Halloween Lanterns

I was away for the weekend with Eden and my mom, so today it was time to get into Halloween gear!  We have been decorated around here for a while, but I had one more project I wanted to fit in this year. We made some Halloween Lanterns out of empty glass jars and they are so cute!

Painting on the mod podge...

and then just roll the jar up in some tissue paper...

we decided a bunch of bright colors would be fun!

The we cut out some faces and mod podged again.

We did the lanterns with the openings on the bottom so if we want to add a tea light it would be easy.  But, when the sun shines through the window, they light up beautifully, with no need for a candle!

Girls Weekend in Minot!

On a whim, I joined my mom on her trip to Minot to visit family.  My cousin, Jody, is having a baby boy around Thanksgiving and we were invited to a Thursday evening shower for her.  I checked on the weekend and amazingly, it worked for me to go along!  So we caught a flight on Thursday after lunch from MSP.

Waiting to board...Eden loved my crunchy water bottle!

First flight!  Talk about a SUPER baby!  She fell asleep during takeoff and didn't wake until I got out of my seat to deplane.

We borrowed carseats from cousins, so that was so convenient!  Happy girl!  

 Our first stop was to visit my Grandpa Sherman.  I haven't seen him for a long time!  He is 96!!  

Eden even likes sitting with him.  :)

Then we went to get ready for the fun shower planned by my cousin Angie.  It was at this super cute new bakery called "Sweet & Flour".

 The bakery was originally set to open over a year and a half ago, but then the flood hit Minot and the bakery had to postpone and rebuild.

I loved the "la toilette" sign.  :)

It was a surprise and she was super surprised, so it was great!

Me and my party girl.  Baby Leo got lots of great gifts that night and it was fun to see Jody and the rest of family who were there!

Eden loved exploring new places.  We stayed with Jody's family and she has 6 year old twins, Violet and Olivia.  Eden felt right at home with two doting cousins around.

She sat in her first high chair at a restaurant (after I sanitized it, of course.  Some things never change!). We had lunch at Applebee's - just one of many yummy restaurant stops.

Eden got to ride around in Baby Leo's seat - just making sure it works good! (Thanks Leo!)

Eden and Nana at dinner with the whole Thompson crew at Badlands Restaurant.

We played at Aunt Shirley's the next day.  Eden showed off her skills: sitting on her knees...which is then followed by pulling up to a standing position!  NO KIDDING!  She stands!

We got to eat at Qdoba and have a treat at Tutti Frutti that night.  Of course, Olivia wore her party attire to a casual dinner.  :)

Olivia.  Love her!  I guess I didn't snap any pics of Violet - but she is just as special and wonderful as her sissy!

And Eden enjoyed some kisses from the cutest boy around...

Palmer.  Extra special.  Thanks to everyone for the FUN visit!  I loved making the trip and promise to bring my BOYS next time!

Family Photos 2012

Some how between preschool, doctor, soccer, and sport tykes we fit family photos into a little 45 min time slot on a Tuesday!  It was a pretty day so we met my friend at a park and she did a great job capturing our craziness!  There was nose-picking, Eden almost falling off a bench, Logan pouting, and Benny doing is own, independent, thing...it was just a normal day for us!  The photos aren't perfect, but that makes them perfectly us...and I love that!  Thanks to Rachel for being the best and getting some real pics of our crazy silly fun family!

Click here to see Rachel's blog

Spaghetti Dinner!

Tonight was so special!  It was Bennett's first Noah's Ark fundraiser!  Papa and Nana made the trip over to spend the evening with us.  It was great!  We ate spaghetti and then the boys did lots of projects - mostly with Papa's help.  :)

Both Logan and Bennett love to create these days.  Bennett has always been more interested in that than Logan, but in just the last couple months, Logan has really started to love projects.

John and I got to visit with lots of friends tonight.  It was great to have my parents there to celebrate with us, help the kids do crafts, and hold WIGGLY Eden for us!

Just one of Logan's many crafts of the night.

Nana snuggling Eden and Benny showing off his telescope (which really became more of a sword).

