Goodbye, HELC... Hello, New Horizon

The girls, due to our move to northwestern 'burbs, had to say goodbye to their friends at Hopkins Early Learning Center... and brave a fresh start at New Horizon Academy.  

Lots of wonderful memories at HELC, and the girls formed deep bonds with a number of their classmates and teachers... so, the whole fam' is struggling with the transition.  

Little Rose is benefiting from having a (newly) familiar face in her classroom, Avery Dwyer... and has been rolling with the punches surprisingly well.  E, on the other hand, tends to struggle with transitions, but we've been so proud of her lip-biting effort as she knows she needs to be strong for her sister.

[HELC top two pics, NHA bottom two pics]

Playing in a Winter Wonderland

The girls (& G!) made the most of their few holiday break days where temps temps hit "balmy" double digits!  

The four days of Christmas

Our Christmas tradition of late has been driving across snow-covered south-central Minnesota, living out of suitcases, traveling from family-to-family, and packing in as much holiday cheer as we can.

Per usual, the girls threw out all "rules" and went on a five-day, nap-free, curfew-free, sugar and family-love filled bender of fun... and came away exhausted and spoiled!   

'Tis the Season

With E & S at four and three, respectively, the holiday magic is definitely in the air in the Backer household!

ChristMcs Tradition

One of the highlights of this year's McNerney Christmas party was definitely the fresh "powder", for kids and adults alike.

Bangarang!

Haven't been to First Ave in years, and, candidly, had hardly heard of Doomtree before our night out... but, man, what a show!  If you want a taste, here's a vid of their "signature" song, Bangarang, from Rock the Garden last summer.

Thanks for tix, Mcs!

Axed

This year's Gopher Football "guy's day out" was a frigid one, but, per usual... a classic.  Despite the frostbite and tough loss (WI 20, MN 7), it was great to see live the Maroon & Gold battling to final minute in one of their biggest games of our lifetimes.  

And, the town-painting pre- and post-game was quite the experience as well.  Fun times, eh boys!

MOvember

For the third straight year, I donated my time, money... and upper lip to the Men's Health awareness campaign, Movember.  Our GMI team of 500+ growers raised over $60,000... and brought the mustache back into style temporarily, or at least we like to think we did, all across Mills' campus. 

A huge thanks to Linds, Bob & Linda, Dad & Dawn, Mom & Greg, Joe & Tisha, Opie & Laura, Cal & Kathleen, Cathy & Jim and Andy for your donations in my name!

Oh, and a big thanks to E & S for putting up with a month of scratchy kisses and my "not very cute anymore" (their [frequent] words) look.  They couldn't have been more pleased than when helping me "murr" off my Mo' at the close of the month! 

Thanksgiving

So much commotion this Thanksgiving that the "team photographer" hardly captured any of the festivities and family traditions.  Then again, maybe it's better that way... as this year's events included Wii dance-offs and late night ping pong after (too many) wine tastings!

We did, however, capture a couple moments of that thing we are most thankful for... spending time and making memories with family, generation after generation.

The next chapter...

Finally.  Six-plus months after selling our house in SW Minneapolis, we are now officially homeowners again!  

We're still buried in moving boxes, and are probably months from being fully furnished and decorated... but, it feels great to start to make this place our home, and to begin that next chapter; Rockin' the Suburbs.

Instead of giving the virtual tour online via our blog, we're inviting all "fans" to come visit and see for yourselves...

[Message Linds or I for our new addy!]