Happy Birthday Gabriel!!

This past Sunday, Gabe turned 5!!!! Of course, I can't believe it! The Friday before his bday, we celebrated in Sioux Falls. We did some shopping (mainly Doug for me while the kids played in the play area) and got to eat at Chuck E Cheese. Gabe got a crown since it was his bday, and Anna scavanged one off the floor that another little girl lost -- she was gone though, so I let Anna keep it. It was a fun day for all of us. We even got to eat supper at Red Lobster. Gabe and Anna both loved watching the lobsters in the tank. (We didn't really tell them they were someones supper.)

Sunday we got up early and Gabe helped make cinnamon rolls for his special bday breakfast, then it was off to church. Oh, Saturday night Gabe insisted on helping me with his cake. So, when he got home from Christmas practice at church, he started to icing it while I was helping Anna with something. I managed to get the icing from him before he demolished the cake, but it was a very nice gesture. He did insist on sprinkles though. The cake was yummy even though it was VERY crunchy from the 1/3 bottle of sprinkles he dumped out on it. hahah I guess it didn't look pretty enough with just the chocolate icing! After supper, we did presents and he was able to talk to some family members and friends who called to sing Happy Birthday and talk to him. He really thought he was hot stuff getting phone calls.

As you can tell from the picture of Anna with the balloon, it is dry in our house. She did that by accident. She didn't even rub it on her hair like we did as kids. We did have to rub it a tiny bit to get it to stick on the wall though. The kids just thought that was the best thing in the world to see the balloons on each others back and the walls.

For those of you wondering, we can pick up Gabe's 5 yr old pictures tomorrow, so if you haven't gotten a Christmas letter yet, it will soon be on the way.

Partly frozen Falls Park

You may remember a post a while back of Falls Park in Sioux Falls SD. Yesterday we were in Sioux Falls for Gabriel's 5th bday. (Pictures of that will follow his bday party tomorrow.) We drove down to Falls Park because I was interested in whether or not it was frozen. We went past the river in another spot and it was frozen. Anyway, it is about 2/3 frozen. There is still some water coming over the falls, but not a lot. I was actually surprised because at the top of the falls, the river is really not that wide and once you get out on some of the rocks, it is very shallow. The set up of Falls Park has a walk way over part of the river after the falls. That way you can watch the falls and take pictures. So, right under where I was standing, the water was starting to freeze. You may not be able to tell in the pictures online, but over to the left is a small area that the water is still flowing.

"You Might Live in Minnesota..."

So, we got this printout in a Christmas card from one of our members. It is Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Live in Minnesota..." I thought some were really funny, so I will share a few with you.

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping the the food will swim by...

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March...

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time...

If you think ketchup is a little too spicy...

If you measure distance in hours...

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching...

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events...

If you think of the major food groups as beer, fish and venison...

If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked...

If you carry jumper cabels in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them...

If you design you kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit...

If "Down South" to you means Iowa...

If you find -10 degrees a "little chilly"...

Have a good day!!

Playing in the snow

Saturday we ended up with about 6" of snow. The kids were very excited. I was also since we didn't really get much sleet. Sunday, before church, someone came and plowed the parking lot. They noticed that we hadn't used the snow blower yet to clean the driveway, so they plowed the driveway also. That was so very nice of them!! The fun part it is that they piled all the snow in the backyard. So, we had a good time Sunday afternoon playing out on the snow pile. Anna was so excited, she forgot her mittens. Well, it only took about a minute of trying to climb the hill with no mittens for her to come back in crying. Her poor little hands were red and wet. After we warmed her hands back up, and got mittens on, she was happy. The hill is a little on the steep side, so it did take a little manuevering for the kids to get up it. But, after a few times, they were doing great!! Doug decided to take the inaugural first slide down. He did have a bit of a problem though--when he sat on the sled, he went down the back (steep) side and landed on his back. It was quite hilarious and while I was too busy laughing and taking a picture, Anna helped him up.

When they plowed our street, they left a pile of snow in the middle. So, Monday morning it was a little challenging to get to our paper route since our little Saturn couldn't "jump" the snow. By Monday afternoon, they had taken care of it. It was interesting how they did it -- a big dump truck was driving in front of a tractor with a front snowblower. The tractor was blowing the snow into the truck. They had to come back a few times, but they got it all picked up. Now, all these fun snow tidbits may get boring after a while, but we are still new and learning how they really do things in the north. You'll get used to it!! =)

Christmas Photo Shoot

Since we are officially into Dec, it is time to get our Christmas letter going. Along with that, comes pictures. We decided to just do the kids again this year, but hopefully we will do a family picture while my sister is here after Christmas. So, here are some of the shots we got during our afternoon photo shoot. We had to do something while our 5" of snow was falling and about an inch of snow/sleet. At least we didn't have to go anywhere today. Doug also shoveled a path over to Church, but we are supposed to get 3 more inches during the night. At least we will have less snow to walk through. =)

Enjoy our crazy kids!!!