Dressel Familia

I've Moved!

2010-06-08T00:10:00.003-05:00

Hi All!

Just to let you know, I've consolidated all of my blogs into one. So I won't be posting here anymore, but you can still find all the previous Dressel Familia posts on the this blog...I will leave it up for a while!

Meanwhile the new site will have all sorts of regular posts...including updates on family, rambling thoughts from my head and more!

Click HERE to go to the new site. Make sure to become a follower over there too!

Aloha Friday!

2010-01-16T11:33:00.001-06:00

So I'm about 12 hours behind the 8-ball on this one, but it is fun, so indulge me!

Island Life is a new blog I recently discovered and she hosts Aloha Friday every Friday...with a simple fun question for readers to answer on their own blog and link back!

And for my first Aloha Friday, the question couldn't be more perfectly directed to me! The question is:

Toilet Paper Dispenser...Over or Under?

For any who know me well, would know that I am very adamantly an OVER kinda girl when it comes to how my toilet paper roll sits. Whenever I get into a discussion about weird irrational pet peeve kind of issues, the FIRST one I mention is that I HAVE to have the toilet paper going over the top off the dispenser! In fact, if my child or husband has replaced the TP (which doesn't happen often...) and they replaced it wrong, I have to change it so the TP goes over the top.

And...okay I'll admit it, I've even switched the TP around at the homes of friends when I discover theirs is on wrong too!

I don't really know where this comes from, but I think it stems from a germ aversion. It seems to me that if a TP roll is put on to come out from under, that means it lays against the wall and to me that means that it has more of a chance to pick up E.Coli or other fecal borne germs floating in the air.

COMPLETELY irrational reasoning, I know...but TP over the top is what works for me and always will.

How about you?

New & Improved!

2010-01-13T01:15:00.000-06:00

I've become a blogger for REAL these days! I know, I know, hard to believe, given that I have gone for lengths of several MONTHS between posts here at Dressel Familia! But now that I am a stay-at-home mama, and I've got a semester of my first year of homeschooling under my belt, I have been able to turn some of my time (not that there is a plethora of it...) towards some passions of mine...one of them being writing! So 2010 is a year where I will write EVERY DAY! In the beginning it will be on several blogs that I either started or contribute to (see my side bar for them) and hopefully by the middle of the year/summer it will include writing for novel purposes! I have also began to put together the structure for my freelance writing business...now that I've actually had some paid writing work under my belt! So hopefully I'll have some more freelance gigs come in from the structure and marketing I am and will be putting together! Once the website is done for that, I'll post it here for you all to check out!

But other than that, yes, life has been busy at the Dressel home over the last several months. But I am like many other readers...I love pictures! So I'll illustrate some of the past several months with pictures and captions...here we go!

May 2009 - The kiddos did a campout in the backyard of Grandma & Grandpa's house with Daddy while Mommy slept comfortably inside (smile!).

Laura turned 10 and celebrated with a Girls Night Out with two of her closest friends, plus Mommy, my friend and little Angie! They got their hair and nails done, wore pretty sundresses and had fancy dessert at the Cheesecake Factory!

(NOTE: I got a new laptop somewhere between these two events and therefore many of my Summer 2009 pics are on a different computer! Notable omissions here include Juancho's 12 Birthday (a mini-golf excursion), the visit of a Ukrainian friend right over Fourth of July, and a couple visits to Chicago in July & August to prepare for and celebrate one of my best friend's wedding!)

We celebrated Daddy turning...ahem...34(!) with a quiet at-home party (we are in a recession, ya know!) complete with a home-cooked meal and handmade presents from the kids!

Despite our very cold October, we managed to find a day that was a wee bit less cold to go to the apple orchard with our homeschool co-op. We made all sorts of yummy apple treats!

A treat that we made from the apples but DIDN'T eat was Wrinkly Faces! Just in time for Halloween! (want to know how to make these? leave a comment!)

Speaking of Halloween, you can see a bunch of pics and read all about it HERE!

2nd Forever Family Day Celebration (Nov. 8th)

We celebrated with a lunch at a new local Colombian restaurant and a movie. The kids were THRILLED to eat a Bandeja Paisa complete with arepas and chorizo...AND drink Colombian soda like Colombina and Pony.

Angie had her 1st ballet recital and was just beautiful in it!

The kids LOVED participating in Operation Christmas Child and did GREAT picking out gifts for children their age who live in impoverished areas. They understand all to well what those children are going through, and their genuine compassion is inspiring!

This incredibly handsome fella had his first trumpet/band concert and did GREAT! He's learning more and more every day and really enjoys his homeschool band.

Though I've owned the sewing machine for 3 years, I'd only made one set of haphazardly sewn curtains and 2 Harry Potter capes...so I decided to get it out and learn a few things! I even made some Christmas presents, like this pillow here for Laura. Next on the docket? My kiddos are begging for homemade Snuggies! We'll see...

Laura has been taking a group piano class this fall and had her first recital in December. We were so proud of her! She tells me she dreams of playing on a baby grand piano someday!

Christmas 2009 - spent at Grandma & Grandpa's house...with lots of cousins and Tios!

2nd pic is of Holly's niece and her little baby Serenity

3rd pic - the kids first time putting together a gingerbread house! (along with their cousin Joel)

We hosted a New Year's Eve party at our house...the girls and I made "2010" sugar cookies for it and young and old enjoy competitions on the Wii!

