Sunday afternoon, after the kids took much needed naps, we headed to Jake’s parents’ house to celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, Stacie wasn’t able to join in the fun – she was studying for finals. We played a little Mexican Train, watched football, had a great ham dinner complete with cheesy potatoes & orange jello salad, and of course, opened presents. The boys were very excited to help pass out the wrapped surprises and open them 🙂 I think they assisted everyone in opening at least one gift. After the wrapping paper was picked up, we snacked on all sorts of sweets – ice cream, fudge, chocolate crinkles and dipped pretzels just to name a few. The boys were more than happy to sample just about everything they could talk someone into giving them (or sneak!)
Saturday morning after we got the kids up and dressed, they ran into our room and came out with my “inside shoes” on their little feet. It’s hard to imagine the day their feet will dwarf mine!
At lunch on Friday I was getting something from the kitchen, turned my attention from the table where the boys were dining for a split second and saw this when I directed my attention back at them:
Nice huh?
Saturday we had hosted a birthday party at our house. Our friend, Deacon Joseph, came over for dinner and knew WE were celebrating with him, but had no idea about 20 other people were going to show up to surprise him too. Nolan had so much fun getting the birthday decorations out for the party. By far the best decoration in his mind was the Mylar balloon which we accidentally forgot to send home with our friend. Whoops! I guess we can re-use it for Jesus’ birthday in 11 days. 🙂
Sunday we had a visit from my mom and a friend of hers who was visiting from SD. She saw our house shortly after we bought it 6 1/2 years ago, so a lot has changed since then. It was fun giving her the tour – she remembered so much about the way the house used to be. I’m so glad we no longer have straw on the ceiling in the basement or black & neon fish wallpaper in the mudroom. Seriously…you should see the pictures.
We’re still eating leftover cake from Saturday’s party. We even sent cupcakes and cake home with other people. I don’t think the problem was that we made too much, it’s that people didn’t eat enough! Now I’m stuck with yummy frosted desserts staring me in the face when I walk into the kitchen. My willpower just isn’t strong enough to withstand the temptation. We had cupcakes for dessert tonight and Lincoln had a great time with his. At one point he was using a portion of it like it was some sort of animal. He hopped it along the tray of his highchair and made animal noises. I know I should have probably kept him in line, but it was too funny. I missed getting a picture of that specific scene, but do have a few of him making quite a mess.
Nolan didn’t take a nap today. The result was one tired boy at 7pm. It was amazing how fast he crashed once we got him ready for bed. I had told him earlier in the day that he was going to go to bed early tonight, but I didn’t think he’d have a problem making it until 7. Guess I was wrong. Lincoln on the other hand, was in good spirits for about an hour longer than his big brother. That meant he got a little solo time with his mom & dad. Here he is reading with his Daddy. I love how much our kids enjoy reading books. They even enjoy reading to each other – so cute.
Friday afternoon after nap time, I pulled out the “magical box of craft supplies” and let the boys use their imaginations. They each selected a piece of construction paper and loaded it with stickers & popsicle sticks and then punched out stars. We also pulled out the glitter and made a few ornaments for the tree. I love that part of my job as a mom means I get to play with fun craft stuff alongside my kids.
We were invited to a Christmas party on Saturday afternoon. Nolan and Lincoln helped me bake cookies to bring along. We made my Grandma Fran’s Gumdrop Cookies. (They’re my dad’s favorite, so I made sure we had extras to send my parents’ way.) I loaded the cookie sheets with dough balls and let the boys add the gumdrops. It was the perfect activity for them – just about as much fun as eating the final product.
Today as the kids were getting ready for the day, Nolan told me he wanted to wear his party shirt to school. I figured it would be good practice for the birthday celebration we’re having for a friends of ours on Saturday. Once Nolan had his shirt on, Lincoln made it very apparent that he, too, wanted to wear his party shirt. Here are the partiers playing in their hut after dinner.
Wednesday night we had to scrounge up some pj’s for Nolan. I was a tad behind on laundry, so his “normal” pajamas were still in the dirty laundry pile. We made due with sport pants and a Twins shirt. Not to be left out, Lincoln “requested” a t-shirt of his own. Actually, he requested one of Nolan’s and we put it over his sleeper. He was SO proud of the fact that he was wearing the Corn Dog shirt. It’s a Sheck boy favorite.
Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. Nolan and I worked on a special project Wednesday afternoon & Thursday morning. We made turkeys using an outline of his hand and finger paint prints of his fingers. He had a lot of fun gluing on the beaks, “gobblers,” googly-eyes, and feathers. After the glue dried, I had him decorate the place settings at the table. He was pretty proud!
