Sam's Birthday Party!!

Allie zoomin' down on the tube!


Lindsay and Taylor!!



Half the party goers!!




Taylor on the snowboard! (I've got great video I'm trying to load!!)

Yesterday we went to my cousin Joe's house to celebrate his son Sam's birthday. It was an awesome day! We got there about 11 a.m. and it was beautiful outside. Uncle Beau went outside with all the kids and they started sledding immediately - right onto the lake! The rest of the party showed up and all "17" kids were sledding and snowboarding for about an hour! Then they all came in and Miki and I went and picked up McDonald's that Joe had ordered for all the kids and they had lunch. Then Sam opened all his presents and the kids played one game. By then it was 1:30 p.m. and time to go -- or at least everyone else. Lindsay, Lauryn, Allie, Taylor and Sam along with Beau, Joe and some other friends all went back outside sledding for another 2 hours! They were having such a blast. Taylor looked so cold but she was LOVING the snowboarding and just kept going and going!!! Finally everyone came in and we all had hot chocolate and left about 4:45 p.m.! It was a full day, but sure a lot of fun!!

Taylor and Allie's 5th Birthday Party

The "water bottle" bowling pins the girls got for their birthday at the bowling alley

Ally Nicole, Shelby and Taylor

"I win", "I win".....or at least it just made it down the lane

Shelby, Taylor, Ally Nicole, Whitney, Josh, Owen, Ashley, Allie

Jodi and Phil with us at Dave & Busters' for our birthday!!

For Taylor and Allie's birthday we went to Sundance Bowl and did their birthday party. It was so great. Everything was all set up and ready to go - all we had to do was show up! The kids all bowled one game, then we had pizza's for lunch. The girls opened their presents after eating and the kids all had cupcakes. Then it was 1 p.m. and the party was over. Went really fast, but had a really great time.

We went home and Donna and Alex came down for a little visit. They stayed for a couple hours and then we went and met Jodi and Phil at Dave & Buster's for dinner and games. We love that place! We spent almost 2 1/2 hours there and didn't get home until 9:30 p.m. It was a long, full day for the girls but I think they had a pretty good birthday!!!

New Years Eve!!!

FIRST TIME WITH SKATES!!!

We spent New Year's Eve with the Skram's and went to Lifetime Fitness/Crystal Community Center for their New Year's "extravaganza". We had a blast! Allie and Taylor went ice skating for the first time and loved it. Unlce Mike was such a champ and was out on the ice with all three kids all by himself! Mom had fallen down the stairs the week before so not up for ice skating; dad just doesn't skate; and Lori was watching Ashley. I'm not sure how many times the kids went around the rink - they just kept going and going!! Then we went to a craft room and the kids got animal balloons and made some "snowflakes". There as a magic show too, and Allie got called up on stage. Hilarious! (I'm trying to get the video to load - I'll post if I can). After that everyone went swimming (well, except the moms!). Always love swimming. All the festivities ended by 9 p.m. and we were on our way home. It was great and the girls had a fabulous time - and slept great too!

Gingerbread House

The girls made a gingerbread house, and it turned out pretty good! They had a blast and it took them a long time...especially Taylor. She's pretty particular about how things go.

Wildwoods Waterpark

Allie did a "oops" and sort of fell into the hotub. Didn't get hurt, just wasn't paying attention and went in kind of "sideways". She comes up out of the water and has the foam all over her mouth, and looks at me and goes, "Ho-Ho-Ho." It was the funniest thing!

The girls and dad on the lazy river!

Taylor skidding down the "kiddie" slide

Allie screaming down, waving!

I was able to get 4 passes to this waterpark in Otsego, pretty cheap and thought it would be a fun thing to do. Well, it seemed like it was almost "not meant to be". It was supposed to take 5-7 business days to get the passes; it took 2 weeks! The girls were so good and patient. We finally were going to go on a Sunday and Chad called to see what time they opened. BOOM! The water heater was broken. Didn't know when it would be fixed. FINALLY, we got there last weekend. It was a blast! We went Sunday morning about 8:30 a.m. and stayed until 11:30. Came home, ate lunch and the girls took a snooze. Allie, for 3 1/2 hours! They got up, and Chad took them back for another 2 hours!! Taylor went down a HUGE slide all by herself. Allie wasn't as big of a fan of the slides, but dad and Taylor went A LOT!! (Poor Chad, that's lots of stairs!) They had a great kids area, and super hot tub. They also had another pool area that was a "whirlpool" - the current just swirls you around. They loved that part!!

Childrens Museaum & Macy's 8th Floor!!

Girls with Santa!!

Taylor ready to "work"

Allie all ready to "deliver some mail"

We went with Aunt Lori, Owen and Ashley down to the Children's Museum and to see Macy's 8th Floor display a couple weeks ago. It was the best time! The girls had never been to the Childrens Museum and absolutely loved it. They did everything that was there and just ran around like kids in a candy store. It was fun having Owen show them things since he'd been there before, so he'd show them how to do different things or "come on girls, come look at this." It was cute - they had a blast! We then went and ate a quick lunch and headed downtown to see the Macy's display. We got "fancy" and parked in the Gavidai (sp?) parking garage, which is heated and valet parking. PERFECT since it was pretty chilly. When we got to the 8th floor after SEVERAL escalators, which I think was almost the highlight for all the kids, there was nobody there hardly. We walked right in! It was great. It was a great display and the kids saw Santa's Workshop and all the elves. There wasn't even a line for Santa, so we snuck that in too! It was a perfect day!!!

Thanksgiving

I think I got everyone.... Missy, Allie and Taylor...the girls:)


Allie & Bear Taylor & Bear

We went to Steve and Gail's house in Sartell for Thanksgiving. A lot of family was there and Kyle came with his new puppy, Bear. OOHHH...so darn cute! The girls fell in love with him. We stayed until about 8:30 p.m. when Allie started snoozin' on the couch. Apparently it was time to go home! She was pooped out.