Happy 5th Birthday Elsa!

Elsa LOVES to cook.  She says she wants to be a baker and a doctor, just like mom.  Makes my heart melt!  So, when I found a woman (Deb Johnson of Budding Chefs) who does cooking birthday parties, I got excited.  Elsa was pretty darn excited too.  She comes to your home (or can do other locations) and brings all ingredients.  She showed up 30 minutes early and made cupcakes with Elsa.  When the kids first arrived, they decorated their own aprons with fabric markers.  We selected smiley faces pizzas as the entree so all kids got to make their own individual pizzas and then decorate the cupcakes.  They had a blast.  Now for the crazy part….we had 20 kids!!!  There were two 4k classes at Elsa's school.  She has several friends in the other class and several others who were going to be in her kindergarten class.  So, rather than exclude anyone, we invited all 23 children.  I may have had a temporary moment of insanity.  I really need to remember that when you invite that many kids, they may just all show up.

 It ended up being ALOT of fun and I was so thankful that many parents stayed to help out!  

The night before, we prepared all of the gift bags and blew up balloons.  Rachel, our nanny was a HUGE help that night and the day of the party.  Although we found out that a balloon that pops will set off our security system.  Nothing like a 3am cardiac stress test!

Here is Elsa and Deb mixing up the cupcakes.  They were delicious!!

We ended up renting a banquet table and several chairs from our church.   We made one super long table and changed out table cloths between dough rolling and cupcake decorating.  Love the Dollar Store!!

 Here is little Miss Khloe creating her crust

 Elsa beginning her face pizza

 We changed out the table cloths at this point and while the pizzas were in the oven, they decorated cupcakes.

The end result

Deb, reading cupcake book.  They listened intently.

Elsa LOVES pinatas!  I made the mistake of buying this one month before her birthday and that was all she would talk about!

 All was going well, until the hook on the pinata broke.   That is when Paul (a cardiologist may I mention) decided to get on top of the monkey bars and hold the pinata.  Fortunately, he escaped sans injury!

 Elsa and her friend enjoying their favor bags

Everyone wanted Elsa to open their present first.  I tried to write down what each child gave her, but it got crazy.

We were one exhausted house when this was over!  But, it was all worth it.  She thanked us multiple times for the fun party!

Longest.Winter.Ever

I am definitely glad that this wasn't our first winter in Wisconsin because I seriously think I would have had to reconsider staying here!!!  School has been closed at least 4 times due to dangerously cold weather (-40 wind chills), we have had more snow than I have seen in a long time!!!  I love all the snow, but am so ready for spring!

But, we have ventured out when the weather cooperates, to enjoy with winter wonderland.   We took the kids to a small sledding hill near our house and they had so much fun!!  It was a nice small hill but the kids had so much fun sledding, throwing snowballs, and making snow angels.

Aaron and I battled the cold and went to the Packer-49er playoff game.  I am so glad the cold front stayed back because the following day was -15 with -50 wind chills!  The temp at the game was 0 degrees, but thanks to some strategically placed hand/foot warmers and LOTS of layers, I was nice and cozy!!!  

We did attempt to take Elsa ice skating, but that was an EPIC failure.  She was crying hysterically getting her ice skates on because she said they hurt!  Never made it out on the ice.   I think I will buy some more comfortable ice skates and we will try again.

Our little man is 2!!

Happy Birthday to Chet!  He turned 2 on January 3rd.  We kept his birthday pretty low key because I think we were all in a post-Christmas, post-my birthday sugar crash :)
He started the day by having a birthday party at school where he brought in a cookie decorated in the only colors this town has (green and gold).  The kids absolutely devoured the cookie!

Then, at home he opened presents, making sure to rip the wrapping paper into as many small pieces as possible.

Last year, he wasn't quite sure of the cake.  This year, he loved blowing out the candles (so much so, we lit them several times so he could blow them out!)

Favorite cartoons:  paw patrol (the kid is obsessed and will throw a fit when he can't watch it), Bubble Guppies, and Super Why

Favorite food:  none.  Just when I think a food is his favorite, then he will decide he won't eat it.  The kid is the pickiest eater!!!   He does like his snacks, though:  Yogurt Stars (from Trader Joes), cashews, peanut butter pretzels.

Speech:  still not saying much other than no, mom, daddy.  They (pediatrician and teachers) want us to persue speech therapy in about 6 months if it doesn't develop more.  He definitely understands and can hear, so I think it will come around.

