Christmas 2013--part I

To celebrate Christmas this past year, we were bold and went where had not gone since 2004--Minnesota and North Dakota.  We realize that Christmas is now nearly a figment of our imaginations; however, we said we would post highlights so here you go:

We spent the first half of our visit with Paul's family. We spent Christmas day at the farm and got our traditional poses. (To make the collage a little larger, click on it below.)

The boys LOVED playing in the snow:

Snow angels!

Isaac being "snowballed" by his MN cousin

After sledding down the "hill" next to Gpa and Gma's place, Whitney said that we had to go to the big hill in Willmar so the boys could really do some sledding. Caleb responded with, "What!?! Did you see the hill at Grandpa and Grandma's?!?" We died laughing since this was no hill for real sledding!

Paul did some ice fishing with Brian, and we enjoyed a fish fry compliments of Brian and his new deep fryer.  The boys were pretty impressed that they were walking on Gpa and Gma's lake.

Fish fry--yummy

Ready to brave the elements! 

The ice auger

Warming up after our walk out to the shack

Whitney giving Isaac a sled ride on the ice 

The ice shack

 (We cut down the time for dressing-in-all-of-the-winter-clothes by the end of our trip, but I do admit that it made me thankful for how easy it is to send the boys outside to play during the winter at our house. :-)  From this hassle...

...to this:

We had such a lovely time, but it was definitely cold! 

Grandparents' Day 2014

Grandma B. was here this year for this year's Grandparents' Day festivities at Calvin. Besides taking in a few baseball games, she also made it to the spring concert and the open house on Thursday with the grandparents' day festivities and walk-a-thon on Friday.

Paul was Mr. Cruise for the musical

The boys' artwork on display for the open house:

After the program with Mrs. Wahlen

Grandma B. spent the morning with the boys and enjoyed their program, saw their classrooms and ate lunch with them.  Since I do not get to see the program, it is fun to see the pictures.  Here are some of the pictures that Mom took:

For the walk-a-thon the boys ran more than they walked. Between the two of them, they "walked" 36 laps and raised more than $400 for the charities their classes were sponsoring. Thanks to those who sponsored them!  They had a blast and were very tired afterwards.

15 Laps!

21 Laps!

Enjoying special snowball creations with Grandma after Isaac's baseball game:

Basketball Hoop

The boys have been wanting a basketball hoop for a while so we finally got one.  Paul and the boys excitedly worked on putting it together. Well, the boys went off to play after the first hour of assembly while Paul worked for a few more hours to get it just right.

Thankfully, the work paid off, and the boys have been shooting hoops almost daily.

Brian and Whitney!

Brian and Whitney were here for a quick visit. We packed a lot into our weekend and had such a wonderful visit!

Walking down by the Midway after they landed:

Visiting the beach and having dinner on the pier at Ruby's.

Spending a day at Sea World:

Thanks for a fun visit!

Kindergarten Phonics Wedding

Being in kindergarten, Caleb got the chance to be part of the wedding ceremony of Q & U. The boys were the Q's while the girls represented U. 

At the end of the ceremony they exchanged ring pops.

Here is a link to Isaac's kindergarten wedding which includes video.

Baseball

Isaac is playing Little League baseball and having a ball!

First time in uniform

Whitney shared her pictures with us and are the ones below:

He has had a few fans:

Gma B caught the first game

Snowballs at the game!

Brian and Whitney visited

Sarah and Sandy made it to his second game, and the Leonards also caught a game. Unfortunately, I have no record of their visit at the game besides Mark's pictures below.

Here is to our first season of baseball.

Special Moments

The boys have always loved baking with me, and now they (and I) are determined to learn how to cook some of their own things. Isaac was up first and decided to make eggs and bacon.  He cooked everything and set the table. He even added some special touches like names at each person's seat. Here is a picture of my spot:

The boys absolutely love music class at school. They are constantly in competition in class to earn smart cookies when they win the game of the day. When they win enough smart cookies, they earn a pizza cookie which our music teacher makes as a reward for knowing their musical terms. Caleb won the first one for our house in February and was pretty pumped!

Also in February the boys celebrated the 100th day of school as "old" people.