a common sight

my kind of hill

all day today it has been raining.
NOW ...
i am not at ALL complaining about the temperatures -
BUT ...
i am very thankful that last night is when we hit the tubing hill :)



the drizzle was just starting -
so as you can see from the above picture,
a layer of ice was just forming.

you take the ice,
you add 6 crazy boys



2 VERY brave 4 year olds
who went down ALL by themselves!



9 other riders
who didn't all make this picture



AND
the ability to go down connected in large groups -

and we had
a LOT of weight ...
which meant
a LOT of speed
AND
a LOT of fun!

and the BEST part ???
once we got to the bottom ...
we just stepped on to the magic carpet and let it do the work of getting us back to the top ;)
and considering the fact that alex never left his tube ...
i'd say that makes it worth every penny spent.

my sweet sunday ride

before leaving for home -
i had one last blast of fun.

after putting the boys to bed,
i went up to granite peak
the ski hill in town
with my sister.

her boyfriend manages the team that grooms and creates the terrain parks.
SO ...
we spent some time riding up on the hill in 'the park bully'



first just riding around



admiring the beauty



and the fun things that he has built

THEN ...
we headed over to where his new park will be.



we pushed snow around for a while



and then couldn't leave before having a little fun of our own ;)

to see the hill from this perspective
and to see what goes into the behind the scenes work
was SWEET!

now i just have to get up that courage i've been searching for
to strap a board to my feet and take advantage of their hard work! ;)

bridging the gap

as of tonight ...

ben is officially a basketball player



and we have officially found something to bridge the gap
between football and baseball

recap

ok ...
i was finally able to find a computer amidst the mounds of wrapping paper and laundry -
SO ... here's a quick and ever so exciting Christmas recap

we went to wisconsin for a short
but very full
Christmas weekend.

we spent the entire day of Christmas hanging at my mom's.
there was LOTS of present opening
alex FINALLY got the pillow pet he had been wanting ;)



lots of playing ...

and WAY too much eating.

THANKFULLY for everyone it was beautiful out
and the boys were able to enjoy the outside for a while ;)

the next day ...
we celebrated at my dad's.

once again we had
lots of presents,
lots of playing,
including big game hunter on wii
and
way too much food.

AND ...
just as the day before ...
we were SO blessed to have snow to send them out to ;)



only difference ...



a crazy uncle that was willing to join them ;)



is it any wonder that they all fell fast asleep on the way back to minnesota ?!

christmas eve eve

because we decided to go to wisconsin on christmas eve -
we decided we needed to make "christmas eve eve" our christmas eve at home.

FIRST we called santa and made arrangements for an early delivery.

THEN we set the table with my brand new snowman centerpiece -
compliments of drew.
we enjoyed little caesars and sparkling juice by candlelight.



following our ever so fancy dinner
which was actually quite fun
the boys opened their presents from us -
ever since santa got credit for standing in line at target at 5 am for the wii -
santa gives underwear and candy
and most other gifts come directly from us ;)

the highlight of the night -
they got an xbox 360 and the kinect to go with it.
they had NO idea that is what they were getting ...
so to see them truly surprised was worth all of the waiting!

we let them play and figure it all out for a while
and then decided it was time to prep for santa.
we fed the reindeer ...



got set up for santa ...

and put 3 very excited boys to bed
so that santa and mrs. claus could play some kinect without helpers ;)

THEN ...
bright and early as usual ...
we woke up to our 'Christmas' ;)



the boys got their stockings

and we had a fun surprise breakfast.



NOW ...
we're in wisconsin preparing for santa's 2nd visit.

the boys are sleeping
presents are wrapped
and
i've eaten enough treats
that a santa suit would probably fit me nicely.

SO ... i must put myself to bed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!

sing sing sing

today was a FULL day of Christmas singing!

it started with alex's preschool program



i might be JUST A TAD biased ...
but i thought he looked SO handsome ;)



they sang us a fun assortment of songs
and it went PERFECTLY - from start to finish



there was no nose-picking
no flashing of the crowd
and
no pushing each other off the risers
which was my REAL fear in a class with 14 boys!

his teachers did a GREAT job



and we had fun celebrating and having a happy birthday Jesus cake party afterwards ;)



so we might have been having a LITTLE more fun than the rest ...
IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!

from there ...
we went to the jefferson sing along.

each grade stood up and led the others in a Christmas carol.

can you find drew?
he decided today would be a fun day to wear his packers jersey
and see how much of a response he could get out of his
teacher the bears fan ;)
something about it's hard to be mad when you're in the christmas spirit? ;)

this program was also fun to watch ...
and the kids did GREAT!
BUT ...
it did not go quite as perfectly.
at one point their poor music teacher went to sit on his stool and
*SNAP*
the stool snapped in 2 and he fell flat to the floor!
insert secret "tehehe" here
thankfully he was a good sport about it
he took a bow
and everyone cheered for him.
BUT
that doesn't change the fact that
i am quite thankful it was not me ;)
good thing he has Christmas break to recover!

ONLY 3 DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS!!

party for the littles

this morning
my friend mandy and i hosted a party for our little kids -
and oh ... 20 of their preschool friends ;)



it was definitely not quiet ...
BUT
it was definitely not boring either ;)

we did a few crafts that turned out SO cute!
we stuffed empty clear ornament balls full of fun, festive art goodies
thanks for the idea, mb

and we also created little handprint snowmen ornaments
based on an idea i saw on one of my favorite blogs -
eighteen 25

the girls got very into it ...



alex did too!
he's just a little more abstract ;)

after finishing the craft, i actually had everyone's,
ok ALMOST everyone's attention
for a short time while we read the Christmas story
and as we sang happy birthday to Jesus -



we sang REALLY loud ... did YOU hear us?!

and because it was SUCH A SPECIAL DAY
we had cupcakes BEFORE we ate lunch!



it was a VERY fast 2 hours ...
a VERY loud 2 hours ...
and
a VERY VERY busy 2 hours ...

thanks to everyone who came
thanks to mandy for willingly allowing us all to take over her house ;)
and
thanks to a working central vac system
for giving the ability to clean up the styrofoam 'snow'
that the kids thought was missing from the party
and so lovingly spread all over the entire house ;)

only FOUR more days til Christmas!!

whodunnit

as of late ...

THIS ...



is how i spend my afternoons.

hope for the holidays

last night we went to a christmas party
that had a dual purpose -
to get friends together AND to help support healing haiti
there were raffles and products we could buy
to help this foundation created by the hosts' uncle

we met up with some friends ...

and their husbands ;)

rocked at karaoke



our specialty -
pink. so what.
let me know if you're interested in booking us
because we are THAT good.
just ask stacey ...



we got a good dose of food, chatting, and friends



it was a fun night ...
and a great cause

NOW ... only 7 more days til Christmas!!!