And the band played on...

Greetings!
What an amazing week of celebrations!

Wednesday, Elsa and Jonas helped their grandma Charlene celebrate her retirement.  We went to Gram's retirement party in Olympia and celebrated!  Elsa and Jonas loved seeing her and her (now former) coworkers celebrate her career. 

Thursday, Elsa and Jonas and Mari and Dan sang at a fundraising event for the hospital where the kids spent five months in the NICU.  It was a very special evening and we couldn't be prouder of how well our kids did at the event.  It was great to give our time and energy to such a worthy cause of building a new state of the art NICU. 

To see Mari's speech and our songs...click this link to go to youtube.

Friday, we had a play date and dinner with friends!  It was good to play and relax with the kids!

We made it to the weekend and we were tired.  Lots of naps for all!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

The band broke up...and then we got back together (during one song)

Greetings!
The days start to fly by once we are all back in school.  Elsa and Jonas are loving school this year and really look forward to it!  Jonas sometimes needs some reminding in the morning before he is fully awake, but once they step into the school it is all smiles. 

We were asked to sing a couple of songs at a fundraiser event for the new NICU.  We are thrilled!  The past several weeks the Lysne band has been practicing.  A lot of songs currently end before they begin...one of the kids wants to start the song and the other is upset because they didn't get to start the song...and attempts at unified starting have not, yet, been successful.  We sing later this week and it will be a blast...but we are going to forewarn the audience that multiple breakups in the band can and will happen during each song. 

We are also battling the first colds of the school year.  Our tissue supply is quickly running out! 

All is well...all is great!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Scones and Cow-Chip Cookies--it is fair time!

Greetings!

Elsa and Jonas had a great time at the Puyallup Fair!  We took them on opening weekend and were pleasantly surprised by the relatively small crowd!  The tractor ride was a big hit, as well as, the pig palace!  The kids wanted to stay all day and do "one more thing" but were so tired and took well earned naps.  We managed to avoid all fried food at the fair...not an easy task when there is deep fried butter on offer.  Elsa and Jonas split their first "Cow-chip cookie" and loved it.  Mari and Dan stuck with the scones. 

Dan's Uncle Bob sent up a nice present for E & J.  He sent up a really nice train set.  Elsa and Jonas had a great time the past two weekends driving the train around the track and switching the "points".  We have a good little team most of the time and it is a lot of fun to see them think about how their decisions impact the speed and direction of the train and if it will stay on the tracks:).  Good times!

One week of school down for everyone and we are off to a great year!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

School is in session

Greetings!

Jonas and Elsa have returned to another year of preschool.  This year the first drop off of the year was so different than previous years.  The first year of day-care, there was a look of disbelief as Dan headed towards the exit and said goodbye to E and J.  They were convinced that he was going to take them with him and that they were just visiting the day-care.  There were tears and crying.  It was not a good scene.

This year, Jonas and Elsa ran through the door and were as happy as could be to be back at their school.  They had a great short week this past week at school and are excited to go back next week. 

Grandma Lysne got them little back to school presents to help with the transition.  They loved them!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas