Saturday, November 30, 2013

Go Gophers!

John and the boys went with my dad to a Gopher-Badger hockey game over Thanksgiving break!  It was a huge deal and such a fun special night!  We know a couple of the players on the Badgers and they spotted John and the boys, so they gave the boys a puck!  Of course, a highlight!  What a fun night!  Thanks, Papa!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Nashville Weekend

Boy am I LUCKY!  I arranged a last-minute trip to Nashville and its my second trip away by.my.self. in less than a month!  I am such a jet-setter.  Haha.  No, truly, I think this is someone else's life!  John was heading down to Nashville for the Youth Specialties Conference with his colleague.  I mentioned way back last summer that I thought I should go along and try to meet my sister-in-law Jessica in Nashville because she is from there.  Well, of course just two weeks before his departure date, John said: "Did I tell you Scott and Jess are gonna be in Nashville when I'm there?"  
Excuse me?  What?
Well that was all I needed to get our ducks in a row and get a flight!  I talked with John's parents that night and they were willing to have the kids for the weekend (my mom watched them on Friday during the day) and John booked me a flight the next day!  I have always wanted to go to Nashville and I knew Scott and Jess would be the perfect hosts.
I left around 9 am on Friday morning...I couldn't believe I was on a place ALONE!!  It was so exciting and so relaxing!  John had flown out the day before, so he was already in conference mode when I arrived in Nashville.  Jessica picked me up and we went back to her parents who so graciously hosted John and I at their beautiful home.  We had so much fun getting to know them well.  Jessica has a very sweet and very special family.  Scott flew in later that afternoon and we picked John up for dinner around 5pm.

We went to CityHouse - an amazing restaurant with a superb menu and great atmosphere.  We had the best night catching up!!

Jessica and I have a blast together and we were so glad we finally got a weekend together!

This old depot was beautiful...we saw some sights - minimal tourism, really.  Mostly we just tried to spend some good relaxing time together.

Jessica and I went out shopping a couple days and exploring the city.  Nashville is so cool!  

Scott and Jess took me out to Franklin one day and it was amazing.  We just shopped and browsed around.  What a great little city.  I wanted to ship a crate full of goodies home but I left with just a couple small things instead.  This shop "Philanthropy Fashion" was seriously incredible.

Franklin

I loved this chalkboard...I will have to replicate it!


Another amazing shop...see: I told you I needed a crate.

We went out for a night of "Honky Tonk" - I didn't even know what that was!  And boy was I in for an experience!

This was the real deal: honey tonk at its best.  I don't really have words to describe it!


Sunday Scott and Jess flew out while I went to hang at the conference with John.  They had a cool marketplace that we bummed around for a while before heading out to the strip to catch some lunch before our flight.


The flight home was great: I was in first class!  :)  A glass of wine to end a wonderful weekend was perfect.  I was so excited to get home to the kids and so rejuvenated!  What a great weekend!  My BIGGEST thanks to Jessica, Scott and the Harrison's for the most amazing time!

And we brought the kids lollipops...they got to enjoy them for a while and then they forgot about them...we were just happy to all be home and start getting ready for Thanksgiving this week!

Logan's skating lessons 2013

Logan is taking his next installment of skating lessons right now and they are really paying off - he has done a great job!  This will be his last skating class before hockey...we told him he could sign up for hockey next year to give it a try.



Logan and John always go to the rink together for lessons and then John gets out on the ice with him before and after.  They've also been hitting the rink at our neighborhood park when its not too cold.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Winter 2013

There is plenty of snow so far this year!!!
good thing Bennett will help Daddy with the shoveling!

Thinking of heading out....


So happy to be out!





Wanting to make her own snow angel - just like from the book "Snowy Day".





Plenty of fun...







Eden wanted to go for a walk and enjoy some of the snow.  She sure got her snow legs quickly!


Eden would have kept on walking, but I convinced her to turn around and head back home!


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Baking with Dad

This never happens, so I decided I had to document it!!  John decided to bake cookies with the kiddos today!  They all love to bake and help out (for about 5 minutes, then they lose interest).



I had to add in this photo of Eden enjoying her favorite treat: whipped cream!  What a spoiled little one she is!!


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tennis Lessons

We started tennis lessons with the YMCA this fall for an activity for the kids once soccer was over.  I wanted both Logan and Bennett to do tennis, but Bennett wouldn't give me a definitive answer, so I didn't sign him up.  So, Logan went for the first few weeks while the other kids and I went along and watched.  
Logan is a natural and is having so much fun!  In fact, Bennett decided he wanted to play too!  So I had them pro-rate the lessons and he's in!  Super proud of Bennett for trying something new.  He loves it!!  Logan continues to show he's a real athlete!

Charlie and Henry have been in Logan and Bennett's preschool classes, so its fun to be in tennis with friends.

Bennett is on one side of the courts with some younger kids and their instructor is awesome!!



Logan is on the other side of the courts with some kids his age and they do more finite drills and skills.



Bennett loves all the silly games he gets to play.  Its a great outlet now that winter is approaching!  Way to go Logan and Bennett!  Tennis is a new favorite!