We hosted my family and our friends Teri & Nate for Thanksgiving dinner. My parents brought the main course (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing & gravy,) I put together a couple of side dishes (the token green bean casserole and squash & apple dish I made a couple of weeks ago,) Tony brought fruit salad, and Teri made two delicious desserts. We dined with a couple of pilgrims who gobbled up the food on their plates like old Turkey Day pros. It was really nice to spend the day with family.
Can you tell they’re brothers? Lincoln has started smiling the way his big brother does. Both of them really know how to ham it up for the camera.
After Thanksgiving dinner I made the mistake of drinking two cups of coffee (with lots of flavored creamer.) The kids went to bed at 7 & 9. Jake did the same around midnight or so and I was up until 3AM! When I laid my head down at 3, I laid awake for another hour. It was ridiculous. I don’t know what I was thinking putting that much caffeine into my body so late in the day. Lesson learned…the hard way.
Friday we spent some time at Larissa’s apartment. She had a group of us over to swim in her pool. It was a tad on the chilly side, so we didn’t stay in the water long. We gave the boys a warm bath to raise their body temps and then had pizza for lunch followed by ice cream sundaes. Yum! Jake then took the kids home for a nap while I went in to the office for a few hours. When I got home, we put the kids to bed and went out in the porch for a while. Not much was on TV on Friday night; somehow we ended up on QVC. I ended up making my first purchase thanks to the TV pitchpeople. (I didn’t call in though – I made the purchase online.) I’ve been looking for sleeping bags for the boys’ Santa presents and found the perfect ones on QVC. Who would have thought? And not only are they sleeping bags, but they’re sleeping bags with cots! So as the boys get bigger and we’re able to bring the cots with when we travel, the kids won’t have to make camp on the hard (and nasty) hotel floor. Thanks QVC!
On Saturday we made the annual trip to Menards to pick up our Christmas tree. We thought about going to a tree farm to cut one down this year, but I think we’ll wait a bit longer before we go on that adventure. At this point, the kids are more excited about just getting the tree inside the house and decorating it. Down the road when they’re able to enjoy seeking out the “perfect” tree, we’ll head to the tree farm. Until then, Menards will bring the tree selection to us. We convinced the kids to take a nap after we got the tree home, telling them we’d decorate it if they napped. It worked perfectly. We all got some much needed sleep and then later in the evening, enjoyed hanging lights and decorations. We put the tree in the porch so little fingers can’t get to it unless they’re monitored. Thanks to the former owners of our house, some of the outlets in the porch are on a switch that is in the toy room. So even though they can’t get up close to the tree without mom or dad, the boys can turn the lights on and off by themselves – it’s perfect.
Having two little boys in the house means we build a lot of forts. Sunday afternoon was no different. The card table we used on Thursday was still in the living room, so we covered it with a sheet and then placed the kids’ hut next to it to extend the width of the fort. Jake crawled in to see if he would fit. 😉 His feet stuck out one end and his head peered out the other. Being the helpful toddler, Lincoln checked on his daddy and then proceeded to try to rescue him by pulling on Jake’s head.
We met friends of ours at Springbrook Nature Center on Friday morning. There is a visitor center with live and formerly live animals that the kids enjoyed looking at. I’m not much for snakes, but they had some pretty cool ones that were native to MN. Maybe I didn’t mind them so much because they were contained in their aquariums. Once we were done with the inside part of the visit, we ventured outside to walk one of the trails. The older boys had fun running ahead of us while my friend Brooke & I pushed the little ones in strollers. It was a beautiful morning to be outside. We ended up finding a grassy clearing and hung out there for a while so the kids could explore, play & eat a snack. They had so many animal crackers I don’t think any of them needed lunch.
Side note…Nolan has a book called Help’s on the Way! It’s about rescue vehicles.
In one part of the book, Red, the firetruck helps rescue Milky, the ice cream truck. Milky is a big, white, boxy, truck. On our way to the nature center, Nolan said from the back seat, “Look at all those Milkys!” I paused for a moment, wondering what in the world he was talking about. When I looked in my mirrors, I noticed that we had just passed the RV sales lot with all of the big, white, boxy, RVs. I couldn’t contain my laughter 🙂 To his credit, the RVs DID in fact resemble Milky.
