Happy {HEART} Day!

Ahhh....Valentines Day.....with boys.  Gotta love it.  They are soooo not into the love stuff.  But it's fun to tease them about girls and valentines.

So here's what the boys decided to give out at school for their valentines this year.  Thanks in part to Pinterest for the worms and minecraft.  I totally made up W's valentines this year.  He wanted to give out Nerds and frankly....there's not a lot out there for that candy.  

 This was the first year one of my kids needed a valentine box.  W came home and said he needed to make a cool valentine box - one kid had a minion.  Mind you this was Tues before the party Friday.  So....W looked on Pinterest and found a cool tank he liked.  Next day, I went to Michaels and got some cool camo duct tape and wha-la.....here's our creation.  Turned out really cool!

 Here's what S & I got the boys this year.  These Kendama things are all the rage amongst 4th grade boys here.  It's actually pretty cool and fun and beats video game stuff.  It's all about hand/eye coordination.  We got these for W and T.  Little bit, C, got a cool Mario mystery block pillow that makes the sound.  Gotta love a kid who is Mario obsessed!

 My Valentine was the most expensive valentine gift to date.  I was allowed to take advantage of the President's Day Sale weekend and order new appliances for our kitchen.

Ahhhhh....how romantic.  BUT....much needed so S is off the "romance, sweep me off my feet" hook.  My oven door keeps falling off and it just so happens that yesterday my fridge decided to go kaput.  Thank goodness new one comes tomorrow!

For our romantic dinner out, we loaded up and went to Qdoba.  Where else do you go with these 3 on Valentines Day night?!?!  It was yummy all the same.  

Afterward we tried to go to my favorite gelato place but it was closed for the night (what?!?!) so we ended up with frozen yogurt.

I love my boys and I love my hubby!  Who needs one day a year to celebrate that?!?!

Ice Fishing

On our quest to embrace Minnesota, we decided to try our hand at ice fishing.  The parks and recreation department in Lakeville has really great classes offered to kids.  I signed W up for a class on ice fishing.  It was a Sat morning full of information and how to and some good information on ice and lakes here.  S took W and stayed so he could hear all the information.  (haha).  The class was sponsored by Cabela's and the kids received all kinds of stuff - a rod and reel, a tackle box with tackle, $10 to Cabela's and a resource book for ice fishing.  W ended up knowing quite a few kids in the class from school.  Always a plus.  And before you ask....T couldn't go because it was for 3rd graders and up.

Well, this weekend, the city had their annual Youth Ice Fishing Contest.  We decided that would be the best way to try out our ice fishing skills.  There's no way we could just go out on our own and do this new sport.  So, we bought a couple of rod and reels and we were on our way.  

There were a lot of families out on the lake and all the holes were predrilled (thank goodness....that is probably the biggest obstacle of trying this on your own).    Take a look into that hole and you can tell the ice is about 7-8 inches thick.

 We knew what to do thanks to the class S and W went to the prior weekend. 

This one is our fisherman.  He was bound and determined he was gonna catch one.

 He can even multi-task....fishing while drinking hot cocoa.  LOL!

This one cracked us up....he was soooo not into fishing.  But acting silly the whole time.  

In the end.....we didn't catch anything.  I don't think much was caught during the entire contest.  

Oh well, maybe next time.....

Snow Sculpting

Only in Minnesota, could you go on a leisure afternoon field trip to view a snow sculpting contest.  This was one event of many during the Saint Paul Winter Carnival.  Mix Mardi Gras with snow/winter festivities and you have Winter Carnival.

We decided on Saturday to go view the sculptures as they were being sculpted.  Contest ended today (Sun) but I still haven't found out who won.  I gotta say....it was quite amazing to see.  First the snow is compacted into HUGE crates and made into one big snow block.  Then the sculptors get to work.

 This first on was a shark in progress.  S was amazed how they got the fin to stand up firmly on the back.

 This one, when finished, was to be Elsa from the movie Frozen

 Hands down, our favorite had to be the dragon.  It was HUGE!  I don't know hoe many snow blocks it took for this fella.  He was off by himself so I'm not sure if he was part of the contest.  It was SO incredibly detailed.  The pictures will not do it justice.

Along with the snow sculptures, the snow park had a snow maze and a snow slide that the kids enjoyed thoroughly.

So....do we look like Minnesotans yet??

Embracing Minnesota and Winter

This is my beautiful backyard.  

I love the beauty of winter.  I've always liked winter.  Moving to MN though was a bit of a scary thought.  However, it hasn't been that bad (but we've also had a mild winter so far).  I'm slowly learning how to drive on ice and snow.  Snow isn't so bad.  Ice, well, that's another story.

There's so much that MN has to offer even in the winter.  We've already decided next winter's goal is to learn to ice skate.  Another thing we would like to learn in ice fishing.  Anyway, we are embracing what MN has to offer in the winter.

Right after Christmas, we got another pretty decent snowfall.  The boys were excited to get outside and use all their snow toys they received for Christmas.

 Mom and Dad couldn't let the kiddos have all the fun.  S and I tried out the snowboards and scooter sleds.  However our old bodies didn't pick it up quite as fast as the young-ens.

