Georgia Visitors

Grandpa Steve and Nanna Celeste came to visit from Georgia...we had a lot of fun which will hopefully be documented in a future post, but here's a couple of my favorite pics from the weekend.

Love Love Love Love Love

Love is...

I love when these two are getting along and playing together...so cute to hear Cade making his little sister giggle. And then the next minute they are fighting and Brecken is tattling on Cade, sometimes she's telling the truth, sometimes she's not. Cade probably gets blamed for a little more than he should and Brecken probably puts up with a little more than she should. And when Cade wants to give her good night hugs and kisses, she will often refuse...she does know how to push his buttons. But I know deep down the love is there. When they wake up in the morning, they always want to know where the other is and then they are so excited to see each other (for about 5 minutes). And when they are with other kids, Cade is always watching out for his sister.

We've been celebrating Valentine's Day for awhile now since Cade has his party at school last Thursday. We made Grandma Roberta's cupcakes to take to school. I still have not perfected the process but they turned out not only edible, but good!

Cade showing off the "surprise" inside.

They waited at least two weeks to open this package from Grandpa Steve & Nanna Celeste...they were so excited when the day finally arrived!

We spent today just hanging out at home...eating on our Valentine plates all day long!

Brecken is celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow with her friends at Sue's and these are the Valentines she will be taking. She is very excited!

Cade took Toy Story valentines and chocolate to his friends at preschool. I chose Toy Story for him because I knew if I would have taken him the choice would have just been too overwhelming! And because every time we go in a store lately, he thinks he needs a new toy, so keeping him out of stores is just best right now! ; ) The teachers didn't want us to address the cards to the kids, just who they were from. Cade and I worked on it together and he probably would have wrote his name on all 32, but it was getting late so I helped (of course we procrastinated until the night before). He even sealed them with the sticker and taped the candy to them. It was fun to see him being so grown up, putting them all together. He actually made his own box at school, but this one came with his cards. When we were putting the cards together, he was bummed that he didn't get to keep one of his for himself. I said, "you don't give a Valentine to yourself silly!" Then when I picked him up, we had sent one extra and he was quick to tell me that he got to give himself a Valentine!

What else have we been up to during February?

*went to cousin Lauren's 5th birthday party last Sunday at Jumpin' Jacks...the kids had soooo much fun! It has bounce houses and arcade games. Tears from Brecken when we had to leave and I think they were asleep before we got home.

*went shopping with my mom last Friday and then met up with the Cases, Jim, and the kids @ Joe's Crab Shack. That is such a great place to take kids. 1. It's loud. 2. There's a lot to look at. 3. There's entertainment - the wait staff dances every hour or so. 4. They have the cutest dessert ever...a crab-shaped rice krispies treat that comes in an artist's tray with a brush and 3 "paints" strawberry, caramel, and chocolate. 5. During warmer times, there's a playground outside.

*Took the kids swimming at the new YMCA for the first time last Saturday. We had a blast until they found poo in the pool and we had to get out for 20 minutes. This was a half hour before they closed. We moved over to the other pool but it was freezing cold.

*watching American Idol, a little of Biggest Loser, Survivor, the Office, the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and starting today the Amazing Race. I think maybe we are watching a little too much reality tv. Brecken knows Russel on Survivor and often asks to watch him, Cade asked me if Biggest Loser was the exercise show, and tonight Brecken said, "I'm going to Hollywood! And sing for Simon!" I've never met them, but my friend Jodi's cousins, the cowboys Jet and Cord McCoy, are on The Amazing Race so that is fun to watch.

*went to church last Sunday and have been going more often...we're hoping the kids improve each time! ; ) Do we get much out of it? No, we're too worried about making the kids behave, but hopefully by just going we are setting a good example for the kids?!

*had our own little Super Bowl party at home. I actually didn't see much of the game or the commercials because I was working on photos, but I was happy to see the Saints win and Drew Brees with his son...so precious!

*attended the funeral of a co-worker's son who was only 27 and lost his battle with cancer. I did not know him personally, but he and his wife's faith through everything will always be an inspiration to me and I think every person that was in attendance will look at their life and faith differently.

*as I write this, it's snowing again.

That's all for now!

XOXO

Cousins

December

The highlights of our December...

We counted down the days until Christmas!

I attended an Advent by Candlelight at my aunt's church...she invited 10 people and then has to decorate a table and serve dessert. We were entertained by choir, a band (with a clarinet, who knew anyone played after high school?), and bells. It was a nice, relaxing way to begin the holiday season. And the dessert was awesome...Italian wedding cake. How cute is her table?!

We had pictures taken with Julia and Lauren for Christmas gifts for grandparents and Brecken had her 1-Year pictures taken.

We celebrated our niece Julia's sixth birthday at her house and then to Pizza Ranch for dinner...we were babysitting Jim's little cousin Sarah, so she went with and the kids were WILD! Thank goodness for party rooms!

