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!!

trend setter

. . . enough said.

our ladies

I have a new found respect for the mothers I work with when shooting a family photo session. From planning and shopping for what to wear, to coordinating nap time, to curling and fixing hair and making sure to have a snack on hand . . . it's stressful.

A few months ago, I threw together a last minute photo session. I wanted to get some good individual shots of the girls, a group shot of all three girls, and then a family pic for Christmas Cards. Let's just say, it wasn't an easy time. Claire was really earning her nick name that day because she was an absolute BEAR . . . and not the cuddly type. We couldn't figure out why she was so mad! She wouldn't stand by us, or even let us hold her . . . until we figured out she was constipated, and her stomach hurt. So, I had Carl take her for a walk while I took some pictures of Joc and Ella.

The walk must have loosened things up for Claire, because she FINALLY pooped, and allowed me to snap of few pics :)

My friend, Nicole was nice enough to meet us at the park to snap a few family shots. We couldn't get any pre-poop shots . . . but she stuck it out and got a couple post-poop photos, which will be featured on this year's Christmas Card.

Needless to say, family photo sessions with young children are no easy task for anyone involved. But, even after all that crappy work (pun intended), it's always worth it in the end.

me did it!!

Are the Adolphsons almost a diaper-free family!? Well, not quite. But Claire is starting to show interest in the potty.



First we had to lure her in with a Princess Potty seat, which did the trick at first. However, the novelty wore off after a couple days.






Now we are onto a "potty chart" where she gets a sticker with every successful deposit. We are please to announce that Claire has earned 7 stickers in the past two weeks! (for all you statisticians out there - - that's 2 #1's and 5 #2's)






She is by no means consistent, but it sure gets exciting around here when she announces, "Me did it!! Me did it!!"

fall-tastic

One of the reasons why Fall is my favorite season is because of all the fun traditions that are played out year after year. The pumpkin and costume shopping, carving and lighting of the jack-o-lanterns, the ever-exciting event of trick-or-treating . . . what could be better?!

This year was no exception! We started the festivities off by shopping (and playing) at the 101 Market in Rogers, MN.












Okay . . . I hope this isn't "foreshadowing" anything in Claire's future . . .

a HUGE pit of corn!!

Then the carving took place . . . we did more "traditional"-type jack-o-lanterns this year . . . but why mess with tradition? I think they turned out fantastic :)
















Then on to the best stuff . . . getting free candy from neighbors and complete strangers! The cherry on top of our Halloween night? Nanny and Denny came down for the event! :)



(Ella was Cleopatra, Claire was an ice cream cone - even though everyone thought she was a cup cake - and Jocie was Batman for the 2nd year running - - Grandma Judy made too good of a costume for just one year!)

Our next door neighbor, Gary always hands out a HUGE handful of candy to my girls . . . and this year, he thought Nanny should have some too :)


(...What? Putting our kids in the trunk when going house to house and letting our toddler drive is just fine! Or at least it's "fine" where we grew up!)

I can't believe it's already November! Hunting and Thanksgiving are just around the corner . . . I wish we could slow things down a little!!