Hangin' With the Hoiseths

Osaka

2010-11-16T11:17:00.002-06:00

There is a Japanese Steak House in Apple Valley that we really like. The last night Cathy and Jerry were in town we went there for dinner and took the kids for the first time. Ethan was hilarious. Especially after we ate and the server came and asked if it was any ones birthday and Ethan said, "It's mine!" We laughed because it wasn't his birthday, they brought the birthday mask over and played the birthday song and lights. It was so funny!

Happy Birthday Ethan and Paige

2010-11-10T09:43:00.002-06:00

Paige and Ethan had one big birthday party this year. It was cute, the theme was dogs (picked by Paige) and we had a pinata!

Josh's wedding

2010-11-04T08:41:00.004-05:00

In May we traveled to Iowa to celebrate my cousin Josh's wedding.

Paige's Kindergarten Program April 2010

2010-11-04T08:38:00.001-05:00

The Kindergartners did a great job at their program. It was a lot of fun to watch all of them sing.

Florida 2010

2010-11-03T09:36:00.003-05:00

Easter 2010

2010-11-03T09:32:00.002-05:00

2010-11-03T09:14:00.001-05:00

Fun Stuff

2010-11-02T22:22:00.006-05:00

We haven't ever had a dog with a tail before, Tigers is constantly wagging and banging into things. It is funny!

Our pint sized chef. Auntie Barb sent Trevor's Chefs hat and coat to Ethan for Christmas. Ethan does love to cook and looks so cute in it!

Merry Christmas 2009

2010-11-02T22:13:00.002-05:00

Tiger

2010-11-02T22:04:00.003-05:00

We adopted a new puppy in December 2009. He is a Cavapoo, half poodle and half Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. His name is Tiger and he has fit in perfectly, even Peter rabbit likes him!

Happy Halloween

2009-12-22T07:21:00.003-06:00

Chad and I went to a Halloween party dressed as the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol. It was really funny and we got a lot of compliments. The kids trick or treated with some of their friends in the neighborhood.

Thr Great Potato Salad Lesson

2009-12-22T06:46:00.004-06:00

Grandma MN came over one Saturday to show me how to make potato salad. The kids really enjoyed the cooking lesson with grandma and they both LOVE the potato salad!!!

Peter Rabbit

2009-12-22T06:34:00.002-06:00

Peter joined our family in August. He is a French Lop and is expected to tip the scales at 15 pounds when full grown. He lives in a hutch in our garage. I had intended on putting him in the backyard when the weather was warm but Chad decided he was safer in the garage. He is a good pet to have as he is very quiet and he is always up for having his ears scratched.

Happy Birthday Paige!

2009-12-16T08:34:00.005-06:00

Paige turned six in August. She had a Hannah Montana Birthday party with an inflatable jumper. We invited her entire preschool class and all of her friends and family. It was a great party!

Famiy Photos -- July

2009-12-15T06:37:00.007-06:00

Happy Birthday Ethan!

2009-12-10T10:14:00.005-06:00

Ethan turned two this year and had an Elmo party with a few of his friends. He enjoyed the ice cream cake and tissue paper that was in one of his presents the most.

Big Boy Bed

2009-06-26T18:48:00.003-05:00

Ethan has hit the terrible twos in full force! Several weeks ago he figured out how to climb out of his crib so I turned the crib around. It is a bed for life crib so the back is higher then the front. We figured that would buy us some time. It did, about 6 weeks. Monday he figured out how to get out again and then he would get out and not be able to get back in and he would freak out. So I rocked him to sleep for two nights and on the third night I figured it was probably time just to make it into a toddler bed. So he is officially in a toddler bed, the furniture has been bolted to the walls and I thought everything that he could get into had been taken out but he found a furniture marker for touching up the dressers one day at nap time and graffitied his wall. He has also taken a liking to digging in his diaper and smearing poop everywhere, carpet, walls, bedding. 4 days in a row of the diaper digging. I have learned that he might be ready to be potty trained so we got the potty chair out last night. He sits on it and says potty but that is it. We will see what next week brings!

Paige lost her first tooth!

2009-06-26T18:33:00.004-05:00

We were at Grandma Minnesota's house for my birthday on Monday and Paige had a front tooth that was barely hanging on by a thread. Auntie Shalla pulled it out and then before we knew it Paige had pulled the one right next to it out too. Grandma gave her $10 and of course the Tooth Fairy came that night and left another $10. We assured her that the first tooth is worth more then the rest. :)

2009-06-26T18:27:00.001-05:00

Ethan helped himself to some Teddy Grahams

Piano Project

2009-06-26T16:02:00.004-05:00

We found an old upright piano on Craig's list for free so Chad and some of his guys from work went and picked it up. It was in pretty good shape except that the keys we in very bad repair and it smells like an old cabaret. We discovered via the Internet that the piano is 61 years old.

