merry christmas 2013 from our family to yours!

(here is a digital copy of our Christmas card to those who we were unable to send one to)

 2013 Highlights

~ In February, we took a family vacation to California where we met up with Ashli's family, hung out with Mickey Mouse, and  enjoyed a 100® weather difference between home and our vacation.

~Bart did all kinds of manly things this year like putting up drywall and building shelves in our basement and garage, growing a mustache and beard for "Movember", and taking the whole family camping for the first time.  He also did something super smarty-pantsish: he taught a master's level course at the local medical college.

~Ashli did something she never thought she could ever do: she ran a 5k!  No wait-she ran two 5ks!  She also (really) enjoyed attending the Daughtry concert with Bart. She learned that live concerts are amazing from the second row floor seats!

~We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary, but because of a small munchkin who spent most of the year screaming for hours at night, we still have not taken our 10th anniversary trip.

~Kade is rocking 2nd grade, played two seasons of baseball this year, and spent the entire summer outside playing with his friends, riding bikes, playing catch, and using everything he could find as a pretend weapon.

~Ky is also rocking 2nd grade, where his favorite subjects are gym and music.  He also played baseball this year, and played outside with his friends.  He also spent countless hours on the computer writing and illustrating his own stories. 

~Ky and Kade turn eight at the end of the month, and are excited to get baptized on New Year's Eve!

~Krew is the cutest two year old ever.  He loves playing with his brothers, climbing on everything, riding on mom's bike with her, watching video clips on the iPad, and singing.  Apparently he is also fond of screaming.  To make things more exciting, he decided that he needed to take a ride in an ambulance on the first day of our vacation to Utah in October, but we didn't let that stop us from having a great trip!

 Wishing you a fun-filled holiday!

santa, santa, ho, ho, ho!

Bart's parents dressed like Santa and Mrs. Claus for our Christmas party at church again this year.  Ky and Kade knew who they were right away, but it didn't stop them from sitting on Santa's lap and posing for a picture.

 Krew was so excited to see Santa.  He was getting impatient waiting in line, so we thought we would pose for some pictures with Sadie!

 I was curious to see if A) Krew would actually sit on Santa's lap, or if he would get scared as he got closer, and B) if he would figure out that it was Grandpa.  But, as you can see from this picture, he hopped right up on Santa's lap, told him that he wanted a "big choo choo choo," and would have stayed there on his lap, chatting for a long time.

 He never did figure out that it was Grandpa in a Santa suit, but later that evening he did ask what was Grandma doing with Santa!

Last week, he also sat on Santa's lap at the mall.  He just cuddled right up with him and told him again that he wanted a big choo choo choo, and a little tiny choo choo choo.  I wish I had a picture of that, but I was feeling cheap and didn't want to shell out the $20 for the professional photo, and couldn't ignore the huge signs that spelled out clearly that personal photos were not allowed.  Oh well!

gettin' our tree, 2013

 The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we headed to the tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  It's such a fun place and it was much warmer than last year, so we all had a great time.  It was super packed though...I think everyone got their tree the same day we did!

 Krew thought Rudolph was cool, until he got too close!

 This year we rode on a horse-drawn carriage out to the trees.  The horses were beautiful and it was so festive!

 After much searching, we found the perfect tree!

 The next day we decorated it and it made it feel like Christmas in our home!

gators basketball get-away

Being the huge Gators fan that he is, when Bart found out that their basketball team was going to play in the same state that we live in, he knew that for his birthday, all he wanted was tickets to the game.  So, a few weeks ago, we drove the 2 1/2 hours to Madison to go cheer on our team!  Bart's mom was kind enough to watch all three kids for us so that we could go.  This was the first time that we had left Krew overnight, which means that we haven't had a night away in over 2 years.  It was way overdue.

Once we got to our hotel, we got all dressed up in orange and blue, including blue hair streaks, tattoos, etc.  

P.S. Bart is participating in Movember, or No Shave November.  Can you tell?

Anyway, we first headed to our favorite burger place for dinner before the game.  It became apparent quickly that this is where everyone goes before the game, because it was crowded!  There were a lot of Badger fans in there, and since it was easy to see that we were there to cheer for the opposing team, we did get a lot of stares, and a few cheeky comments.  

 After our yummy meal, we headed to the game.  It was so exciting to see the Gators in person.  We went to a lot of Gator athletic events when we lived in Gainesville, but it has been a long time.  We never were able to go to a basketball game while we were there though, because tickets were impossible to get.  I guess that's what happens when the season ends with the second national championship in a row!

 We didn't have great seats, but it didn't matter.

 It was a weird experience cheering for the visiting team. I was a cheerleader in high school, so I guess it's in my nature to enjoy all the hype as the team comes out, and as they introduce the players, and all the fanfare that goes with that.  Well, they don't do anything like that for the visiting team, so it felt a bit odd.  But it was fun once the game started because, while I didn't cheer with the entire crowd when the Badgers scored, when the Gators gave us something to cheer about, you could hear all the individual pockets of Gator fans all over the arena.  And, at the beginning of the game, there was lots for us to cheer for!

 We didn't win, but we kept it close the entire time.  With three of our starters suspended and not there, we didn't expect much, so we were pleased that it was at least an exciting game.  And next time we will win!

 After the game, we found a frozen yogurt place that was still open at 10:30 (that seems so late.  I don't remember the last time we were out at 10:30.  Our 8:00 "curfew" puts such a damper on our social life :)).  It was such a great date, and I had so much fun with my best friend, doing something fun that we don't get to do very often.  Oh yeah, and Go Gators!

november randomness

November is always a weird month for me.  I feel like I spend most of the month trying to decide if I want to dive right into the Christmas craziness so that December will be a bit slower paced, or if I want to enjoy things being a bit less busy, knowing that no matter what I do in November, December will always be its fun, busy, stressful, happy, magical time of year!

Here are some pictures of a few of the things we have done so far this month.

For just a few days, as part of the promotional tour for the DVD release of Man of Steel, all of the Superman costumes from the past movies and TV shows came to town.  It was fun to see the original (Christopher Reeve) costume, the way I remember Superman, and all the changes that have been made up until the most recent suit.  Some of the changes are subtle, some not so much.

Another thing we discovered in November: when Krew is going crazy, and can't express what it is that he wants, placing him up above the mantle calms him down.  I'm not sure what about the experience does it, perhaps it's just a little bit scary, so he doesn't want to make any sudden moves, and it's a little bit awesome so he forgets why he was upset, but it has worked several times.  The only problem is that this parenting technique can only be used by Bart, because I am not nearly tall enough to lift him up that high.  (And before you call CPS, Bart stays right there, so there is no danger of Krew falling and getting hurt.  You can relax now).

halloween bonus post

Several weeks before Halloween, we took the kids to a Halloween fest at Lambeau.  We need to get as much use out of their costumes as we can right?  Well, Krew's costume wasn't quite done yet, plus I thought it would be cute for all three of my boys to dress like superheroes together.  It was.  

Krew was not happy about wearing his costume, but you'd never know it by looking at these pictures.  He's the cutest, isn't he?  I knew it.

He was upset enough about wearing his costume, we weren't even going to attempt to put the mask on.  But he did wear it for about .036 seconds when we got home, which was exactly long enough to snap this picture.