Happy 9th Birthday Timothy!

We celebrated Timothy's 9th birthday yesterday with his party today.  Yesterday was the last day of school before break.  He got to bring in a special snack to share while his class watched a Narnia movie.  As a family we celebrated with a dinner out at Happy Joe's.  He got some new Pokemon cards and a couple of video games which made a pretty happy boy!

 A highlight of Happy Joe's is the birthday sundae which comes with everyone in the restaurant singing happy birthday!

 Today we had 4 of Timothy's friends join him for a party.  It was a Pokemon theme this year with Charmander on his cake.

 We played some fun games.  Old favorites like pin the tail of Pikachu and a balloon bop game.

 We also tried some new ones like this tangled web games which only sort of worked, but the kids had fun getting all tangled in the yarn anyway!  A highlight might have been the Pokemon battle game that involved balloon popping!

 Eventually we made it to gift time.  Timothy received some nice things many of which were Pokemon themed much to his delight!

 Timothy had three buddies from school and one from church and of course one sister!

 A pizza lunch was followed by yummy cake and eventually some sledding in the backyard.  It was a great party!  I think the birthday boy had a great time.

It is hard to believe out boy is already nine.  He has grown so quickly and is turning into such an amazing boy.  We are so proud of who he is and look forward to seeing God's work in him.  He is a blessing to our lives!

Christmas Program

Yesterday was the Christmas program at our church.  It was a pretty low key event this year, but still nicely done.  Troy was involved, but not in charge.  He helped with music and costumes.  I had less of a role as I kept having call committee meetings during Sunday school during the weeks of practicing.

Teresa got to bump up to the role of Mary this year.  In part because no other girls had strong preference for roles and Troy was in charge of assigning roles.  It helps to have connections!  Timothy stuck with his wise man role this year, but without the beard.  I think it was too itchy.

The whole crew dressed up during practice before church.

Mary was not so happy about something and thus was not into smiling for me.  The wise man has a pretty glowing smile this time!

Timothy and his church buddy Dominic.  Shepherd and Wise one happy to be there!

And what a lovely pic you can get when you use some bribery.  Want some more cookies kids???  Well smile big for the family picture then!  What a blessed family we are to have each other and a great church to be a part of!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is nearing and you can tell by what we are up too!  Troy had his students over for a Christmas gathering, so that meant the kids and I had to do some cookie making! On a Friday morning we spent some time rolling out and baking sugar cookies.  After school they helped me decorate them.  One of my favorite Christmas traditions.  I do not bake lots of cookies, but sugar ones are a fun to make and eat!

 We also got in a quick trip to see Aunt Mary.  It seems to snow every weekend this year, but last weekend it waited until Saturday late afternoon to snow.  We were able to make an overnight trip, celebrate Christmas and make it home almost before the snow.

 The kids were of course excited to open gifts, but equally excited to see all of my Aunt Mary's lighted decorations.  On Saturday morning we helped cheer on the runners in the 10k Jingle run that went right by my Aunt's house.

Thanksgiving visits

Thanksgiving means time to visit family, time to play, time to decorate and time to give thanks.  We certainly have much to be thankful for.  We are happy that we can travel to one place and see both sides of our family--twice the fun!  Here are some pictures to show a little of our weekend.

 This first pic is actually the night before our travels.  We set up our Christmas decorations and enjoyed a little melting snowman hot chocolate!

 Our first stop was Aunt Susie's house.  We were lucky enough to get in on a little of the snow that had fallen.  It was not good for sledding, but perfect for the building of snowmen.  The kids and Troy made this cute guy together.  At Susie's we enjoyed the company of Grandma Judy too, along with some cousins.  They kids like to have others to play with.  There were lots of smiles, laughter and joy among the kids and the adults.

 Grandma Judy got some cute pics with her girls and boys in matching outfits.  The girls were a bit more agreeable to the photo op!

 The next stop was Grandma Rebecca and Grandpa Ken's house.  Here too, we also had some good family time with my brothers and their families.  The kids got to help decorate Grandma's tree.  I had to get some pics since I did not get any of decorating our tree at home.

Other highlights were sleepovers with some of the cousins, crafts with grandma, playing outside.

Overall it was a fun time to be with those we love!! 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  Timothy and Teresa had a great day!  They both had special things going at school--watching movies and yummy snacks!  I got to sub as a lunch lady at their school.  Grandma Rebecca and Grandpa  Ken were here in the morning and shared our candy corn themed breakfast.

After an early dinner it was costume time.  A little face painting for both of them and they were transformed into a princess kitty and a grim reaper.  The princess kitty said her head was to hot with the hood up, so we pulled out the black cat headband instead.

Troy dressed up to honor his favorite team and a big favorite in town right now!  Timothy ended up trick or treating with Eagon and Teresa went around with Sophie.  They had fun and we now have lots of candy!  It was sad to see the fun end, but happy memories were made and tucked away for years to come!

Carving pumpkins!

It is that time again to carve pumpkins!  Teresa was very excited to get into her pumpkin and not worried about goopy hands.  Timothy was excited to get his open too, but did not want to touch any goop if he could avoid it.  In Teresa's pumpkin we found a funny sight--a seed that had sprouted a little stem and leaf!

