December 2013

Christmas Tree

Shortly after Thanksgiving we got snow, which is good when you want to go get a Christmas tree.  We packed everyone up and headed to LeSueur to Brewery Hill.  I forget how many years we've been coming here-maybe 13 years?  On the way, Lauren fell asleep which was ok since we had a sled to pull her in.  It was a little more on the chilly side so it didn't take us too long to find our "perfect" tree.  Afterward we went to Whiskey River for hot cocoa.  Brian and I decided that from here on out we go to El Agave for a margarita after tree hunting.  Whiskey River has become a huge disappointment so we will welcome the change in tradition next year.

While I had womens book study, Brian and the girls decorated the tree.  They did a beautiful job!

Christmas Plays and Choir Concerts

All the girls did great and we enjoyed all the performances.  Emily was one of the 3 wisemen this year, Rachel got to play bells, Natalie was the Angel and well....Caitlin was barely even visible...

The 2nd Graders

Emily and the JI Children's Choir (gr 3-6)

Rachel did a spectacular job on bells

You can barely see Caitlin at her Choir Concert.  She's right behind the red head in black, peeking a look at us.
There's definitely a difference in public vs. private school programs.  I enjoyed the singing but enjoy more when we can celebrate the real reason of Christmas, Jesus thru christian music selections.

Our Angel...Natalie even had a speaking part!  She did awesome!

Natalie and her friends at their Christmas party after the program

The 3 wisemen and their moms :)

Santa, Reindeer, Crafts and CookiesBrian took Rachel and Natalie up to the local Lumber Center to see Santa and his Reindeer.  Natalie was brave and told Santa all she wanted for Christmas.  The Reindeer was pretty cool to see too!  After her and Rachel painted a small ornament to hang on the tree.

Each of the girls had a fun foam project to put together one afternoon.  Rachel, Natalie and Caitlin were able to get theirs done fairly quickly but Emily had more of a challenging one to put together...a train.  It took almost all day but she finished it with a little help from Brian.

Last years cookies ended up a disaster..tasting like paint thinner because Brian was painting while we baked.  This year's however turned out great and the girls and I were baking machines.  We were able to do 6 different cookies and they tasted yummy enough to give to our friends.  It was a long day of baking and cleaning but it was fun and we got to listen to Christmas music all day and try the cookies too!!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve we went to the 4pm mass.  Rachel and Emily sang in the choir and Caitlin was an alter server.  After mass we headed home to open a few presents-pjs, games etc..

Christmas morning came bright and early for us.  Brian was a bit under the weather and watched the girls open their presents from Santa, went to mass because he was a Eucharistic minister then headed back to bed.  The girls and I were happy to stay in our pjs all day and play with all the new things Santa had left us.  A new Lego set with 2200+ pieces kept us busy for a few hours.  The girls insisted we have a formal christmas dinner so they pulled out the china, set the table and I put a turkey breast and baked potatoes in the oven.  Even though Brian didn't join us for it we still enjoyed it.

Christmas with the Moore's, Salfer's and Gilbertsons

Jeff and Heather are Lauren's Godparents and Brian and I are Levi's so before the Gilbertson's left for their Christmas celebrations with their families we headed over to exchange gifts.  We are so thankful to call the Gilbertsons "family".  It was a bit chaotic but we're used to that!  Lauren got a dream light and Levi got Legos.

The weekend before Christmas we traveled to Lucan to celebrate with Mom & Dad, Bob, Laura and girls, Matt, Annie and boys. The kids love to get together with their cousins and it's nice for us adults to catch up.  The kids played all day with all the fun stuff Gpa and Gma had given them.

The Salfer crew:  42 of us this year

We gathered for good food and an afternoon of playing outside in the snow and inside with games and cards.  This is definitely a highlight of christmas vacation for our kids.  Getting to play with their cousins is priceless.  They always have so much fun and we are barely see them!!

November 2013

The night of Brian's surprise party

Brian's Birthday dinner- ElAgave in St. Peter~yummy!

As an extra special surprise, I reserved the barrel room at our local winery, Chankaska, and invited friends to join us.  It was a very fun evening!  Lots of laughs and lots of good wines to taste.  Brian was pleasantly surprised and we can't wait to do it again!

While Brian was on the Youth Retreat with our church the girls and I headed to Fargo to spend some time with the Lindbo's.  Mom, Laura and the girls joined us as well.  Even though Owen didn't feel well we still had a good time playing with the boys and I had fun hanging out with my sister.  The girls swam at the hotel that Mom and Laura stayed at.  It was nice treat for the kids.  I was thankful that the weather/roads were nice and that the kids were super travelers.  It was nice to get back and see Brian though. :)

Natalie helped me shop one evening at the newly remodeled grocery store here in St. Peter.  They have these little carts for the kids and Natalie just loved it!  She felt like a real helper!

