The Gingerbread House

The Monday after Snowmageddon, we were snowed in on our street....I stayed home from work and while Dan shoveled more snow, Emily, Louie and I put together our Trader Joe's Gingerbread House.
I'd highly recommend this model...it's an A-Frame, sort of looking like a European Chalet. Very cute.
We had a great time!

Holly Hassle Parade

We headed downtown Minneapolis the weekend before Christmas to see the Holidazzle Parade. It was bitter cold, but the kids still had fun!

Emily's Sixth Birthday!

Emily turned six, yes six! We had a birthday party for her at the St. Francis Bowling Center with her family and friends from school. It was so much fun!





She received so many great gifts. A couple of her favorites are the little Christmas Tree that is she put in her bedroom and the box of girly clothes from Auntil M (and family).

A Visit with Santa

We went to Brunch with Santa at the University Club the first weekend of December.

Grandma gave Emily this cute dress coat for her birthday and so there was some posing in front of the decorations.


Getting Louie to put on some nice clothes (that didn't have Star Wars or a Super Hero on it) has become quite a chore lately. I have to remind him that he won't have nice pictures in his scrapbook if he doesn't look nice.


Some of the pretty Christmas decorations around the U Club.




After brunch, we went into meet Santa.




Louie told Santa that he wants a Millenium Falcon, Emily told him that she wants a car? A car....

Our Christmas Tree

We put up out Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Thanks to this little gadget: The Light Keeper Pro!

I bought our Christmas tree at Menards when Emily was one. It was $70 and it is perfect for our house. Tall, slim and lots of lights. We haven't had any problems with the lights since day 1. This year, we got it put together and there were 3 strings of lights out. I did NOT want to buy a new tree.
I ran to Menards and grabbed the gadget and voila, it was like magic....the strings were lit up and the tree was good as new.
The next morning, Emily and Louie were so surprised that the tree was out, ready and working....I told them that the Christmas Tree Fairy came and got it all ready for them to decorate!

The both went straight to work and hung their ornaments. Each ornament had a couple questions "Who gave me this one and when did I get it?"
Emily got this ornament from my Godmother as a baby gift when she was born.

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Louie got this ornament for a Baptism gift (and I don't recall who it is from, the list is in the attic).

And this beauty, I got it from my Grandma for my first Christmas in 1967. It has been on our tree from that first year. Even though it is a one eyed creature, I love it!

Here's the finished product and I think it looks lovely!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours....

I thought I'd give you the "bare" minimum of photos right now, more to follow!

Snowmageddon

I found this photo our house from back in the 1940's some time....it was snowmageddon back then.

Here's our house after the snow fall this past weekend.

My Favorite Things

This morning, I asked Emily and Louie a few questions, here are their answers:

Emily:
Favorite thing to eat: ice cream
Favorite toy: Ginny, her furry puppy dog
Favorite book: The Snowy Day
Favorite thing to do: go to school and be a line leader (Ms. Cervantes told her to).
Best friend at school: August
Do you like snow: yes, I was looking out my window and saw lots of snow.
Favorite TV show: Olivia and Curious George
Favorite Movie: Lion King
Favorite color: pink
When I say the word favorite, what do you think of? Pink and purple
What are you thankful for? Cherokee Heights and Ms. Sherrow

Louie:
Favorite thing to eat: ice cream, snack fruits,
Favorite toy: Bat Cave, transformers
Favorite book: Ten Timid Ghosts, Dinosaurs Galore
Favorite thing to do: go to the Eagle’s Nest, go to the YMCA
Best friend at school: Frankie
Do you like snow? No, I like the spring and summer
Favorite TV show: Batman (the one with Adam West and Burt Ward)
Favorite movie: Star Wars
Favorite color: Blue
When I say the word favorite, what pops into your head? Popcorn
What are you thankful for? You really don’t even want to hear the answer to this question…….

Trick or Treat!

Trick or treat! What a fun Halloween Emily and Louie had this year. So much trick or treating and celebrating, it was crazy! We started out the festivities by trick or treating at Lunds on Thursday evening, score! On Friday, Louie had his costume party at school, the kids were so cute in their costumes and really enjoyed seeing each of the other costumes. Saturday, there was Trick or Treat Street at the YMCA after swimming lessons and then Trick or Treating at the Highland Village Shopping Center. We did Highland with Emily's friend, Margaret, she's from her preschool last year. They had so much fun and I didn't take any pictures!
Saturday night, we went to a costume party at my friend Kim's house. Lots of fun (again, no pictures - on my camera)


Finally, Sunday was the big day! We got Jack-o-Lantern pizza for dinner and then got dressed up and headed out at 5:30. Batman had a blast and loved showing off his muscles and 6 pack abs!

Snow White could hardly wait to run door to door....standing for photos was painful for these two!



Finally, it was time to head out...."Come on, Mom!"
There is a family up the street that really enjoys carving pumpkins....