o christmas tree * 2014

typically we come back from wausau early

the weekend after thanksgiving

and use that time to get our tree.

we ALWAYS go cut our own tree

and make an adventure of it

WELL ...

this year was a LITTLE different.

no idea why ...

but none of us seemed to want to go cut one.

we thought we'd give the boys the option

we can cut a tree OR we can go get one from costco

with a unanimous vote - 

costco won

SO ... i give you our costco tree ...

a little smaller than usual

with a few wonky branches

BUT

a really nice fraser fir

AND ...

it's only fallen over once ;)

HA!

snow babies

while we in wausau they got a fresh layer of snow

which was PERFECT for the boys

we even got the babies out there

with their snowsuits on they weren't too fast

and we actually got a picture with everyone looking!!

owen helped the boys make a snowman

and ellie and joe

had a little fun of their own

how cute are they?!

almost as cute as us ...

the pancake restaurant

each saturday morning

when we are in wausau

we go to the same restaurant for breakfast

we now take over at least 3 tables -

and the volume level rises significantly with us being there :)

consider yourselves warned.

celebrating ellie * ONE

we spent the day saturday celebrating ellie

our newest 

ONE YEAR OLD

hannah had it decorated so nice -

plus it's fun to just see so much pink!!

all the cousins -

we may not get a 'normal' picture for a while ...

but we keep trying :)

another fun thing about finally having a girl in the family

is that my mom was able to give her a special gift she's been holding on to -

before my grandma died, my mom had her make a raggedy ann doll

that she could give to her first granddaughter.

it only took 13 years.

you're one lucky girl, ellie!

she wasn't a huge fan of the cake

BUT

as usual hannah ordered almond cake

so we were all fans! ;)

thanks for a fun party, hannah ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE!

warm thanksgiving fun

with 6 boys in the house

things aren't exactly quiet

or calm

SO ... we got them out of the house for a while

and went to the indoor waterpark hotel for a few hours

even grandma and grandpa got in on the fun

we successfully burned off energy

AND

the boys had a blast

a win for everybody!

turkey bowl

we kicked off our thanksgiving weekend

the way we do every year ...

on thanksgiving night

we all went bowling

it's been a while since we saw ellie

so it was fun to see her developing her own little personality