Deck the House

Sunday was all about decorating for Christmas. This year Joel, in particular, was all about it. He had been waiting, and asking, and waiting to decorate. First, Joel worked on the little tree for his room.

then, time for the big tree. Joel helped the entire time and put on MANY of the ornaments

Grant helped, briefly, but was more about goofing around and being silly... not at all focused on the tree:)

Billy and Mitch

Finally, time for the Christmas train. Finally got Grant's attention!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving in St. Cloud with the Bensons. Terri hosted a delicious dinner and we were thankful that everyone was in good health for the holiday. Jon prepared the turkey at a local restaurant with some buddies on a wood fire rotisserie and it was DELICIOUS!

A highlight for Joel and Grant was the Wii, they had the time of their lives playing with Lincoln and Jayna.

Joel approved of the donuts for breakfast... of course.


And Grant discovered the hidden treasure of Lincoln's Star Wars guys in the morning. A big thank you to big cousin Lincoln who is always so patient and kind, and shares everything with his crazy little cousins:)

Grandma's Camera

Every once and awhile I like to grab some pictures off my mom's camera and see what the boys have been up to while I am gone:)

4-wheeler riding...


A visit from Aunt Connie, during which they created a special house in the sand... complete with doors, windows, shrubs, and a sidewalk

Decorating Halloween Cookies...




Fun visits from Drake and Aunt Kathy...

Legos, legos, legos!

It has been ALL about Legos for the last month of so around here. As I write this, they boys have been quietly building tiny ships, airplanes, and spider cages for about 1.5 hours. They just LOVE legos. Something I have always noticed about Joel... when his fingers are busy, all is well in the world:) We even brought the train table back up and it is being used as a lego contruction area.

Jack!!

So, so proud of Mitchell for his OUTSTANDING performance as the LEAD in the Prairie Fire Children's Theater production of "Jack and the Beanstalk" last night. Once again, he impressed and his talent shone through on stage. He as a gift and we can't WAIT to see watch what we think we be many future performances in the years to come. He has a way on stage of of being fun, likeable, funny... and as my friend put it, after seeing the show... a "heart throb" :)

Halloween 2011

It was a good Halloween weekend, carving pumpkins, and going to the "spooky village", aka Pioneer Park in Annadale. This was our second year going there, Joel especially LOVED the haunted trail and walked it 3 times, including 2 in the dark, when it actually was... quite spooky. He has no fear when it comes to all things "spooky". Grant opted for one tour of the haunted trail before it got dark and was done:)
Waiting to go in the spooky house with Mitchell and Matthew.

Trick or treating at one of the many little houses at the park.

Preschool Halloween Party on Monday, Joel kept his mask on the entire 2.5 hours!

Halloween Party on Mary's later in the day


Ready for trick or treating. This was the first year that BOTH mom and dad got to go, since Mitch opted to stay home and pass out candy. It was a beautiful night too.

Home from trick or treating! time to eat candy!!

Joel enjoyed this part.... just a little:) He is ALL about candy, where Grant could kind of take it or leave it.
A couple days later, the "Switch Witch" came and exchanged some of the candy for a new bakugan. Joel's obsession with the candy was controlling our lives a bit too much...