Bentleyville 2009

Bentleyville is a Christmas light festival that used to be in Cloquet but moved to Canal Park in Duluth this year.  It is a really neat display of lights with fires to warm up and roast marshmallows, hot chocolate and cookies, Santa, Mrs. Clause, and their reindeer all present.  It is a free event (donations as able) run by all volunteers.  What a neat idea and celebration for the holiday season.

With all of that said...it was fun, but FREEZING cold.  We ventured out last night about 515.  The thermometer was reading 5 degrees, but the wind picked up and was probably a -20 to -30 degree wind chill.  The kids were bundled up really well and did pretty good, but it was a short trip this year.  

Annabelle all bundled up in the warming house before we ventured out in to the tundra.

My little pink marshmallow bundled and walking the path.

Landon and Grandpa Ken taking it all in.

Jill, mom, dad, and Landon.

This was towards the end...all bundled up.  It was coooooooold.

Little AJ enjoying the festivities.

Kadence was such a trooper.  She loved the life-size reindeer (people in costume) and although she could barely breathe with the gusts of wind blowing in her face, kept asking, "where reindeer go?"  I love this picture that shows her rosy red cheeks and nose.

What a fun tradition, hopefully next year wont be so cold!

Dad took us around to look at Christmas lights around Cloquet afterwards and with Buzz Lightyear in the dvd player and pretty lights to look at, the kids were loving life even though it was long past bedtime.  Landon kept yelling, "grandpa stop!" every time he would see lights.  It was pretty cute.  I know how much my dad enjoys driving around and looking at lights and we certainly enjoyed it just as much!

Let's Go Vikes!

SKOL VIKINGS, LET'S GO!!!

Ryan, Arin, my dad, Gary, Curt and Arin's friend April all went to the Vikings-Bengals game at the dome.  It was my first Vikings game and a very fun one!  They of course won which always makes the trip better.  We stayed at the Hilton downtown Minneapolis on Saturday night and had fun.  The kids had both grandparents around which they always love.  We took them swimming along with Jill, Curt, Annabelle, and AJ.  Ryan, Gary, the kids and I had a great lunch on Saturday at Key's Cafe.  We walked there through the skywalk and were surprised to see Mike (my cousin Amy's fiance) working!  We did not know that it was the restaurant that he worked at!  What a pleasant surprise it was.  Kym, Casey, Chris, Morgan, and Henry also stopped up to the hotel and hung out for awhile.  It was nice to see them since we won't be home for Christmas this year.

The Vikings players all stay at the Hilton (where we stayed) before the games.  There was a massive crowd build up in the lobby for hours on Saturday night as the players were "arriving."  Ryan and the guys stayed there for an hour and a half and didn't see anyone!  They would see the nice fancy cars pull up, then see some shadows and the players went around to a side door!  I just wish they could of humored the lobby full of adoring fans (especially my guys) and walk through there.  Ugh...you'd think people that get paid millions of dollars could take 3 minutes of their time to walk through a lobby full of fans (and many security guards) and show their appreciation...Frustrating.

So...the game was a birthday gift for Ryan from Arin...Thanks Arin, I don't think I can top that one!!!!

It was so fun to see all of the guys enjoying the game.  But...it was the most fun for me to see Ryan.  Although I often make fun of his obsession with football and the Vikings especially, I respect it is a passion and a game that he loves.  He was honestly like a little kid in a candy store-I don't think the big grin left his face for the 3 1/2 hours that we were there.  I enjoyed the game, but enjoyed seeing how happy it made the love of my life even more!

AND...after the game when we were loading up the vehicles to leave, Ryan had the pleasure of being right next to the Vikings player Ray Edwards.  Ryan jokes, "there I was in my sweet minivan, and Ray Edwards pulls up in his sweet Caddy, I felt really cool."  Nonetheless, Ryan did chat with him for a few minutes and got an autograph.  He was so excited...like a kid again, I LOVE IT!

BRR...

It is officially winter here in South Dakota! The snow is here to stay and with the wind, it has been a blustery cold couple of days. Today it 2 degrees with a high of 3. The wind chill is -15 to -30. The kids have had colds since Friday night and have been in the house since then. They are feeling much better so today I decided to venture out into the tundra.

Although snow removal is included in our property, it was 8:30 and our driveway was covered with snow from last night and this morning. Knowing with my luck and the up to 2 foot drifts of snow in my driveway there was no way I was going to get out without getting stuck, I had to do something. Normally I might try and go for it with my vehicle, but knowing that there would be no one to help me when I was stuck half in my driveway and half in the road there was only one option-to shovel. I put Toy Story 2 in, had a little talk with Landon, and went outside to shovel. I shoveled the entire driveway myself so that we could get out today. Amazingly the kids cooperated and my fingers and toes did not fall off.

We made it to the library by 10 to watch the puppet show. The kids enjoyed finally getting out of the house and they were amazed by the show. We got home and our twin homes had all been plowed out. HA!

