Reading is for the dogs

The Waconia Library has a special program where kids can come in and read to a dog. The dog is specially trained to allow the kids to read to it. I had seen the advertisements in the newspaper about this program but had forgotten to tell Lauren about it. I knew she would be interested but was curious how many other hundreds of kids in Waconia would want to as well. LOL

On Saturday, Dave and the kids went to the library and the dogs were there to read to. Lauren was asked if she wanted to read to one of the dogs. She had the choice of 2 dogs. She choose the one that looked "kind of like a Dalmatian". She said the other one was just more interested in sniffing her book than listening. Here is a picture of her reading to the dog taken by Dave's phone. Way to go Lauren!

Build a Bear Workshop

All the kids received a gift card for Build a Bear workshop for their Christmas present from Auntie Molly and Uncle Clint. They have been so excited to make their bears ever since they got them. There wasn't any school last Friday so we decided to make a trip to the Mall of America to assemble them. It was fun to pick out the bears and their clothes and then the kids got to "help" make them.

Noah "stuffing" his bear

Benjamin "washing" his bear. There was air that came out of the shower heads which helped to fluff up the bears. Very cool.


Lauren dressing her bear.

Noah & Dad dressing his bear.

This actually ended up being a really great math activity for the two older kids becuase they only had $20 to spend. Lauren especially thought really hard about what she was going to do to get all the things she wanted to go with her bear. Benjamin was the most creative though. I had told them they could get a less expensive bear and use the extra money to buy some clothes. Or they could pick an expensive bear and have them be naked. Benjamin came to me that morning and said "Mom, what is 10 + 10?" When I told him "20", he said to me, "I'm going to get 2 $10 bears and no clothes, then I'll get 2 bears!" Great thinking buddy. Although when we got to the store he ended up just getting one bear with some clothes.

Lauren named her bear "Gabriella", which is wearing a cute Valetines Day tank top with white capri pants. She also got a Hannah Montana guitar for her bear which plays 3 different songs. Benjamin picked out a fisherman outfit complete with a fishing pole. His bear is named Ben (so we can be twins, even though our names are a little bit different he said). Noah's bear is appropriately named Faster. He is wearing a fireman outfit.

Thanks Auntie Molly and Uncle Clint. We had a blast.

The Birthday Celebrations

Noah's birthday celebrations were a couple of weeks ago. We hosted a birthday breakfast for family members. Plus he had a party with some friends from school and other places. He really understood the meaning of having a birthday including singing Happy Birthday, opening presents and eating cake. Now he asks us when he can turn 5! Yikes, slow down there buddy.

Birthday card from Grandma & Grandpa Petersen which had a pop-up face.

Getting ready to blow out the candles on his digger cake. (Sorry Uncle Denny, all I had were John Deere equipment to put on the cake)


Playing "Pin the hook on the crane" with his friends. Lauren drew the picture of the crane.

Friends at his party.

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!!

Age 6 months

Last week (see a trend here??)

Today is Noah's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe that time has gone by that quickly. He's been counting down the days until today for the last week (with help from big brother and sister). The first thing he asked this morning after waking up was "Is today my real birthday?". Yup baby, it is. This afternoon we had a party with some of his friends. Tonight we will go out to eat at the restaurant he chooses (I hope it isn't McDonalds!). Tomorrow morning we will have a Birthday Breakfast with some family members too. Whew, that's a lot of excitement for someone who is only 4.


Happy Birthday Noah!!