MOA

The other day the fam took a little trip down to the Mall of America. We didn't tell the kids where we were going so it was a super fun little surprise. Since James is obsessed with legos that was probably his favorite part- lego land. They also got to ride on some rides and for lunch we went to the Rainforest Cafe. The kids were SO good, made the trip that much more fun. :) These pics were taken with my phone, so not the best quality.

additions to our family...

I am proud to announce some new additions to our family. Meet... Mary, Jim, Red, and Pink, our new fish!

Here are some pics from the other morning, it was so beautiful!

It's February?

We have been pretty lucky this year when it comes to sickness. Last year we got hit so hard, it was literally like every 2 weeks. We have had one cold late fall, and then last week we were hit. Nothing too bad, and some how James dodged it. The winter blues are starting to set in. We have been so lucky to have had the mild, and unusually warm winter we have had. I know I need to take more pictures, even though Ada tends to be bare butt lately. We have been going strong on the whole potty training deal. James was SO flipping easy. Seriously, he had probably less than a total of 10 accidents and he was done.  Ada - well if you would have asked me earlier today, I would have said she is being SO difficult, but today went really well. It was day 3 in our potty training adventures and she only had 1 accident and went on the potty about 5x! Sorry for all the bathroom info. I like to get this kind of stuff on my blog so I can remember it. :)

James has been going to school and really loving it. He has a little best friend in his class named Kaitlyn. Threw me for a loop when he first started talking about her, it's so cute though. I went to a little kindergarten info meeting and it looks like he will be going pretty much every other day all day. I am SO not ready for that. I mean obviously I am not going to hold him back or anything, but he just seems too little for such long days! Just to catch up my blog a bit here is what James is really into right now, some of his favorite things...
Legos, specifically police legos, anything police, watching "lego videos" on you tube, he loves gum, sandwiches, hummus, books, backyardigans.

Ada has been pretty much trapped in the house this winter. We have done some things here and there, but to be honest I am terrified of her getting RSV again. Ok, that may sound worse than it is...I am not specifically NOT doing things because I am a freak and think she is going to get it. She just doesn't come to walmart, grocery stores, gym child care, etc. much. We hang out with friends and such, but that's about it. RSV is hitting hard around here right now, and that is the last thing I want to go through again. A few of Ada's favorite things..
Coloring, singing, backyardigans, wearing every ones shoes, playing with James, gummy bears, chicken.

Oy. I just feel like we are just not up to much, and definitely not blog worthy. C'mon spring!

Phone dump...

So yesterday's post (see below), was a little rushed and pressured by those who will go nameless. I was basically pretty short to post the pics, and I only talked about the stuff that I did take pics of.
I also want to take a sec to talk about some of the other stuff we did.

For Christmas celebrations we also went over to Caleb's mom's house on xmas eve. The kids had lots of fun. Caleb's mom got huge cardboard boxes and kids spent the night making forts and coloring. Then the day after xmas we went over to Caleb's brother's house to celebrate with his dad.

For our Christmas present, my aunt Debbie bought James and I tickets to see The Wizard of Oz at the Children's Theater. It was SO great. They did a fantastic job. The rest of the pictures are just random pictures that were on my phone, thought I would get them on here.

...a very good place to start...

I guess we shall start at the very beginning! Get ready gang.

The week before Christmas James had a Holiday program at school. I just love these things and watching all of these kids. The boy and the two girls next to him are his best friends he says. :)

After the program, we all did a few crafts and left to start Christmas vacation!!

The next day we went to my family's Christmas celebration of Christmas Camp. Our family is huge, as you can see in the pic above, so we rent out a camp for the weekend. The kids had a blast.

Santa comes and everyone gets a gift. You can see the kids waiting for Santa below.

The week of Christmas we did a lot of hanging around and cuddling on the couch. My fav. We can't forget about Georgie!! Our little elf friends made a visit every night. The kids woke up on xmas eve morn to a present from Georgie. He gave them each new jammies to wear when Santa came. This has actually been a tradition since James was born.

Oh Christmas morning, how I love thee. Pretty sure I had a hard time sleeping because I was so excited. :)

They got some stuff they really wanted which is super fun to see them get so excited about.

Caleb made us a YUMMY breakfast...

My dad and Vicki came over and hung out the rest of the day. My dad made us some more delicious food and we all sat around with expanding waistlines.

We have had amazing weather for a Minnesota winter. Temps mostly in the 40s, when it should be well below zero. I am not complaining!

Ada turned TWO on the 5th!! Happy Birthday my sweet! She looks so old in these two pics. *tear*

We had a little shindig for her this last Sunday. She is in love with Dora right now, so appropriately we decked the house in Dora. It's funny though. I never thought I would fall into the kind of tacky licensed character birthday parties. I always thought I would have these super cute, crafty parties. I am not going to lie, I tried to pressure Ada into an owl party. She wasn't into it at all. But then realizing, who am I to deny her of her favorite things? She likes Dora? Damn it, I will give her Dora!

This is what we are up to these days...

Big girl undies!!