It is crazy what you might do as a stay-at-home mom to get you and your kids out of the house. In the future, I hope they plow us out a little before 10 am.

O Christmas "Treat"

We put our Christmas tree up last week. When we were going to the store to buy it (I mean going to the forest to chop it down), I think the kids thought I said we were going to get our Christmas Treat. We found a very pretty tree and brought it home. I love how it makes our entire house smell like pine-there's nothing better than that.

Aunty Arin was at our house and she helped us decorate the tree. The kids were very entertained by the lights. It is not easy to put lights on a tree with a 3 year old and a 20 month old. Once we got the lights strung around the tree, we took a break from decorating. The kids went to bed and Arin and I finished the decorating over a bottle of wine. This was a much more enjoyable way to decorate.

Be prepared. Any new guests that come to our house are required to spend a great deal of time looking at every single ornament with Landon and talking about his Christmas Treat. He loves it and has not lost fascination with it yet. He and his sister undecorate and I redecorate...it is quite entertaining.

Landon and his Christmas Treat.

Since Landon has been saying Christmas Treat, Kadence also says it. I thought it was just him, but today she was talking about her Christmas Treat. And...I just want to clear up, tree's always look better than they show in pictures :)

Pottying and Pigtails

This little lady has been quite busy these days. She has found a new obsession with pooping. Every animal she has and plays with she says they are poopin'. She has also started to tell me when she has to go poop and has been going on the big potty here and there. I know it is nothing serious but am glad to be starting the process. I dream of the day I don't have to change a single diaper a day. But...then again that means they are growing up, so maybe it is more of a nightmare.

Like her brother, Kadence likes to read a book while she goes potty. She often kicks us out just as Landon does...a little copycat. So we start the long process of potty-training, I hope it is as easy as it was for Landon.

Let It Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I love looking out the window and seeing big snowflakes falling so peacefully. Since it is December I don't mind the snow at all. I actually kind of enjoy it...as long as I have nowhere to travel to. I don't know that I have ever taken pictures of a snowfall at night before. I stuck the camera out our patio door and was surprised by the beautiful picture I captured! The kids were right there with me in their jammies sticking their hands out to catch the snowflakes. The snow didn't last real long but left a beautiful, fluffy white blanket of snow on the ground.

Sometimes it's the little things in life that bring joy. It is nice to take a few minutes out of our crazy busy lives to enjoy the simple yet beautiful things God has given us.

Being Thankful.

Thanksgiving is a great time to remember what being thankful is all about. We drill manners into our children always making them say please and thank you, but do we always remember to do the same? I am thankful for so many things in our life.

~To be blessed with 2 beautiful, healthy children.

~2 Wonderful extended families.

~Genuine supportive friends.

~A snuggly puppy.

~To be happy and healthy.

~My hubby-the best man and best friend a girl could ask for.

We spent Thanksgiving at the farm with the Strasburg family. Everyone except Holly and Jack (who we all missed) made it home. They are still harvesting corn so it was a busy fun filled weekend. The kids rode in the combine and tractor with Gary and Sue and thought that was pretty cool. Landon especially enjoys being at the farm and just goes and goes and goes and goes. Sue made a wonderful, delicious Thanksgiving meal (I think she was missing Holly-the rest of us girls don't do much for cooking:)). Everything was really good-my favorite was the yummy sweet potatoes!

I love this picture of the kids getting spoiled by two of their aunts. Arin's cat Leonard was a big hit as usual. The kids follow her around and try and play with her (more like torture her) for hours. Luckily she can go outside and get away from them a little bit. Love Kadence's expression in this one.

The kids had a great time riding around on Gary and Sue's golf cart. I think miss Jessica drove it nonstop. Landon fell off and got a little scrape on his hand-which he milked if you can imagine. It was pretty funny, Tyler asked him if he wanted a Thomas band-aid to make it all better, which we didn't have. Landon then asked for one...so they drew a train on the plain band-aid and it worked just as good. Landon calls band-aid's boo-boo's so it can get kind of confusing at times.
Tyler just had his braces put on Wednesday. He was a trooper, hardly even complained at all! This picture looks like we were in a forest somewhere! Just one of Sue's big, pretty plants.
GG came for Thanksgiving dinner. I love this picture of her and Jessie.
Kadence played with Aunt Kristy's phone A LOT! I wonder what kind of a secret was being told here?!
This pretty much sums up the entire weekend. Landon loves his grandma so much. Mom and dad are chopped liver when Grandma's around. I like this one a lot.
Crazy fun! Oh the joy a mattress can bring. I think all the kids and Ryan were underneath and Kadence thought she was pretty cool laying on top.
Poor Kitty. She thought she found a good little basket to curl up in...and Kadence found a fun game of pulling the Kitty around the kitchen.
Like I said above, poor Kitty. Landon is obsessed with her! And...he's not always nice.
These two were buds most of the weekend. "Where Jessie go?" I think whenever she was out of sight Kadence was asking where she was. They have so much fun together!
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and took time to remember what they were thankful for.