My dear Grandfather passed away on 12/30/09, so on New Year's Day I traveled out to Wisconsin for the funeral. Here I am with two of my sisters and my brother along with my Grandma as we celebrated my grandfather's life.

We celebrated Angie's 5th Birthday on 01/09/10 with a Princess Party. It is hard to believe she is already 5! Growing up so fast, but what an awesome little girl she is!

SO...there you have it - in pictures! The life and times of the Dressels! (at least over the past several months that is!)

Check out my sidebar for some changes in links, etc.

Halloween

2009-11-07T14:27:00.000-06:00

While we don't go all out in celebration of Halloween, our kids enjoy the traditional fun festivities like dressing up, trick or treating, carving pumpkins, etc. We try to steer clear of the 'horror' aspect of Halloween and opt for clean fun instead.

Here is my "grand-niece" (that makes me sound old!) sporting one of two Halloween costumes...Serenity is 13 months old and looked lovely as a bumblebee!

The kids were excited to 'hit the road' on Halloween night. We were in Iowa, visiting my family, so they got to trick or treat with 2nd cousin Serenity (this time dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid) and their cousin Joel (dressed as Dracula...with a matching dog!).

This year, being frugal and attempting to be craftsy, I decided to make use of what we had to make costumes for the kids. Juancho had said he wanted to be a dog, and Laura had said she wanted to be a cat. Seemed only fitting that Angie should go as a mouse. Thankfully she embraced the idea! Last year we had Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and...a penguin. The three didn't exactly go together...but this year they did!

Angie, our cute little mouse. She had a gray sweatsuit with a hood, so I found a gray sweatshirt that had seen better days and cut it up to make her ears and tail. I sewed her ears onto the hoodie with a loose stitch so it could be cut out later, and tacked them back with safety pins so they weren't flopping all over. Her tail was safety pin to the inside of the backside of her pants. The costume was topped off with some face paint and pink gloves. She was mistaken for a bunny or a cat on a couple of occasions, but she didn't hesitate to set people straight..."I'm a MOUSE!"

Laura's cat costume was made similarly. We bought a velvety black hoodie at the Salvation Army for $1.50, and I took some old black fabric and sewed cat ears, reinforced inside with cardboard, and detail added outside with fabric from an old pink t-shirt (also used on Angie's mousy ears). Her tail was one of Robert's black socks with no matching pair...I sewed it thinner and stuffed it with stuffing from an old pillow (all the tails were stuffed with that old stuffing...). She had on black tights, black leggings and a cute velvety black skirt (purchased from the Salvation Army for less than a buck). Face paint finished it off, along with $1 black gloves from Target.

Juancho wanted to be a dog, so I bought an oversized brown turtleneck from Salvation Army for a dollar, then found an old lighter brown t-shirt that was going to Goodwill anyway and cut out spots from that. I sewed the spots onto the turtleneck and sewed the ends of the sleeves closed into a paw-style...built in mittens! He wore brown cords I traded some of his old clothes for at Once Upon a Child...free! His doggie ears were made from Robert's old socks, pinned to a stocking cap. His tail was made from the same old t-shirt used to cut the spots, sewed closed, stuffed with pillow stuffing and safety pinned to the back of his pants. He loves this tail so much that he continues to safety pin it to the back of every pair of pajama pants he wears. Reminds me of "Where the Wild Things Are". His face was painted, complete with doggie tongue hanging out!

We had a great Halloween and I was reminded of what I knew as a child...homemade costumes are the best!

Papi's Birthday

2009-11-06T16:01:00.000-06:00

Dad's birthday was October 19th - celebrating the "5th Anniversary of his 29th Birthday", as he likes to say. It was a totally low key day at home...with a home cooked meal for dinner, a homemade low sugar cake, homemade cards and gifts. A fun day.

The kids collected leaves outside, shaved some colorful crayons and arranged a picture, which I later ironed. We fashioned these into autumn themed birthday cards for Dad.

We made Salt Dough and made a autumn themed wall hanging for Dad too - each child made their own, pressing leaves into the dough to create a picture. We then baked the dough til it was hard and after it had cooled the kiddos painted their section and added their name and a message to Dad. I connected them all with ribbon and we have it proudly hanging in the kitchen. I, however, forgot to take a picture, so I'll have to do that before it gets taken down and post it here.

The kids helped clean up, make dinner and the cake.

The birthday table - dinner was Parmesan Crusted Tilapia, Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes" and Green Beans Almondine...yum!

"U Rock Dad!"

Dad and the girls

New Stuff...

2009-10-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

As if one blog weren't enough...

I am working on getting a conglomeration of blogs set up that you are invited to follow! I just set up a blog to chronicle our homeschool journeys on (PS - did you know we are homeschooling this year? We are into week 5 already and it has been a challenge and a blast!). The new homeschool blog is called Dressel Academy, after our very fancy homeschool name. The blog itself still need to be beautified a bit, but there is an inaugeral post there! My goal is to post every school day with some tidbit that we learned, did or some aspect to homeschooling that I find important to remember or to hang onto as a resource for the future! I will also have a regular "Rookie Mistakes Monday" post that I will kick off next week...and it will be the post where I will confess all my first year homeschool blunders! :)

Another blog chronicling a journey in my life personally is my Making Over Me blog. It is a blog that I set up a while ago, but never did anything with seriously...mostly because I wasn't seriously working towards making over me! But now I am and the Making Over Me blog will chronicle THAT journey. It is a journey that encompasses many elements of a makeover...physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Stay tuned to see what happens - this blog will likely be updated 2-3 times per week.