 W and T got the chance to build their first MN snowman.  All our snow has been too powdery but with the warm up this past weekend, it made the snow a lot more compatible.  

Today we set out for our first MN winter hike.  It was a balmy 37 out today so we had to get out and explore.  LOL!  We took the trail down to a frozen lake.

This was everyone's first time on a frozen lake.  Pretty cool.

 I wasn't too scared until you push back the snow and see the ice for the lake.  Then it gets a little daunting.....

 Fun little outing.  Makes us excited for what's to come in Spring and Summer when we can get out on more adventures!

Catch Up: Christmas 2014

It's not everyday, you get to kick off Christmas with a roaming Santa Claus in your neighborhood who stops by to see the children.  Yep...we had one.  The kids saw him walking the street to our neighbor's house first and then we saw him walking again and he waved to us (because he could see us gawking out the window) and he came up to say Merry Christmas.  T was ectastic as you can tell from the picture!  In the end I found out it was our neighbor's dad and she told him to come by our house.  BUT, at the time I didn't know who the heck he was but gladly and happily let him in my house to visit my children.  I mean, wouldn't you?!?!  

 Christmas Eve, it was cookie making time for the big guy.  The boys were adament on making gingerbread cookies (are there really people out there who like the taste of gingerbread cookies??).  I went easy this year bc S and I don't like that kind and I knew the boys weren't going to eat all of them so I went with a box mix - GASP!  They had fun all the same.  And yes....we are in our jams and bed hair for these shots!

 Christmas Eve night we went to church and had our annual pizza dinner.  I really love how simple our holiday is.  This year we read "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift" by Ann Voskamp every night from Dec 1-25.  It was really really good and the boys enjoyed every story from it.  Highly recommend.  The entire book focuses on the real meaning of Christmas - Jesus - and how He is the only gift we need and how God ordained and planned his coming since the beginning.  It begins in Genesis 1 and shows how Jesus is threaded throughout the entire bible.  It's divided into nightly readings.

Then the moment arrived....time for bed.  Soon it would be Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

 C loves his Hot Wheels.  Hmmm...think he has a little Aunt Stephanie in him.  hee hee!

 The older boys got some beginner snow boards.

 And the big gift....a Wii U.  I will never see my children again.

 Look at this happy little boy.  Smitten for Mario I tell you!  Thanks Nana.  He won't take this soft furry Mario robe off!

I love our simple Christmases.  We are sad we can't spend with family each year.  Hopefully we can in the future.  But for now I will cherish our little Christmases and our little family traditions.

Catch up: Sledding Fun

During our Thanksgiving break, we got a pretty good snowfall.  We decided to take the boys up to the hill near our house that is one of the community hotspots for sledding.  They had so much fun for their first real experience!  I, on the other hand, had to go sit in the truck and watch about halfway through because my fingers were frozen.  Poor gloves are no bueno in these parts of the woods.  Thank goodness for after christmas sales....I'm now set with warm mittens!

 

Worst part about sledding....climbing the hill back up.  HA!  I can't tell you how many times C made it half way up, accidentally dropped his sled and had to go all the way back down to catch it.  Ahh....good times.  Can't wait to have more sledding fun this winter.

Catch-up Time: My Baby Ain't a Baby No More

So this kid turned the Big 5 on Halloween.  My baby's a big kid now.  C is so cute, so smart, and so mischievous all wrapped up into one.  Gotta love a third child (ahem....I was a third so no comments!).  We were traveling to our new home this year on his bday.  We woke up in Sioux Falls, SD and made our way to MN.

Before we left NV, my good friend Tricia, arranged a private trick or treat night for my boys (what an awesome friend, huh??)  and at the end of the evening we and all our friends met at the park for a GLOW PARTY.  I decided to tack on a little special birthday party for C that night since I knew we would be traveling on his actual bday.  The kids had so much fun running around the park with glow in the dark paraphernalia.   C was so sweaty by the end of the night.  I hope he remembers how special all those friends were to us.  Here's the bday boy with his glow glasses blowing out his big 5 candle:

When the time came for the actual birthday (I mentioned we were traveling, right??), we had to wake up in the hotel room and open the few presents I packed along on our trip.

Nana supplied C with more Mario plushies and a cool mario hat.  This kid is crazy about Mario.  He can talk for HOURS about it.  Don't get him started!

Oh yeah.....it's Halloween too.  Whew.  I'm tired just writing about this.  So, we finally arrived in MN and we got the kids all dressed up for trick or treating.  We decided to take them to the Mall of America since we didn't know anyone here.   We had a Jedi (W), Wolverine (T) and a Monkey (C) this year.

We got to the mall early (thank goodness bc that place was a madhouse by the time we left).  The kids went to several stores and got their treats.  Then we celebrated C's bday at the RainForest Cafe (appropriate for a monkey don't ya think??).  We had dinner and then ordered C the Volcano cake!  

Here's a short video of them singing to him:

I'm so thankful that with the chaos of moving and Halloween, we can still create a meaningful birthday to my little boy.  He is a joy!  But I still can't believe my baby ain't a baby no more!