Friday night & Saturday I was able to spend time with friends organizing pictures and putting together a scrapbook with pictures from our engagement & wedding. This has been a project I have been meaning to start for quite a while, but just haven’t gotten to it. (I wonder why.) Now that I have things organized and also have a scrapbook to put the finished pages into, I’m hoping to be able to complete the book some time in the next year. We’ll see…
While I was doing my thing on Saturday, Jake took the boys to Hastings to see Auntie Kari (who was in town for the weekend), Grandma & Grandpa. From the looks of the pictures, they had a good time playing outside! They also helped wrap my birthday presents, which was pretty cute to see. I made sure not to look closely at those pictures until after I opened the gifts.
Sunday evening, Jake’s parents came over so Jake and I could go out to dinner (a day in advance) for my birthday. We went to Biaggi’s and had a fantastic meal! Our server was a friend of my brother’s, so it was fun to catch up with him a little, too. We ended the evening with pumpkin pie and funfetti cake (made by Larissa). It was a great birthday-eve!
Friday night was summersault practice in the living room. They are one of Nolan’s favorite things to do and little brother Lincoln (who loves to do everything his big brother does) is getting close to figuring it out too. Check it out the form the kids have! This clip makes me laugh every time I watch it!
Saturday was a busy day. We had a little visitor in the morning; she came to play for a few hours before we headed to an Eagle Scout ceremony for a young man we know from church. After a celebratory lunch (with cake,) Nolan and I headed downtown. A friend of mine invited us to join her, her son and another friend & her two daughters at a Baby Loves Disco pj birthday party complete with lots of music, bubbles, fresh fruit treats, juice boxes and of course birthday cake. It was a fun afternoon with my favorite 3 ½ year old. We came home and had pizza & chocolate cake (Nolan & I ended up having 3 pieces throughout the day 🙂 I consider it a tasty way to practice again for my upcoming birthday – I’ll gladly take one (or three) for the team.
Nolan wanted to wear a tie to church this morning. Lincoln of course wanted to wear one too. We put one on him for the 7 minute drive to church, but I took it off when he went to the nursery, just to be safe, since it clips around his little neck. When we got home, he insisted on wearing Jake’s tie and posing for a picture with Nolan. Then he attempted to share a hug or a take-down. From the picture Jake took, it looks like it could have gone either way.
Halloween was a blast this year! The boys were both pretty excited about it going into the big day. In the end, we actually had to cut Lincoln off. I think he would have tried another block’s worth of houses if we had let him. The kid has the candy grab down pat – thanks for the practice, Uncle Tony! Good thing most houses put the candy into his bucket instead. Here’s a rundown of the day, in pictures.
We visited Nana & Papa’s house in the morning. Since Nana recently had shoulder surgery, it was easier to go to her.
The next doorbell we rang was Uncle Tony’s. He put on his Halloween costume too – he was The Karate Kid this year.
Later in the day we carved our lone pumpkin. This baby came straight from our garden. It’s the only thing (aside from the celery) that did well this summer. I think it sucked the life out of every other pumpkin that attempted to grow on the same vine.
Finally, we gathered the munchkins together (ours plus two others) and headed out on a quest for candy.
We had a special guest come along with us. Auntie Stacie was home for the weekend and helped us keep track of the kids as we walked around the block.
We’ve been using the fireplace in our porch quite a bit lately. It’s been warmer out there than most of the days in MN this past summer – 80, close to 90 degrees. It was the perfect temp for a coloring marathon. We spent several hours working on the oversized coloring pages. I even broke out my old box of 96 crayons. The kids loved the selection.
Nolan’s imagination continues to brighten my day. I gave the boys wooden spoons to play with while I was working in the kitchen. Nolan called for me to join them in the living room. They “roasted marshmallows” using their spoons as skewers over a pretend fire on the carpet. Nolan brought me an imaginary graham cracker, so Lincoln had to do the same. Then I received chocolate and another cracker from both of them. It was pretty cute.
We had game night at our house on Friday night. Larissa & Michelle joined us for Scrabble Slam, Buzzword & Mexican Train. Add the chicken, black bean & spinach dip I love to make (and the fireplace) and we had a fun time. 🙂
Saturday night we joined a few other members of Jake’s extended family to celebrate his cousin Sara’s birthday. On our way to the party, I mentioned I wanted a beverage from SA. Nolan then said from the backseat, “Mom, I’m going to get you a medium mocoa…And a Diet Coke for me.” Sounds like our kid has heard us order from the McDonald’s drive-thru a few times. Are we that predictable???
