A typical day in the Myhre household

 

It's always fun to see what kids come up with to pass the time. Here's Frank, operating on a clementine, which involved first dissecting it and then sewing it back together. 

(This is also a great way to confuse your siblings who will later happen upon a clementine stitched together with thread.)

Coco

I don't write about Coco much on here, but she's still around and eating everything in sight. She loves sitting on Seth more than anyone else. She doesn't sit on me much, but she really enjoys sitting on whatever I am working on. If I am reading the paper, she tries to sit on it, always right where I am reading. There can be 10 other papers in the vicinity, but she prefers the one I am reading. The computer is a popular pick for her as well. Bills, taxes, etc. are also enticing. The other day we started a new puzzle. And of course, when I started working on it, she did this. 

I couldn't push her off for fear of ruining our progress so I just waited for her to get bored and leave on her own. Luckily it didn't take long and she very carefully stepped over all the pieces as she walked away, but I've started making sure the door is shut before I work on the puzzle now! 

A few quotes!

Olivia (to Seth): Your tummy is squishy like a pillow.

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Sam: Remember you're supposed to give me a big ol' hug?

Livi: Oh, yeah!

Elena: Hey, where's my hug?

Livi: (heading into the bathroom) I'll check in here!

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Livi was going from person to person in the house asking what we were thankful for. She had pre-made drawings, mostly of our family and Coco and Jesus, so when someone said "I'm thankful for our family," she would hand them a picture of our family (it was initially missing all of the boys but she added them once Elena pointed that out). When she got to Frank, this was their conversation:

Livi: What are you thankful for?

Frank: I don't know....the whole world, I guess.

Livi: Hmmmm...I don't have that one. Here. You're thankful for your sister. 

Fall Happenings

 

Our fall was, as usual, filled with football games and hunting. We will be eating pheasant stew leftovers for supper tonight after Seth and the boys got 13 pheasants on Saturday with more to come. Sam and Charlie both shot a buck on the same night this year. It was Charlie's first so he was very excited.

Also as usual, the Minneota Vikings Football teams had a great run this year. The varsity took first in the state championship for the 3rd year in a row. Sam was able to play in the championship game at US Bank Stadium. 

Charlie's team after their last game

Section champs (Ian, RJ, Sam)

State champs!

Sophomore Football players after their win!

We were able to catch one of our nephew Alex's games when he played in Marshall. The kids had more fun playing with the steep slope of the visitors side than watching the game!

These last two are sort of random pictures. Charlie was put in charge of racking up all the pine needles under the pine tree, and  (true to Charlie fashion) instead of making a traditional hay-stack like pile, he created a nest!

And last but not least, here is a picture of me and the group of of pre-teen boys I joined for the Haunted Pathway this fall. Elena's class put on a fundraiser by creating a Haunted Trail along the walking path. They really went all out and did a great job! The main downfall was how good the turnout was, which made the line incredibly long. Charlie and his friends had room for an extra in their group so I was able to jump up closer to the front of the line. It was quite entertaining to watch these boys go down the path - they didn't get too scared until the chainsaws (one of which was run by Elena) surprised them at the very end. 

That's a wrap!

The fall musical is (finally) done! We put on Bye Bye Birdie, which I failed to notice is about 50% longer than last year's musical, Grease. Meaning it was about 50% more work. Like last year, there were times I swore I would never direct a musical at Minneota again given the challenges of directing amidst football and volleyball playoffs and hunting season. 

Our football players especially did not like the rehearsals and also claimed they would never do a play again. And then we performed. And it was a hit. And the day after our last performance several of the football players were stopping by my room, texting and emailing, begging to do another show as soon as possible.  I was reminded of having a baby - months of misery and exhaustion, followed by the undeniable reality that it all really was worth it in the end! 

Elena played the same role that I did (Rosie) when I was in the show 23 years ago. She did an awesome job and was perfect in the role. Her only disappointment was that I wouldn't let her actually slap Albert as I had done in my performances.

Our nephew RJ played the same part as Seth (bartender). Sam was Hugo, a usually boring role that he turned into one if the funniest and most popular characters in the show. When he had to play drunk, he git as close to method acting as he could get without getting drunk by spinning in circles offstage for a minute or so before walking onstage. It was very effective. I stood in for him at rehearsal once and was nauseous for 3 hours. 

We had some very talented newcomers, including our nephew, Reed. Ian took a tiny, but fun part and our niece, Laney was in the orchestra. Charlie can't wait to join next year. It's becoming quite the family affair!

The video link is at the bottom. 

We had to recreate one picture! It's even the same dress.

Here's the video:

Late Summer Activities

First, I had to share a recent quote from Olivia.  Seth was channel surfing and came across the movie Rambo and decided to watch for a bit. Olivia watched with him for a bit and then said, "That is the most sweatiest guy I've ever seen." 

The very last Friday of summer vacation, I managed to squeeze in a trip to the Ingalls Homestead with the youngest 3 kids. We've been trying to get there for 2 years and it's surprisingly difficult to find even one day in the summer where all the kids are free. We ended up having to go without Elena. There was no chance Sam ever would have made it between sports and work. Our friends joined us and we had a great time. Olivia absolutely loved it - I think the kids would have happily spent several days there.

And most exciting, Seth has finally started his lifelong dream of building a treehouse. He's been collecting wood for years and we finally decided he needed to just build it or get rid of the lumber. We were a little worried he'd build it only to have the trees die shortly after (we've had bad luck with trees lately). But after doing some research, we discovered that Norway Pines often live 250-300 years so we're optimistic they will last another 100 years at least. Of course, like everything he builds, it's neither small nor simple. He got phase one done pretty quickly. It's been entertaining to watch people drive by and then suddenly slow down or stop when they notice it. Our local paper got several calls from people asking them to cover it, so they came out and got a few pictures for the paper. Seth doesn't love the attention, but it's been kind of hard to avoid. 

