So Many Pictures So Little Time

Christmas came and went in a blink of an eye and we packed as much fun as we could in a 3 day period!  Thus the delay in this week's post.

Saturday morning we headed down to La Crosse for our annual visit to Riverside Park's Christmas lights display with Megan and her family.  We always spend the day chasing kids, hanging out and making memories.  Except this year we didn't have to chase kids!  They are all big enough now to play without our constant supervision.  I don't think the 4 adults have ever sat on the couch at the same time for that long!  It was relaxing, it was lazy, it was amazing!!  

Taking advantage of what little snow they had.

The 10 of us!

Megan and I have been best friends since the first week of Kindergarten.  

This day is one we look forward to all year.

Mason and Jack looking at the reindeer while we wait to see Santa.

Waiting patiently for their turn to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.

There was a big display of a village with a train going around it.  The kids loved it!

We did this pose for a picture when we were 5 years old.  We've continued reenact it throughout our lives.  Figured the Christmas lights were as good of time as any to bust it out!

Christmas Eve morning we promised Kade we'd go to the ice rink in town for a little bit.  Never mind that it was only 10 degrees!  Nothing stops that kid from playing sports!!

Mason really wanted "real ice skates" for Christmas.  He's not quite ready for sharp objects on his feet though.  Luckily he was happy just wearing boots on the ice!

Kade, on the other hand, still insists on looking the part for whatever sports he's playing!  Thus the tights and shorts--like REAL hockey players wear.  We did talk him into sweat pants under the tights though.

And just some goofy pictures of the boys...

We didn't even try for that perfect placement of the tree topper in the background!  That was just icing on the cake of this amazing picture.

You can't tell in this picture but he has 3 sets of goggles on his head.  That was his "rock star" look.  Can't resist a cute kid, I mean Rock Star, on the toilet!

Next up...8 million pictures of the boys with their cousins, Vivienne and Noella, who are currently visiting from Atlanta!!!

Christmas Cookies, Celebrations and Concerts

Our weekends in December have been filled with all things Christmas!

First we had our annual cookie bake.  Don't let the pictures fool you, it was so warm out that day that the kids frosted for about 6 minutes then spent the rest of the day playing outside.  Lots of cookies were prepared and lots of fun was had.

The following weekend we celebrated Christmas with Lady A and her mom.  The boys were spoiled with lots of attention, love and goodies!

This weekend Kade sang in the church Christmas concert.  He sang in all 3 services and loved every minute of it!  

Middle row, first kid on the left.  Being the tallest has its perks, he was the "1st Grade Line Leader" and made it easy for us to spot him on stage!

Sleepy boys after all of the celebrating we've been doing!

Oh Christmas Tree...

So I've always been pretty picky about my Christmas trees.  I was willing to search for hours for the perfect tree.  Then the boys came along and my hours long searches dropped to a couple minutes.  Chasing 2 little boys throughout a tree farm lowered my standards immensely.  Was it green?  Was it over 5 feet tall?  Perfect!  Chop it down and let's go before we lose these boys in the forest forever!  

After we moved to our current house we realized we needed to remove quite a few pine trees because they were planted too close together.  That meant that I had ALL YEAR to pick out my perfect tree! And that's just what I did this year.  Turns out if you take the top 1/3 of a tree you are going to cut down anyway, it makes for a pretty good Christmas tree!  And, man, I had THE PERFECT tree in mind.  I mean, I picked this sucker out in July!  And I know I told Erik which one it was.  Problem is, I think I told him in July and Erik is NOT a perfect tree picker outer.  So, he failed to take note of which one it was.  Or, probably more accurately, I told him, he rolled his eyes at me and it went in one ear and out the other. 

So, when I was at work on December 1st and he told me he was going to cut down our tree I was not concerned.  I should have been.  It should come as no surprise that he did not cut down my perfect tree.  In fact, I think he cut down the exact wrong tree.  The one that I assumed we'd just salvage but never use as our Christmas tree.  To say it's rough looking is an understatement.  But it makes me giggle every time I look at it.  And Kade has been quick to point out that it is THE WORST tree he's EVER seen, which makes me giggle even harder.  But, hey, the price was right and we only had to travel to our own front yard to get it!  Bright side people, always look at the bright side.

Mason took this picture, I think he captured the angle perfectly :-)

Oh Mason.....