As I was looking through pictures for this week's post I realized I'm finally caught up!  I better remember to snap some pictures next week or it'll be a pretty boring post (I mean, even more boring than usual).   

Thanksgiving was this past week, we didn't get together with Erik's side because there's just too many of us.  We did have my parents over though.  Kade and Grandpa Ranger have been deer hunting a lot so we've been hunkering down with them anyway.  Hopefully we can get a couple weeks of social distancing under our belt now that Mason is out of school too and can see Erik's family again.   

Such a strange and confusing world we're living in now!  Erik, Mason and I are homebodies for the most part anyway but Kade is a social butterfly who always has to have a plan.  He's been fine because of deer hunting but now that that's over (he didn't get one), he's going to struggle a bit.  Fingers crossed they're able to go back to school in January!! 

For a few weeks it was just Erik and Kade home while I was at work and Mason was at school.

Kade getting in some physical fitness.

(i.e. Erik making him burn off some ever present energy)

The puppies don't know what to do with themselves with all of these people home all of the time!

Working on their Christmas list.

Kade's had exactly 1 thing: Tyreek Hill jersey.

You know you're spoiled when you can't think of anything you want for Christmas!!

Mason's had a couple more:

bait caster

surf board

BB gun

Take one guess which one of those things he'll actually be getting!

You would think that one (or both) of them had farted but nope, they were pretending to be firemen.

Covid hair!

It finally got long enough to annoy him, I cut it right after this picture was taken.

 

Halloween 2020

I'm way behind in pictures again.  Thanksgiving is 4 days away and I'm posting about Halloween!  As I mentioned in last week's post, we didn't do the normal Halloween stuff.  

At the last minute Jenna (Erik's sister) and I decided to throw an impromptu Halloween party.  We met at the dollar store the day before and bought a lot of fantastic (read: crappy) prizes.  We threw together a bunch of yard games and got a bunch of pizzas to feed a crowd (actually, it was just my mom, dad and Erik's whole family.  So, 19 in all).  

This was before the major outbreak in MN, and we spent a majority of the time outside in the fabulous weather.  Thank goodness we were blessed with this day as I'm not sure when we'll all be able to be together again.  What a great way to spend potentially our last family gathering in 2020!

Kade and Mason both said they'd rather have a party like this every year instead of trick or treating.  I'm sure they'll remember this day in much more detail than they'll ever remember trick or treating!

The costumes didn't stay on long!  

This is the only picture I have of them, we didn't think to have a costume parade/group picture.

One of the games we split into 2 teams and raced to a suitcase to put on Erik's clothes.

There was an extra surprise hiding in the bag.  

Giant tighty whiteys.  Everyone got a good laugh at them.

Of course we had musical chairs.

Of course the kids were the last ones standing.

We also did relay races with spoons and an egg, a game involving nylons, potatoes and balls, as well as a piñata!  The kids were gamed out!!

Grandma H handing out her Halloween goodies.

Kade helping Eve gather her treats.

Relaxing with a ring pop!

 

Ever since Erik got word that he'll be working from home from now on, we have been planning on updating the office.  Then we (I) added a couple puppies to the mix, and with potty training, it fast tracked the plans.  We decided to rip out the carpet and do heated tile in the entryway and office.  Easy clean up!!  

Of course I didn't think to take any before pictures but in the background you can kind of see just how dark and dungeon-y Erik's workspace was.  If he is going to spend 40+ hours a week in this area, it needs to be welcoming!  Cue Kristi's ideas!!  Lucky Erik 😆  

The boys were so excited for Demo Day!

Kade was a lot of help, Mason lost interest after about 5 minutes.

These tiles were tough.  There was a double layer of cement holding them down!

Erik ended up renting some kind of tool and literally chipped away at them.  It was a dusty mess!!

Grandpa taking a break to snuggle Trixie.

Grandma and Mason trying to play a game amid A LOT of noise during tile removal.

Erik's temporary office, with a cute little office mate!

The orange floor

(heating element before the tile went in)

And the tile is in!!

I hired a professional painter.

He's seriously missed his calling, this guy can paint!

That's all for now.  I'm working on painting trim, staining wood and figuring out a desk.  Hopefully there will be more progress pictures soon!!

Amid all of the office chaos, Halloween came and went.

We weren't 100% sure about trick or treating this year so I got costumes just in case.  Right before Halloween, Eyota got hit with a 50+ person exposure.  That answered that question!

The boys still had fun with their costumes though.

And now, due to the numbers in town, Kade is distance learning.  He just finished his first week.  He doesn't love it but because it's also deer hunting season he's not too torn up.  He gets his stuff done and then heads out to the woods with grandpa.  It's a good distraction for him.  Mason is still in person learning.  The school is doing all it can to keep the younger kids in the classroom.  Which is great because Mason LOVES school this year.  He's doing great and is a completely different student than last year!  Fingers crossed he can keep going.

 

Leftover pictures from fall fun!  

The weather could not have been more perfect and more weird this fall.  I swear, every weekend we think, "We should make sure to get outside and make the most of the remaining warm weather!".  

A couple weeks ago I made sure to wash my windows because freezing temperatures and snow was in the forecast.  And, it did!  It got really cold and snowed...significantly!  Enough to drag out all the winter gear, get out the sleds and utilize the boot/glove dryers for a few days.  But now, as I type this, it's 70 degrees and sunny!  Oh Minnesota, you sure like to keep us on our toes!

Kade's class bike trip on a cold and wet fall day

This picture makes me giggle.  

Kade's size looks like an optical illusion compared to his buddies.

Lola's first time in snow!

She LOVES it.  

After a significant snow dump, and subsequent melt, Mason is back in shorts and fishing!

He's not catching a darn thing anymore but he sure does try!

 

We went camping exactly twice in 2020.  One of the trips was about 1 mile away from our house, in the yard Jay and Jenna's future home, on the last extra warm weekend of the year.  Kade said it was the best camping trip he's ever been on.  They road 4 wheelers, gators and dirt bikes all weekend.  We also played kick ball and had a huge bonfire.

Saturday morning we woke up to a raccoon with distemper.  Jay got to test out his "country living" skills.  He passed, the raccoon is dead.

After a weekend outdoors, these boys needed a good, sudsy soak!

Mason's nails are forever dirty but the bubbles did help a little.

The puppies were pretty exhausted too!

Oh Mase.