A couple more blogs are reflective of my interest in all things frugal, free and handmade! I actually started them this past spring and then let go of them for a while. I'm excited to jump back in and beef them up a bit! There is You're Gonna Want This and the partner blog You're Gonna Want This - Homemade! The first is all about contests, savings, great frugal ideas, and reviews that I find in the blog-world and want to bring to you OR that I have the opportunity to come up with myself! This blog will have daily updates.

The partner blog You're Gonna Want This - Handmade will be a review blog that will encourage readers to consider purchasing their gifts and goods from handmade artisans and crafters...not only because handmade crafters can provide impeccable quality and unique items that cannot be found in your local discount retailer...BUT by buying from handmade artisans, we are helping to support family-based business. I'm all about family and I LOVE handmade products...so what is there to lose?! I will be doing reviews of handmade products, providing links to handmade artisans and giving guidance to those just venturing into the world of handmade products! This blog will begin with 2-3 posts per week, working up to daily updates.

Hope you can take some time to explore my blogs and have fun with them too!

New Beginnings...

2009-07-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been a sporadic blogger since our children came home...and that may remain to be the case. But don't give up on me - I will show up here still...whether it be frequently or infrequently!

I'm beginning my second day as a full-time stay-at-home mom. It feels like the first though, as I was still wrapping up some details at my previous job yesterday too.

Leaving my job was bittersweet. I worked for this non-profit Christian organization serving high risk hurting teens and families (www.treehouseyouth.org) for over 8 years in a lot of different roles. Most recently it was the Recruiting Coordinator - involving recruiting and hiring new staff and interns for the organization. But, as is true with many companies and non-profits, funds are tight and due to some other staff changes there was a re-organization made for some corporate office positions. In that reorganization my position was eliminated.

The irony of it, though, is that Robert and I have felt convicted, or called, to homeschool our children this next year and beyond if need be due to their educational challenges and the inability for the public school they attend to be able to give the attention to their academic needs in the way that is necessary to help the kiddos really get through some of their learning hurdles with reading and writing in particular. But being a two-income family that has gone through some significant economic challenges of our own this past year, we didn't know if we could swing losing my income and benefits. But we kept praying and seeking God's affirmation and direction. In the course of time I knew that God was solidly letting us know 'yes, homeschooling your children is the new ministry role I want you to move into' - but the fear that comes with financial challenges had worked itself into a knot in the pit of my stomach and the 'what-ifs' were running rampant through my head.

However one Wednesday in early June I listened to a speaker talk about his 'Surprise Me God' experiment. As I listened to his stories of how God surprised him, I found myself praying silently "Lord Jesus, I believe you have called me to homeschool my children. But I am afraid. I'm afraid to leave the security of my job and the steady income and benefits it brings with it. Lord I'm even more afraid that I will let my fear keep me from doing something you have called me to." Then, like Gideon putting out his fleece, I prayed "Lord, please help me with this. Just MAKE IT HAPPEN so I cannot chicken out and let my fear control me. I need your help with this Lord. If it is right, make it happen."

That very afternoon, much to my surprise, my boss called me into his office to let me know about the above restructuring and the elimination of my position. Though this was not how I expected God to answer my prayer above, it was clearly 'making it happen' and though it would have been easy to let anxiety rush in, it didn't. I knew this was God's affirmation of 'yes, this is right for you and yes, I will take care of you.'

The next 6 weeks that followed until my end date passed in a flash and though my last day was two days ago, I still don't feel like I am done. But my mind, energies and 'new normal' will gradually shift into my new positions of homemaker, homeschool teacher, business assistant to my husband and hopefully (fingers crossed) budding freelance writer and novelist.

Which reminds me...my to-do list for this 'new normal' begins with a few whoppers...

1 - Organize the home office (it was a bit of a chore to get to my seat at my desk this morning...massive organization and decluttering is needed!)

2 - Prep for a garage sale in a couple of weeks

3 - Put together my full year homeschool schedule and get paperwork completed to send in to the State.

As they say in Minnesota...Uff-Da! Better get to work! More from me - WITH PICTURES - soon!

PS - if you are a reader and not my Facebook friend, look me up!

Civil War Day

2009-05-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

Near our home is a place called "Murphy's Landing". It is an 88 acre park re-created to resemble life in Minnesota between the 1840's and 1890's. Nearly all of the buildings in the park are original - homes, church, school and mercantile actually built in that time frame and moved to the park from various parts of the south metro of the Twin Cities. Costumed interpreters teach about life on the frontier, farmstead and villages.

We'd never been to Murphy's Landing before, but with Juancho's recent budding interest in American history, I thought it would be a perfect place to go to this summer. Juancho has been especially interested in the history of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, so when I learned that Murphy's Landing opening weekend this year was a historical re-enactment of the Civil War, complete with an appearance from Old Abe himself, I knew we had to go! We had a great time learning all about history, meeting Abe Lincoln (who was a short chubby fellow...nothing resembling the 16th president except the suit and tophat!) and seeing how a one-room schoolhouse functioned, playing schoolyard games of the 19th century and various crafts and other things. I'm sure we'll be back again this year...in fact the kids may even attend one of their "Pioneer Life" summer camps! It's always great when learning is disguised by great fun!

Here's the pics...

Laura & Angie wait patiently while Mom buys the tickets

Angie says "C'mon Mom!"

Juancho & Laura walking down the path into the frontier village

Angie has fun playing with pioneer schoolyard toys.

