Merry Christmas!...2 1/2 weeks later.

I promised I would deliver and I am....it's been a tish busy around our house, and it will continue to be (f.o.r.e.v.e.r.) for the next few weeks, with Jocie's birthday celebrations (the next two weekends) and a trip to Iowa the following...."and these are the days of our lives" :) But who's complaining?! As someone once told me, "You're only as busy as you want to be"...

We had December 23rd off from school this year, so we decided it would be a great day to do some Christmas baking, or in our case, non-baking. We had already had our fill of Christmas cookies for the year, because I ordered a cookie tray as a fundraiser, so we decided it would be a good idea to make some Oreo Truffles instead. Oreo Truffles should be illegal. You take a package of Oreo cookies and crush them. Then you mix in a block of softened cream cheese and you shape them into bite-sized balls, then you dip them in white chocolate....sinful!

We let Claire sculpt her own "balls" this year . . . she did a great job :)

On Christmas Eve, we followed our usual traditions of going to church, then coming home and having a candle-lit dinner followed by opening presents.

Here is a look at our girls opening gifts on both Christmas Eve and also opening Santa gifts on Christmas morning.

After we opened Santa gifts, it was on to packing up the van with the enormous amount of stuff we would need for the next 6 days. If I showed you the amount of stuff we packed you wouldn't believe me . . . let's just say that we had to use our pull-behind trailer to make it all work . . . no, I'm not kidding.

Our first trip was 5 hours due N.W. to Argyle, MN to spend Christmas with the Adolphsons.

We spent our 2.5 days in Argyle singing, eating, opening gifts, eating, playing games, opening more gifts, eating, watching movies, eating, opening more gifts, riding horse, and of course eating! So as you can tell, we were very spoiled :)


Keith and Ella on guitar . . .

. . . Annika and Claire on the bells.




they loved their new dress-up outfits :)

. . . and the boys loved their new John Deere gear.

Then it was off to Maple Lake to spend a few days with my Mom and Denny. We spent our time skating on the lake, opening gifts, lounging in out PJs way to long everyday, going for walks, eating, shoveling snow off the lake, skating, shoveling more snow and skating some more!! We had a ton of fun!









....that looks perfectly safe....

Daysha and Jocie showing off their slidding skills

Ella was a pro by the time we left the lake!

Claire wasn't so sure right away . . . . but then warmed up to it . . . a little.

lounging....ahhhhh, so nice.

Carl made a really cool skating track for our night skating the last night we were at the lake!

Nanny impressed us all! She can skate with the best of them....she just can't stop that well :)

Carl should have been a figure skater . . . always the show man.

We had a great Christmas vacation and like all fun things, it went way, way too fast! To be honest, I am still somewhat recovering, and feel as though I as still not caught up with my motherly chores...but I guess those will always be there, so oh well! :)

The next time I post, I will be the mother of a TEENAGER. Holy S-word!

bad, bad, bad

I haven't even blogged about Christmas yet....I am sure Santa (or Jesus) is not impressed by this.....all I can say is, I am too busy at this minute. But I promise I will get you some Christmas photos soon!! As a peace offering, I have offered a new blog header!

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!