We had Thanksgiving with my side of the family on Thanksgiving day and celebrated with the Salfer's the following Saturday.  Thankful for our family and the good food that we ate.  We are blessed beyond measure.  

Hello???

Yes, i realize that my last post was in fact November 5 2013.  WHat have i been doing in the last 3 months you ask?  Eating bon bons and watching Netflix of course!  Actually its the little people that live with me and countless other things that I should be doing rather than blogging I guess.  But before I completely forget what I did I better start updating.  I blog so that when I get to my scrapbook I will look back and remember what we did.  So here it goes....

Lordy Lordy Brian's 40????

Could it be that Brian is really 40 years old?!  Wow.  Time sure does fly.  To celebrate, the girls and I planned a surprise party for him and he had NO clue and was totally surprised.  There were a few curve balls thrown at us and I didn't know if we would actually pull it off but in the end we did!  I had help from our friends too so that was nice.  The girls wanted to make Brian a special cake-one that required fondant.  Too many episodes of Cake Boss and the girls thought cake decorating looked easy so they thought we should make Brian a "cake boss" kind of cake.  I've never worked with fondant but I had heard it was not easy so I did drag my feet a little but with the persistence of the girls i went ahead and ordered the fondant.  We ended up going to our friend Sharon's to decorate since Brian had told me he was planning on taking the day off (a curve ball)  The girls and I had so much fun and it wasn't as bad as I had expected.  I did let "control" go and didn't care that it wasn't "perfect".  The girls did an AMAZING job-I'm so very proud of them!  We had 35 people at our house for the party-balloons and streamers everywhere!  It was such a fun night and so happy that we could celebrate this wonderful boy Brian.  We also surprised him with a video message slide show of friends and family that expressed their birthday wishes.  It was a gift that Brian will cherish.  Thanks to all who helped!

Then on Monday, his co-workers surprised him by making these t-shirts of Brian and they all wore them....ALL day long!  The girls didn't have school so it was a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate with all of them.  They made us shirts too and we picked up pizza's for a fun office party

Apples & Pumpkins & Treats Oh MY!

Our annual trip to Montgomery Apple Orchard and Corn Maze

This years theme was The Jolly Green Giant

We enjoyed the maze and caramel apple treats and steel brass drum ensemble 

I brought the camera to the pumpkin patch but the battery was dead so luckily our friends the Crowley's were there to snap a few photos.  None for the blog however.  The girls got some unique ones to carve though and had a lot of fun creating their jack-o-lanterns.  

Then it was time for some trick-or-treating.

Caitlin went off to a party

We had the Gilbertsons and Gleisners for dinner

Ella (thing 2) Emily & Grace went off on their own (spreading their wings a bit)

Jeff, Brian, and JoAnna went with the others while Heather, Caleb, Lauren, and I stayed back to hand out over 100 pieces of candy.  

This year's trick-or-treaters
Soccer player, Thing 1, Merida, Pea, & Construction Worker

The Dells 2013

 Celebrating our 5th Year at the Dells with our friends, The Gracks & Gilbertsons!

Kids playing, Adults relaxing....

Eight is Great-Happy Birthday Rachel

Our sweet Rachel is 8 years old, going on 16 some days and 2 other days!  Rachel's smile is the most sparkling one I've ever seen!  She loves soccer, rockstars, playing barbies, polly pockets, legos and restaurant.  She loves to play computer or Caitlin's iPod.  She's a super reader-loves Magic Treehouse series.  She's kind, helpful, smart, beautiful, fun, energetic.  She also is dramatic and knows how to push people's buttons. :)  She just started piano lessons and is loving them.  Rachel always picks fun birthday themes, not your typical girly girl parties.  This year she chose a soccer theme.  She participated in a soccer camp this summer and last and seemed to really enjoy it and wants to play once she's in middle school/high school.  She wanted to go to SkyZone (trampolines) but injured her foot on a trampoline a week and a half before her birthday and it still hasn't quite healed up.  So she decided to go bowling, dinner at Pizza Ranch and a sleep over with her friend MacKenzie.  She didn't have school on her birthday (teacher day) which made it nice to walk to River Rock for a birthday treat to start off her day.  I think it was a successful day and she had her sparkly smile smiling all day!