This one is a stick that doubles as a baton.

Looks like Angie is enjoying it...I know a

cheap gift to get her on her next birthday... :)

On the other hand, I probably won't be getting
stilts for Juancho...

...Laura either.

Minnesota's 5th Infantry Battalion demonstrates

how a cannon is loaded and fired. They fired

3 rounds...boy were they loud!

John & Laura pose by the cannon.

Angie was scared by the loud

blasts and decided she was going to

"stay away from that thing!"

Juancho intently watches and listens to

Abraham Lincoln's speech which told all about

his life and accomplishments. Since then

Juancho has been telling everyone that the Civil War

ended on April 9, 1865 and Abe Lincoln was shot

just 5 days later.

"Abe Lincoln" signs Juancho's biographical

book about the president, which Juancho brought

on this outing for the very purpose of getting it

autographed!

We call these scenic shots on the banks of the Minnesota River our

"Pioneer Day Senior Portraits". Laura opted out...

here are John & Angie's shots...quite photogenic! :)

Juancho & Laura pose as gargoyles at the

top of the steps. They learned a new word this day...

it was "gargoyles".

One final shot of the 3 outside of one of the

authentic pioneer era homes.

What a fun (and educational) day!

Dinner on the Deck

2009-05-11T17:31:00.000-05:00

Even though it isn't officially summer yet, we've been enjoying the benefits of the warmer weather...like planting flowers and veggies and our favorite - eating dinner outside on the deck! These pics of Juancho, Laura & Angie were taken a few days ago during our first 'Dinner on the Deck' of 2009!

18 Months as Family

2009-05-10T15:14:00.000-05:00

Friday, May 8, 2009 was our year and a half anniversary of our Gotcha Day. We love celebrating things here and 18 months as a family is definitely something to celebrate! So far our family celebration days have always included a meal at Los Andes, which is a Colombian and Ecuadorian restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. This place has an authentic 'Bandeja Paisa', which is a nationally recognized Colombian dish that our kids love. The meal at this restaurant is HUGE, so John and Laura always split it. They also are able to have a bottle of Pony soda (a malted pop beverage...definitely an acquired taste!) or a Colombiana soda (a type of orange pop). Sometimes dessert, but we are usually too full by then.

The menu includes "Cuy Asado", which is Roasted Guinea Pig! We haven't tried that yet (nor will we ever...), but were a little curious what the unnamed meat in our 'carne empanadas' might be! They were yummy nonetheless! :)

Our friends Ty & Cassie joined us on our 18 Month Celebration of family - we loved having them along! Here are pics...

Goofy Dressel Family pic...

Juancho & Dad - he's loving his 'bandeja paisa'

Laura is also enjoying her fave Colombian meal and Pony soda!

Little Angie LOVES her Papi!

The Dressel Crew...looking a little more 'normal'

(Why do you think Robert & I look so tired?!?) :)

5th Grade Track & Field Day

2009-05-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the Track & Field days that perhaps you had in school back in 5th and 6th grade? At John & Laura's school, they have special Track & Field days for all grades. Yesterday (Friday, May 8th) was John's Track & Field Day.

John is strong and fast, but doesn't routinely engage in overly-physical play. He will probably be doing a soccer camp this summer, and loves to ride his bike with his dad or place chase with the neighborhood kids, but isn't exceptionally athletic. He is, however, extremely competitive! So I wondered how Track & Field day would go for him.

I got to the school with my fold out chair and my backpack of sustaining goodies for the boy (and he routinely came to me saying "Mom, I'm hungry!" I found out that John would be competing in the 50 yard dash, the ball kick (distance) and the egg/spoon race.

Before every race John would come running over to me saying "Mom, I'm nervous!" and I'd repeat the same reassurances back to him "Do your best. Doing your best means that no matter what place you come in, you gave it your all! You'll do great!" But the whole mumbo-jumbo about how it didn't matter what place he came in was entirely lost on John. He is extremely competitive, right? So 1st or 2nd place it needed to be...otherwise it was failure in his mind.

50 yard dash went by in a...flash! John crossed the finish line milli-seconds after the winner...so John got his first 2nd place! I wanted to take a picture of him right there on the finish line, but in a split second decision (after he realized that the entire 5th grade population was just feet away from him), he said "no Mom, that's embarrassing!" Later I was able to snap this unsuspecting pic! The red wristbands indicate a 2nd place win, and the white wristband indicates 'participation' (meaning he didn't get 1st or 2nd prize on that event).

The other event he got 2nd in was the ball kick. The competition was to kick a kickball the farthest. John's went off center...if it had been a straight kick I think he would have easily gotten first! (spoken by a true proud mama, huh?)

He was not at all pleased that there was an event he did that he didn't place in. In fact he came in dead last. The event was the egg/spoon race, and this race does not work for overly competitive boys who want to move as fast as they can in a race, but with this race, moving slowly and more methodically is what wins it for him. His egg dropped constantly as he tried to move as fast as he could across the field. After picking it up multiple times, the rest of the crowd got ahead of him and he came in...last. He was not so happy and brought his blanket over to sit by me and sulk for a while. But about the time the class tug-of-war competition came around, he was ready to snap out of it.

After the event was done, we got to meet up with Daddy (who had to miss the event because of a work meeting he couldn't change) and went out to eat for lunch before John went back to school for the rest of the day.

