Birthday party!

It was a new sort of birthday party this year--a sleepover.  The plan was three friends spending the night and playing video games and watching movies for entertainment.  That meant my role as party planner of games was greatly reduced.  I was okay with that, although I missed getting into a theme a little bit and did put up some signs and decorations at the last minute.

 The cake was the traditional chocolate cake with fornite emotes for the toppers of the cake.  In the picture the Fortnite sign on the cake looks like it belongs on his shirt.

 The night started with a pizza dinner.  It was fun to have the small number of boys.  They all got into sharing stories about a variety of things.  It was fun to hear them share!

 After dinner it was a few presents to open.  The loot llama with the confetti was certainly a favorite to open.

 Even more fun was whacking at the giant pinata llama in the basement.  All the boys got a chance to take a good whack at it.  Finally after a few turns, Timothy gave it a good hit and knocked the candy out.

 Then it was on to cake.  I had to be careful to place the candles so they would not burn the paper decorations.  12 candles is a lot of candles on a cake!!

One happy birthday boy enjoying his cake!  He and his friends had a blast hanging out the rest of the night and getting just a little sleep.  We are glad he has great friends and his birthday party was a success!

Thanksgivings

Our Thanksgiving celebrations began at home with our feast at home.  I kept it pretty simple this year, but the new cranberry recipe was not a hit.  (Well Troy liked it, but the rest of us were not so impressed.  The pumpkin marshmallow pie on the other hand was a big success.

 Since Troy travels before Thanksgiving, we set up the tree really early this year.  It took me a long time to get all the non-working lights off of the tree, but it was worth it.  It is always fun to pull out the ornaments and remember years past.

 Then it was on to the real Thanksgiving.  I wondered how it would be without my dad this year.  It was sad, we missed him, but we also remembered him with laughter and stories.  Everyone pitched in to create a delicious meal.  The same dishes as usual, but with a new pie and no pumpkin this year.  Krista made a French Silk and I think that may well become a tradition with the raves it got!!

 We had a fun day together.  The cousins played in various forms and there was the annual football game after dinner.  It was in the snow this year, but that did not stop the fun.  I even got in on the action!

And these twin cousins put on two skits that had been planning over face time.

It was a wonderful time of being family and making memories.  I am thankful for my family!!
 It was hard to say goodbye to my mom, but I am glad we could see her for a few days.

Next it was onto Susie's to celebrate with Tory's side.  There are "cousins" to play with there too.  And also the Girl and boy cousin photo to take.  Teresa is a little closer with her two buddies, but Timothy has some fun too.  We had another big dinner.  Watched some Christmas movies, played some games and had fun being with family.  It was certainly different without Tory's mom too and she was missed.  I am thankful for the chance to visit family and safe travels and making memories to cherish for years to come!

Nailed it!

The kids have been enjoying a baking show called Nailed It.  Some pretty bad cooks are brought on and they have to do two baking challenges.  The challenges are usually sort of hard and they are not given much time, so the final product is pretty funny.  Timothy and Teresa wanted to try their own Nailed It!

They each invited a friend over.  I gave them a recipe for a small batch of sugar cut out cookies and off they went.  Neither of the kids has baked on their own before and they don't even bake much with me.  But the only help I gave them was how to use an egg separator dish.  The actually did a pretty good job and both teams made some yummy cookies!  I was proud of their cooking abilities!

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone.  It was a great time!  We started the fun last weekend with some pumpkin carving.  Teresa requested Mary Poppins and Timothy chose a face from Bendy.  Timothy was going to try carving but changed his mind and let Troy.  I did Mary Poppins.

 The final products turned out pretty well.  And Teresa was super excited about the seeds that would be roasted. She even picked out the seeds from the goop for me!

 The kids had Halloween off from school.  I thought of a whole day waiting around to trick or treat we be tough, so I threw a party for the kids and a few neighborhood friends.  We played some games, watched a Halloween Garfield show and had some mummy hot dogs. They really enjoyed the toilet paper mummy game!!

 Finally it was time to trick or treat.  Troy dressed up as Obi Wan Ken obi.  Teresa was Mary Poppins.

 I was the lucky Minnie Mouse that got to stay home and hand out candy!

 Timothy was the Scream with his costume with fancy arm sleeves!  He trick or treated with a friend and then got to end the night with a sleepover!

It was a chilly night, but at least the snow stopped falling earlier in the day.  We had a total of 9 inches in the last week--a record for the city.

 Mary Poppins and Obi Wan warm up with some hot chocolate!

Timothy stopped home briefly to gather his stuff for the sleepover and do some trading with Teresa!

Fall hike #2

Hiking on a beautiful fall day!  We wanted a family outing.  The kids have no interest.  We say, "invite friends."  They say, "We can't wait to go!  We don't want to miss this!"

It was a great day to hike along the bluffs of the river.  The kids each had a friend to keep them company.  There were lots of smiles and laughter and not once did someone say "can we go home now."  I call that a win!

My Dad

One year ago the kids and I went up to MN for fall break.  I have not always taken the kids up, but decided to go for it last year.  We had lots of fun at the apple orchard, and at a cousin's Halloween party, and jumping in the leaves.  My favorite memory, however, is giving my dad a hug before we left.  It would be my last hug I ever got from him.  I mean a true hug when we were at home and he had his arms wrapped around me holding me tightly.  It was the last time I got to be daddy's little girl held in my father's embrace.

Two days later we learned about his cancer.  A month later when I saw him again, he was in the hospital.  I could hold his hand and sort of get a hug as he lay there, but it was not the same hug that I had gotten from him all these years.

I wish I had a picture of our last hug.  But I do remember the feeling of being so tightly held and loved.  These pictures remind of hugs and love I grew up with.  I miss my dad so much, but I am grateful for his love and hugs!

Fall hike!

It is easy to see from the pictures that the temperatures recently dipped a bit low.  It was a chilly Saturday, but we drove up to Pikes Peak State Park for a little family outing.  We went for a brief hike and enjoyed seeing the river and the start of the fall colors.

 We were pretty bundled up, but once we got into the woods a little we were sheltered from the wind and it wasn't too cold.  It was fun just to have time together even if a few members of the family were not super excited about the hike!

 After the hike we went to a favorite little cafe in Prairie du Chien for lunch.  Yummy sandwiches and a delicious cookie to share.  Life is good together with those you love!

Before heading home, we toured Cabela's for old times sake.  We used to go there a lot in Grand Forks just to look around at all the animals.  It was a great day!

Fall MN visit

The kids and I made a quick weekend trip to MN to visit family.  The had one day off from school so we made the most of our three day weekend.  It was a weekend filled with cousins and fun!

 We got to get Cal early from school to spend time at Grandma's house.  One of the things we did was to decorate spider cupcakes.  They were a bit abstract, but fun to make together.

 Later in the afternoon the rest of the cousins came over and that makes for a busy house, but also lots of smiles and laughter.  Teresa and Fiona put on several editions of "The Witch Sisters."  The made up little skits that were quite funny and for some reason included a lot of vomiting.  They are already planning more skits for Thanksgiving!

 We also had a Halloween mystery dinner with all the cousins.  They got to order food with Halloween names and then did not know what they would be getting.  It was very entertaining!

 Timothy decided to try out an experiment with an egg.  He wanted to make the egg bouncy.  The first attempt failed, but the second try resulted in a bouncy egg.

It was fun to be at Grandma's house and the time went way too fast.  We look forward to our visit again next month!