I ordered new key covers off of EBay and had my dad take a look at it and let me know what I had to do. It was a lot more labor intensive that I thought it was going to be.

I had to chip off all of the old key material, I think it may have been ivory but I am not sure. Then I had to sand the keys smooth. Next Chad and I (with the help of Google) figured out how to take the roll key cover off so we could get the keys out. Then we had to hand file each key cover to fit the keys and glue each cover and then clamp until it was dry. It was very tedious but my great friend Emily stayed until 1 am one Friday night to help me out. We got it done and the results are spectacular.

We found a plethora of strange items inside the piano once we started taking it apart, A 1907 Victory nickel, a 1914 Wheat penny, a recipe on baking a cake with Swan Down flour, a gas bill from 1989 that had never been opened, many pencils, safety pins and bobby pins to name a few.

I am so excited to teach Paige to play the piano. Once she is board with mom's lessons we will put her in regular lessons. We are all very excited about our great find. Ethan especially likes when someone leaves the bench pulled out so he can climb up on top of the keyboard and play a ditty with his feet.

Florida 2009

2009-06-26T15:12:00.003-05:00

We had a great family vacation this year. We couldn't keep Paige out of the pool and Ethan was afraid of it. He fell in a couple times and then wanted nothing to do with it again. We went on a Pirate Cruise, spent a lot of time at the beach and took a boat to Cabbage key.

Vacation or Bust!

2009-04-17T10:18:00.002-05:00

We are off to sunny Florida tomorrow. We are going to be there for 9 days I can't wait! I really need a vacation. Tonight I am going to the Sugarland concert with Erika. I think this might have been bad planning on my part. We have to be to the airport at 4:15 am. I am thinking I might not get more then about 2 hours of sleep. Now if this were a flight where I didn't have to entertain a 21 month old on my lap it would be fine, I would snooze but I am thinking there isn't going to be a whole lot of snoozing going on. I have packed a bag of fun for Ethan, markers, cars books to read and some stickers. He and Paige will need to share the DVD player. I am crossing my fingers that all goes well and we sit by people with kids. If this weren't recession vacation I would have bought him his own seat!

Goldys Bad Day

2009-04-05T20:51:00.002-05:00

Ethan decided to give Goldy the goldfish a little food.

Our little cleaner

2009-03-07T14:39:00.002-06:00

Ethan has recently been obsessed with cleaning. He really likes to vacuum the kitchen floor, and if anything is out of place he lets us know! Now, if we an only get his sister to follow suit.....

Cabin Fever

2009-03-04T09:23:00.002-06:00

2009-03-04T09:14:00.001-06:00

This is one Monday night I was trying to make dinner and not loose my mind! Chad was working late and Ethan would not stay off the counters then he climbed int he sink and helped himself to some crackers. It kept him busy for a couple of minutes.

First Haircut

2009-03-04T08:12:00.005-06:00

Ethan got his first haircut on December 30 just in time for the New Year. He sat really well as long as he had his snack trap with Cheerios in hand. Darlene Olson cut his hair at Kids Hair in Apple Valley, I have know Darlene for several years, she lives near Merredith's mom. I was sad to see his curls go and took several pictures of them that day at home. Paige at one point said, "Mom why are you so sad? Darlene will cut them and put them in the envelope, you will still have them." It was very cute.

Merry Christmas

2009-03-04T07:38:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas! We hosted some of my family and Chad's sister and nephew for Christmas Eve and then spent Christmas Day at Pam's house. Paige and Ethan had fun opening presents. It was a wonderful Christmas!

Cookie weekend

2009-03-04T07:06:00.003-06:00

The First weekend in December we made the annual trek to Merredith's family cabin for cookie weekend at the Lake. We made many dozens of cookies. This was Ethan's second cookie experience and he was more interested in playing with Jaxon and the fact that Judy let him walk around the house with food. Ethan also got to play outside in the snow for the first time.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T21:25:00.004-06:00

We had a great time trick or treating! Paige got more candy then I know what to do with. Ethan was unsure of the whole thing at first, but once I gave him his bucket and he went to the first door and figured out that he could get candy he was loving it as much as his sister.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-02T21:17:00.004-06:00

We visited a small pumpkin patch in Farmington this year. They have a few animals there and both the kids loved the cows, great grandpa Lloyd would be so proud. One of the cows kept licking Paige's shirt. It was funny and Paige was amazed at how long the cows tongue was.