Juancho with his friends

Easter Baskets & Egg Hunts

2009-04-23T12:05:00.000-05:00

After church we came home and the kids changed their clothes. They did mention that they must not be getting Easter baskets this year because they didn't find any on the table like they did last year before church. But while they were up changing, I brought the baskets out of hiding and as they came down the stairs they discovered their baskets and the fun things within.

After that I took PJ outside (and secretly hid a bunch of eggs for a hunt) and came back in to let the kids know that when I was out with PJ, I saw a BUNCH of Easter eggs all over the place! They were pretty excited!

Later that day when the cousins came over, we made Resurrection Rolls and the kids had a blast doing that! It was great because when their roll came out empty inside they could each tell the story of why the 'tomb' was empty. Then they happily gobbled up the yummy rolls!

Tia Michelle with Juancho (above) and I (below)

Easter Breakfast & Service

2009-04-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

On Easter Sunday we got up bright and early to make it to the 'Sunrise Breakfast' at church. Thankfully it wasn't truly at the hour of sunrise, but it was 7:00 am, and I confess that the Dressel's were the last of the all the family members out the door!

Some of the Meadows/Dressel crew: clockwise from lower left - Laura (notice her shoulder length haircut!), Robert, Howard (my dad), Joel (standing, the one who has the skater hair Juancho was hoping to emulate), Debby (my Mom), Michelle (my younger sister) and Jenni (my older sister).

My niece Ashley (who stayed with us for a while last Spring) and her

daughter Serenity (7 months)

Juancho, looking handsome as always,

satisfied from a great Easter breakfast!

Angie looks a bit like I caught her red-handed

doing something she wasn't supposed to! As far

as I know she wasn't up to anything... :)

The Family Picture:

This is our 2nd Easter together as a family, and I'm starting to see a theme with trying to get a family picture with us dressed in our finest. Last year, donuts were the reason for family picture difficulties - click HERE to re-live that (scroll to the bottom).

This year I claim that the intense sun caused me to blink right at the moment of the picture click...and Robert to be squinting intensely...the kids look great though!

So, when something fails, try, try again, right? So we did - a number of times. And each time either someone was turned around, or talked at the moment of the click or SOMETHING. This was the best pic we got - and actually I think I like it even better than a regular posed picture - it captures the joy in our family!

Princess Angie! She wore the same

Easter dress as last year and looked

as beautiful as ever!

Road Trip!

2009-04-20T11:21:00.000-05:00

Early on Good Friday we began packing up the car for the road trip south to Iowa! We got the back of the mini-van packed out, got the kiddos buckled in and PJ all situated. Robert pulled the mini-van out of the garage while I moved his car into the garage to stay while we were gone. But as Robert drove half-way around the block, a horrible noise was coming from the brakes.

We made a quick decision that driving 5+ hours with a loaded vehicle with grinding brakes was probably a poor idea, so we moved Robert's car out of the garage and pulled the mini-van back in. We then went on to mount the car-top carrier to hold all the luggage, since Robert's car is smaller and wouldn't fit all of us, the dog and the luggage without it. After some trying moments to hoist heavy suitcases into the carrier and get the carrier closed with all the luggage, we were ready to go. Poor PJ had significantly reduced space to stretch out, but he didn't complain.

The drive south was fun and the kids were in good spirits. We credit kids that travel well to the invention of the portable DVD player! :)

Halfway to my parents home in Iowa City we stopped to visit good friends of ours, Jacque and Justin who moved to Waterloo last year. It was fun to see them and the kids (and PJ) loved running around in their big fenced in backyard while the adults visited.

We stopped at a gas station in a random small town in Iowa (called 'Floyd'). The gas station had a number of monuments indicated that we were then in Floyd, IA - obviously there was some community pride this gas station had! The girls loved the monuments and wanted their pictures in front of them, as you'll see below! Juancho, meanwhile, helped Dad with 'boy stuff' like filling the car up with gas and washing the windows. He's such a great helper!

The Road Trip Cast:

Dad, aka - The Driver

Mom, aka - The Picture Taker

(PJ was captured in the background on this photo too!)

Juancho, aka - Sleepyhead

Lala - aka - Crazy Girl!

Angie, aka - Sweetie

Tribute to Floyd, IA:

Easter Week 2009

2009-04-19T09:58:00.000-05:00

Catch up time again...

I'll be writing a few posts about some of the fun things we did during Easter Week this year. It was a special week for us for so many reasons. Always remembering Christ's death on the cross in order to bring us life AND his resurrection from the dead showing the grave could not hold him is an awe-filled thing to celebrate.

This Easter also marked the first time our whole family was able to travel down to Iowa to visit my extended family since LAST Easter! It was a LONG over-due trip! :)

The weekend preceding Easter the kids and spent some time coloring Easter eggs. We loved it, and they loved eating them later too! Here are some pics and videos!

PS - take note of Laura & John's longer hair in these photos...in some later Easter related posts you will see their spring haircuts!

Side Note: Juancho had been growing out his hair virtually all year in the hopes to achieve the 'skater hair' that his cousin Joel pulls off so well. But with Juancho's courser hair, it just seemed to get 'puffier'. I was more than fine with his decision to get it cut off...whew! :)

PJ's Revenge

2009-03-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

You've certainly been introduced to PJ on this blog before. PJ is our loveable canine protector - our 3.5 year old mutt - we think a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix. But he was also an adoption...a pet adoption and before the Humane Society found him, he was a street dog - so there is no telling what his heritage really is. But he truly is a wonderful dog. We got him about a year before our kiddos joined our family...but he handled the additions to the "pack" with ease.

