oh fer cute!

Grandma Cathy gave us this adorable snoman making kit 2 years ago, and we FINALLY got to use it.

sledding

I'm not a fan of half day kindergarten (or half morning kindergarten as I like to call it), but it did allow for us to have "the hill park" all to ourselves today.

Baking cookies with Grandma

This is why my parents don't invite us for Sunday dinner very often. We decide to keep them busy ALL WEEKEND. Thanks for the fun everyone (We were missing Krista's crew because Zach was not feeling well)!

Merry Christmas...and Happy New Year

We were supposed to spend Christmas day at my parents and head to Iowa the next day. However, the snow changed our plans. Joel and Jen both had to work Christmas Eve., so everyone came to our house for a cozy 3 day snowed-in event (little did we know that the storm would hit later and we could've made it to Mom and Dad's)
With a lot of help from my Dad, brother and the friendly snowplow guy (Brent was standing outside in his bare feet flagging down the snowplow), everyone was able to take off Saturday. We decided to wait until Sunday to head to Iowa. The roads were still terrible, but we made it.
Grandma Cathy had purchased a DS for Eli's b-day, but it turned into his "must have" Christmas item. It was at least 24 hours after opening Santa gifts that he said "Hey, why didn't Santa bring me a DS?"

We had a fun week in Iowa, and everyone had a great time at Grandma's New Year's Eve board game party!!

ElfYourself - Hip Hop ElfYourself

ElfYourself - Hip Hop ElfYourself



Erin created this video for us and made my day. I hope it works!!

I shouldn't admit this

Eli was red. I was black. I helped him with a few moves at the start of the game, but he found a triple jump all on his own. I didn't have a chance after that!

Noah's preschool program

Song one: doing actions but no singing Most of the program: hands in pocket (pulled out only to be awfully close to nose picking)
He did take them out to do the sign language "I love you" for one of the songs. Just kidding. It wasn't sign language; it was Spiderman web shooting... with sounds.
He was also in charge of ringing some bells during a song which he did with A LOT of enthusiasm!


The cutest girl in the program? That would be Ella standing on Noah's right.

I have to say that I was proud of Noah for actually standing there with his class. I had visions of crying and him sitting on my lap during the program.

PARTY TIME!

Katelynn turns 5 on Saturday. She had her "friend" party yesterday, and the boys got to be included.

Yum!

I invited Craig and Jen over for dinner and introduced everyone to a childhood favorite....potato dumplings. Good thing Craig was here to help me eat them.

Eli gave them a "thumbs sideways". I think he was the only kid who took more than one bite.

oops!

After a good cleaning, you can't even tell which HOT burner I set a plastic bag on.

Santa's Village

tree time

Joel had to work today, so there was no Black Friday shopping for me. Instead, the boys and I turned on some Christmas music, spent the whole day in our pajamas, and decorated the house. Eli has been super excited to put up the tree. He was in charge of the directions, and hung most of the ornaments while Noah was content playing in the tree box (he did help sort branches for a little while). While I was putting the lights on the tree, the boys were getting restless, and I started getting frustrated with them. Then, it made me laugh a little. I remember how excited I was to decorate our tree every year, but I really remember how much I hated waiting for Dad to get those lights on!

*Eli wants to paint the star gold because "stars are gold, not bronze".

trying to get a family picture

Obviously, it was not working.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Lights Parade

It is not a secret that I am not a big fan of parades, so naturally one in the cold doesn't appeal to me. However, for the end of November, yesterday's weather was perfect. With a little push from Erin, Craig and Jen, I decided to brave the cold with the boys and head out to the annual Holiday Lights parade. Craig and Jen picked us up. We grabbed a pizza, and we had a little picnic on the street while we waited for the parade to begin. Erin had parent-teacher conferences, but Joe, Jack and Ella were able to meet up with us. The kids had a great time, and I must admit...I'm glad we went. Noah diving for candy.
*pictures stolen from Jen; I left my camera in the car

Eli's camoflaging game

Can you spot the 3 plastic animals on the snake book? Eli will still hang out in his room during nap time and use his leapster, read, or play. Today I went to see what he was up to, and he had a bunch of these little plastic animals in his bed along with many stuffed animals and other toys. He said, "Mom, can you find all of the little animals? Some are hiding and some are blending in."

