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.

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!!

BOOM!

tonight i took the boys
and met some friends
at a free holiday chemistry magic show
that was put on at a local college.

it was run by a guy
who was a perfect combination of
the absent minded professor
and
rick moranis in honey i shrunk the kids ;)


this was him getting ready to fire the cannon
which never fired ;) haha

it was essentially an hour and a half of fun experiments

among other things -
they combined dry ice and soap



they electrocuted a pickle

they made fireworks
and made them jump around the stage -
although that wasn't supposed to happen quite the way it did
and we heard that phrase quite a few times ;)

they played with chemical reactions and color

they washed people's hands with dynamite soap

and
they started carbon dioxide on fire.

it was so fun
because nothing seemed to go as planned
yet they just went with it.

you could see that this little man just loves what he does
and loves to just have fun.

as i watched him,
i thought about our morning.
we were getting ready for school
and ben put an acorn in a cup and heated it in the microwave.
after realizing what he was doing
i stopped him
obviously
i asked why in the world he would try to microwave an acorn
and where he even got an acorn in the first place ?!?!
and he said
'i just wanted to see what would happen'

i just have this feeling that someday,
ben is going to be wearing the tie-dyed lab coat
and HE is going to be the one randomly mixing things ...
just to see what happens ;)

p.s. thanks to jen for the pictures ;)

what was i thinking leaving my camera at home?!

blizzard 2010

last night and today will forever go down as
'the blizzard of 2010'



today consisted of -

lots of playing with neighbors

lots of laying around

and of course
LOTS of snow!

LOTS LOTS of snow ...
as in, as of tonight, we believe we got somewhere around 18 inches in the past 24 hours -
for most of the morning we were getting about 2 inches of snow an hour!
the roads were empty
(well, except for the construction workers
that came to work on the house 2 doors down
AT SEVEN FIFTEEN!!!)
the mail never came
the plows didn't even come through until around 2 pm!

it seemed as though most people stayed inside -
and those who did venture out got stuck ;)



our neighbor john was quite busy getting all of the neighbors where they needed to be ;)



we had a LOT of snow
and
a LOT of wind
and CRAZY deep drifts



drifts deep enough to trap even a snow plow!
yes ... that'd be our kids trying to help him out ;)
what a lucky guy.
eventually a front loader came to his rescue.

it was a truly CRAZY fun day!!

BUT NOW ...
it's time to say GOODBYE, blizzard 2010.
these temperatures you have left us with are ABSOLUTELY ridiculous.
BUT ... that's ok.
we were able to use the kostes snowblower to 'dig' our way out
and we are SO thankful



we have kids that don't mind the cold and that LOVE the snow ;)
and also neighbor friends that kept them busy all day

and we have a nice warm house
that i barely had to leave today
AND
that i can hide out in tomorrow as well ;)

SO ... SEE YA!
thanks for the memories ;)

when santa arrives via firetruck

last night we had a little different type of fire drill in our neighborhood

i witnessed my kids
STOP where they were
slightly panic
DROP what they were doing
and immediately RUN for the door.



alex, of course, grabbed his noise protecting headphones
cassie came out covered in chicken pox
AND
the koste boys even came running out of the house in their boxers.
they were QUITE a group ;)

BUT ...
they made it out JUST in time
to see santa make his annual trip through the neighborhood on a firetruck



and that is all that mattered.

NOW ...
if i could just get them out of the house that fast on any other given day ;)

which of these kids is not like the other

yesterday i took the kids and our neighbors/friends to play laser tag
AND
if there was ever JUST ONE picture
that i wish was in focus ...
YEP
this is the one ;)

guess that's what i get for taking a picture in pitch black
and hoping it would turn out ;)

tuckered

i guess that after you and your buddy
shovel the entire sidewalk
at the park across the street
reading just isn't an option ...