Toy Story

Someone in our house has an obsession with Toy Story.

I think we all have the movies memorized by now. For Christmas Carson got some of the Toy Story figurines, movies, pajammas, and cutest of all-cowboy boot slippers! I am a little concerned that he is SO into the movies, but I remember Ethan was completely into Cars when he was about this age, and it eventually passed. :)

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

Snowy Days

This is what the kids do to burn off energy on a these long snowy days! :)

I just can't get over how grown up Carson looks on that scooter, he is growing too fast!!!

Birthday Parties

Ethan had a fun birthday weekend. On Saturday the 4th he got to go swimming at the Lake Crystal Rec Center with two of his friends. We got there for open swim and there was no one there! They had the pool to themselves for about a half hour. The played basketball and went down the big slide about 100 times, the 3 of them got along great! Afterwards we went back to our house, they had cake and ice cream and played a bit. On Sunday the 5th we had family and friends over to our house for the Vikings game and lunch. It was a good weekend.

Ethan is 6

You are 6 years old! Wow. I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday! We went to the hospital in the middle of the night and you finally decided to make your appearance at 4:05 p.m. on December 5th, 17 hours after we arrived at the hospital! It was mommy and daddy's 1 year anniversary...you were the perfect gift! Now you are in kindergarten, time has gone by so fast. One of my favorite things to do each week is look through all of your work that you have done in your class. It is fun to see that you are learning a lot and doing very well in school. You are recognizing words and writing sentences. Pretty soon you will be reading! For your 6th birthday we went swimming at the Lake Crystal Rec Center with two of your little buddies. We also had a birthday party for you with family and close friends. You got a lot of fun presents, what a lucky boy! :) Mommy, Daddy and Carson love you to the moon and back....Happy Birthday Ethan.

Winter is here!

It's cold out. I figured it was the perfect day to put up some pictures of the kids playing in the snow! This snowstorm was a few weeks ago. It was very heavy snow, but it was so pretty that morning! Ethan couldn't wait to get outside. He is at the age now where playing out in the snow is fun and he stays out for more then 10 minutes. Carson however...doesn't last very long. He wants to go outside so bad, but then he hates it after about 5 minutes. He is getting better, but he really doesn't like having all of the winter gear on. Ethan and I made a nice little snowman that day. I thought it was pretty cute, until I drove around town the next day and saw all of these huge life size snowmen that everyone else built with their kids. Guess I better work on my snowman buidling skills for next time around. :)

Halloween!!

This is how Carson felt about having his picture taken in his Halloween costume:

He really was a CUTE little lion, just not a happy one.

He was fine with wearing his costume as long as the hood was not on his head! We went over to Janesville for trick or treating. Carson made a short trip around with Grandma and Grandpa, he was in a better mood by then but it was a little cold for him. Ethan, otherwise known as "Iron Man" made a haul on the candy. He had fun.

So, if you are ever in the mood for some candy...stop by our house! Although I think Jarred ate all of the good candy bars already. Or wait...maybe that was me. haha! :)

Birthday Party

Carson had a great birthday party. He enjoyed his Elmo balloons and cake and of course opening presents. Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Ron gave him a birthday card that sang happy birthday to him...he thought that was the funniest thing! I took a little video of it, although it is kind of dark. He would open it and laugh and then roll around on the ground laughing. It is always the simple things that entertain them the best at this age. :)

Soccer Season

Ethan had a great soccer season this year! It was fun to see how much he improved over last year. He ususally scored 4 or 5 goals per game. He is a fast little guy. :) I had fun helping coach his team this year. I hope he wants to play again next year.

Happy 2nd Birthday Carson!

Happy Birthday to our big 2 year old! Where did the year go? I feel like I was just writing about your 1 year birthday. I cannot believe you are 2 already. You are getting so big and becoming more and more independent. It is fun to watch you try and do more things by yourself. You are still mommy's boy. Every morning when I come upstairs I am greeted by you running right to me and saying mommy! mommy! :) I love that. You look up to your big brother and copy him (in good and bad ways!) and you love to play with him. There are moments when I will catch you & Ethan playing trains, looking at a book, or coloring so nicely together. That makes me smile! I think winter is going to be long because you love playing outside so much. You love bikes, football, tractors and balloons! You had fun this fall riding in the combine and tractor with daddy and Grandpa John. You are talking more everyday and starting to put words together. I am sure you will be talking non stop before we know it. I can't wait to see what the next year brings for you. We love you Carson!

Center Creek Orchard

This past Sunday we made our way down to Fairmont to go to the orchard for the day. We went with Sara, Aubrey, & Jack Will! It was a lot of fun. It was fairly hot and the little black bugs were terrible, but the kids had fun! There was a petting zoo, so they got to hold puppies and look at little mice and rats. One of Ethan's favorite parts was walking through the haunted forest. Ethan only had one minor accident. He was doing the apple sling shot...and forgot to let go of the sling shot and it pulled him forward and into a puddle of mud. I think it scared him a little bit. :)

Go Vikings?

Okay...so maybe this picture can be a good luck charm for next weeks game. :)

Happy Fall!

A few weekends ago we went down to Fairmont and were able to get out to Center Creek Orchard both days. It was fun, the boys loved it! The animals and jumping castles seemed to be the highlights for them. I forgot to take my camera so I didn't even get to take any pictures! I think we will be going back again soon.

Last week was an interesting week for us. We had a lot of rain and the Le Seuer river rose and flooded the water treatment plant. We were all afraid we were going to get sewer back up in our basements and we couldn't use toilets/drains for a week! School was also cancelled for the entire week. But we survived the St. Clair flood of 2010. :) It really was crazy. There were quite a few people in St. Clair whose homes were badly damaged, we feel fortunate that everything turned out fine for us. I had an unexpected day off Tuesday of last week since the kids did not have school/daycare...so we went to Sibley Park. It was a beautiful day. Sibley Park is such a nice place to take the kids.

Kindergarten has been going wonderfully for Ethan. He goes to bed a little easier at night now because he gets worn out at school. He has also been doing soccer on Saturday mornings. Although, it was cancelled 2 weeks in a row because of the rain. He is playing great this year, he scored 5 goals at his game on Saturday. Go Ethan!

Surgery

Carson's ear tube surgery went great on Wednesday! We were in and out of the surgery center in 2 hours. It's amazing how quickly they get you in and out. I stayed home with him and he slept a lot of the day and was back to his normal, happy, active self by supper time!


The above picture and below picture look a lot alike! The one from below is from last December when he had tubes put in the first time.