Christmas Program

Kaelynn's preschool Christmas program was on Thursday.  She did great.  They did 8-10 songs and it was precious!  Here are a few snapshots:

They learned how to say "hello" in many different languages.  This is one of Kaelynn's favorite songs!

Oh man!

I feel like December is flying by us and I'm trying to hang on as best as I can.  Yes, life is busy.  I would venture to say very busy right now, and I am looking forward to the day when I can say that I have nothing to do.  Will it ever come?  At this point I'm not sure.  But there's always hope right?  So, this might just be the only blog post in December.  So here's my attempt to catch up:

My most favorite tradition we have for Christmas is this advent calendar.  It was given to us from Andy's brother and sister-in-law and I absolutely love it.  It is a daily reminder of the true meaning of Christmas among all the hustle and bustle of life.  I have it on our front stairway and love that I see it several times a day! 

Grover spent a day with us last week and we made sugar cookies together- another favorite tradition of mine!

We have entered the world of dance, and last Sunday was Kaelynn's first dance recital.  Her class was the Snowflakes and they danced to Point of Grace's "Let It Snow" medley!  She did an awesome job and we were very proud of her.  I will have to put the video on here later.  I don't know how to get it off of the video camera and onto the computer- that's Andy's job and he won't get to it until at least this weekend, if not next week! 

 On Sunday, we had Barlowe Girl at our church for a Christmas concert.  I worked their merchandise table and was able to meet them briefly.  They gave us a signed Christmas ornament.  The ladies in the row with me are Anissa and Kari who worked with me.  It was a great concert! 

So that's just a tiny bit of what December had held for us.  We have Kaelynn's pre-school program on Thursday and our Christmas program at church this weekend.  We hope you are having a blessed Christmas season!   

Thanksgiving in Minneapolis 2010

We spent Thanksgiving 2010 in Minneapolis and what a wonderful time we had.  We left a little early as we were to have bad weather in ND and MN on Wednesday.  That gave us a little extra time to do some fun things.  Here's a brief picture diary of our days there:



Day 1



Andy made a Kaelynn a guitar and mic stand out of tinker toys.  It kept her entertained for most of the day.  That's a good thing because she is getting something along those lines for Christmas :)



The baking began early on Wednesday.  Kaelynn helped make the popular pumpkin pie.  It was great.  Maybe if her singing career doesn't pan out, she can become a baker.  That profession is in her geneaology too. 

 Because we came down early, we were able to do something super fun on Wednesday evening.  We took the kids to their first NBA game.  We saw the Timberwolves play the San Antonio Spurs.  The game was very exciting and went into overtime.  Unfortunately the Wolves couldn't pull it out and lost the game, but it was a fun experience.  All of the kids really got into the game.  Connor was standing up screaming and cheering the entire last quarter and Kaelynn really got into the "howl-o-meter". 



Enjoying a snow cone treat!



 Day 2

Thanksgiving Day was a great day!  Gene's parents and sister came over to celebrate with us.  We had all of the traditional food including homemade Italian mostaccioli.  That's a tradition in Gene's italian family.  We have missed it the past few years, boy was it good!  



This is the best family picture we got :)  Looks like we will try a professional in the spring :)

We had the opportunity to spend lots of time with my sister Katie, her husband Rusty and their new son Declan.  He is so precious! 



 Day 3

Friday found us downtown at the Macy's 8th floor Christmas display and at the Holidazzle parade.  I (Kristi) grew up going to Daytons (now Macy's) to see their Christmas display.  It is animated and tells a story.  You walk through scenes and can't wait for the freshly made gingerbread cookies at the end.  This year the theme was A Day in the Life of an Elf.    



The elves baking the Christmas goodies!

  After the Macy's display, we walked around downtown for a while and got something to eat.  We then sat in the skyway for an hour and half waiting for the parade to start.  Brave Minnesotans stand outside to watch a half hour lit up parade.  We were not so brave as it was in the single digits.  In high school, the chamber singers group I was in performed in the parade.  I was able to show the kids which float I was on which looked the same as it did 15 years ago.  It was a fun way to start the holiday season!    


Here's a picture through the skyway window of one of the floats. Not great, but you get the point! 



We have so much to be thankful for!  We are very aware of the grace we are given each day, and for that we are thankful beyond words!  We pray your Thanksgiving was blessed!  

Spelling

The boys have homework every night.  Most of it is practicing spelling words.  As part of their homework they have to create a sentence for each spelling word in their best writing.  We are not supposed to help them with the spelling of any words in the sentence so they come up with some pretty interesting interpretations of words. 

In the beginning of the year the sentences were very basic, but they have evolved over the last few weeks into the following.  (The spelling word to be used is above the sentence and I am spelling them as he did.)   Here are some of Carson's sentences for this week:

let
Let us play at the purk.
Interpretation- Let us play at the park.

get
Get us help cus a lin is runin loos at the zoo.
Interpretation- Get us help because a lion is running loose at the zoo.

make
I make bred to eat for brefcist.
Interpretation- I make bread to eat for breakfast.

of
Specin of lins i like lins a lot. 
Interpretation- Speaking of lions, I like lions a lot. 

Pretty funny!!!!

Pumpkins- in one form or another :)

Warning:  Lots of pictures in this post.  Proceed if you dare!