Here's PJ:

As you can see below, he feels quite comfortable being a member of our "pack" (and is less than modest...sorry!)And though he is so cute - he is not immune to getting in trouble sometimes!
Having 3 other pack members that are under 18, and two of those being girls, PJ has endured his fair share of being dressed-up, serving as a surrogate "baby", attempts to be ridden like a horse, and more. He has handled it with ease......until this past weekend that is. This past weekend we discovered "PJ's Revenge!"

Somehow Angie's toys suffered the brunt of the damage. Though PJ isn't usually a 'chewer', he did a complete lobotomy on the pink bear (Angie still doesn't know about that one...she loves that pink "bearie" and will not take it well when she learns about his demise). We didn't even know about the Barbie until we came home from Monsters vs. Aliens on Saturday and found a large pile of dog vomit on the area rug (thankfully a small one I can toss in the laundry). He had all sorts of unidentifiable things in it. A search of the girls bedroom turned up the completely destroyed Barbie! Both legs gone - up to the belly button! Both arms chewed off from the elbow down! PJ certainly had some pent up frustration he decided to let go on pink bearie and poor old Barbie! (As a side note though, so far this incident has seemed to help the girls remember to be better about keeping their toys picked up!)

Our High School Musical 3 STARS!

2009-03-30T19:05:00.000-05:00

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Earth Hour

2009-03-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

I learned an ingenious thing from my friend and fellow blogger Erica at Little Townhouse on the Prairie...that I can write multiple blog posts at once and then schedule them to post at a certain time on a certain day! WooHoo! This may solve all my blogging challenges! See, I LOVE to blog - it is a way of recording the 'goings on' of our family - I hope to transfer these memories into a book format someday (maybe just one of those books you can make on Blurb.com (I won a voucher to make a FREE book recently...yay!) - not necessarily Barnes and Noble...but maybe...who knows?!) - so it is important to me to remember to capture these memories! But I struggle to find time every day to blog. But usually once a week I can carve out a chunk of time to write multiple posts. And how much better is it for my readers to get regular posts rather than 7 or 8 that dump on the same day? I love it! I'm in the midst of writing a number of posts that I'm scheduling for this week...we'll see how this goes! :)

EARTH HOUR...

Did you know yesterday was the nation-wide celebration of "Earth Hour"? This was a new concept for me, but I saw it advertised in a number of magazines, on MSN.com, and on TV. It is sponsored by WWF (no, not wrestling...that has 3 W's...I always get that mixed up!). WWF is World Wildlife Federation. WWF's tagline is "WWF's ultimate goal is to build a future where people live in harmony with nature."

The purpose behind Earth Hour is to take an hour to turn off lights and all other electronic equipment possible in the home and spend an hour doing activities together that did not require using electricity. WWF designated the official Earth Hour as from 8:30 to 9:30 PM on Saturday, March 28, 2009. Since our kiddos are in bed by then, our Earth Hour was from 7:00 to 8:00 on 3/28 instead.

While I'm not some super earthy granola momma girl, I do resonate with the importance of taking care of our environments and nature. In the beginning God created us to live in harmony with nature...and I believe the steps we can take to conserve and keep the environment in mind as we go about our lives, the better!

I'm always looking for good tangible ways to teach these truths to our children too, so when I heard about Earth Hour, I thought it would be a great way to talk about being Earth-friendly and conserving energy for the kids too!

I looked online for ideas of activities to do with children in observance of Earth Hour, but came up short. So I resorted to using my own creativity (sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't!). Our Earth Hour looked like this:

6:45 PM - I explained to the kiddos about Earth Hour and we had a discussion about what it meant to save energy. We had a discussion about what uses energy and how some appliances still use energy even when they are turned off! We also talked about how leaving things plugged into the wall that aren't being used (ie - phone and camera chargers) also wastes energy).

7:00 PM - The children did an Electricty Saving Scavenger Hunt through the house. The goal was to find anything that was using energy that didn't need to (ie - lights, chargers, empty air fresheners, items that were turned on but not in use like radios, DVD players, etc). I confess that shortly before starting I went through the house and turned on a few extra things to make the game a bit more fun. The kids loved it! While they went through the house I finished using the last bit of energy before we started our hour - warming up leftovers for dinner.

7:15 PM - To make dinner a bit more fun we spread a tablecloth out on the living room floor, lit a bunch of taper candles and set out our plates and food. Dinner was a lesson in conserving and not wasting too - we warmed up all the eligible leftovers in the fridge and got to help ourselves to what we wanted. The selection included pasta bake, meatloaf, pizza, pancakes and corn on the cob! The kids (and parents!) really enjoyed our Earth Hour dinner!

7:45 PM - It was starting to get darker outside now. We decided to go on a walk around our neighborhood and during our walk to pick up any garbage we saw along the way. The kids LOVED this! We talked about how this was another way to be friendly to the Earth - by cleaning up garbage that wasn't in a trash can - even if we didn't throw the garbage on the ground to begin with...and then discussed how we should make sure that we never throw our own garbage on the ground!

8:15 PM - We got back home after our walk - with a little grocery size bag FILLED with garbage that had been picked up along the way. Going inside we were able to turn on lights again - but even so, the children showed to be more diligent in only turning on lights in rooms they were in, and turning them off again when they left.

Here are some photos and a video (if I can get it to load) from our Earth Hour fun! I gotta get upstairs and check out the Lego competition that just began between Juancho and his Dad!