I took a day off to finish up my Christmas shopping...except I didn't finish. Accomplished a lot though and got to meet Jim for lunch at P.F. Chang's. Our first meal without children in quite some time! I lost my list half way through the day...that didn't help!

Jim had a night out with his Investment Club. They went to All Play downtown...it's a Chuck E. Cheese for adults basically.

Listened to lots of Christmas music (yes, I'm one that doesn't mind that it starts playing before Thanksgiving).

I had a "night out" to go watch my cousin Ali perform in the Nutcracker Ballet at the Hoyt Sherman Theater downtown. She was an angel and had a limited part, but she was awesome. Another little girl in her group fell down when she was running out onto the stage...twice! These are second graders, felt so bad for her, she was crying afterwards. Broke my heart! Afterwards we went out to dinner at Spaghetti Works with my mom, aunts, the Cases, Ali, and her friends. Jim and the kids stayed home with Grandpa Clark.

Had an early Christmas with my Dad & Celeste. While they were here, we went and saw Santa at the Winterfest here in town. It was freezing cold, but we waited in line for Santa. Cade told him he wanted a sled and a snowblower. I don't think Santa is going to deliver on the snowblower! Brecken sat on his lap, but was pretty emotionless. I personally, thought he looked a little scary! There was someone carving ice sculptures, cookies and cocoa at the community center, and horse & wagon rides. It's a really cute little celebration, but it was soooo cold.


We also got together with my aunt and her kids for dinner. My aunt made lutefisk (fish) and lefse (like tortillas, but Norwegian I guess?) like my grandparents used to. She went to a lot of work and it brought back memories of holidays spent with my grandparents. The best was taking the leftover lefse or potato cakes and putting butter and sugar on them...yum! My four cousins all live near us, but we really only see them once or twice a year. It's fun to see all of our kids together...the older boys (Steven, Nathan, and Alec) are so good with the younger kids (Cade, Brecken, Julia, Lauren, Olivia, Danika, Cale, and Lola)and Cade had a blast playing rough and doing what little boys do. He kept calling Alec, Alex but thought it was pretty cool that they had the same Puma shoes. Cale had a toy gun so I'm pretty sure Cade thought he was the coolest kid he'd ever met. Brecken was a little overwhelmed, but was happy to wander around exploring their house and take ornaments off their tree. Our contribution to the night was Swedish Meatballs...made mainly by Jim and my dad...they were delish too!


We attempted to get a good family photo...

We celebrated Christmas with my mom and Clark, my brother and family, and Clark's kids and families. We cut back this year, can't you tell?

Thumbs up Jer!

We drove through the Jolly Holiday Lights and stopped at Santa's Village at the end and visited him again...highly recommend this for seeing Santa...not much of a line at all and they have cookies, hot cocoa, etc. Cade asked "if Santa cut his beard because the last time we saw Santa he had a long, curly one."


We spent Christmas Eve at home which was a little weird but nice. Most of the day was spent preparing food. We decided that taking Brecken to church was just not the best idea, so just Jim and Cade went to the 3:30 mass. Cade did pretty good. We had an interesting dinner at home, the food was good, the behavior was not. I think Brecken ate before us and then Cade sat in time-out while we were eating...it was really peaceful and relaxing. ; ) We opened some presents that evening and then got ready for Santa by leaving cookies, milk, and carrots...Cade fell asleep watching "Cars" on our new ipod. I think his favorite gift was the "Star Wars" t-shirt...would wear it 24/7 if we would let him.

Brecken just could not keep her little hands off of the Christmas tree...we found ornaments strung about the house...I think she ended up breaking three and by the end of the season, our tree was only decorated on the upper half because every time she took one off, it got put up a little bit higher.

We woke Christmas morning to find that Santa had visited. It was really iffy there for awhile! He brought a Cabbage Patch Kid (named Nelda), a tent and tunnel (did he think we had room for that?), a sled, a wheelbarrow, and a Wii as a "family gift." : )

After playing for a bit, we headed to my mom and Clark's to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We stayed there for a few days which is always fun because Cade loves it there and we can relax and kind of disconnect from everything at home. We ate, played a lot of games, and ate more. Seriously, we were like on the two-hour plan for eating.

My cousin Troy is a Husker fan so every year there is at least one or two "gifts" exchanged...one year it was a mug plastered with pictures of Cade in a Husker hat, this year my mom wrapped up 5 boxes of Cyclone Crunch for him.

Brecken was up to her ornament snatching at Grandma's too...

Cade got to try out his new sled...

We also had a chance to visit our friends, the Wilsons, and have dinner with them. Kaleigh made some delicious Cornish hens and made her famous Creme Brulee. Cade thought "the torch" was pretty cool!
Jim also had a chance to visit his grandparents. Grandma Eileen had knee replacement surgery right after Christmas so Jim took them some meals that we had prepared so they could have some easy dinners while she was recovering.
Our little Rudolphs...Sue helped the kids make these at daycare...such a cute idea! The reindeer antlers are their traced hands.

What a busy month! We loved every minute of it and can't wait 'til next (or this) year!