks that the only way to whistle is if he blows a kiss first, and if he just wants to blow a kiss, he makes sure to whistle.

What you may not know about me is I loathe whistling. It is, in no way to me, a cheerful noise. Rather, I find it grating and irritating. I really hate it when it is inserted into musical recordings as well (i.e., "Dont Worry Be Happy" does NOT make me happy).

However, despite that - I adore Liam's little whistle! It is too darn cute! Here is a video....

Oink

Kate asked me for a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch today. I only had ham, so she got ham. As she was eating the ham, she was peering at it curiously and this conversation followed:

Kate - calmly inspecting her ham: Mom, where does ham come from?

Me (knowing what was coming, and not really in the mood for this conversation): The grocery store. Dad bought that ham at the grocery store.

Kate - insistent: Nooooo, Mom. Where does it COME from? What IS it?

Me: It is pork.

Kate: What is pork?

Me: A type of meat, like bacon, turkey, hamburger are meat.

Kate: Yes but MOM they come from ANIMALS. What ANIMAL does HAM COME FROM?

Me: A pig.

Kate - calmer than I expected: Really? Hmm. A pig, huh?

Me: Yes.

Pause while Kate thinks this over. I know what is coming. I am right....

Kate: You know, Mom. I have a movie about a really cute pig whose farmer wants to get rid of him. You know the one I am talking about?

Me: Yes, Charlotte's Web. We also read the book about it.

Kate: Yeah. He wants to kill the pig and eat him.

Me: NO response. Silent.

Kate: So I am kind of eating Wilbur. (Takes a big bite).

What can I say?!

Pics

Here are some shots from the weekend when we went to the amusement park and from when Nia and Gramps were over.

Happy Birthday, Liam!

I am finding it hard to believe that darling Liam is three years old!!! My, how time flies. He is such a sweet, bright, funny, loving, tumbling, tough, and - yes - terribly stubborn boy! :-) We adore him beyond measure and description and were so proud to celebrate his birthday! We had such fun - on Sunday we (the Harris crew, along with Patrick and Jillian, and Nia) went to the Mall of America to enjoy "Nickelodean Universe" which is the indoor amusement park. We all had a great time with the kids - log rides, Blue's Clues ride, Big Rig rides and so much more. Kate went on her first big kid roller coaster and loved it to bits, exclaiming at the end "Ooooooh, it's too bad it is over!" Liam and Kate both shot down the log ride flume with us, getting sprayed and laughing up a storm. We had a blast! The grown ups got to ride some pretty fun "big kid" rides as well!

On Monday, Liam's actual birthday, Gramps and Nia came over for cake, ice cream, and some presents. When I asked Liam what kind of a birthday party he wanted, he told me "my favorite color party! A green party!". Great idea! So a green party it was. So eco-chic of him, yes? :)

We all enjoyed green cake, presents, balloons, and more at a super fun little celebration for the terrific three year old. We got him a play tent and sleeping bag (all green, of course) since lately he has been wanting to play camping a lot and for some reason, dinosaurs always seem to find their way onto the campsite. We lucked out and found a green, dinosaur playtent! Perfect! He LOVES it and last night asked if he could sleep in his sleeping bag in his tent instead of going to bed (no - not just yet....Mommy needed a good night of sleep, so we will wait until maybe a weekend for that one!).

Happy Birthday my wonderful boy!

Dyson Dude

This post has no point, really. Nothing about the kids. No updates on life. I just wanted to share, in case you were curious, that I am extremely irritated by the "Dyson Vacuum Guy". You know the one. The "inventor" who put so much passion and innovation into his vacuum cleaner design that he talks about it via minimalist and european-ish commercials. Now, I know the Dyson is a fantastic vacuum (it should be self-propelled and empty itself of dust, in my opinion, for how much it costs....which is why I don't own one myself) but you will note that the commercials are silent and minimalist, when in fact the Dyson sounds like a tornado. I don't care that it rotates on a ball and appears to glide on air. Additionally, the fact is, to me the man's voice ranks as one of the most irritating of all time. His "s" sound comes through the television like a knife to my ear. And his sing-song brit-ness, so appealing in so many other people, is terribly whiny. I think "annoying sounds" must = Dyson.

Have any of you ever used the "super efficient" dyson hand drying airblade machine is a public restroom? You need earplugs to use it. Jet engine force winds and noise levels in a tiled echo chamber do not make for a pleasant hand drying experience! Kate practically become apoplectic everytime we encounter one of those and holds her hands over her ears and yells "IT IS LOUD" - but louder than the actual jet engine so I will be sure to know that she thinks it is loud. Which makes for a really extra enjoyable public restroom experience for us, and for all the patrons gracing the faclities.

So. In short. I had five minutes on hand to kill and I decided to share my thoughts on the Dyson Dude with you. Enjoy. Back to what I should be working on instead....

More Snow Day Pics

Some final pics of the day:

Kate striking a pose.

Delicious cocoa!

Kate took this pic of me :)