The boys had a lot of fun helping Sara open her gifts. At one point they were both jockeying for the prime seat next to her so they could see what she was opening. While we were there, Aunt Kristin came through for me in a big way. Nolan wants to be a pumpkin for Halloween and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to dress him for the cold (and potentially wet) Halloween we will likely have. Kristin had a pumpkin costume in her basement that she made for one of her own kids. It’s great! And Nolan is so excited to wear it. He gets to wear his costume to school on Wednesday, so he’ll get to take it on a trial run before Saturday.
We’ve been working on what the kids need to say when they ring the doorbell on Halloween. The last time I asked Nolan what he should say he told me, “Can I have some candy, please?” What nice manners, huh? I’m guessing if he uses that, he could end up with extra candy pieces for being polite!
I went to visit my mom today. She had shoulder surgery on Friday morning. She’s recovering well, resting up, and doing her best to let her family take care of her. It’s nice to be able to return just a little bit of the kindness she has shown all of us over the years. While I was gone, Jake watched the boys plus our friends’ son. They boys always have such a great time with their friend. Breakfast for dinner was on tonight’s menu. Lincoln apparently wanted to eat like the big boys and use his fork tonight.
I gave myself more than 5 minutes on this one because of all I attempted to cover.
Friday night we had a Rody rodeo at the house. Jake gave Rody a little extra bounce and the boys loved it!
Our 7th anniversary was yesterday (10/18.) It’s hard to believe how fast the years have passed. I recently realized how close Jake and I are to having been together for 10 years – we started dating in 2000 when we were at the U. I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather be spending this crazy, fantastic life of marriage & kids with than my husband. For all of the ups and downs that life brings our way, he has been (and continues to be) a source of calm, strength, and consistency for me.
Saturday morning we were planning on bringing the boys to Jake’s parents’ house for the day so we could go on our anniversary date – a day early. Jason, (Jake’s brother) called and offered us his Ford Mustang for the day, so we altered our plans a bit and exchanged cars and transferred kids at his house instead. I didn’t know where we were going until we left our house. All I knew was the attire for our date. It was great to be surprised!
Short side story. My mom and I had the most successful 10 minute shopping trip on Friday night. I didn’t have anything fall-ish to wear on Saturday, so my mom agreed to meet me to do a little shopping. On my way to Maple Grove, she called and suggested we try Nordstrom Rack. When we arrived, it was 10 minutes until they closed. We hustled in, found a couple of dresses to try on, found one, scooted over to the shoes, and successfully found a great pair of red heels. Love them! Not too bad for a “let’s just see what they have” stop.
Back to Saturday. Once we picked up the Mustang, we headed east on 94 and traveled various small highways up through Wisconsin to St. Croix Falls. We had lunch at a fantastic restaurant called Grecco’s on the St. Croix. The place is quaint and has an intimate feel. We sat near the fireplace, which was great because if you know me, I’m always a bit cold. We ordered an appetizer and each chose the herb crusted walleye for our main dish. To our surprise, the host came over a short time later with a different appetizer, Ahi Tuna, “compliments of the chef.” I had never eaten pan seared tuna until Saturday. It was delicious! In fact, every part of our dining experience was amazing. We plan on returning and would highly recommend Grecco’s – it’s worth the drive to St. Croix Falls!
We drove back to Jake’s parents’ place through Minnesota. It was such a beautiful day and the leaves still had some color. We stopped in Afton and got an ice cream cone (my 2nd dessert of the day) and then finally arrived back in Hastings. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching football (poor Gophers :(), letting the boys and dogs run off energy (and ride) outside, and finally having dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, the boys, Larissa, Jason & his girlfriend B. It was a nice way to end the fun day Jake and I shared together.
Our actual anniversary was pretty laid back, which was ok with us. We went to mass in the morning, came home and had donuts – Nolan’s favorite 🙂 and then watched the Vikings game. Jake also worked on a few things around the outside of the house since the weather was so beautiful! Later in the evening, my mom came over and watched the boys so we could go to a movie. Neither of us would recommend seeing Where the Wild Things Are. Unfortunately, it was a depressing movie with no real plot. I’m glad I know the book is good because had I not read it before, I don’t think I’d even pick it up. It seems we’re 0 for 2 lately with picking movies to watch at the theater. We seem to do better with our picks from RedBox. Plus, in my opinion, it’s way more comfortable to watch a movie at home. I’m guessing we won’t be hitting the theater again for a while – unless someone can recommend a really good flick for us to see.
Today was business as usual. Nolan went to school and Lincoln and I headed to the gym. I feel so much better when I get a workout in in the morning. After school, we came home for lunch and then everyone took a much needed nap. We spent the afternoon outside – took a walk, played with chalk, and took “cheesy” pictures with the bale of hay we received from the local volleyball boosters we supported.