Fun Spaghetti Dinner, Benny!  Thanks for coming N & P!

One clean room...

 Last weekend John and the boys spent one night visiting John's parents so I had a little girls' weekend with Eden.  I've been asking John for a weekend to work on some stuff at home since Eden was pretty little.  It would have been more productive time when she was three months old because at seven months, she wanted to play a lot and sleep less, which meant less time for mom to work.  I wont complain, though: the undivided time to play and read and snuggle with Eden was super special (and more fun than housework!).

Since we moved here just over one year ago, we have moved furniture around and been constantly organizing.  Just now we feel like things are where they belong...or starting to be.  I thought I would share a couple photos of my favorite room, since it was clean.  Its our living room, which is right off the entry way through the front door.  The above photo is taken from the dining room.  I love the arches.

I also love the buffet window - or piano window.  We have plans to paint the room a little darker neutral, but I'm going back and forth between beige and gray.  Right now the room is very light tan (it looks green or gold here). Plans also involve painting the ceiling and chunking up the crown moulding.  And please help me with the windows!  The shades are in terrible shape!  We need some curtains or something!

 Here is the view from the entryway.

Its a big room, which has made it hard to decide on a layout.  For now, we like the set up, but its our third or fourth round of moving stuff.  On the end closest to the entry way, we have some space for the kids.  The train table, mini game table, and bookshelves are there with plenty of space to play.  

As you can see, this really was the only clean room.  :)  But there you can see the entry way.  And sweet girl playing.

We would love to have more seating in here, but for now the open space is nice for the kids to play and rough house. (What, rough? My kids?  Never.  Haha).  Long long long term plan would be to have this be a super comfy warm room with the tv (we only have one) and a big sectional so when the kids are big, they can hang out with a big group of friends.  And there you have it.  The one clean room in the house.  I'll keep touring more as I have a chance.

Bennett's First Field Trip!

Last week my mom came over for the day so I could accompany Bennett on his first field trip!  We went to Beaver Creek Reserve on Tuesday afternoon.  It was great!  The kids are all so cute in their Noah's Ark tye dye they made themselves.

Benny was confused.  I think he was pretty sure we were going on a TRIP.  He told someone he was going on an airplane...

The little 3 year olds are learning to line up and doing very well!  The teachers said this group is doing really well for so early in the year.

This is am example of a beaver dam - we had to take a photo to show Logan!

Benny was reluctant to put his hand in the bear's mouth, but after I showed him it was pretend, he was all for it!

We explored all the animals, found the Queen Bee in the honeycomb, saw some live snakes, and Bennett decided his favorite featured animal was the FOX.

Circle up

Benny is pretty reserved and a little shy at school.  I hope his confidence grows as the year goes on.

"Fancy" the box turtle.

Benny got to pet Fancy, so that was pretty cool!

Four Friends

Today I got to see my dear friends: Sarah, Carrie, and Kim.  We all met in River Falls because Carrie is home this week from North Dakota.  It was perfect because our school district did not have any class today, so we were able to leave early to make it to Kim's house by 10am for a day of fun.

The newest addition to our clan of 8 kids (actually, its 10, but Sarah's Will & Grace were at school): Little Baby Rachel.  Carrie's beautiful nearly 8 week old daughter.

Bennett and Logan love playing at Avery and Drew's house!

Eden and Kate are just a couple weeks apart and doing all the same things.

Baby friends are fun.  :)

This is Rebecca - now a big sister! (And movie star)

Logan and Avery had to work pretty hard to share the magnatiles, but they ended up sharing great and making a great creation together!

Sweet sleeper.  Rachel is so small and so still...hard to believe Eden was like that just 7 months ago.

Bennett worked on his project - a scratch off he started in the car on the way over.  He was happy to work on it at the kitchen table.  He is a funny kid.

And Miss Avery - the hostess with the mostest!  It was wonderful to see my friends - its rare that we are all together at the same time.  But...HUSBANDS BEWARE: there was detailed talk of a much deserved "Girls Trip" coming up!!!