First post from the iPad

Thanks to the new Blogsy application. Maybe now I won't be a week between posts.

 

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Sully's pose

Sully has recent started striking a pose for photos. We weren't really sure what prompted it. And then last night he and I watched an episode of Transformers: Rescuebots where blade and bumblebee get their picture taken at the end. As the characters in the show struck a pose, Sully did too. Another mystery solved. Too funny.

Here is the pose:

WI Christmas #1

On Friday we packed up the kids and Jordy, headed to Appleton WI for Christmas #1. We arrived with just enough time for the kids to run around like maniacs for an hour before we headed out for Friday Fish Fry. The kids ran around like maniacs there too. The fish was good. The beer was decent. Catching was up nice too.

Saturday morning we got the kids up, fed, cleaned, dressed. Then we loaded them in the car for a quick visit with my parents. Sully was upset that we weren't at "their other house" (aka, my sister's house with the car race track in the basement), but he got over it and started playing with some trucks in the toy room. Harper helped decorate some chocolate covered pretzels for Syd and Cass. Then it was time for gifts.

I think it is safe to say that everyone loved the build-a-track that Sully got (even Jordy). Harper liked her magnetic puzzle (as evidenced by her asking to play with it several times the rest of the weekend). Sully loved the flashlights too.

Here they are posing in front of the tree. Then Sully wanted one of him and his cars. ....then one of just his cars....

And here are the toys....

After all that excitement, we piled back in the car and headed back for Christmas with the Smiths. Gifts were opened, food was eaten, beer was consumed. Harper got an Elf on the Shelf from her Aunt Mel, which she was sooooo excited about. Sully got lots of cars (and some other stuff like books and clothes). T got a coffee tumbler from Starbucks with free refills every day in January and some puppy PJs from the kids. I got warm mittens!

Saturday night we grabbed a drink with one of T's friends from back in the day. Sunday I think we were all battling a cold, so we packed up early and came home.

holiday brain farts...

The holidays have sort of taken over. I'm not sure where I left off or what happened since. Lots of gift wrapping and baking happened. Some wine and beer were imbibed, I'm sure. I'm loving the X Factor and Homeland right now (which seem like the only shows I have time to watch). I catch up on TV when T goes to football or church meetings. And one Saturday I caught up on some TV.....but I don't remember how long ago that was. Ha ha.


Here are some of the treats we made - bacon fat gingersnaps, pecan fingers, and peanut butter balls! All have been taste tested and approved by both T and I. We also made and decorated some sugar cookies.

We went to T's office holiday party which is kid friendly, so we took the kids. The only picture I have is of the kids wrestling on the floor AND this one of T and H eating Costco cake.

It was nice to catch up with the folks in his office (some of my old kickball team).

Then we went to WI to celebrate xmas with T's family .....

this happened on Sunday too....

We met up with this cutie for brunch at the Tap on Sunday (and his parents came too!)

Sunday = Snow day!

No fog this weekend. Snow instead!

Jordy was so happy to play in the snow. He played with his toy, chased snow balls, dug holes and tried to attack the shovel. It was a good dog day. By early evening, he was exhausted.

the weekends fly by

We didn't have any major plans this weekend. And yet is seems to have flown by.

We made cookies:

We tried a few new beers. I liked this one, but it was a little too boozy (at 9.5% alcohol by volume):

We played one game of chess after T realized that my Mom brought this chess set up on Thanksgiving:

A visit to Santa

On Monday we took the kids for their annual picture with Santa. Sully was not interested in sitting on Santa's lap. However, he did stand a comfortable distance away and ask for Santa to bring "lots of presents". Both kids finally sat on Santa's lap. They didn't really smile at the same time, but there is one good shot of them in the bunch.

a foggy Sunday

Just realized that two Sundays in a row had morning weather adventures.

Last week it was fog. We walked with Jordy down to the lake. It was pretty cool.

In the evening we met up with the Lenz's for dinner at the Lowry. It was my first time there. The food was good. The company was better.

O Christmas Tree.

We picked up a Christmas tree on Wednesday night. Jordy was thrilled to have a tree in the middle of the living room.

After dinner on Thursday, we decorated the tree with the kids. It went surprisingly fast. Sully played with one of the truck ornaments for most of the decorating and then decided to hang one or two ornaments before we finished up.

Creative leftovers

We ate lots of leftovers: turkey/cranberry/stuffing bagel sandwich, spicy turkey tortilla soup, and turkey pot pie. All were yummy.

As it turns out, I am an artist

Nicole, Heather and I have been trying to get a Wine & Canvas event on the schedule for a couple months now. As it turned out, the Monday after Thanksgiving worked out for all our schedules, so we booked it before it filled up.

And it was worth the wait. Super fun. I didn't think I would be able to paint that well, but I like the way it turned out. It would probably look a little more complete if I had a few more hours to put into it. ...but with 3 hours, I think it is great.

We gave Thanks!

This year we had a Thanksgiving doubleheader. On the actual day, T and I celebrated with the kids and a full spread. It wasn't huge, but it was still lots more food than we were able to eat in one day.

I made a variation of my Grandma's cranberries and they were soooo good. T brined, grilled and smoked the Turkey. We had all the other fixings too -- squash, mashed potatoes (with bacon bits). Yum! And pumpkin pie torte.

On Friday, the family came up - Jennie and the girls (and little Leo), my parents, T's dad. It was a full house, but we had fun. Friday night was pizza. After the kids went to bed, we started a game of Phase 10 and broke out the Goldschlager.

Saturday the kids were up WAY TOO EARLY. So all of us were up. Kids played, dogs played, adults relaxed and got stuff ready for the 2nd Turkey Dinner of the holiday weekend. In the afternoon, Jennie and I took all the girls - Syd, Cass, Harper -- to see Rise of the Guardians. It was pretty good. The kids liked it.

Then it was home for Turkey dinner. Same great food. Baked turkey stuffed with stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, cranberries, rolls were followed by pie. The kids went to bed early (or so we tried) while the adults finished up the round of Phase 10 started the day before.

My family left Sunday morning. T's Dad stayed for a few hours more. And just like that, the holiday weekend was over. I think we all felt like this....

everyday life

I don't know what is happening here, but it is clearly very important.

Dog park fun

Saturday was warm and sunny, so we decided to get out and get some fresh air. We took the kids to the off leash dog park. The kids walked, climbed, kicked stones and threw Jordy's toy. Jordy ran around like a banana ....and swam too, of course.

Jordy was so tired after all the running and swimming.....