Books:  any books with flaps, To Market to Market

His teachers say he is the best helper when it comes to picking up toys and he does this so well around the house too!

Has so much energy that I wish there was away to transfer some of it to me.  He loves jumping, running, climbing, etc.  Aaron thinks he will make a great hockey player because everything he does, he does with a crazy level of intensity.

Loves to roar and show his toothless smile.

Favorite toys:  cars/trucks, puzzles, legos, playing with Elsa's dress up clothes.

He is an excellent sleeper, which is a pleasant change from last year at this time.  We can lay him in his crib and he will fall right to sleep.  He still uses his nook at naptime and bedtime and LOVES his blanket and Mr. Bear.   Elsa never really had a security blanket/toy, and I think it is so cute how loves to snuggle with his.

Games:  loves chasing/being chased,  hide and seek, peek-a-boo

Has the most contagious belly laugh!  When we are changing him, he loves for us to smell his feet and will giggle to no end with "peee-ewwwh".

He has developed such a fun personality over the past year!  We love you Chet man!!!

Christmas 2013

This was our first Christmas in our forever house!  I really started out with minimum Christmas decor because I never wanted to spend the money when we were moving around so much.  So, we did buy some decor items before Christmas, but I have gone HOG-wild at post Christmas sales (including an 80% off sale at Hobby Lobby)…So, next year, I will have SO much fun decorating!  Here are some pictures of what I did this year.  The first two are of the fireplace in the kitchen and the last ones are of the great room.

 I love reminiscing when unpacking and hanging the ornaments.

 From my first Christmas as a baby

 A viking fan :)

We really want to keep the Spirit of Christmas the focus of the season, rather than the secular distraction of Santa.  So, I bought a wooden advent calender with boxes for each date that I filled with fun activities (bake cookies, drive around and look at lights, decorate gingerbread house, shop for Toys for Tots, etc).  The kids really enjoyed opening up the boxes each morning.  Here are some pictures of Elsa decorating her gingerbread houses.

I also heard of a great idea on our local Christian radio station regarding keeping the Spirit of Christmas.  They mentioned placing all of the photo Christmas cards in a cute box on the kitchen table as you receive them and then each night at dinner, removing a card and praying for that specific family.  I love keeping the cards out all year, so it will be fun praying for all of our friends and family throughout the year!

One thing that is really important to Aaron and I is that "Santa" doesn't bring a ton of gifts.  I read on a blog once that her family did four gifts:  Something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read.  A woman who works for me said she did three gifts, because Jesus got three gifts.  How great is that??!!

 On Christmas eve, we went to mass.  Elsa and I went 30 minutes earlier while Chet finished his nap to get us some seats.  I kept her busy with painting her nails…a huge hit.  She even asked the cute lady sitting behind us if she wanted hers done.  I am glad I at least took this picture before Church, because all of her curls went flat during mass because she fell asleep on me.

It would have been nice to get one with both of the kids, but Chet would NOT sit still (I have a whole new appreciation for photographers of small children!!!)

 We opened gifts from the Grandparents and cousins.  Chet loved opening presents so much that he had a major meltdown when he discovered there were no more gifts to open.  He emptied out the garbage where we were putting the wrapping paper and dismantled boxes…fun times!

 Elsa LOVED this doctor kit from Grandma Anderson!  She has given us (and her dolls) multiple checkups and has turned her bedroom into her office.

 Here are the treats for Santa and the reindeer.

 Early the next morning, Elsa came running into our room telling us Santa drank most of his milk and left a lot of crumbs.  That messy Santa. Santa only brought a couple of gifts for the kids this year along with some stocking stuffers.  The gift Elsa REALLY wanted….a puppy!  But, unfortunately, he can't come to our house until Feb 2nd.  So, Santa wrote the kids a letter and sent a picture of the puppies.  Elsa was so excited when we read the letter, but not so excited when she discovered a stuffed puppy in the box!  She has changed the name a million times when asking Santa for the puppy, but after watching Frozen, she has decided on Olaf.

The other tradition we do each year, is make a Birthday Cake for Jesus.  Elsa decided He was 5 years old, so we blew out five candles after singing Jesus Happy Birthday!

 I really love creating new traditions, while incorporating ones Aaron and I did with our families.   Love  watching the joy on their faces as they experience them!