Christmas in MN

On our way out of town we stopped for an early "breakfast with santa" at a great local restaurant!

Ian is still sort of scared by this guy. He came & joined us at our table for a while so that helped...
Kind of a skinny santa don't you think? Ian cracked a cautious smile & asked for a "flexin' car" - none of us have any idea what he means?!?

Here's Audrey laying claim to 2 toys... big surprise only 1 belongs to her (her new twin, Bitty Baby!)

Ian with the drop-jaw, "Oh... my... gosh! A remote control Lightning McQueen!!!"

Thanks for the fun time Jody, Scott, Hannah, Andrew, Carol & Arlene! We had a great trip & enjoyed the yummy food, game night, watching Hannah score the winning shot at her basketball game, playing with Gizmo and generally just hanging out. See you soon!

First Snow

Ian, our summer baby, loves the snow.

Audrey, our winter baby, hates it!

Here's our house at 4:30pm tonight ~ dark already with a very snowy forecast for tomorrow! Ian can't wait!! Since my parents never put lights on our house when I was growing up - despite my begging - I vowed to put lights on our house every year. Thankfully Brian agrees!

First order of business: snow angels
Second: making tracks in the snow, "This is cool mom!"

As you can see, Audrey had a blast...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hosted Brian's family this year & it was a lot of fun, a lot of good food... and a lot of sleep deprivation. Our little Audrey got quite sick right over Thankgiving & landed in the ER after our feast. (She's okay now - just a high fever from infection)

That didn't stop her from looking pretty for some photos...

The cousins ~ growing up fast!

We hardly saw Ian the entire weekend - Hannah & Andrew did such an awesome job entertaining him!

Audrey discovering dogs aren't so bad...

"the Grandma's" stayed with us - the last time we have house guests before our basement is finished!

How cute is this!? Matching cousins

Scott taking over the turkey duties (thank you!)

Well, like I said, I had very little sleep & couldn't really put Audrey down while we had company. However, I can't thank all of you enough for helping to make this a great Thanksgiving! We had such amazing help with all the food, cleaning, kids and staying sane. We have so much to be thankful for and especially being able to share the holiday with loved ones. Thank you all for coming & preparing food... and to the REST OF YOU... we missed your presence at the table but send hugs across the miles.