Our BreakDancers

2009-03-20T08:50:00.001-05:00

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They Made The NEWS!

2009-03-05T10:22:00.000-06:00

The last post was about the Daddy/Daughter Dance that Robert and Laura attend together back in late February. We recently learned that they actually made the news about it! Not the national news...or even the State news...but the local Shakopee, MN news! :)

Click on the link below...about 20 seconds into the video, you'll see Robert and Laura dancing the night away (along with our friend Boyd & his daughter Rachel). I tease Robert that he must have practiced long and hard on those dance moves...they are so complex! ;) Love ya honey!

They had a great time...will definitely do it again!

DADDY/DAUGHTER DANCE VIDEO

Daddy/Daughter Dance

2009-02-22T19:25:00.000-06:00

I've been lax with my "two posts per month" goal!

Saturday night (2/21) was the Daddy/Daughter Dance through our local community education group. Robert and Laura went, along with our good friend Boyd and his daughter Rachel (who happens to be Laura's best friend!).

The girls were so excited to be going on a 'date' with their Daddy! Laura admitted she was a bit nervous to be dancing in front of other people, but super excited to get dressed up and treated to a special evening with her Dad.

Laura wore her Easter dress for this year - a beautiful yellow & white dress she got from her cousin Abby. Since it is still very much winter here, she paired this sleeveless dress with a cute white cardigan. She even got some new white shoes for the occasion (she definitely needed some!).

Robert surprised Laura with a wristlet corsage complete with yellow and white roses. Laura and I went through my jewelry stash and picked out a necklace that would be just perfect for the occasion. Laura was just beaming...she was loving getting dressed up, getting doted on by her Papi and having a special evening just for herself!

From what I understand the evening was a blast! The girls enjoyed dinner with their Daddy's, won some prizes and danced too! Laura is already talking about what she wants to do on her NEXT date night with Daddy. Here are some pics of the night...

A few tidbits...

2009-01-16T09:02:00.000-06:00

I was going to log on last night to give you a short but funny "Angie-ism". But by the time the kids were down to sleep and I'd done a few things around the house and finally sat down, I was TIRED. So I decided to go to sleep instead...I think that was a good decision! :)

Last night when I picked up Angie from daycare (we are just finishing the 1st week of Angie in full-time daycare. She is adjusting well but it is killing Mama! Hope we don't have to do this for too long...) and had to bundle her excessively due to the ridiculously cold temps up here in MN. Yesterday it was a regular temp of -25 with windchill of up to -47!! Today isnt' much different. So Angie had a long sleeve shirt on, a thick sweatshirt and I was putting on her coat, big fluffy hat and thick mittens. Soon she stood there like the little boy in 'Christmas Story' that can hardly move due to all the bundling! This was not making her happy - she gets a bit claustrophobic with too many clothes on. It made it worse when I strapped her into the carseat...with the layers and the seatbelts, she was really stuck. She was crying and kicking and carrying on with a good ole meltdown! She was talking too - about school and supper and all sorts of things. I can't remember what she was saying, but I had asked her something about it. She didn't answer, so I asked again. She put her mittened hands up to her face, wiped away her hair and tears and said in a sighing 'giving up the meltdown' voice "Mommy, I can't talk anymore...my brains are breaking" I'm pretty sure this meant her head was hurting from her crying & fussing...but oh, what a great description! I'm going to use that sometime... :)

Here are a few pics from Robert's graduation in December. He graduated with his Masters of Business Administration from Bethel University. Juancho came with us to the ceremony while the girls enjoyed 'girls night' with babysitter LaDonna. Juancho was super intrigued by the whole ceremony and the whole concept of college and advanced degrees. He has told us he wants to be a chef and a teacher and a principal. Who knows, maybe he'll be all 3 someday!

Angie's 4th Birthday!

2009-01-11T15:59:00.000-06:00

Angie turned 4 on Friday! We had a quiet family celebration at home (minus Laura - she was off on her FIRST overnight retreat with her girls Awana's group - she had a blast!) on Friday. Saturday evening we had a Dora the Explorer birthday party for some of Angie's little friends and their parents! It was a lot of fun. Before I get into those pics - here is a blast from the past pic of Angie at her 3rd birthday, about 2 months after she became our Forever Daughter, in January 2008!

ABOVE: Angie in January 2008 - turning 3 at her Elmo birthday party

AND NOW, ONE YEAR LATER...

ABOVE: Angie at her Dora Birthday Party celebrating turning 4 in January 2009!

ABOVE: We made a homemade version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey", but Dora-style! In this classic party game, the kids had to Pin the Backpack on Dora!

ABOVE THREE PICS: Being a Dora the Explorer party and all, naturally Angie got a fair share of Dora gifts...and she loved ALL of them!

ABOVE: Angie has been becoming more and more "girly" as she gets older. Her nearly daily request is to wear a dress, but living in MN in winter means that temps are generally not too much higher than the single digits (if that high!). However I was able to find some warmer jumper dresses that long sleeved shirts and thick tights or even leggings could be layered underneath. So while her wish to wear a dress won't be fulfilled EVERY day, she may get it at least once a week with these new provisions!

ABOVE: Kudos to Robert - he made the Dora cake! Our friend Ty's mom happens to work for a baking company and was able to set us up with all sorts of great Dora cake decorations. Good job making the cake honey - it was a hit!

Now I'm going to try uploading a video or two...it has never worked for me before...but here's to hoping!