HOCO 2024

 This year our kids had a great time dressing up and participating in all the homecoming activities. Students built floats and had a parade (this tradition was dropped years ago), and it seemed like a lot more kids dressed up than usual. St. Ed's joined in on the fun as well and both boys did a great job putting together their own costumes. 

RJ, Sam and Ian with Briar, Liv and Bella after their JV game

Students from my Spanish class on "Out of the Woods Day"

My favorite of Elena's costumes for the week. She created this Lorax costume herself for Out of the Woods Day.

Frank also put together this costume for Wild West Day without any help. I was impressed!

Charlie, ready for Blue and Gold Day. (He did wear a shirt, by the way)

Sam's highlight was the football game Friday night, in which he blocked a kid and sent him flying through the air. First and foremost, I am thankful the kid didn't get injured. Sam got a penalty and has to buy donuts for the team, but says it was worth it. His coaches said they would have been proud of him 10 years ago when those kinds of hits were still legal, but as things are now, the subsequent touchdown made from the play didn't count. We were ahead by over 50 points at that time anyway. 

I don't have a picture of the actual hit, but a woman from our community who takes pictures during sporting events happened to take a picture immediately after the hit. You can see Sam right above the guy on the ground. But more interesting than the boys are the looks captured on the faces of the opposing team and their fans. There are lots of mouths in a big O shape (especially the women). You can see everyone's immediate reaction to the hit (except for the one kid on the left staring at his phone who missed it altogether.)

Boxelder Bug Days 2024

Elena's year of being Boxelder Bug Day royalty went by faster than we expected. She had a blast going to all the parades and events, but she says she's looking forward to not having to wear the crown anymore!

One of the funniest things was at the Parade, when the Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator came by. Every year he comes and he typically makes some joke asking for rum. Seth was ready for him this year and had a couple of mini bottles of rum to give him. "Captain Jack" got a huge kick out of this - he said in 20 years that has never happened and it really meant a lot to have someone go that extra mile to interact with him. He stayed by our group for quite awhile interacting with Elena, the kids and Seth. After the parade, we met up again downtown where he got a few more pictures with Elena. 

     

Captain Jack wearing Elena's crown

Old and new royalty together

With Father Tanner!

Joining the marching band for a bit

Milestones (and a few quotes)

This summer has been full of milestones for Olivia - most notably that she learned both how to swim and ride bike. Once she started to get the hang of both, she insisted on practicing with every spare moment she had until she had mastered each task. By the time the pool closed, she could go off the diving board without a life jacket and get back to the edge, and she goes on bike rides daily. Every time, she proudly yells "I'm riding without training wheels!" to any pedestrian within a 100 foot radius of her wherever we go. I didn't take much for pictures of her biking or swimming, but here are a few pictures from the fair. 

And now for the quotes!

We were recently visiting friends on a cattle farm, and Olivia wanted to go see the cows. Seth took her to show her, and she had lots of questions. She started asking why they had so many cows and what they were for. He explained that they would become things like hamburger and steak. She was a little taken aback and said, "They're going to kill them??? That's rude!!"

Last week, the boys watched a TV show in which someone was hypnotized. The next morning, Frank came downstairs to breakfast and said, "Mom, I think Charlie tried hypnotizing me in my sleep last night because this morning he clapped twice and said, 'Who are you?' And then I just didn't say anything." A minute later, Charlie came down, clapped twice at Frank and again asked him who he was. "Charlie, did you try to hypnotize Frank?" I asked. Charlie responded in mock surprise, "Whaaaaaat? I would never try to turn Frank into Luke Skywalker?" He followed this by quickly clapping once again, asking Frank who he was, and then quietly muttering "Dang it!" to himself. 

Olivia put on her cowgirl boots to wear to daycare the other day. Seth put on his sandals and they were ready to go. As they were leaving, Seth said, "Let's go, cowgirl!" To which Olivia replied, "Ok, sandals!"

Oh, Frank!

Frank had a couple of quotes recently that are too good not to put on here. However, he's at an age where he's a little self conscious when he says things that come out funny so I'm hoping in 5 or 6 years, he can read these and be glad I saved the memory. In the meantime, maybe don't mention these to him. He's such a sweet, helpful, caring boy with a great sense of adventure and curiosity. As fun as it is watching him grow up, I don't want to forget these moments that only happen while kids are still young!

#1 Frank was spending the day with my Mom when he suddenly said, "I'm going to be an uncle soon!" "You are?" Grandma responded (more than a little taken aback since none of our teens are even dating). "Yeah, cuz Elena is 17, which means she could be married before too long and then I'll get to be an uncle like Reed!" (Reed is his cousin who became an uncle around age 8). 

#2 For Mother's Day, Frank was so excited to give me a coupon booklet he had made at school. It had coupons that said things like: "Clean my Room," "Free Hug," "Pick up Toys," etc. He said, "You can use one right now if you want!" So I told him I wanted to use the Free Hug coupon and he gave me a huge hug. 

The next morning, he handed me the booklet again, asking if I wanted to use another one. I said, "Well, your room could use a cleaning so I think I'll use that one, and you can go clean your room." He looked at me confused, and said, "What do you mean?" I explained that when I gave him the coupon, he would have to clean his room and then that coupon would be used up. His smile completely disappeared and he said, "I thought it meant you were going to clean my room."   That would explain why he drew long brown hair on the person in the picture....