I just realized I forgot to post pictures from Thanksgiving...whoops. To sum things up, it was a great day. This was the year where most everyone attended, so it was a large group. We started the day as we do every year, at the bowling alley. There most of us met baby TJ for the first time...including Grace. She LOVED him. She held him for such a long time, just looking at him, kissing him, laughing when he would sneeze or open his eyes. It was adorable. Then we had a surprise wedding shower for Brady & Katie, followed by a football game and then dinner. A crazy game of 4, 5, 6, ended the evening and it was back to Sun Prairie where the kids passed out immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evan has a great time at the community events geared for his age range, so we continue to do them. This weeks theme was "Gingerbread Pirates", and it was a lot of fun. Games, arts & crafts, treasure hunt, and decorating a gingerbread cookie. We all had a good time.

 

 

 

Last weekend we drove to La Crosse for Andrew & Emmett's birthday party. They both have December birthdays so Kelly had a combo party at a bowling alley, with cake and pizza served after. It was nice, and as you can see from the pictures, Grace was digging the cupcakes. Then we went to Grandma Margie's house to exchange Christmas gifts and help her with a few house projects. On the way home we stopped at the outlet shops in the Dells where Grace worked on her shopping skills:

 

 

Uncle Brady & Aunt Katie gave Gracie this Goofy stuffed animal for Christmas, and she loves it. It seriously goes where she goes. Evan didn't really have anything that he was really attached to as a toddler, but Grace is different. She loves her two blankets, and now Goofy. It's cute, but at times difficult when we can't leave the house without them!

More adventures at the children's museum...

 

 

 

 

 

 

One fun Saturday...we recently purchased a membership to the Children's Museum, and the kids LOVE it. So we've been going quite often. We met Grandma, Aunt Mary & Aunt Kit there and then went to the Overture Center to listen to some Christmas Music. Then it was home for nap - see the picture of Gracie snuggling with her Goofy that Uncle Brady & Aunt Katie bought her. Later that night we went to the PAC, where for the first time Evan got to experience the "Flick & Float". Basically watching a movie while swimming. It was quite fun and he's already asking when the next one is.

 

How we found Evan sleeping one morning...

The week leading up to Thanksgiving was a fun one. My brother Brady and his fiancee were in town, so they spent a lot of time with us and the kids, especially Evan, loved it. One day they surprised him and picked him up from daycare to take him and Gracie to the zoo. The weather was beautiful for mid-November! I met them there after work and got some great pictures.

NOTE: Brady and Katie spent a few nights at our house and a few at my parents. The day they left to head to my parents, Evan asked me why they weren't staying with us anymore. I said that Grandma missed them and they needed to spend some time with her, to which he replied, "Well, I miss them more." Guilt trip success!

 

 

 

 

Monday.

We made our annual trek to the Florida Aquarium first thing Monday morning and it was great - hardly any people were there and Evan was super excited about seeing sharks. Eric put a shark app on the iPad right before we left for the trip, so Evan had been learning all about them so it was fun to see him so excited about it. We all played at the splash park and had a nice lunch before saying goodbye to Tampa and heading back to Orlando for one more night before our early Tuesday morning flight. Yet another great trip to Florida in the books!

*** I should add as a sidenote: My parents are going back to Florida in early December to continue working on the new condo, and I mentioned this to Evan the other day. He immediately looked sad and said, "Why is Grandma going to Florida without me?" I had to chuckle at the thought of the world revolving around a 5-year-old :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday.

I don't have any pictures from Sunday, oh well. We went to Ikea for breakfast and did some shopping (more stuff for the condo), Evan went swimming at the pool, we made dinner at the condo, and then my mom watched the kids so Eric, my dad and myself could go to a movie.