December 2011

Merry Christmas! The first Christmas in our new house was exciting... where to put the tree?  Where to put each decoration?!  We had so much fun moving things around trying to decide the best spot for everything!

The boys got to tell Santa their wishes in Goodhue... here is there lists...

 

The boys really had fun looking in all of the toy catalogs to make their list... I made them limit it to 6.  

Tommy's is on the Left:  Cars 2 (The movie), Bop-It, Chuggington (train set), Zombie  Lab (gross!), Shake N Go (Cars) and Race Cars

Ben's List is on the Right:  Ninjago (Lego guys), Hot Wheels Wall Track (very specific), Hot Wheels (not specific), Bat Cave (this needs a little explaining-  Ben thinks we should add on to our house-  connecting our garage to our house is going to be an underground BatCave... like Batman has), PSP Mario (we don't have a PSP), and a Ball pit (this was very specifically "like the one at Mom's work"-  the ball pit we have at the Rochester Center for Autism is about 6 feet by 6 feet and can be filled with about 1000 balls...where would we put this?!  Next to the BatCave I suppose!)   

I love their imagination & wish lists!  

Sledding!!  At about this tree to the softball field (you can see the fence in the background) there is a small hill with a creek at the bottom... don't worry- the creek is usually dried up- this winter it was about a 3 inch area of ice.  The boys spent HOURS on this hill... trying to "jump" the creek.  

COOKIES!!!!  This was 1 day of baking/dipping- yay for Christmas Break!!

  

Also during Christmas Break we took a trip to the Science Museum in the Twin Cities.  Ben and Tommy LOVED the dinos (who doesn't!?) and made their own "news cast"

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!!

 

Yes... I am THAT MOM that makes my children sit by presents to take a picture :-)  BUT... we did let them open presents in their jammies!

Ben is sporting his new Cougar Hat as well as a football training target

Tommy, too, is sporting his new Cougar Hat as well as his football training tackle dummy!

 

Ben & Tommy also got very special sweatshirts from our previous neighbors Dave & Judy!  

THIS is what I got :-)  John gave me a necklace from the Zales Shared Heart Collection  It not only is fantastically beautiful, but a portion of all sales from the collection go towards Autism Speaks!  

What a man :-)

We then went over to Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Steve's to have "Grandkid open presents time" 

Tony- sporting a new hardhat.... it may fit Patrick a bit better!

Tommy checking out his Aircraft Carrier Boat

Ben & Tommy each got a FULL set of Football pads-jerseys- helmets- socks and pants.... in COUGAR Colors!!!  We, of course, had to immediately put them on to go try them out!!  

Yes... This picture is taken Christmas day in Minnesota.... John is only wearing a sweater!  

Now.....Into the new year!!

November- 2011

Birthday Month!!  On the 10th- Ben turns 6!!  SIX!!!  and also this month I turn 30 For Ben's birthday, he wanted everything "ZM Cougar"- We have been talking about painting his room- and he told he wants it to be Blue and Silver-  So- the first part of the month, we spent patching, sanding and priming his room- then it was time to pick out the colors... the blue was easy-  Navy blue is fairly common.... Silver... that was a hard one- how do you find paint that looks nice, but isn't chrome?!  It took a couple of tries but I think we found a great match!  The big surprise for Ben's birthday was his new quilt.  He knew all about the room...and all about turning it into a "ZM Cougar room"... but he didn't know that I had been busy working on a Blue and Silver quilt.  He was pretty excited when we gave it to him!!

The week of Ben's birthday, he was also "Star of the Week."  In Kindergarten, every child gets the chance to be the star for the entire week- they get to bring in family members, bring in a poster that talks about their favorite things, and bring home "Q-Bear!"  Q-Bear was with us for a weekend and we kept him pretty busy!

Birthday dinner (Pepperoni & Green Olive Casey's Pizza)

Home-made Pizza

Kickball

Ben's Kindergarten Class

I was so lucky- I got to visit Ben's class

We also took a trip to Mequon to visit with Gramma and Grampa...and Pete and Vanessa and Noah!!  It has been a while since we have seen Vanessa and Noah, so this was an exciting trip!  The boys picked up right where they left off last time- Ben, Tommy and Noah play so well together!  

Tommy & Noah

Uncle Pete with all of his Nephews

Ben & Noah 

Pete & his Lego Guys

Grampa Steve took the opportunity to show the boys how to "make sawdust."  Ben was very excited by this, as about 2 weeks earlier, he had told us that he thinks he wants to be a carpenter when he grows up!

Soon it was time to come home...and enter into Kris' birthday week!  The big 3-0 (Yikes!)  That morning I woke up and was getting ready for work... nothing unusual.... until I looked outside...

Gotta love your family :-)

November also brings thanksgiving... This year, I had decided that we were going to host thanksgiving-  Our old house was too small for a great gathering-but this house is PERFECT!!!!!  I think it turned out great too- our home was filled with both of our families (minus only Becky & Joe, and Vanessa & Noah).  The food was great and it was so much fun to host!!!

Games with Gigi!

Baseball!

Family time

Cousins...Patrick really didn't want his picture taken

Kids table!

Happy Thanksgiving!

After dinner relaxing

Pies!

A few years back, we started a tradition- the day after thanksgiving we go to Red Wing to do the Holiday Stroll.  It is a fun nighttime activity, and this year we got to share it with Steve, Anne and Gigi Ann!  

One of Santa's Reindeer!

Cousins <3