The Start of our Holiday Break

We headed to Minnesota for the Thanksgiving break this year! It was so fun to spend time with 2 of the cousins, aunts, and uncles, Grandpa & Grandma. We made a pip-stop in Chicago along the way. We "needed" to go to the American Girl Store and Lego Store. Here are a few pics.

Notice the matching outfits!

Lego Heaven!

{I am a mother and I have a problem! I love this store just as much as she does! } :)

Christian ran into a few of his favorite characters....Sally

Sheeze, I am going to have to keep an eye on this one! Smooching Sally? What next?

More DR. Seuss fun

A Lego Woody

The weather was total YUCK! Raining and 40s. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time outside. The lights and windowfronts were lovely but not in that cold, rainy weather!

Outside the Hancock tower.

Inside the ground floor of the Hancock was an awesome train/village.

A beautiful store front at AMG

We ventured to the Disney Store for Christian...he could barely focus to look at the camera. Look at how "helpful" Ella is!@!


I have lots of pictures to post from Family Time! I have some catching up to do in other areas of my life so unfortunately I can't be sitting at the computer all the stinking time! Toodles! How is it December tomorrow? Wow!

Santa Parade 2011

We awoke a couple of Saturday's ago with excitement in the air! We ate a warm breakfast and were headed downtown to the Santa Parade. Since we don't do too many parades, our attendance at last year's winter fun was fresh in their minds.
The weather was mild and only required hats and coats. The kids were excited to see a few new floats, a balloon or two, and of course THE CANDY! {Seriously, we've barely taken a dent out of the Halloween stash}. It was great fun! Here are a few shots.
Thing One and Thing Two were a huge hit for Christian

This was a fun one!
Flicker made a smashing maneuver right in front of us. They had to lower him under the stop lights. It appeared a bit tricky. Lucky there was no wind.

We had friends on this float but they were on the other side, "Hi Grace and Kristen!"

Bubbles! to pass the time until Santa arrives!

Hello Santa!

Grandpa's Birthday

Lots of love for Grandpa!

A few weeks back we headed up to the lake to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. It was fun to hang out with Evan and Heather since we hadn't seen them in a long time. Grandpa wanted a simple birthday dinner of Subway and cherry pie! We loved every bite! When you have three energetic grandkids, you can't really escape the spank-machine. {It was a good thing the kids counted by 10's it was a much shorter process!}

Fun with Friends

As the temps have dropped, we have moved some of our fun-doings inside. We have been having friends over for playdates and other sorts of fun. Here are a few pics of Carter and his buddy Corbin who came over for a night of fun. They played Legos, Nerf guns, played a little Wii baseball, enjoyed pizza and then ended with some ipad fun! That same night Ella had her friends the twins {Ella and Lola} for an overnight. Lots of giggles, dress up, and doll playing went on. Our house was bustling with 6 kids over...just the way I like it! Never a dull moment.
The next night we had the Heyboer's over for dinner and fun! The kids entertained themselves while the adults sat around and enjoyed good conversation and laughs. The girls opened up shop to "do everyone's hair". We were impressed, even the dad's were excellent customers!

What a sport at the ripe age of 8...Luke still knows how to hang with the girls.

Colty

And then....THE DADS

We are richly blessed with all the wonderful friends we have!

Halloween

{Colt, Luke, Carter, Ella, Brooke, and Christian}

It's a bit late, but here are the pics from Halloween day! I celebrated with my students in the morning, Carter's class in the afternoon, and then with our good friend's the Heyboer's for some night time treating! :) It was a fun-filled day, laced with giddiness and sugar! I must confess, I've stolen a "few" Reese's but I am certain they will never notice!
Carter's parade...can you spot our "Droid"?

Brooke and her buddy

Fun and games

Carter with his good friend Corbin

Cute costumes..a knight, Mario, a pirate, and a few Star Wars characters.

Halloween Bingo

Kelly and Brooke with one of the cute crafts we did

Our little trick or treaters

Luke and Carter are ready to trick or treat!

More craft fun