Snowflakes

The boys recently painted snowflakes that are now hanging in our dining room.  Even though we may not have much/any snow oustide we have beautiful snowflakes inside! :)

Quick Catch Up

I don't seem to be doing very well with keeping up lately.  I'm going to try to wrap up what we did in December in one post...here it goes...

Jeff had a guy's trip planned in December, so while he was gone my parents came out to visit and help with the boys.  It was my mom's birthday, so we got to celebrate with her too!  I also got my first official lesson on making Lefse (Norwegian "treat" that my family has for most holiday gatherings). 

The boys made handprint Christmas Trees.

We saw Santa!

Celebrated an early Christmas at our house before traveling to Iowa.

Christmas in Iowa

My Handsome Boys

Jackson read the Christmas Story this year!

Transformers!

Playing Uncle Matt's Ukelele

Christmas with Grandma Lori, Papa Vince, Great Grandma Norma, and Uncle Tim

My sweet cousins

Cinderella

Jackson and I went to Cinderella at the Marriott Theater before Christmas. We had a fun "mommy/son" date and went with one of his classmates and her mom. We also ran into Jackson's kindergarten teacher and another classmate at the show.  We had planned to do lunch after the show, so we were going through options of where we could eat and Jackson said, "I'm going to let Vivienne choose." Such a gentlemen, he made me very proud!

Vivienne and Jackson at the show.

Eating lunch at Red Robin. (picture courtesy of Vivienne:))

Super Cooper

For the entire month of November, and part of December, Cooper wore his Clark Kent/Superman costume daily.  He would wear it at home, running errands...all the time!  Even though the costume is two sized too small for him and totally falling apart he would not take it off!  I just had to document this so I wouldn't forget.

Clark Kent

Superman

Thanksgiving 2012

We hosted Thanksgiving for the fifth year, with our largest group yet.  Prior to our Thanksgiving meal, we...

Made Handprint Turkeys

 Made Pilgrim Hats

Coloring with Grandma

The cook and her turkey...it was a new recipe and it was delicious!

The turkey carver...with the 1970s carving knife. :)

I never thought I could seat 11 people in my tiny dining room but we made it work!  I was so happy that we could all eat together insted of having to sit in separate rooms.  We were cozy but we were together.

After dinner bowling game.

The next day we took the boys swimming at the hotel...they loved every minute of it!

We are still here

So its been over a month and I have posted NOTHING!  And of course, the last 6 weeks have probably been our busiest with lots of things to document, so needless to say I have a lot of catching up to do.

But I'm going to start my first post of the year by saying...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We were suppose to have a fun New Year's Eve with some friends of ours coming over to celebrate.  I had lots of food planned and in the fridge, the kids were super excited to play with their friends, I had games planned, and wouldn't you know the stomach flu had to pay a visit!  The other family had sick kiddos and I woke up not feeling so well myself on the 31st.  So we had to cancel, and the day ended up being pretty blah.  But sleep was the cure for me, and I feel so much better today and so far no one else in our family seems to have gotten it.

Jeff and I planned a little scavenger hunt to do with the boys on New Years Day to recap our fun adventures of 2012.  The boys loved figuring out the clues and filling in the secret code.

The Secret Code

Grant was so proud of himself when he finished his maze.

Looking in their hamper for a clue.

Looking on the map for clues.

Jackson got to fill in the letters and read us the secret message.

I will try to do some catch up this week with our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations!