It's been a busy several days with lots of time spent outdoors playing in the snow, playing with friends, decorating cookies and playing games with Minna, Auntie Em, and Grandpa Alan, and playing LEGOs by candlelight during our mid-winter power outage--brrrrrrrr it was cold with no heat!!

We've been keeping up with our Hardy Boys reading, built lots of giant pillow forts, and had pizza at Fireside Pizza in Richfield on New Year's Eve for the 2nd year in a row. The kids love that there is a tree "growing" in the middle of the restaurant!

We watched the Rose Bowl and the Vikings, and read about fish. John took the kids on a field trip to the fish store today so NT could do more research on the kind of fish he wants, and then they stopped at Cold Springs--an historic site near Minnehaha Park--on their way home. NT wrote a "SECRIT!" letter to his cousin Ezra.

We're two days into NT's dinner menu plan and so-far-so-good. Last night's dinner was a hit (Lizzy and John made it and Lizzy set the table), but the kids decided tonight's dinner wouldn't make the cut for future menus.