Great Grandparents

2008-11-02T21:04:00.005-06:00

We have been fortunate to spend some time with my grandparents recently. The Liimatainens in September at my cousin Katie and her husband Brett's going away party. They are volunteering in the Peace Corps and moved to the South Pacific Island of Tonga. We also enjoyed an evening with Grandma Brown and Duane last week. They were on their way to Texas for the winter and stopped for the night so we had dinner and we were able to catch up. It is so nice to spend time with family!

Great Grandma Brown & Duane with Paige

and Ethan

Great Grandma Brown and Duane with Paige

Great Grandpa Ron and Great Grandma Dotty

With Paige and Ethan.

Almost Halloween! Already?

2008-10-27T20:30:00.004-05:00

I haven't blogged in awhile, or done any scrap booking. I have been knee deep in video editing. I was a full year behind. Shocking, I know! I just have one video left it's going to be Gymnastics and swimming lessons. I am waiting because Paige's last swimming lesson is this Saturday. We have been busy since the last time I checked in . First and foremost Ethan is WALKING! Practically running. He has been walking since the last week in September, seems like he has been doing it forever now.

Chad's parents were here the second weekend in October for Corey and Krissie's wedding. It was a short trip and flew by but it was nice to see them. The wedding was very nice and a lot of fun.

Paige has been in swimming lessons, she is learning a lot and really likes them. Her only complaint is that the water is chilly. She is also doing well in preschool. She has made some new friends and really likes her teacher this year. My dad has been helping drive her on Mondays and Fridays. This is such a huge help for me! Thank you dad!!!!! I don't have to drag a bunch of kids into school and pray that they will be good for me.

Ethan is growing like a weed and amazing us with new things everyday. His new tricks are crawling up on the dinning room table, trying to walk down the stairs rather then slide down on his tummy and he says kitty. Tonight he threw Paige's bath towel in the tub with her, I thought it was funny but Paige didn't!

Star of the Day!

2008-09-17T09:21:00.003-05:00

Paige started back to pre-school the first week in September. She goes to school 3 mornings a week. So far she has fallen back into the routine of school very well. She has a diffrent teacher this year, Mrs. Meliza I really like her and so does Paige. Today Paige is Star of the Day. She is able to bring a poster with pictures of her friends and family. During circle time she gets to talk about her pictures and she also has other special jobs like weather helper, line leader and tapper today. It is a very big day for her and she was so excited when I brought her to school.

2008-09-05T09:53:00.001-05:00

Croupy Ethan

2008-08-22T21:10:00.005-05:00

We met with an ENT in June because Ethan has had croup about every six weeks since December. He suggested that Ethan have a bronchoscopy so he could look down his throat and see if there was anything abnormal. Chad and I himed and hawed about the procedure because Ethan would need to be put under anesthetic to have it preformed.
We finally decided to go ahead with it so we would know what was going on. He had the procedure at Children's Hospital on Thur day August 21. Ethan did great! The procedure took about 20 minutes and then he had a few hours of recovery. He did not like waking up from the anesthetic and was fussy for about and hour but did wonderfully aside from that. The staff at Children's were top notch and made us very comfortable and less nervous about the procedure.
The doctor explained to us that Ethan has an artery laying on his trachea. This causes his throat to be a bit more narrow then normal and when he gets a cold if his throat swells at it causes him to have a croupy cough and noisy breathing or stridor. The doctor is confident that he will outgrow this and we shouldn't need to do anything further unless the croup gets worse or more frequent, then we would need to do a CT Scan and an Angiogram and possibly have surgery to move the artery. The technical term for this is called innominate artery compression of the Trachea. There is a great article about it on Medscape but it won't let me post it here. If you are intrested in reading about it just google it. We are praying that he just outgrows it!

Cabin Weekend

2008-08-19T14:04:00.010-05:00

Chad's parents, Cathy and Jerry visited us for two weeks. They were here for Paige's party and then the following weekend we had a relaxing weekend at Merredith's family cabin. We had a great time boating, hanging out at the Cabin Bar and sitting around the fire at night.

One and Five year photos

2008-08-18T21:31:00.007-05:00

Todd and Pam came over to take photos of the kids one Sunday. Thank you VERY much Todd and Pam! Todd you take beautiful photos!

