Gingerbread Houses

I love that Elise is old enough to do more and more of these Christmas traditions! We did gingerbread houses for the first year this year. Elise did a fantastic job, was very independent. And I was pleasantly surprised that Anja did a great job too! She really got into decorating her house and when I tried to help her got quite upset and said "Me! Me! Me!" until I stopped helping.
Miss Independent wanted to do it herself...
Frost a bit, lick a bit...frost a bit, lick a bit...

Every day I marvel at how skilled Elise is a various things. She really is growing up!

Visiting Friends

Our friends Rick, Kris, Morgan and Samantha came to visit Kris's family. So we took advantage of their visit to spend some time together. We went to McDonald's so the kids could blow off some steam in the playland. That was great until Anja got up about as far as she could go then got scared and started crying and yelling "Mamma! Mamma!" So, like any good parent I took off my boots and crawled up into the maze to carry her out. After that we went to Rick and Kris's hotel where we enjoyed their pool (and especially the hot tub!). Everyone was zapped of energy after swimming, and after a rinse off in the hotel room and a snack we headed back home and all slept like babies!

Anja, Elise and Morgan on the way to the pool, very excited!!

Elise enjoying the hot tub (and I did too!)
Our friend Morgan loves swimming!

Anja was kind of obsessed with the pool noodles and kept carrying them around from the pool to the hot tub and back again. And again. And again.


Thanks Rick, Kris, Morgan and Samantha for a great evening!!

December Part I

We've been busy!

We put up our Christmas tree...

Had a fun time at the mall, burning off some pent-up energy...

And this week at preschool Elise had her "special friends" party where friends and family got to visit class, do special projects with the kids...

Have a snack...

Visit santa...

And listen to the kids sing...

Uh oh! Is that a yawn? Long day for a four year old, I guess!

First Snow

We had our first real snow of the season Tuesday night. The girls had a great time!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Spent the day at home (I cooked!) with mom, dad, the girls and my dad's cousin Irene (one of my favorite people in the whole world!).

Anja helped set the table (in her own way :)

Elise loves the drumsticks (like her mama) and as she bit into it she said "mom this turkey is GREAT!"


The Sunday after Thanksgiving we drove to Clearbrook to spend the day with my aunt, uncle, cousins and family.

It was a little too cold to play outside so we entertained the kids by giving them "horsey" rides. When I looked at the pictures I realized we looked more like elephants than horses, though.

Anja really loves music and once the guitars came out that's all she wanted to do. She played Uncle Tom's "real" guitar as well as the kid's play one.

Trying to get four active kids to sit still for a photo is not an easy task. This is my girls with my cousin Heidi's boys.

November Weekend

We had a fun, busy weekend. Saturday we went to Bemidji for cousin Gavin's birthday party. It was at The Gym Bin, the gymnastics center. The kids had a GREAT time!


Anja loves cake! She ate her piece and Elise's piece!

Sunday we baked and made Christmas ornaments. When I was little, up until I was in college, my mom and I made ornaments together every year. I thought Elise was ready to start the tradition this year, and I was right! The first time, I started to help her but she said "No mom, I can do it myself!" (I have NO idea where she gets this independence and stubborness :) And she really did do it all by herself! She did a terrific job, I was such a proud mama!


Anja tried it out too, but made more of a mess than anything. But she had fun!

Baking Day

I was in the mood for baking this weekend and had planned to make lefse. Elise decided she also wanted cookies, so we did it all!
Elise had a good time playing in the flour. She said she was making herself into a clown.

Halloween

Elise was an angel this Halloween and Anja was a flower.

We went to the Halloween carnival at the elementary school...

Anja thought the "haunted hockey" was much easier to play if she just pushed the puck through the goal...

After the carnival we did some trick or treating around our neighborhood...

Anja refused to be carried and walked the whole way.