last ditch effort

While I was doing the dishes yesterday, Ella came strolling around the corner with a piece of computer paper and a few markers in her hand.

"Mom, can you help me spell some words for a letter?" she said.

"Sure."

She proceeds to ask me how to spell a few words . . . and while she was asking me, I couldn't help but have a smirk on my face, because I knew what she was writing.

It was a last chance letter to Santa . . .

She must have been thinking there might be a chance she would unwrap some coal this year!

We had a tough week here at the Adolphson house. 3 of the 5 of us had the stomach flu, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. But we're all healthy again and ready to have a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

dazzle and awe

This past weekend was jam-packed with Holiday goodness. It all started on Thursday when my mom came down to join us for the weekend!

Friday after school, we all piled into the family truckster and headed to downtown Minneapolis. Our first stop was dinner on the 12th floor of Macys at the Sky Room. Not only was it delicious, but we also met Keith (Carl's brother) and dined with a skyline view.

After dinner, we all bundled up and headed outside for Holidazzle Parade! We have only seen it one other time when Ella was about Claire's age....I think we need to make it a yearly tradition! What is cooler than being downtown at night during the Christmas season and watching a parade featuring about a million lights?! We all had a blast!

here comes the circus train...


the giraffe has no idea why people are excited about her being in a cage... :)













Santa's coming!!!






After the parade, we headed back into Macys to see the Santaland attraction on the 8th floor. We were not the only people with that plan....so we waited in line for a little while. But, the wait was well worth it. There was so much to see the girls didn't even know where to look!

guess who else was there...


I finished up the weekend with Christmas shopping on Sunday. It's really beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.....everywhere you go. :)

it's coming . . . .

We are getting closer folks . . . the poly is down . . . the temps are dropping . . . have you sharpened your skates yet?








Get ready. It's coming.

catching up on some light reading

I'm not even really "potty-training" Claire yet, and she's got the whole number-two-in-the-pot-thing down cold. She hasn't really taken to getting her business done at Missy's yet, but it will come soon enough. I am waiting for a time when I can be home for a longer stretch of time to really tackle the potty training issue hard. Because once we start, there is no looking back :) Plus, the whole number-one-in-the-pot-thing is not really catching on yet :)

She likes the "independence" part of potty training the best. She always has to turn the light on using her step-stool first. Then she carries her step stool over to the potty. Then the undressing begins (she only needs minimal help), then she steps up, uses her little handles, and gets on all by herself. Usually, when I try to help, she let's me know my place!

The other day I walked past the bathroom and saw this . . . I had to get my camera!

Maybe the best part about it, was the book was actually about potty training :)

Busted!

many thanks

What do I have to be thankful for? So, so much. Am I as thankful as I should be? Absolutely not. Do I sit on my pity pot far too often? Sadly, yes. But this weekend, there was no pity pot sitting . . . just a whole lot of family time that I am oh, so thankful for :)

Did I mention I not only had Thursday and Friday off from work, but I also had Wednesday . . . Thankful!! I had a massage that day . . . double Thankful! :) I even learned something that day . . . don't wait until the night before Thanksgiving to shop for your groceries. Not smart.

Thursday morning, I woke up semi-early to get the bird in the oven. While I read the directions on the wrapping, I said a little prayer that I wouldn't light the turkey on fire (that's what happened last time . . . the first time I had ever tried to roast a turkey . . . true story). Throughout the morning, I worked on the rest of my meal and with a little elbow grease got the whole meal out by 1:00. And, much to my surprise, everything tasted awesome. I frickin' nailed it.

Friday morning we didn't waste any time and got started on our newest project. I can't tell you how excited I am for this! It is a MN staple . . . it is what I dreamed of as a little girl . . . and it is soon coming to our back yard. Yep, you guessed it. A skating rink!!

Carl researched and worked really hard to figure out the right way to do things.





We can't wait until I gets cold enough (WHAT??) to flood and freeze. Looking forward to skating parties at the Adolphson's . . . get those skates sharpened people!

Carl's parents drove down on Friday to stay with us for the weekend. Poor Dwaine was very busy with the rink, but we all still managed to have a lot of fun!

We finished the weekend by getting the tree up and decorating for Christmas. We can't wait for what's to come!

Happy Christams season everyone!

fun with lights

Okay, so I have already confessed my love for pinterest, and when browsing all the fun ideas, I came across some photos that featured Christmas lights and felt as though I just had to try it out.

The girls actually had a lot of fun with the idea!

Let the Christmas Season begin!!

it has only just begun

Here in lovely Minnesota, we can count on (at least) 6 months of winter. It's cold . . . unbearably cold . . . the cold that seeps deep into our bones to the point of pain. If the cold doesn't get you, the wind will. I swear, if Hell wasn't so hot, I would think we lived there during these winter months.

With that being said, every Minnesotan has a little part in them (no matter how small) that loves this time of year. I must admit, I love the way my kids look all bundled up. Their chubby snow-pants-legs that swish when they walk, the CLOMP of their boots, their rosy cheeks, and the adorable winter accessories that I get to purchase for them year after year.

I can't sugar coat everything, there are things I can't stand about winter (which I am sure I will list sometime in late January, early February) but for right now, I am enjoying the change of season.

See what I mean . . .




















Happy winter months everyone!

bff

Do you have anyone in your life that you swear could be your sister in another life? Or maybe by some wild chance the doctor accidentally separated you from your twin at birth, but you ended up finding each other a little later in life?

Well, Ella has that special someone in her life and her name is Mette. They L.O.V.E. each other, and just have the best time together.

This past weekend, we were lucky enough to spend the whole day and the whole night over at the Seversons! Both Carl and Jerry were out of town, so I packed up our whole crew and headed down the road to Clear Lake.

The kids had a fun time making home-made ice cream in the new ice cream ball. What is an ice cream ball you might ask . . . well let me show you.

You pour cream, sugar, vanilla (and in our case mini chocolate chips) in the middle of the ball. Then add a bunch of ice and rock salt into the outer part of the ball. Roll it around the floor as much as you can for the next 30 minutes and viola!! You get ice cream. Genius.

Then, I remembered something magical I saw on www.pintrest.com (my newest love) and decided we needed to make them to go with our ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie bowls!! The perfect place to put our ice cream in! So, we greased the bottom of a muffin pan and placed the dough on top.

. . . I think we may have put a little too much dough on each muffin bump. Thank goodness we put a "safety" pan on the bottom.

When we pulled them out, I thought we had we were in for something really special. I felt we had re-invented the waffle bowl and up graded it to a whole new level.

Boy was I wrong. We could not get those suckers out in one piece . . . we basically had to saw the cookies off the pan.




Oh well, we still had some cookie crumbs to put on top of our ice cream :)

Thanks Seversons for a great weekend!!