Update

I have very little to report! Let's see..... This morning I noticed that one of the rugs in the boys' bathroom was missing. I went searching in all of the possible places Joel could've hung it (he must've washed it, right?). I couldn't find it, so I went to the next most logical place. When I asked Noah about it, he smiled, looked down, and did one of those things where you kinda cough and give the answer at the same time. Sure enough, the rug was in the hall closet. Why wouldn't it be????
I went to help in Eli's classroom last week. Mrs. Henning informed me that the reading teacher had taken Eli out of the room the day before, so he could read with her. They stopped at a high first grade level, and he was reading with 99% accuracy. Mrs. Henning was very excited. I was thinking that he has to be reading at a higher level. Then, she explained that Eli wanted to go back to his room because he was worried that he'd miss snack. In her mind, this means he is just a 5 year old boy who wants to be with his class. Um...Eli would pick snack over ANYTHING!!

Grandma visit

We picked up Eli from school on Friday and drove to Grandma Cathy's. Many believe we are crazy to spend 14 hours in the car over a weekend. However, the reality is that 7 hours in the car with the boys is much more peaceful than 7 hours at home with them. Plus, being spoiled by Grandma for a couple of days is totally worth it! The 70 degree weather was an added bonus, and we even got to spend some time with our favorite Iowa friends! Thanks for everything Grandma! We love you!

Happy Halloween!

We were at Craig and Jen's tonight for the 2nd annual pre trick or treating party. Halloween treats from Jen, Jen's Mom, and Jen's Grandma filled the bags before we even went to the first house. Eli and Noah only wanted their pictures taken if they could be monsters.

Austin in action. This is my favorite picture from the night. The kids were so excited. They sprinted from house to house.

What's wrong with us??

Joel went to a sandwich place to get us lunch today. After he received our subs, he watched a prep guy (who never handled our sandwiches) run in to the bathroom and could hear him throwing up. Since this completely grossed him out, Joel went to another location and purchased the same subs. As he was telling me why he had extra sandwiches in his hands when he got home, I said, "why didn't you tell someone what happened and ask for your money back?' The sad part is that I would've done the same thing except I would've gone to Burger King or something.

VERY IMPORTANT PERSON

Eli was super excited to be the VIP at school today. In fact, he was so excited that YESTERDAY morning he woke up earlier than normal and ran in to our bedroom to say, "Today is Monday, and tomorrow is my VIP day".

His excitement caused us to finish breakfast and get ready faster than usual today. We even had a few minutes to play before we left. I thought we were doing pretty good until we got back from dropping Eli off at school, and I realized that I had left my electric skillet on with two pancakes inside.

Halloween Party

Erin hosted a fun party last year, so I said I'd throw one this year. However, I wasn't really doing anything about it. A few weeks ago, Jack started asking me (a couple times during the week) if I was going to have a Halloween party. On Tuesday, I set the date and started planning the Friday night event. Here's the crew...minus Tyden. Tyden has never played at our house before, so he was much more interested in the toys than my silly party.
Making treat bags

Stringing a candy necklace



Playing "tip toe through the pumpkin patch"
We also ate supper, decorated cookies, made spider webs, had a costume parade, and played ghost, ghost, witch....in less than 2 hours.

**When Jen & kids came, I sent the kids downstairs and asked Jen to put shoes in the closet (something we NEVER do, but she did it anyway) where Joel was waiting with a scary mask. Oh my gosh, I have never heard two louder screams. Sorry Jen! Joel is still feeling bad about that!

One more...

stolen from Erin's blog because she was smart enough to bring her camera to preschool!!

Cowboy Day

IHOP NIGHT

Yesterday morning I told Eli to spend some time thinking about where we should go out for supper. He said, "I'll tell you now...IHOP". I should've known. We called it a celebration for hearing such good things about the boys at their parent-teacher conferences.

According to Mrs. Henning, Eli is... "a perfect student"
-stays on task
-eager to learn
- smart
-a little quiet


According to Mrs. Ystebo, Noah is... "ahead of his age" (she obviously only sees him a couple of hours a week).
- does things independently
- is a good listener
- has great pre-writing skills
-participates
- is not attached to Ella at the hip (I'm not sure I believe this)
-a little quiet

We're very proud of our boys!