Strasburg Christmas 2011

 We spent Christmas weekend at the Strasburg farm this year.  The entire family was there and we had a ton of fun.  The only thing that would have made it a little better was if there was some snow to look at and play in!  Oh well, I'm sure it'll be a few years before we have another brown Christmas.  There was an array of gifts to open so the kids opened a couple on Christmas Eve.

This picture cracks me up.  One of the gifts Landon chose to open early was clothes.  I think this is the classic expression of how a 5 year old feels when he receives clothes for Christmas!

Our little family of 5.  Landon 5, Kadence 3, Kenzie 1.

 Sue and I.

 Jack (10) and Holly.

 Tyler (15), Landon and Jack.

 Grandpa and the boys.

 The Frashers. Tyler, Jessie (11), Kristy and Jerry.

Ryan, Arin, Gary, Sue, Kristy, and Holly.  What a great family photo!

Our Christmas extravaganza continued with gift opening at 630 am (yikes) on Sunday.  

Jessie and Kadence.  Santa dropped his hat when he dropped off gifts this year.  The kids thought that was pretty crazy.  I asked if we should mail it back to him, but Kadence didn't think that was a good idea.  She said he probably had more (I think she just wanted to keep it herself).

Landon and his boat (just like Levi's.)  Wohoo!

Pretty girl.  Notice how dark it is outside...may have been a tad early.

We had a great Christmas weekend spending time with everyone.  Kenzie was sick and could have slept a little better; it wouldn't be a family gathering without at least one sick child.  We are so blessed to have such a great family filled with such kind, loving hearts!  Love you all!  

(Just a silly picture of Kenzie standing (shocker) in her high chair.  How cute are her little nylons?)

Merry Christmas!

 Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Let's make the next year the best yet!

Live.Laugh.Love.

I am not going to lie, some of our days get kind of long when the weather is not warm enough to play outside.  When all else fails and I am going nuts, we crank the music and have a dance party.  It seems to exert enough energy to chill everyone out until either Ryan comes home or we move on to the next activity of the day.

The other day the kids wanted to have a dance party with their own music.  They asked me to video them so they could watch themselves on the computer afterwards.  It actually was pretty cute and cracked me up.  Landon and Kadence even entertained Kenzie long enough for her to sit in her high chair and actually finish her snack.

Enjoy!  Happy Friday.

Christmas at Preschool.

The kids had a "Christmas Party" at preschool where we joined them for an hour of their day and made Gingerbread houses.  Ryan switched a call shift so he could come with before going in to work at 11.  Ryan went downstairs and helped Landon while Kenzie and I joined Kadence upstairs.

A (poor quality) photo I snapped with my phone.  Kadence was very proud of her house.

Ryan grabbed a picture with his phone of Landon and his house.

The kids were really proud of their work and excited to taste it at home!

 Not too shabby for a 3 and 5 year old!  I think that these may have been the very first Gingerbread houses that Ryan and I did as well!

This sweetie pie was just along for the ride.  Can you imagine how much fun she could have had?  Followed by a trip to the ER after breaking out in hives from all the sugar!

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!