Here is a recap of our week vacation...
On Friday and Saturday during the day we pretty much cleaned the house. We were having guests over on Sunday, and so I needed to prepare. Also, I knew I would enjoy my week off so much more with a clean home. It was nice to have the downstairs stay clean for an entire week! :)
On Saturday, we had our first snowfall! Here are a few pictures of Emmett outside. He begged to go outside and play!
Saturday evening, I met some friends at Outback. It ended up being seven of us and we had a great time catching up!
On Sunday, we woke up and realized our fridge was no longer working! This really was bad because my fridge was stocked for our guests coming this evening! Luckily, I felt like I could selvage everything; however, I had to use the downstairs refrigerator. Which meant I had to climb our stairs a number of times. The fridge is still not working by the way. Yes, it has been over a week now! UGH!
On Sunday, we headed to church and then came home to prepare for friends coming over. I had two friends and their families visiting from out of state. These are two girlfriends that I grew up with and have known since elementary school. All three of us had boys at the same time (when Nate was born). It was fun to catch up and watch our boys play together. :)
On Monday, we headed over to the mall to see Santa and to have some fun with the boys. First we visited Santa. Unfortunately, Nate cried for the picture (two years in a row now). I thought he would be okay because Santa gave the boys treats even before we approached the big chair. Didn't matter to Nate though, we was not okay with sitting even near him.
After visiting with Santa, we headed over to Build-A-Bear to use a few gift certificates the boys received a while ago. Emmett picked out a dinosaur and dressed him in a Packers uniform. Nate surprised us with how decisive he was. He knew he wanted the orange kitty. We thought it would be fun to buy underwear for the kitty, but Nate again knew he did not want any clothes on him. Great, I guess...a savings! :)
(Since this day the boys have not let their animals get too far out of sight. ET talks to his dinosaur like he is real and has even given him his own chair to sit in during lunchtime. He named his dinosaur Harry. :) I think Nate loves this kitty even more than his gray kitty now. Before he would not let any other animals in his bed except his gray kitty, and his ladybug. Now it seems this orange kitty is the most important to him. He was holding it all day, and every day until I finally had to put my foot down and tell he had to leave it upstairs during daycare hours.)
After Build-A-Bear, we headed over to Nickelodeon Universe for a couple rides. ET chose to go on the Log Chute first, of course.
This is a picture of Nate smiling for the camera while we waited for Jay and ET to get back from the Log Chute. I love that Nate will smile (if caught in a good mood) for the camera now. I so clearly remember ET giving the same silly grin when he was a toddler.
Next up, the Blue Clues Ride...
After the rides, we headed over to Jay's parents to drop the boys off for the evening. It was 3:15 before they laid down for nap because we spent more time then we expected at the mall. A little late, but they were fine.
Jay and I headed out for a much needed date. We went back to the mall to eat at Twin City Grill (one of our favorite places). We had a nice time, and being that it was Monday night, we saved quite a bit of money during their happy hour. :)
On Tuesday, we spent some time at Edinborough in Edina...the greatest place of Earth for kids! We spent just $6.00 per kid, and they had a couple of hours of fun and exercise. It was so much fun for ET and Nate. I was so happy to see Nate participate in every play structure offered. It was a lot of exercise for me to follow him around the large playground, but I am just glad he is no longer a baby and we can do these fun things with him now.
I absolutely love the environment that this place offers. It feels like summer when you are here. :)
Being that we were already in the area, we stopped at Wild Rumpus bookstore before heading back home. I love this place. It is a quaint little bookstore similar to the one from the movie "You've Got Mail." It has live animals inside and loads of books for kids of every age.
I love the kid sized door at the entrance...
We read a few Christmas stories together...
That night I made hot cocoa for the boys. ET would drink it every night if I let him, but Nate wanted nothing to do with it. I chuckled at the faces he made. :)
Seriously, I love these boys. There is nothing sweeter than sharing a warm cup of cocoa with the people that you love.
On Wednesday, we decorated for Christmas. I knew I was going to be shopping on Black Friday so we decided to do it a couple days early. I loved that both boys were able to help with the ornaments this year. :)
During nap-time, ET and I met a friend at the library for an hour. It was a nice middle-of-the-day break. After coming home, I prepared the food that I was asked to bring to our Thanksgiving dinner. For dinner, we went to Fitz's. The boys love it there. They play with the pool table balls while we wait for our food.
Thursday was Thanksgiving Day, of course. My Grandparents decided to host it this year with the help of my Aunt Diane. She went a couple days ahead of time to set up the tables. It was so wonderful to have everyone seated together at one long table. Everything was so beautifully decorated and the food was absolutely wonderful! We had such a great time, we stayed from 2:30 until 8:15. With all this time, I still did not get a chance to talk with everyone. I wished we could have stayed a bit longer, but the boys needed to get home to bed.
The weather was perfect for a traditional game of football. ET wanted so badly to join in with the guys, but he felt a bit shy. I tried my best to reassure him that his cousins loved him and would love to play with him. I walked him outside and as soon as cousin Mark saw him, he gave him a double high-five and said, "Hey, we're glad you came to play ET. We need you for this game!" You should have seen the smile on ET's face. I am so appreciative that we have such a loving family. To see my son's self-esteem get boosted through so much love, just makes my heart melt. :)
Grandma and Grandpa at the head of the table.
Nathan (a friend of Mark's), Mark, Tyler, and Alex...
My parents...
Grandpa Jim, and Grandma Margo...
Margo Sundberg (Grandma's friend), and Grace (Grandma Margo's sister)...
My Dad's brothers; Uncle Jack, and Uncle Jay, and my Aunt Nancy...
Aunt Diane (my Dad's sister), and Uncle Rick...
Becky (my sister), Mark, Matt, and Andy...
Thursday night (midnight), I headed out to a few Black Friday sales (Kohl's & Herberger's in Bloomington) with a my friend Kathryn who was in town from for the week. I probably don't need to tell you how CRAZY it was out there at that time! :) I didn't get to bed until close to 4:00 and luckily Jay let me sleep in until 10:00am on Friday. Then on Friday, we relaxed at home and I caught up on my reading, and then we went out to dinner at Las Margarita's.
On Saturday I made a turkey dinner for the four of us to enjoy together.
That was one tender and good-looking turkey!
I LOVE my family!
What a goof!
Sunday we spent time at church and then we all took a nap. Nothing too exciting, but we all definitely enjoyed ourselves over the week. ET said he wanted to see his friends again, but he just didn't want vacation to end. I think he really likes having Jay at home with us. :)
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