A Wild Treat

Brad came home the week of Christmas and informed me he was able to get 4 tickets for free from Wells Fargo for the Wells Fargo Suite at the MN Wild game on Dec. 28th. We wrapped the tickets up for the boys for Christmas. On Christmas Day Grandpa Dick volunteered he and Gammy to watch the girls.

It was Preston and I's first time in a Suite and it was AWESOME! They provided us with all you could drink beer, wine, soda, salads, hot dogs, pulled pork, pulled chicken, desserts and snacks. You could set in the suite at tables to watch the game or bring yourself and food down to theatre style seats with little tables next to them. You could also high five the people in the suite next to you. Turns out the gentleman who gave us the tickets has a son in Preston's class and they are in Park and Rec hockey together. Neither of us were the wiser and the family even has 4 kids, too :)

Christmas with Nama and Grandpa

We celebrated Christmas with Nama and Grandpa on December 26th. The kids were very excited to have there Christmas extended another day.









Nama and Grandpa have tradition of giving everyone a Christmas Ornament each year. This year Laken got a ballerina, Clara a my 1st Christmas and the boys hockey ornaments.








Braeden was excited to get a Hotwheels RC stealth car.








Laken and Clara were surprised with a new play kitchen in this big package! (And of course she wouldn't be without wearing her Cinderella dress Gammy made)








Braeden and Preston got a new Lego Creationary game.








Braeden and Preston both got these awesome Paper Jamz guitars.








Ckara enjoyed some fun new tights in her stocking.









One of my favorite parts of Christmas is watching what the kids decide they want to buy or make for their godparents. Braeden made this cute photo display of some of the highlights of his year--Viola solo, hockey, badger contest, school picture and reading at Chrissy's wedding.












I had to help Clara this year. We made Uncle Eric some class etched beer mugs that say, "Beer Bully" with a bull picture on each one.












Laken wanted to buy Bean a purple dress and lo and behold we found one!








We gave the Kleven girls Tickets to Blues Clues live and I even made them each a handy, dandy notebook.








Braeden was excited to give Grandpa and Nama these Owatonna Hockey Grandparents Sweatshirts.

Christmas with Gammy, Grandpa and Mike

On Christmas Day Gammy, Grandpa and Mike made the trek down to our house. I think the kids were excited to show off all their goodies to them. It certainly was easier for us. No worrying about packing everything up and making sure we try to arrive on time (which never happens with the 6 of us). We had a buffet of hors d'oeuvres and snacks so everyone could eat whenever and often. Later we feasted on some Copycat Olive Garden soup. Some of the gift highlights included:













We gave Gammy a crossword picture frame complete with a picture of the grandkids from Chrissy and Ben's Wedding.













Grandpa Dick received a Gopher Fleece from us.












We gave Gammy and Grandpa Ken Burn's National Parks DVD and our traditional calendar gift of the year in photos.












Gammy and Grandpa gave Clara "The Very 1st Christmas" recordable storybook. Very appropriate for her 1st Christmas.








Gammy and Grandpa gave the boys Star Wars helmets that they have requested forever. The were very pleased!








Laken gave Mike some Gopher slippers.












Gammy made Laken this beautiful Cinderella dress that she has barely taken off since. Also, a matching doll dress.

Later, the guys went out side for a mean backyard hockey game which include Grandpa slightly injuring his knee. The girls stayed indoors for a nap for Clara and a whole lot of doll hair styling in Laken's new doll salon chair.

We wrapped up the gift giving festivities by playing the dice game that Gammy started as a new tradition last Christmas. The coveted prize this year was a magazine subscription gift certificate that Mike ended up winning.

Christmas Day

The Boys of course were up first and waited patiently for everyone else. It is always so fun to ease drop on their conversations that morning. Then, Laken was up. We let her go out into the Living room to check out the loot. Brad and I had bought the girls a Playhouse off of Craigslist. Laken was so excited! Then, the kids were adament we should wake Clara up. We told them no way, but I think in the end they did end up waking her up. Oh well! Clara's favorite part of the playhouse was ringing the doorbell over and over again. They'll have a blast playing in it outside this spring and summer, but for now it is set up in the living room for the winter. They love, love it!

Here are the rest of the gift highlights: Braeden was so estatic to get his air hogs hawkeye video helicopter. He loves flying it inside the house and plays with it almost daily. It's even attacked some of us due to operator error.

Preston got goalie pads. He is our little goalie in training. He loves everything about hockey and can tell me more about teams and players and stats then I'd every want to know about. He has had fun using his new pads on the backyard rink and he looks forward to the day that he can be on a "real" team just like Braeden.

Clara got a American Girl Bitty Baby that she loves loving up as you can tell by the picture. I think her favorite part is that her baby's eyes open and close.

Laken got an easy bake oven. This girl loves to bake. I think she would choose to bake some sort of treat everyday if I would agree. She loves the decorating part, too. Braeden sometimes gets annoyed by her sprinkle overload, but everyone still ends up eating the goodies.

But, I think our favorite part was that we didn't have to go anywhere, so we could stay in our pjs, snack all day and play with all the loot, because Gammy, Grandpa and Mike came to us :)

Christmas Eve

Christmas we all dressed in our Christmas attire and went to the 3 PM Family Blessing Service at Church. It was packed per usual. The Children received angel rubber duckies at the Children Sermon and Pastor Dean gave a great Sermon from the perspective of a retired angel who witnessed Jesus' Birth. Our family received a family blessing from Pastor John.

Once home we feasted on Christmas Dinner. The children decided that each person got to choose one item to make up the Dinner. Here was our menu:

Braeden: Cream Cheese Burgers
Laken: Cheese Sticks
Mom: Olive Garden Salad
Preston: French Silk Pie
Brad: Mashed Potato Casserole








After Dinner, it was time for our traditional Christmas Eve gifts. Everyone gets New Christmas pjs. One of my favorites :) Then, the kids get a game for us all to play. This year was photohunt for the Wii. Love, love this game. Finally, we get a family movie to watch. Our movie for this year was Toy Story 3. A real tear jerker for parents, if you haven't seen it. Then, it was time for The Night Before Christmas read in recordable storybook form from Nama and Grandpa. Finally, the children were nestled are snug in their beds. With a little hiatus at 2:00 am when Brad had to shoo the boys back into bed.

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Laken's Christmas Dance at Jill Hogaard's Dance Academy :)

Baby Class Graduate

Clara graduated from Baby Class at ECFE in December. She got a certificate and we got to do her footprints, too. She will start Young One's Class (11-17 months) on Monday. I think she will love her new room with craft projects and a sensory table.

Decorating Cookies

We hosted a gingerbread decorating playdate one Wednesday in December with Laken's friend, Lillie. We try to have Lillie over to play every Wednesday after preschool. Lillie's brother Tyler is battling Cancer for his second time. This gives Lillie much needed friend time and Mom Susan some time, too. Preston was home from school for the second day in a row with an eye infection, so he got to participate, too. They had a ball and there was no lack of decorations or frosting on those gingerbreads.









Then, on another evening we decorated as a family some cut-outs Laken and I had made earlier in the day. The dough and cutting out always requires me too have an abundance of patience, but the kids love, love it. It sure doesn't take them long to gobble up the goodies, either.