2008-08-18T21:01:00.004-05:00

Paige's fifth birthday was our second party in two weeks. She had a pony/petting zoo party. It was so much fun and right up her alley. She is such an animal lover! She was able to invite some of her neighborhood friends, daycare friends, preschool friends and of course family. The highlight of the day for me was watching her pick up a chicken that was bigger then her to put it in the kennel when it was time to pack up the zoo. When I asked her what her favorite part was she said, "the whole party mom!" I can't believe she is five already. I remember the day we brought her home from the hospital like it was yesterday. There was the most beautiful rainbow in the sky as we were driving down county road 42. We had no idea what parenthood would bring us, but neither Chad or I would trade it for anything!

Happy First Birthday Ethan!

2008-08-18T20:47:00.004-05:00

Well we survived the first of back to back birthdays with Ethan's birthday bash on Sunday July 20. I can't believe he is one already! He had a great day despite the fact he wouldn't take a nap. He must have known it was his special day. He did well with the cupcake and wasn't super interested in opening gifts. Thank you to all of our friends and family that were able to celebrate his day with us you made it more special!

July 5, 2008

2008-07-20T22:39:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-13T22:05:00.003-05:00

We went the Apple Valley 4th of July Parade during the day. It was fun and Paige got a lot of candy! We spent the evening setting off fireworks and watching the Apple Valley fireworks display at Pam and Todd's.

Surprise!!!! I'm not 30 Quite Yet!

2008-06-21T13:42:00.003-05:00

On June 7th, Chad and my mom along with help from Pam, Merredith and Shalla threw a surprise 30th Birthday Party for me. It was a lot of fun and they sure did surprise me. I can't believe Merredith was able to keep a secret from me.

Sprinklers?

2008-06-01T21:47:00.003-05:00

Chad spent the weekend helping Dwight and Judy install a
sprinkler system. I took the kids over to check progress on Saturday and Ethan wanted to help his daddy!

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-30T23:05:00.004-05:00

We went to Judy & Dwight's cabin for Memorial weekend. We enjoyed hanging with Dwight and Judy and the Donahues. It was Dwight's Birthday celebration. Also Cassie and Madison came up the first part of the weekend with some of their friends from Louisiana. Ian and Matt joined us for the second part of the weekend and Matt had a birthday as well. Ethan enjoyed his first boat ride, and Jaxon did not enjoy his life jacket at all. All the kids had fun in the sandbox at the cabin Bar. We really enjoy going to the cabin it is always a good time and Judy always feeds us well!

Boys in the Grass

2008-05-28T18:31:00.004-05:00

Here are Ethan and Jaxon playing in the yard on Thursday the 15th. They were wearing unplanned matching outfits that day, and it was beautiful outside, so Autie Merredith brought her camera for an impromptu photo session.

Last Day of Preschool

2008-05-28T18:12:00.004-05:00

Paige's last day of Preschool was Friday May 23. Parents were invited to an ice cream social on the last day. It was so cute to see her with all of the friends that she made over the year. The class preformed a couple of songs and showed off their sign language skills. She learned so much and both of her teachers had wonderful things to say about her. We are so proud of her! Paige had a great year and is looking forward to preschool again in the fall.

Mother's Day

2008-05-28T09:36:00.007-05:00

I had a nice Mother's Day. Chad and the kids bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me, Paige picked them out. We had a quiet day, I got to take a nap and then we had dinner with my mom and Pam and Todd at the Legion. It was Steak Fry Sunday so we enjoyed a steak, it was good. We went to my mom's after dinner and the kids had fun playing with Grandma's toys and her kitty's.

Race Day

2008-05-05T21:50:00.005-05:00

Our first week back from vacation was spent getting back into the swing of things. Friday night we hosted my aunt Pam's birthday. On Sunday Paige tried out racing quarter midget cars. It was an event through the Minnesota Quarter Midget Racing Association http://www.mqmra.com/ held at their track at Elko Speedway. She had a lot of fun after she figured out which way was the right way on the track. She could touch the gas but not the break so Chad said, "hey she drives like you". This is a sport I think she will be interested in when she gets a little bit taller. Uncle Todd and Aunt Pam came out to take pictures, some people thought Todd was the media with his huge camera.

Florida Vacation

2008-05-05T21:39:00.005-05:00

The rest of our trip we spent relaxing and soaking up the Sunshine at Cathy and Jerry's! Ethan cut his first tooth on the last night we were there. It was a great vacation!

Downtown Disney

2008-05-04T21:09:00.006-05:00

The last day of our Orlando adventure was spent at Downtown Disney. We had lunch at the House of Blues and shopped the World of Disney, Team Mickey and also checked out Lego Land. Then we drove back to Cathy and Jerry's in some of the worst traffic I have ever witnessed. We saw five accidents on the freeway in a two mile strech. What should have been a three hour drive turned into a five hour drive. We were so happy to get back home and out of the car!