New Year's Resolution?!

2009-01-03T22:43:00.000-06:00

To update this blog once a week at a minimum! Main reason is to have a journal by which I can go back and re-tell the story of my children's first years with our family. But I also love to keep our friends and families updated too!

Here's a few pics to enjoy since it has been a while!

ABOVE: Our family Christmas photo - December 2008
Robert & Holly, John (age 11), Laura (age 9) and Angie (age 3), also PJ our faithful and loyal dog!

ABOVE: Angie showing off one of her hand-made ornaments when we were decorating the tree!

ABOVE: John & Laura decorate the tree on a snowy Minnesota December day

ABOVE: Daddy & his girls

ABOVE: Our family on Thanksgiving - it was a special day for us all!

ABOVE: Angie decided to cut her hair one day when working on a craft with Laura. Even though they were kid scissors, she still cut a chunk out of the middle of her hair, thus inspiring the pixie bangs! Laura loved them so much, she wanted some of her own. So I took on the role of hairdresser for the night! It was much more successful than the time I tried to be a hairdresser for Juancho - click HERE for a refresher on that really bad hair day! :)

ABOVE: Another "New Haircut" picture

ABOVE: Having a 3 year old means I see the expression above on a daily basis. I call it "Miss Sassafrass" :)

ABOVE: Having girly girls means that we get all sorts of fashion shows regularly (note that Angie is wearing Laura's winter hat and Laura's tennis shoes...on the wrong feet!)

There is a snapshot of the Dressel's over the last couple months. If I keep up on my resolution above, you'll hear more from me by or before next Saturday! :)

Halloween!

2008-11-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

Yes, the blog was on sabbatical for nearly 3 months! Whew how time flies when I'm away from the blog! I really do love to blog - mostly to be able to remember these precious memories in months and years to come. As I was organizing my photos tonight I was realizing that there have been quite a few photo-worthy occurances that have transpired that haven't gotten mention on the blog - due to my attempt over the summer to 'catch up' on what had happened in the past. Meanwhile the present kept charging forward - getting me further and further behind. So I'll just start today in the present and maybe someday I'll catch you up on all the stuff I missed! Yesterday was Halloween! The kiddos were looking SO forward to Halloween. They've always loved to dress up. Even within the few photos that we received from their foster home in Colombia, at least 6 or so are pictures of them dressed up for Halloween. They did celebrate Halloween in Colombia, but it was much more subdued of a holiday. They would dress up and either go to a Halloween party hosted by the Child Welfare Institute OR they would go trick-or-treating at neighborhood stores. They did NOT trick-or-treat at homes - nobody did. They said the amount of candy they got from stores only added up to a few pieces.

They loved carving pumpkins and Juancho carved his own ('Howling Wolves') from start to finish! Laura and I collaborated together on her "Scooby Doo" themed pumpkin and all Angie did to assist with her pumpkin was to pick out the pattern ("Kitty Cat"). We washed and dried pumpkin seeds (well actually friend Kim did that) and though we haven't toasted them yet, we plan to by the end of this week. Leading up to Halloween Juancho never wavered in his decision and desire to be Harry Potter. Laura, on the other hand, changed her mind daily - sometimes more than once a day! It varied between Cinderella, Ariel the Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty and occasionally something a little more random like Hannah Montana or one of the girls from High School Musical. Never did I hear mention of a desire to be Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter). That is until I told her she needed to make a final decision because I was going to start picking up items to use for their costumes (I had decided NOT to buy any pre-made costumes this year b/c finances were tight and $30 for a chintzy costume is a tough bill to rationalize). Suddenly she wanted to be Hermione Granger. At first I thought it would be hard to put together a costume that worked, but once I got going with it, it was a breeze!

For both Harry Potter and Hermione I picked up some REALLY cheap black fabric at Wal-Mart to make their cloaks with. I sewed their cloaks in 45 minutes with no pattern. I made it up as I went along and it turned out well. Granted, looking at the cloaks in the light there are definitely uneven seams and some shoddy 'quick fix' elements, but they worked perfect to complete their costumes and the imperfections were not noticeable in the dark. John and Laura colored Hogwarts crests that I printed out from the Internet to staple to their cloak to make it look official. I found some old wire framed sunglasses and punched the lenses out for Juancho to use as Harry's glasses. Juancho has liked them so much he wore them most of today as well, even though he was not in costume! Juancho wore his own gray sweater and black pants, and carried a stick turned into a wand. I drew the infamous lightening scar on his forward with eyeliner. For Laura I curled her hair and we sprayed it with gold sparkle to make it really shine! She work a black shirt and shirt along with her cloak and also carried a wand. Finally, Angie's costume was easiest of all! It was a full suit penguin costume that had come in a bag of 'hand-me-down' clothes someone gave us before the kids even came home from Colombia. All 3 kids have put it on over the year as they've played dress up...and up until the last few days before Halloween Angie was torn between being Cinderella or the Penguin. I'm so glad the penguin won out - it was super cute on her! We went trick or treating in our neighborhood and in an adjacent neighborhood and even though we only hit about 25 houses, the kids were struggling to carry their bags home, they were so loaded with candy! Now I am keeping the candy up high to deter kids that may be tempted to sneak a candy or two (or ten!). They are rationed out in small quantities - at this rate we'll just be finishing candy in time for Halloween next year! :)

Better load some pics now - even though tonight is 'fall back' on time - that extra hour won't even make a dent in my sleep deprivation!

Love you all!