Another group of students making me proud!

I had my 4th group of students graduate last week from the nursing program. This group was truly unique,in the fact that they all had such strong inner motivation. I have never met a group of students who all wanted A's and all had the ability to achieve straight A's. I also had the privilage of teaching the daughters of 2 of my dear friends; what an honor! Again, I am a beaming, proud instructor!!!

1st Day of Preschool

Greta was so excited for her first day of preschool in the "big kid" room. She graduated from the 3 year old room to the 4-5 year old room. Greta loves school; she loves to help her teachers and play with her friends. It is hard to believe she has grown up so fast!

A day at the Zoo (no, not our house :)

We enjoyed a beautiful day at Como Zoo during one of the last weekends of summer. Mom was a little under the weather (you know,pregnancy stuff), but managed to survive the day! The kids favorite part of the day was the butterfly tent where we were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of beautiful butterflies. What an amazing part of God's creation and such a unique way to experience it!

First Day of School

The children have started another exciting year of school. Claire has entered the big league and moved to the "big kid" side of the school with the bigtime lockers (and more homework). Charlie started kindergarten this year and excited he was!
Greta was quick to introduce Charlie to his classmates and Charlie was quick to comfort mom when she became a little emotional during the first day. Greta was very upset that she didn't get to stay at kindergarten but her time will come soon enough!

Happy 4th Birthday Greta

Happy birthday Greta! What can I say about our dear Greta. She is our independent, spirited daughter who has a comment for everything. We love you! Our world would be very boring without Greta in our family!!

Summer Fun!!!!

Summer has flown by so quickly! Here are some pictures to see what the Peterson family has been doing to stay so busy!!

Golf anyone?

I was, yet again, talked into another fun event by my friend Bethany. She decided it would be great fun to sign up for a fundraiser golf scramble on behalf of our nursing program. Well, as many of you know, I have golfed before but I am not a golfer. My nephew Chris did a great job teaching me the skills, I have lacked on the practicing part. We decided it would be a lot more fun if we brought our hubbies to partake in the golfing fun! We had a gorgeous day for 18 holes of golf and we had a blast! I almost won for longest putt which I will claim as skill but most of you probably know it was mostly luck! I had so much fun, I just might keep practicing. It was a great way to spend the afternoon with my husband!!!

Earth Day 2010

Our family enjoyed many of the Earth Day festivities in St. Cloud. The kids ran the 1k, smiling all the time. Charlie insists that he received his medal because he was "1st".
I ran the 1/2 marathon for the first time, yes folks, that is 13.1 miles. I wasn't sure how the run would go fo me, so I went into it with few expectations except to have fun. I had so much fun seeing my family and friends along the race route, I was handing out "high fives" left and right. I enjoyed running with both my sister (not for long, she was miss little speedy) and my friend Bethany (talked me into the race!). My goal was to complete the race in 2:20 or less and my offical time was 2:08!! I was so happy with the results of my hard work.
The best part of the day was seeing Brett and the kids on the race route ringing bells and holding signs saying "we love mom" "you can do it". What an awesome family I have; overall it was a beautiful day to run my 1st half marathon!! It was so much fun, I just might have to do it again; maybe a full marathon next time :)

Easter Blessings

We were blessed with another wonderful Easter. We were able to spend time with our wonderful family and the kids enjoyed many egg hunts in the beautiful weather! As you can see from the pictures, there were many, many smiles!!

Happy 36th Birthday Brett

What can we say, we love this guy! God blessed Brett with another wonderful birthday! (And yes, I made the cake with a little help from my sister:)

The reward for hard work

Claire has started to compete in dance competitions with her dance class. I love the competitions, I have a competitive spirit at heart. Claire always tells me she is embarrassed when she watches the video playback of her dances because I am always heard shouting and cheering in the background. I am a very proud mom, what can I say? This past competition was very exciting! Claire's class had been practicing so hard perfecting every move of their routine. Their showing at the competition was near flawless and thrilling to watch. Their hard work was rewarded when they received the first place trophy! It was so awesome to watch the girls become so excited over their success. It was fun to see all of their hard work payoff!

My beautiful ballerina

Greta enjoyed another dance show this past weekend; she always enjoys wearing her pretty costumes and wearing make-up. She is my girly girl. The best part about her dance show was that she was able to enjoy it with her best friend, her cousin Ava. They were so much fun to watch! Ava was careful to ensure that she danced perfectly while Greta wanted to add her lively "spirit" to each dance step. God has blessed me with wonderful children and with a lively, independent little spirit in Greta!

Hitting the slopes

Minnesota delivered beautiful weather this past weekend and we took advantage of the sunshine by hitting the slopes at Powder Ridge. Claire, Charlie and Greta all attended "ski school" and loved every minute of it! Claire had some previous experience and was gliding down the big hills within minutes. Charlie and Greta were first timers but were going down the big hills with mom and dad by the end of the afternoon. The best part of the kids' day was the chairlift; best part of dad's day was crusing on skis that have been in storage for the past year, best part of mom's day = NO INJURIES!!

Yep, his teacher's LOVE him!

As I have said before, Charlie is a five year old like no other! He reminds all of us how to live life, love life and love others! He even tells his little cousin Ava how beautiful she is; Charlie is our little sunshine.

Greta's first dance show

Greta was so excited to partake in her very first dance show. She has always wanted to be just like her big sister and now she is! Greta has always been very proud of Claire when she dances and now Greta dances like a princess just like her big sister!