~CHRISTMAS 2010~

Hope you all had a Blessed Holiday!

KIDS 2010 MN STYLE

~CHRISTMAS LETTER~

Greetings from a snow covered West St. Paul, Minnesota, 2010 style! As the Holidays approach quickly, I am found with the reality that I have yet to send out Christmas letters. I will try and assemble my thoughts and get this out before the year draws to a close. Scott and I have come to realize that raising four kids keeps us hopping. Michaela entered the fifth grade this fall and the fact that she could be attending her Dad's school in less than two years has come with the realization that time does indeed fly. She is staying busy with school and enjoying the Mythology Club. I think that must be her father's influence...as I'm not sure what one does in Mythology club! She loves the snow and is a true Minnesota girl! Elijah is in the second grade and keeps us all on our toes. He has a big heart and is keeping himself busy with swim club at the local YMCA. He enjoys being with the boys on the team. I think he gets a bit too much time with his sisters and to have boys around is OK with him. In August we reached a long awaited date. On August 12th he had lived in our home for more days than he did in the orphanage in Harbin, China. Most of the time we don't remember that he has not been with us for all of his life. We are so blessed to have him as our son! Sarah is also in the 2nd grade. She loves the Young Rembrandt's Club that she attends once a week after school. She is quite the artist and it is clear to us that she has a natural talent. Neither her dad nor I have that ability so it is fun to watch it develop. She is enjoying all the friendships she has made at school. She seems to receive many invitations and loves each and every opportunity to go to a "party." Joshua stays busy with his Early Intervention classes and therapies. He has made a great deal of progress and brings joy to all those around him. We pray he will be able to communicate with us more easily at some point, but for now we are thankful that he seems to be happy most of the time! He is a very special little boy. Scott continues to teach and is in his 11th year at Trinity School at River Ridge in Eagan. He enjoys the relationships he has develped with his colleagues, the students and their families. Barb works several shifts a month on the Oncology floor and feels blessed by her patients and co-workers each time she is there. Our extended families are in good health and we look forward to the time we will spend with them in the coming year. We lost a dear friend this year. Alick, our 94 year old friend from our church passed away in April. We were blessed to have him come live with us in January and he shared our lives until April 15th when he entered the hospital for failure to thrive. He fell asleep in the Lord peacefully on April 27th. We miss him, but were blessed to have had him in our lives for over ten years. We hope you have had a good year and look forward to hearing from many of you. Love from Minnesota! The Pentecost Family Scott, Barbara, Michaela, Elijah, Sarah and Joshua

One more snow shot

Out our front steps!!

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

One good thing about time off from school is that it gave us time to decorate! The kids are a great deal of help!

SNOW IN MN

We had one of the largest snow storms in History last Saturday. The kids have actually been off from school for two days! That doesn't usually happen here!
SF has had school. Not sure he thinks that is fair!

~~MR TURNS ELEVEN!!~~

Not sure how the time goes so quickly...but MR turned 11 on the 16th of this month. Our family fought some illness in the past week, so her sleepover had to be postponed till last night! They had a good time and all are feeling better now! Happy B-day...WE LOVE YOU!!

Silly sisters!

The girls picked out these matching Monkey PJ's for the cold MN nights. I think this was Halloween night. Not sure where the lipstick came from! They sure are growing up fast!

Halloween!

We had fun at Halloween. By the time we got home the kids were out of outfits and into the candy so fast that the only photo I have is this one of EM...JM was Piglet, MR a witch and SJ a bear! You will need to imagine them for now!

Visit with Grandma andGrandpa R

We had a great visit with my parents last month. I didn't get too many photos taken, but we did get this one at church before they headed home! The kids love having them around to read and spoil them! Love you!

~3 YEARS WITH JM!~

Time does go quickly! It was 3 years ago that we held JM in our arms for the first time.
He has come a long way! We love him so and are blessed to have him in our lives!
LOVE YA LITTLE ONE!

MORE FUN!

DAKOTA CITY

We were able to spend time with my parents and friends from church on Friday at Dakota City!!
All of our kids love the crafts and fun!! The weather was perfect!

~FUN SUNDAY~

SF and JM were a bit under the weather yesterday, but the rest of us joined a group from church and went to a Nature park. EM got to run and play with a bunch of boys and all seemed to enjoy the day. We stopped at a playground on the way home and I got a few shots. Enjoy!

MEMORY ETERNAL

Our good friend Alick would have celebrated his 95th birthday on the 7th of this month. Here is a photo from last year when we had his Birthday dinner!
We blessed these Icons in his memory yesterday at church. They were purchased with the memorial money that was donated in his honor!
We miss him a great deal, but part of him will always be with us!
MEMORY ETERNAL ALICK!

~FUN IN THE LEAVES~

The weather has been simply amazing! I don't think we have had such a wonderful fall in the 10 years we have lived in MN. Makes me remember long and beautiful falls in Ohio as a kid and Maryland prior to moving here! A person could get used to this!

Impossible to get all 4 at once!

Some days it is impossible to get a good photo of all 4 of the kids at the same time! I wanted to share how beautiful our Autumn clematis is this year...so inspite of the fact the JM didn't want to cooperate. Here are a couple of shots! Although it is only to be hardy to zone 6...we have enjoyed this plant here in MN! Sometimes plants grow well where they are not supposed to!

YUM!!

MR wanted to try and make eclairs...so last week we gave it a go! They were really yummy and enjoyed by all! As you can clearly see!

TWINS GAME

MR and I got to attend a Twins game on Tuesday evening. The difficult part was it was the evening of the first night of school...but we didn't want to pass on the opportunity! We took the light-rail and were dilivered right to the stadium...pretty handy! The Twins put on a show and blasted the Royals 10-3...we headed home after the 6th inning. Decided sleep was pretty important as MR had to get up for school early the next am!
She was awarded the tickets from the local Library for all the reading she did over the summer. They were to have posted her name on the jumbotron...never actually saw her name...but we did have a great time!

~Back to school~2010~

 
 

The kids are back in school and things seem to be going well! It is always a bit nuts to get back into the routine...but it is nice to have a bit of "quiet" time now and again!