Overdue

Happy New Year! What a fabulously fun filled last few weeks we've had. Winter break from school, Christmas get together's with family and friends, outdoor activities (especially hockey) and lots of laughing! Our two rugrats sure are funny!

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking...

Pond being cleared off by Ross and neighbor Joe.

Pond hockey right in the backyard. Too bad it lasted for all of an hour before it sprung a leak and flooded. Boo.

More skating at the Pit with Daddy!

Cute pictures with Uncle Bryan on Christmas Eve!

Santa's Little Helpers (anyone who knows our kids knows Dane is constantly taking his clothes off. Even on Christmas. Geesh.

Christmas morning--"Look guys. It's just what I've always wanted. Santa brought me exactly what I asked for. Can you believe it?!" (cutest thing ever!)

Cashie's new camera from Santa.

And new tools from Dad.

Tubing with Daddy and Grandma Lynn!

This New Year's Eve marked the one year anniversary in our home. I can't even believe it's been a year already. We decided to celebrate with our friends and have a murder mystery party. It was a blast-to say the least. So much fun and we are all excited to start this new tradition~This one was Mafia Murder at the Speakeasy.
Doesn't everyone look great!?

2011. Holy mackerel.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Thanksgiving kicks off such excitement for all that is to come. Everyone feels so good, happy and thankful. The giving season is upon us and people just seem more fulfilled. Maybe that's how I feel.

We hosted Thanksgiving with the Greenwald's this year. It was my first attempt at a turkey..I think it turned out pretty good!
We spent the following Saturday celebrating with my side of the family-no pictures though. I'm so lame.


We decided to cut our tree down the day after Thanksgiving. Dane wasn't so sure. He really wanted to just have the tree stay in the ground. "We can't cut down a tree Mom. That's not good." I suppose I should have agreed, I mean really, it's not a great thing to do and I'm not quick on the fly with an answer to that. But, I had to have another tree (we already put up our fake tree upstairs). I have all these great ornaments that needed to be shown, so Dane was out of luck. He didn't seem to mind too much once we got there and he got to "help" Dad.

Putting on the finishing touches.

Ta-da! It's pretty and smells good!
(And you can see on the bottom left where Cashie added his personal touch)

Here's our other tree! I love having room to do two big trees. Maybe next year I'll shoot for three!

Here are the boys at Space Aliens. Again. It's starting to become a regular spot every few weeks. Tuesday's kids eat free and get free tokens. What's not great about that?!

Yesterday Ross took Dane to see his first play at Elk River High School. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" They had a great time and Dane has talked non-stop about it since he got home.

Dane informed me that we have 19 sleeps left until Santa comes. Holy Hannah...I can't wait!

Thankful

Of course I am thankful for many things. Too many, in fact, to list. But when all is said and done, I am most thankful for family. I'm just going to keep it simple with that...

Happy Thanksgiving--take a little time to sit back and be thankful.

Bad Blogger...

Wow. It's been quite a long time since I've blogged. Not tons to update on. We've been busy doing the usual stuff. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Just like Daddy--Cash LOVES music!

Dane told me they did this at school and I thought it was awesome! What a great way to let kids hammer-and a great way to utilize old pumpkins!
They had lots of fun!

Cash loves baseball just like Dane-but Ross thinks he may be our prodigy. He's a lefty. And he bats left but throws right. How I made athletically-gifted children is beyond me.

Before the snow fell, we spent a little time out in Rockford at Lake Rebecca park-we all had a great time and enjoyed each other and the weather.

Dad and his boys.

Self-timer picture off the dock. Pretty good.

It's such a great park!

Dane snuggling on the chair.

And two quick pictures of the first big snow. It was terribly windy and yuck out that day, but we managed a few minutes outside.

Happy Holiday Season--I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week?!

A Weekend of Fun!!

Friday after school, we suited up and hit the streets of downtown Elk River for the first of many Halloween events! We've done this the past 3 years and have enjoyed the tradition. Dane of course, had a great time, but this year Cash really got into it! SO fun! And Daddy even came home early to come along!!

Raphael the ninja turtle and the cutest little tiger, ever!

Sunday morning we went to Sundance for more Halloween fun (and more costume changes)!
Here's Woody and Scooby in the background!

Yum. Cupcake decorating.

Sunday night we all went to my parents house for our other Halloween tradition-celebrating with Mom for her birthday and trick or treating with the Danielson cousins! We had a great time and the kids love playing together!

The two Spidermen (Dane and Hunter) running from house to house!
This lasted all of 3 houses for Dane as he was so exhausted already-no nap for him and a lot of activity.

Little monkey Cooper~

Arrggh matey...What a good sport Daddy is!

It was a great weekend--thus is the start of the holiday season! I can't wait!!!