I was in charge of carving Teresa's pumpkin and Troy was in charge of Timothy's.  Teresa wanted a chihuahua.  I am not sure it turned out quite as she planned, but I tried.  Timothy picked a scary face out of a library book.

chihuahua

scary face

My parents were visiting this weekend.  I tried to get them to help out in the carving process.  They were happy to keep their hands clean and give us moral support.  They have carved their fair share of pumpkins I guess!  I got extra messy when I pulled out the seeds for roasting, but it is worth it!

Lost tooth

This past Friday we attended the Asbury Halloween parade for the first time.  At first it seemed like it was going to be a bunch of girl scouts walking the streets, but at the end there were some neat floats with lights.  Timothy and Teresa did not mind what it was, they just liked being at a parade.  They got a handful of candy--mostly tootsie rolls.

When we got home from the parade, the kids got to pick out a couple candies to eat. earlier in the day, Teresa had been complaining about her wiggly tooth making it so hard to eat.  I suggested she bite her candies with the wiggly tooth and maybe it would come out.  The Tootsie roll and starburst did not work, but I thought a caramel would do it.  So she was chewing away when she stopped and asked, "what is this hard thing in my caramel?"  Being a good mom, I pulled out her half chewed caramel and found one little tooth that had pulled right out!

Teresa was so excited and she thought it was so funny that the caramel pulled it out.  We spent the next ten minutes reliving the story with Teresa asking about the hard thing and then giggling with delight.  It is fun to experience the joy of children!

Fall Getaway!

It was a fun fall conferences weekend!  The kids had play dates, we went to the water park, enjoyed the Asbury Halloween parade and on Saturday we took a day trip to Pikes Peak State park.  The day was the perfect fall temperature.  Not too hot or too cold, beautiful sunshine and a forest filled with leaves changing color.  We went for a hike at the park and enjoyed being together in God's creation.

After hiking we drove into Prairie du Chien, WI for lunch.  A neighbor recommended a sandwich shop for lunch.  It was a busy place, but worth the wait.  The food was delicious and the atmosphere was a bit eclectic and fun.  It kept us all entertained while we waited for our food.

Lots of smiles from the whole family!  When lunch was done we found a fort playground in town and played for awhile.  Before heading home we made a stop at Cabela's.  That was a favorite store to browse around up in East Grand Forks.  All around it was a wonderful family day!

Pumpkin patch 2016!

It was a beautiful fall weekend last weekend, so decided to head to the pumpkin patch for a fun family activity.  We already had pumpkins from Aldi's, but the pumpkin patch experience is a good time.  We opted for the same one as last year.  We enjoyed the wagon ride and checking out the pumpkins in the patch.  And once again Troy led us through the corn maze with little trouble.  I like to see the folks who wander around lost!  That would probably be me without Troy!!  The kids had fun in the big pumpkin bounce house too.  It took some convincing to get Timothy to want to go, but I think everyone had fun once we got there!

40th celebration!

Troy celebrated his 40th birthday this past week.  We started the celebration last weekend with dinner out at Hyvee Market Grille.  We wanted the birthday boy to get a night out, and weekends work better for going to a restaurant.  We all enjoyed the yummy food.

 On Thursday morning we partied as a family.  Since it was Troy's 40th, I thought he deserved some extra fun, so I devised a little scavenger hunt for him.  My clues were not too hard as he was pretty quick to find all his presents.  I guess that was good as everyone had places to be in the morning.

The kids were probably more excited than Troy to see what he got!  He had a fun package from his sister with a musical card and 40 hugs and kisses.  Timothy and Teresa were happy to get a hug after breakfast.

Troy got some new shirts--a wild jersey from his mom and a vikings polo from me.  Timothy, Teresa and I all gifted him with coupons for dates.  He and I are going to a brewery to hear live music.  Timothy wants to have lunch with Troy at Fizoli's and Teresa wants to take him to the Humane Society.

Then it was off to school for the kids and off to work for Troy.  He did take along some treats to share with his students.  It was a very busy day, but eventually he made it home for some more partying.

At Troy's request, his cookie cake was decorated in honor of his favorite team.  Go Cubs!  While everyone else was gone, I kept busy baking and decorating and cooking for the evening party.  We had a handful of neighbors and friends join us for dinner to celebrate Troy.

He even got a few gifts at the party to help him ease into his old age.  Timothy and Teresa are still trying to figure out way Troy needs a pill organizer! 

It was a fun night of fellowship and celebration.  Anna even played Happy Birthday on the piano for Troy having just learned it in her lessons!

The celebration continued after his actual birthday.  Troy and I had our usual late dinner complete with some of his favorite foods.  And today we are going on our date.  And the kids' dates are yet to come.  I think it was a good day for Troy.  He is a wonderful man and blesses so many by being him.  I am thankful for our years together and look forward to all that are yet to come.  Happy 40th Troy!

 

Baptism day!

Today we celebrate Teresa, child of God!  She was so excited for her baptism day--mostly because she knew she would be made to feel special.  She picked out her rainbow dress and her cross necklace to wear.  She was pleased with her card and special breakfast.

 She and Timothy continue to enjoy using her new camera for selfies and pictures!

 We went to the labor day parade and then the river museum to touch the sting rays and see the big dinosaur.

 Troy was gone at dinner, so we did a special blessing at lunch.  And I am sure we will light her candle again at dinner as we continue the celebration.  We are indeed blessed with a wonderful daughter and a great and loving God who claims her as his child!