Winter!

I just realized I haven't posted anything for over a month!  I think I have just been in survival mode trying to get through each winter day!  We've had lots going on in the last month including being sick for about 2/3 of it.  Every time I think we are getting better than Brody brings home another cold bug.  UGH.....so ready for warm weather!  We enjoyed a fun Valentine's Day celebrating with the kids and also getting in a few date nights over the past month.  Here's a few pictures of our adventures!  Stay warm everyone!  We are buckling down for yet another snowstorm!

A favorite winter pass time is the Wii!  Especially the Kids Dance game!

"B" week at school!  Brody is proudly wearing his B necklace!

Lots of time spent playing in the loads of snow we have this year!

Valentine's Day collage:  Flowers from our favorite man/daddy, Heart pizza from papa murphys, cupcakes made by Marissa and Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

A rare Wednesday night date night:  a beautiful 40 degree day for a walk downtown and dinner at The Melting Pot!

Brody's preschool....

So as most of you know, Brody goes to preschool at the same place Marissa did.  He even is lucky enough to have the same teachers as she did!  They take such great pictures and post them to their facebook page.  I had to share some of them here!

Daughter Date Day!

We had so much fun with our mommy/daddy/daughter date day.  It was fun to spend the afternoon with Marissa alone!  We headed over to Maple Grove to Elm Creek's tubing hill!  It was 43 degrees outside and we definitely took advantage of being outside!  I love my big girl so much and it's a privilege to spend time with her! 

The Frozen Tundra....

So here we are experiencing the coldest weather in 100 years and aren't we lucky enough to live in a state that experiences this....UGH!  School was cancelled for today and already for tomorrow.  So this means it's been 19 days since Marissa has been at school and 23 days for Brody!  The Christmas Break that NEVER ends.  So what have we been doing to keep occupied?  Doing lots of movie time and Wii playing!  The kids and I are going stir crazy! 

The kids got to spend the night with G & G on Friday and after we picked them up we took a trip to Choo Choo Bobs train store! 

Marissa did go ice skating at the community center last night and it was warmer in the ice arena than it was outside!  Luckily, my kids are playing pretty well together!  On other exciting news, we are anxiously awaiting the delivery man to deliver our new dryer.  At least, tomorrow I can catch up on laundry.  This is our exciting life in the dead of winter! 

Snuggling up in mom and dad's bed for movie time!

Playtime at Choo Choo Bobs!

 My two cuties!

Ice Skating time!

Christmas Festivities 2013!

We just finished up a fun filled Christmas week with all our families.   We enjoyed a week off together celebrating!  Lots of pictures will fill this blog post!

We started off Christmas break with a roller skating party for one of Marissa's friends.  She got to try out her new roller blades and she did such a great job!

We got to eat at my favorite restaurant, PF Changs with the Holgrimson family to celebrate my bday!  Such a yummy treat!

Monday afternoon, my brother and fam came into to town.  We had fun hanging out, playing games, eating lots of yummy food, going to Xmas Eve Service at church, taking the kids to Grand Slam and celebrating Christmas together! 

On Christmas night, we had our 4family "fancy" traditional dinner with crab legs and T-bone steaks and all the trimmings!  We always have fun setting out the good china and dressing up and spending quality time together! 

We also got to spend some time with our BFF's celebrating Christmas and exchanging presents!

Here's another pic from the preschool Christmas program that Betsy got of the two boys!  Such cuties!

We even got a morning in of sledding with the Holgrimson cousins!

On Saturday, we celebrated the Holgrimson family Christmas!  We spent the whole day hanging out, playing a game, eating some good food and enjoying being together!

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!!!

A busy Christmas and Birthday filled week!

We made it through a crazy busy week and now we are just a few short hours away from Christmas Break!  I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with family and watching the joy of Christmas through my kids eyes! 

Monday started the week off with a Christmas party at dance class.  The kids were extra excited and the loud screams could be heard from afar!   Tuesday night was another Christmas party at AWANA where the kids brought home more candy.  We are on candy overload!  Brody had her Book Exchange at preschool and he finally was feeling better to make it all the way through school!  YAY!  I took advantage by getting a lot of errands run including my drivers license renewed.  The exciting times I have make all you readers jealous I'm sure!

Wednesday was my birthday and a low-key kind of day.  I took the kids downtown to meet up with Tony.  We did the 8th floor Macy's display and a trip to see Santa.  We finished off the night with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. 

Thursday morning was Brody's preschool program at school.  He sung his heart out and I loved every minute of it! 

Thursday afternoon, Marissa had her Christmas party that I was able to join in on.  There was 5 stations that they rotated through.  Her favorite was the sno cone station :)  She also got dressed up like a Christmas tree by her friend Emma.  Such a fun party!  Today they are doing a gift exchange at school.  I can't wait to see what she comes home with. 

We have a busy few days ahead but we look forward to it with gratitude that we have been blessed with another year together with two healthy kids that are a blessing beyond belief!  Merry Christmas to all from our home to yours!

Let the birthday celebrations begin.....

We had a great weekend kicking off my birthday week with a day of celebrating with my mom!  She treated me to a mani/pedi, lunch and a day of shopping just us!  What a fun day and we got a lot accomplished off my list.  WIN-WIN!  Then we picked up the family and headed downtown St. Paul for a night of celebrating! 

We headed to one of my favorite restaurants, Pazzalunna!  Such delicious, authentic Italian food with such an amazing atmosphere.  So yummy!  Then we took a short walk because it was so cold to Rice Park to see all the pretty lights, a quick stop into the St. Paul hotel to listen to the carolers, a stop at Cossetta's for some delicious cannoli's, a drive down Summit Avenue to look at the beautiful homes decorated for Christmas and then we headed to the Holiday Lights display along Lake Phalen.  To top the evening off, Mom had bought me my favorite DQ cake!  Thanks to my mom for such an amazing night!  I felt loved!  The number I'm turning this year is a big one....I'm to the age of not disclosing it anymore!  Lots more fun planned for this week and then Christmas celebrations begin!  Stay tuned!

Here are some pics from yesterday!