Christmas in Cloquet 2011.

The kids and I headed to Cloquet for a little early Christmas celebration with my family.  Amazingly, we had great weather for driving and the kids were really good on the trip.  We had our "Christmas" on Saturday afternoon and the little ones were very excited to open their gifts.

 Kenzie had her first present opening session.  She was pretty funny.

 She did better than I expected for her first time.  She definitely loved all the special attention.  She actually napped through the older kids opening their presents so she had all the attention when she woke up.

I love this shot of Landon and Annabelle with Kenzie.  They tried to help her and she would scream and pull the present away.  Apparently she wanted to do it herself.

After dinner, we headed to Duluth to visit Bentleyville which is a beautiful tour of lights right along the shore of Lake Superior.  It was a gorgeous 37 degrees out and we bundled up and had a blast.  Pictures truly can not do this light display justice.

Grandpa Ken and Kadence just starting out.  They have cocoa and free cookies right at the beginning.

 A group shot at the beginning.

 Kenzie was taking it all in, listening to the Christmas music and staring at all the gorgeous Christmas lights.

One of Landon's favorite displays, "Dinosaur Land."  It looks a little odd without snow on the ground.  Especially in northern Minnesota mid-December.

 The kids met a few reindeer along the way and had their pictures taken with them.

Just a portion of the Noah's Ark display.  One of my favorites.

If you look beyond the grass, the lift bridge is in the background.  So pretty.

Santa Claus had a really long line, so we decided to stop by and see Mrs. Claus.  The kids really liked her and had a long conversation with her.  Did you know she relays messages directly to Santa, cool right?

A cute family picture of the Skowlund's.

My 3 angels in front of the Gingerbread people park display.

A group shot at the end.  Love that Kenzie was too busy looking at the lights to look at the camera!

We warmed up with some hot chocolate when we got back to my mom and dad's house.  We all had such a fabulous time together.  Sunday I was able to go to Annabelle and AJ's Sunday school program at their church and the headed back home to reunite with Ryan.  Ryan had a great weekend with his dad and the Vikings game on Sunday (except they lost, again.)  I had so much fun being back "home" and celebrating Christmas with my family; even if it was a week early!

Holiday Recital

Kadence had her first dance recital on Saturday.  It is an informal recital to help with stage fright in preparation for their big recital in the spring.  The recital was songs from "The Nutcracker" and Kadence's age group were sugar plums.  Ryan and I had front row seats and the rest of the crew was in the 3rd row, so we could see very well.  Unfortunately, Kadence was in the back row and hidden for parts of the dance.  She did so well and was not afraid at all.  We were so very proud of her and happy to see her smiling on the stage.

Getting ready at our house before the recital.  Kadence was excited to have curly hair "like Aunty's."

 

So glad to have Grandma Sue, GG, Auntie Holly, and Christina all go to the recital with us.

Kadence was all ready to dance.  This was just before I took her to line up with her class.

Some shots of Kadence after she danced.  She was so excited when we gave her pink flowers!

Here's a little video of the dance.  There is just something absolutely adorable about 3-4 year old girls dancing.  So proud of our little lady!

'Tis the Season

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Our little family is sure getting into the Christmas spirit!  Our home is decorated and the music is playing.  We are talking about everything Santa and the kids even get "heytell" messages from him on Ryan's phone.  I love this time of year.  It is full of family, love, giving, and praising Jesus!

The kids made "Santa Beards" in the tub and I thought this picture was suiting!  Landon has been making Santa beards with bubbles in the tub since I can remember.  Too funny.

A shot of my baby girl who is losing her "baby" look too soon for my liking.  I just can not believe how much she has thinned out.  Look at those big eyes.  Love her.

In all the busy bustle of the month of December and full on holiday season, take some time to remember the true meaning of Christmas and what is important!

Trying Something Different.

Ryan an I decided last night to try something a little different for awhile to see if we can get our baby to sleep a little better at night without interrupting her big sister.  We asked Landon if it were okay if he shared his room with Kadence for a few nights.  I wasn't quite sure what he was going to think about it because he really enjoys his own room for both sleeping and playing.  Much to our surprise he happily agreed.  We moved Kadence's top mattress on to the floor of Landon's room and they thought that was pretty fun.  Everyone seemed to sleep pretty good last night!  We are going to leave the arrangements this way for a few days so that if Kenzie needs to fuss a little in her crib she won't wake up Kadence.

If we can just keep the kids from jumping from one bed to another, we may be able to prevent major injuries the next few days!

On a side note, I met Arin in Sioux Falls on Saturday and spent a night away from my family.  I may not have done this in 5 years.  Ryan had a good day with all three kids and I had a great time shopping and having some drinks.  I sure do miss Sioux Falls.  I am feeling very refreshed today!  Don't they always say "a happy and refreshed mama makes for a happy family!"  I think it's true.

Sugar Plums.

As a warm up to their holiday recital next weekend Kadence's dance class performed at the mall.  She was pretty excited and far less shy than I expected.  They were sugar plums in their dance and they were a bit confused.  They wore their ballet shoes rather than their taps and their actual teacher was unable to be there.  I am thinking one more practice next week and the recital will go a bit better.  They were all adorable nonetheless.  There were a ton glowing, proud parents in a tiny little space awaiting their little girls performances.  I captured as good of pictures as I was able and Ryan filmed a short video.  We were so proud of her on her first performance ever!

Waiting to line up with Daddy.

Here she was waiting for her dance watching the other girls.  She really looked like she was going to fall asleep.

Here they were lining up trying to find their "spots."  They had 2 classes perform at the same time since they were doing the same routine and I think it confused the girls a little bit.

And a little video...

We had to have a little ice cream treat after Kadence danced.  She should have smiled that big while she was dancing!  So proud of our little princess.  Love her!!

My Sweet Boy.

Landon is such a sweet, caring little boy.  He does things everyday that just melt my heart.  Now don't get me wrong, he's a pretty rough and tumble little boy, but when it comes down to it he has the biggest heart a 5 year old could possibly have.

Landon plays with a little girl at school named Charlie Ann.  I knew they had been friends before he started talking about her because she would always make sure to say, "bye Landon!" with a big smile on her face every time I picked him up from school.

Today Landon came out of his room and I could tell he had something really important to tell me.

"Mom, Peyton hurt Charlie Ann on the playground today! I brought her to Miss Claire.  Then you know that later, I checked on her to make sure she was okay."

This was definitely one of those moments where you feel like amongst all the struggles as a parent you have done something right.  I gave him an extra big hug and told him that it was very good to be nice to your friends and that Santa saw him do those nice things today.

What a great way to start out the weekend!  Happy Friday!