Yesterday, Grandma took us and Julianna and Lydia took a pumpkin patch in town.  It was a bit chilly, but fun was still had by all.  This is the same pumpkin patch that Kaelynn went to with her preschool class.  There is tons to do and we had a great time. 





They have a small petting area with chickens, ponies, bunnies, goats, and this mini-bull.  Cute in a funny sort of way!




Lots of picture opportunities abound!  What a great looking bunch!





What I love about this photo is the flames coming out of the stocking cap.  It really compliments the chaps and boots!




Riding the wagon to go to the corn maze and pumkin patch.


This afternoon we painted or carved the pumkins we got from the patch.  

 Here are the costumes the kids chose:

Connor, the alligator wrestler



Yes, we made the alligator.  Connor had seen this idea on the Family Fun website.  This is as scary as we get for Halloween!



 Kaelynn, the cheerleader

Carson, the mighty hunter



It wasn't too hard for Carson to pull this one off!

  The kids went trick or treating with some friends from church.  In fact they are still out as I sit here typing!  I think I see chocolate in my future :)

This picture has nothing to do with Halloween except that it was taken today.  I just thought she was adorable in her Sunday best today!  She's one of the cutest little pumpkins I know :)

Say What?

I was downstairs catching up on Facebook when I heard Kaelynn making some noise in the cubby under the stairs.  She opened the door a little and here's how the conversation went:

Mom: What are you doing in there?
Kaelynn: I'm the lost captain!
Mom: You're the what?
Kaelynn: I'm the lost captain and I'm waiting for the boys to come find me.
Mom: Do the boys know you are the lost captain?
Kaelynn: Yes I told them where I was.

She then closed the door very loudly and shouted, "Let's see who can be the lostest captain in the whole world!" 

You can't say that she doesn't have a vivid imagination..........

What's in a name?

I just got home from school where my identity was on double duty -Mrs. K and mom.  I subbed in Carson's class this morning and it was so much fun.  Carson is a GREAT student and I knew that it would be easy to be his mom and also his teacher- and it was.  There were a couple of times when I heard, "Mom, how do you spell _______?" 

When I didn't know something about their routine, he would tell me quietly what I needed to know.  He was so excited to have me there, as was I to be there.  I get to be in there in February for 4 days and am looking forward to getting to know some of his friends better. 

I know this opportunity is short lived and not often possible so I am going to enjoy it as much as possible. 
In a few weeks I get to be in Connor's class and know that my experience will be the same!!!!   
     

Pumpkins!

Kaelynn's class took a field trip to the Dakota Carriage Pumpkin Patch this morning.  It was one of the best pumpkin patches I have ever been too.  They had tons of things to do and great picture opportunities. 

Here are some of the kids in her class

Do you like the wind blown look?  It was slightly breezy.....

There were a couple of stagecoaches the kids could climb on and in.  Kaelynn and Ava went for a ride out west somewhere.

They had a great hay bale maze with a little slide.  The kids loved it!

They even had mini-golf. 

Teeter-tottering.....

Grover rode with us so he did all of the activities with us too.  Kaelynn plays at Grover's house when I am working on Mon, Tues, and Thurs so Grover and Kaelynn are good friends.  It was fun to get some pics of the two of them. 

We even got to pick out a pumpkin.  Kaelynn did a great job picking one out.  It was pretty much perfect!

Going through the corn maze....

 Sitting on a hay spider with Blake and Sawyer. 

Fall fun- for lack of better title :)

Yes we have been busy with life, but we have had time to do some fun things in the midst of all of it.  Hunting season is upon us and so far it has been very successful.  The boys also had the opportunity to do some fall fishing with grandpa.  They got some good looking fish:

Hunting season has been great for Andy and it's not over yet!  You know it's hunting season in our house when you walk into our garage and see blood spattered on the floor!  A few more weekends filled with ducks and geese are yet to come.  Can you imagine the excitement I feel as I write this?   

Kaelynn needed to get in on the action too.  Just in case that goose wasn't already dead- she needed to shoot it with a pretend rifle. 

One thing I remember about fall in our house was caramel apples!  My mom would buy them from Byerlys and they were so good.  We don't have Byerlys, and I think it'sfun to make our own, so we do!  The kids love to unwrap the caramels and it keeps them busy for a while.  HHHMMM!!!!!!!

Our last preschooler (sniff, sniff, sniff)

I know you are all wondering- Did I really cry when I dropped off Kaelynn at preschool this morning.  The answer is ...........NO!!!! 

She had a great first day of preschool.  I was a little worried about her crying since she cries every time I tell her she is going to Sunday School, but she didn't cry and said she had a good day :) 

All ready to go at 8:15am....

Hanging up her backpack in her cubby.

Kaelynn and her friend Ava.  Ava is moving out of state sometime soon, so we were surprised to see her there.  Kaelynn was excited to say the least. 

The proud parents and a little girl who was thinking "Enough with the pictures.  I just want to go play."

Playing in the pretend play room.  It is set up with house and store toys.  I'm sure she will spend most of her free time in there. 

Playing with playdoh.  A favorite activity!!!

She is wanting to go back tomorrow so that is a good sign.  We are very excited for this year and the things she will learn and experience.  We love you sweet pea!!!!