Sea World

2008-05-02T11:11:00.004-05:00

After our fun day at the water park Chad and I went to Down Town Disney's Pleasure Island and watched a couple of shows and had a few drink and stayed out waaaaay too late! The next morning we were up bright and early and off to Sea World. While at Sea World we saw an amazing Dolphin show, I thought the MN Zoo's show was cool but this blew that out of the water! We also saw the Shamu show, the highlight of the day. Thank goodness we were not in the splash zone at that show those people looked like they

had just gotten out of the shower when it was over. A Killer Whale's tail sure can splash.

We also saw a show with Sea Lions Paige's second favorite of the day. Paige fed some stingrays, saw some penguins and baby dolphins. Chad and I went on a helicopter Simulator, I didn't really know what it was until we got in there, needless to say I will never do that again, they weren't kidding when they said people prone to motion sickness shouldn't ride. My mom and I braved the big floorless roller coaster Kraken. What a thrill! It was great! I can't figure out why I am okay to ride a roller coaster but the flight simulator made me sick. We decided that if we ever get to go back to Sea World we will spend two days there. One day to watch the shows and a second day to see all of the attractions.

Aquatica

2008-04-29T21:08:00.005-05:00

We started out our Orlando adventure at Aquatica Sea World's water park. Paige had great time going down the slides and body surfing in the wave pool with her dad and floating through the white water river with Grandma and Grandpa Florida. It was a gorgeous hot sunny Florida day. Ethan enjoyed
the wading pool and he ate some sand. Chad, my mom and I did some of the thrill seeking rides. My mom and I had an incident on the Slide tower. You slide down in a double tube. It looked easy and no one else had any problems, but when the two of us got to the bottom our raft flipped us off, Chad was watching us and I think he is still laughing about it. If only he had been videoing it! It was a great day had by all.

Florida

2008-04-23T08:08:00.003-05:00

We made it to Florida on Sunday mid morning. Ethan flew like a champ, didn't have any issues. Paige made friends with a little girl on our flight. She is such a social butterfly. We spent Sunday at Cathy and Jerry's mainly in the pool. Ethan liked the pool and Cathy bought him a blow up crab floaty and he kicked around the pool in that.

Monday was a crazy day, we had to take Ethan to urgent care. He has croup and a slight touch of pneumonia. So they gave him a couple of shots and put him on oral steroids and an antibiotic. He is already doing much better! Chad and I had planned to stay at the beach on Monday night but were unsure if we would be able to do that due to Ethan, but the grandma's kicked us out the door and said have a good time. We stayed at the Lani Kai on the beach our room had a great view of the ocean. We had fun walking the beach and hanging out.

Tuesday we were at Ft. Meyer's Beach all day. The grandma's brought the kids down and then said they were retiring. They have no idea how we ever get the kids out of the house and how we function on so little sleep. Paige had a great day playing in the sand and running in the ocean. She also made a friend and petted many dogs that were walking on the beach. Ethan thought the sand was cool and tried to eat it. He was not a fan of the ocean the water was too cold.

Today we are off to Orlando. We are going to Sea World's Aquatica water park today and Sea World Tomorrow.

Leaving for Vacation

2008-04-18T10:12:00.004-05:00

Well we are off to Florida for eight days on Sunday. I can't wait for some relaxation and warm SUNSHINE!!!! We are spending three days in Orlando at Sea World and Chad and I are sneaking off to the beach to stay in a hotel for one night. The rest of our vacation we will be at Chad's parents in Cape Coral enjoying their pool and visiting the beach. This is Ethan's first flight and vacation. I am sure it will go fine he is such an easy going kid. I lost track of which flight this is for Paige somewhere around her twelfth?? She is very excited to meet Shamu in Sea World. I will post pictures as soon as I can.

Building a snow fort with dad

2008-04-17T21:21:00.002-05:00

Chad and Paige sure love to play in the snow. Mom is not such a big fan of the
snow and always says its too cold for Ethan to come out:)

Happy Easter

2008-04-17T21:20:00.003-05:00

Ethan was sleeping away in his stroller
so he didn't get a picture with the Easter Bunny:(
Maybe next year!

Ethan hanging out in his stroller

2008-04-17T16:29:00.001-05:00

Finally a warm day in March!!!

The Hoiseths

2008-04-17T14:32:00.003-05:00

This is our first offical photo of our family with the newest member Ethan
Cameron. Paige really loves being a big sister!