Easter

We had a great Easter on Sunday! We woke up in the morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground! Then, instead of our 5 regular services at church (Saturday and Sunday) we had one huge one at the DECC, the convention center in Duluth. It was crazy busy...there were close to 200 kids checked in and over 1,100 people at the service! It was a lot of fun. After that some friends invited us over for a great Easter dinner at their house.

Before we ever left the house the kids got to enjoy their Easter baskets for a little bit. They were excited to have chocolate before 7am!




A picture of our Duluth day. Sophia wore a wool dress coat and pink flip flops for Easter! Don't worry; she wore boots outside in the snow.

New Do's

Sophia and I both got new haircuts last week. It was the first time I took Sophia somewhere to get it cut and she loved every minute of it!

Isn't it cute? She especially liked when the lady blow-dried her hair. I don't even own a blow dryer!
Posing for a camera.

Both of us with our haircuts. I wasn't too sure about mine at first. I went to some fancy salon and on the first cut I knew it was going to be shorter than I asked for. Apparently, she didn't realize how much my hair would curl up. I'm getting used to it though and I like it now.

Jen's Mom's 70th Birthday Weekend

We had a surprise birthday party/weekend for my mom in the Cities a few weeks ago. All of my brothers and sisters came home for it which is a rare occasion. It was tons of fun and she was really surprised!This is all the grandkids who made it to the party along with my parents. My nephew Aaron made these shirts. It's a picture of my mom with a baseball hat on and flashing some kind of gang signs! Gangsta Grandma!
A failed attempt at another photo. The whole weekend was like the paparazzi was there.

Sophia, Megan and Renae - her cousins.

My entire immediate family! Yes, I do know all of their names! I can't believe how much I have been asked that question.

My sisters, Kathy and Terri and me.

Thanksgiving and such

Our picture-perfect apple pie.

The first annual Metzger family Gobble Wobble run/walk! Sophia rode on Ben's back while he ran for the majority of it but I couldn't keep up with him to get any pictures!!

Everyone vegging out after eating a ton!

Ben and the kids all bundled up. It's freezing here right now!

The Guitar

Some friends from church gave Caleb and Sophia this guitar a couple weeks ago. They have been non-stop musicians since then.



I love Sophia's face in this picture. She looks so pathetically sad that Caleb has the guitar and she doesn't!

Here's a little glimpse of our red kitchen too. It used to be a horrible yellow. The cabinets will someday be white.

Halloween!

Here are some photos from this year's Harvest Party at church. We had tons of fun!

Caleb was Elmo!

Sophia was Gabriella Montez from High School Musical.

Elmo and Cletus. Once again, my lovely husband dressed as Cletus for the Harvest Party. This time he was a construction worker. His personality completely changes the second those teeth go in and the glasses go on. If you've never seen it, you are missing out. I didn't know when we got married that Ben had split personalities!

Gabriella enjoying some pop...a very rare treat!

The whole family. I was Emma Mae, Cletus' pregnant wife....no, I am not really pregnant!!!

High School Musical

This is a story Sophia narrated over the past week with the help
of me, Ben, and some different babysitters she's had (Liz and Alison and Luke).
I thought I would share it with you.

High School Musical
by Sophia Folman

Gabriella and Troy went skateboarding. Then they had tape on their shoes so they could jump and not lose their boards. After that, they sledded because it was snow time. And then, when the snow starts to melt, they take a run.

They ran for four miles. Then they rested and had a snack. After resting they went home for hot cocoa and dinner. Then they cleaned up the mess.

The next day they went outside and raked up leaves and jumped in them and raked them up again.

They went shopping and bought a new laptop.

I love when they kiss. They had a good weekend. They went to the grocery store and got a hundred stuff.

Dear Gabriella and Troy, I hope you have a good night at the grocery store. "How did you get out of the grocery store in the middle of the night? It was locked," their friends asked. They unlocked it because they had keys and then they went out and locked it.

They walked, walked, walked, walked and then Gabriella and Troy went to Troy's house. Then they swimmed, swimmed, swimmed in circles until they kissed. And then Troy and Gabriella swimmed home.

They rided horsies and the horsies were wet but they were holding on so they wouldn't fall off. Actually, they were on the same horsie and Troy was hanging onto the horsie and Gabriella was holding onto Troy.

Sharpay and Ryan walked two miles and they snapped their fingers for their show. And then they got to Sharpay's favorite store which is called Awasha. At dinnertime they went there and then they went shopping and then they stayed there all night. Ryan put his arms with Sharpay's and they made a big circle. Then they snapped until 5 in the morning. They they were singing "blah, blah, blah." And then they clapped. clapped, clapped until 4 in the morning because their mom and dad wouldn't let them out of their bedroom. They shared a bunk
bed. Ryan and Sharpay ate breakfast by theirself early in the morning because their mom and dad said they could.

Then they went, "cute, cute, cute, cute," for 42 days. Ryan and Sharpay got their eyebrows pierced. It felt funny.

Bolton (Troy) climbed rock. It was bigger than a house. When he got to the top, he crawled back down just like a baby. Troy held his arms out and jumped and Gabriella jumped into his
arms. Then Gabriella climbed up the mountain and climbed back down again and then she caught Troy. Then they both went, "snap, snap, snap" for 32 hours.

Troy dressed up as Mickey Mouse and Gabriella was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. They went to McDonald's and had sandwiches and treats. They also went to the Harvest Party. There, they jumped and had fun. They were still dressed up and they went to Troy's house. They danced and sang on the couch. Then they went, "blah, blah, blah, blah." Then they fell asleep on the couch. Then they woke up and jumped in the air and would catch each other.

When they were at school and they went to the gym they played a game called Splash. Then they went to the library and checked out a book called, "High School Musical 2." Then they went to Troy's house and got Troy's dad's truck and went to Gabriella's house and then went back to Troy's house and gave his dad's truck back. Then Troy walked to Gabriella's house because it wasn't that far. Then they played a game called, "Troy, Gabriella, Troy, Gabriella."

Troy and Gabriella flew, flew, flew to places called Horse Horse.

The End