Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We ended up staying home for the holidays and just enjoyed time together and seeing Christmas through the eyes of our kids; which is one of the best ways to observe Christmas. Even thought it is New Years Day - today; we still have a few remnants of Christmas left; the tree will come down today and we had our Christmas with Poppa Lind last night, which was great fun. A few photos.

Whose Been Naughty and Who has Been Nice

The girls and I headed for Forest Lake Wal-Mart today to do some Christmas shopping. It is great fun to shop with them - they have so many great ideas about what to get their mom and brothers. We started in the toys - mostly looking for them - then moved on to the food stuff - where you can always find something good to wrap up; and then back into electronics and then off to toys again to wrap up. The whole thing takes a couple of hours - and then is always capped off with a trip to McDs to eat and play.

We had a good day. Katie started the day as a pirate.

Santa Day

One of our holiday traditions has been the annual Imation kids Christmas breakfast - they do a really nice job of serving a great breakfast - catered by the Lake Elmo Inn and have photos w/ Santa, caricatures, decorating ornaments and other fun stuff. Today was no exception - but for the first time - we only had 5 of the 7; Daniel and Andrew opted to stay overnight w/ their friend Zach - so missed the festivities. We had a great breakfast, saw where daddy worked and played in his office and also had our picture taken with Santa - after that - we shopped for 2 hours for shoes - and bought 3 pairs of boots and 3 pairs of new tennis shoes for 3 little girls.

What are you thankful for?

We made a spur of the moment decision - actually a few days ahead of time, but for us - 72 hours counts as spur of the moment. My brother and family were going to be at mom and dad's for Thanksgiving and we did not have any firm plans here, everyone was healthy and it was supposed to be Sept nice - so we decided to load everyone up and make a trip to IA for Thanksgiving. We had a great time - and we are so thankful for our family and all that we have been blessed with.

When we came home last night - Katie wanted to do some drawing - so she sketched what was on her mind. This is Nana, Poppa and Katie. Most days, Katie is a handful from sun up to sun down - but there is a sweetness about her and a recognition that she was thankful for her grandparents. Once in a while she talks about her Baba in Ukraine who would see her and give her bananas and crackers. I am so thankful that she and Emie are part of our family as well.

Pepper

Our son David asked us (about a month ago) to start calling him Pepper - instead of David. We are trying to get converted - and in fact today, we started a jar - if we call him David or Davey instead of Pepper - we owe him a nickel. He has picked up the habit of saying "Duh" - so we charge him a nickel what that word is spoken - (a little too much for a 4 year old to end his sentences with a "duh" - so that is how it goes.

Today he went out with Sam and Mom to the great land of Target and came home with some nice "Pepper-wear".

Enjoy the winter Pepper!!

A Royal Wedding

This past weekend we had the privilege of being at Kates' wedding. We have known Kate and her parents since she was about 8 or 9 years old. She was one of our best babysitters - when we lived in Wahpeton. We could always count on Kate; and we knew our kids would be in great hands and we would not have to worry.

Kate got married this past weekend and our own Miss Annie got to be in the wedding. Here is a picture of our little princess with Kates' sister Kelsey - who was the maid of honor. Annie was a flowergirl and did a tremendous job of carefully dropping her petals down the aisle as she walked with her buddy Maddie.

It was a super fun weekend and we wish Kate and Kyle the best of times and a life of happiness and blessing together - and we thank them for letting us be a small part of their big day.

Lunch @ Lincoln

The girls hosted me for lunch today at Lincoln Elementary School. I dined on chicken strips, carrot stars, tator tots, applesauce and cookie - which had to be split four ways. It was a great chance to see the girls in action. They navigate their world really well and there are always some great helpers to watch out for them too.

The girls bring their lunch (usually) and dined on sandwich, mandarin oranges, Go-gurt and strawberry flavored milk.

It was great fun to be with them for lunch and they were very excited to have their dad visit them in school today.

I also got to see them on the playground and they get around really well - up and down the slide and on the monkey bars and could not wait to get outside and play - which is great.

They have a great set of teachers as well - for which we are thankful.