Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from Christmas in Colorado. We have had fun opening presents, playing with the presents, playing in the snow, cooking, baking, eating, going to Estes Park, shopping, being snowed in and just being together. We have definitely had a white Christmas, there has been so much snow here, the kids have been loving it. We have had a great time being with my family.

Christmas Program

Today was the Sunday School Christmas program at church. The first picture is of the kids before church this morning and the others are them in their Christmas outfits. They did a great job in the program. We just got home a few minutes ago after going out for kosher salami pizza with Jeff's parents. We are all tired out after a full day! It will feel good to get into bed tonight. We just have to do a few minutes of homework and reading with the kids and then hopefully some time for relaxation.

Our Christmas Tree

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went out to cut our Christmas tree. Usually we have some snow on the ground when we go but this year there was none at all. The day before had been in the 40's. It didn't take us long to find one, there were so many beautiful ones to choose from. The kids got hot chocolate and candy canes and we listened to Christmas music on the drive. It was such a beautiful sunny day, we had a wonderful time. It is one of our favorite traditions, we have been doing it since Olson's first Christmas. We had a fun time on Sunday decorating it also. All of our ornaments came from special people and/or have special memories that they remind us of. The tree looks beautiful now that we have it all decorated.

We are getting excited for Christmas. The kids are counting down the days and getting ready to pack. In two weeks, we will be leaving to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Colorado for Christmas. Until then, we will keep busy with Christmas programs and parties, baking, shopping, wrapping, packing and all of the regular activities of life in there too! What fun!

After Jeff got back from India, we took a trip out to Maplewood on a Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately the two days before we went had been very windy so most of the leaves were already off of the trees. Fortunately, we had a wonderful time anyway. The kids ran and jumped and played in all the leaves on the ground and rolled down the hill over and over. (Notice the grass stains on the knees!) They were chased and tackled by Daddy until they were giddy with laughter. I even ended up in a pile of leaves thanks to Jeff, which they all three thought was hilarious. We just had such a fun time together as a family, it was so good to have Jeff back with us. It was a long two weeks and we missed him so much while he was gone.

Grandparents Day!!






The kids had "Grandparents Day" at school at the end of September. There was a program for grandparents in Kaelen's class and she was blessed to have all four of her grandparents there for it. Olson's class had an open house where he got to have grandparents at also. My parents decided to drive out from Colorado to spend about five days with us and be here for Grandparents Day for the first time. This was during a two week span of time that Jeff was in India for work. It was such a blessing to have them here while he was gone. They really made the time go faster. Jeff's parents live here in town so we are fortunate to be able to see them on a fairly regular basis. Our children are so blessed to have wonderful, godly grandparents who love them and pray for them. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for coming all the way out here to be with us. I don't know if you realize how much that meant to all of us. You are so awesome!! You can come again any time you know. We miss you!

Pumpkin Patch















































Jeff's company had a fun event for employees and families out at the pumpkin patch. It was a bit of a wet day but we went and enjoyed it anyway.

Here are the kids on the first day of school. It is hard to believe that we already have a kindergartener and a second grader! They are both doing very well and really enjoying their year so far.

Thank you Sharon and Shannon for your comments reminding me that people actually do check this Blog and I have been very negligent in updating it since the spring. Here are just a few pictures of our summer and then next time I will move on to the Fall and hopefully be a bit more consistent in updating! These are pictures from our time in Colorado where we spent Canada Day and the Fourth of July with my family and also from a weekend that we spent in Duluth with Jeff's parents. We had such a fun summer and now we are back into the routine of school and have already had our first 2 inches of snow (Thankfully it all melted again!).

We are still around. I have just taken a very long break from the blogging world. We have had a busy summer and obviously it is easier for me to blog when the kids are in school. They go back to school in one week. Kaelen will be in kindergarten and Olson in second grade. We have lots of pictures from the summer and I will attempt to get a few up next time I am on. Some of the events this summer have been; Olson's 7th birthday, Canada Day and the 4th of July in Colorado, Olson going to Bible camp for the first time, a weekend in Duluth, some time at the lake and swimming lessons. It has been a great summer and I am not quite ready for it to end.

Here are the new haircuts!

This is one of Olson and Kaelen's favorite activities. They received new umbrellas in their Easter baskets from Grandpa Larry and Grandma Irene. They have had so much fun on rainy days going outside with their umbrellas and looking for earthworms on the driveway and the sidewalks. I wish I would have taken a picture of Olson last week when I checked on them outside and he had a handful of at least 30 wriggling earthworms in one hand. Kaelen was very excited to find a slug one time too. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the hours of fun!!

We have had quite a few events going on this spring with the kids at their schools. Kaelen had a special day with her Daddy at "Doughnuts for Dads" day. You can see the beautiful tie that she made just for him. Olson and the rest of the first graders put on a great play called, "The Promised Land". Here you can see him on his costume for his role as one of the Israelite narrators. He did a wonderful job. Kaelen also just had a special day for moms at her school on Wednesday, the last day of school. The kids made lunch for us and we got to have a picnic with them at school while the rain poured down outside. She made me a beautiful Mother's Day present which I am wearing in the picture.

A few more images of Kaelen from her preschool program day. The top one is of her and her teacher, Mrs. Pharis. The others are in our back yard.

Today was Kaelen's preschool program/graduation. Olson got to leave class to come and watch along with Grandma Mona and me. She was so excited and she did such a good job. The beautiful flowers were sent by Grandma Irene and Grandpa Larry yesterday. It was the first time anyone sent her flowers. She wanted to wear her Easter dress for the program because she did not get a chance to wear it at Easter when she was sick. After her program, she and I went out for lunch. We have a few more pictures to put up also but I will add them later when I have more time.

Kaelen and I were both sick over Easter. We were sick for a long time (it felt like forever). When we finally recovered, we thought that we should celebrate by going and getting our hair done. We both went to our stylist, Danja, this week and it felt so good to get a new hair cut. These are Kaelen's before and after pictures of her new cut. It looks absolutely adorable on her and she is thrilled with it! I'll try to get a few more pictures of it and put up another day too.