Holiday prep and cats (not the musical)!

We are getting so close to Winter Break and the Holidays, ahhhh!  We have had a good December, with Isaac finishing out his gymnastics session with a flourish.  He has done really well compared to the shaky legged, hesitant gymnast from a couple years back!

 The younger two enjoyed breakfast with Santa at Nerge School with Dad this year!

Sam was also invited to roller skate and suddenly 5 minutes after this picture got sick and couldn't skate!  It's a good pic of him and Calvin, nonetheless.

Noah has been rocking his braces and the whole tightening bit well.

We did our annual Christmas Light Cruise and went by the house with the radio station in Roselle, it's amazing!

I was the recipient of many cool gifts from students this year, but this might be my fav!

 Miss Molly Cat has really grown into her personality lately and is just a hoot!

 Which is a good thing, because we are getting another one!  Yep, we have been thinking about it for awhile since losing Lily.  A litter of kittens in foster care were posted on a nearby rescue's site.  We went to visit them!

 And this cute little girl should be coming home to us soon!  She needs to get one last shot and she will be all ours, we can't wait!

So that's our current exciting news, stay tuned soon for our annual holiday card!

Thanksgiving 2019

November was a pretty good month for us: not too crazy busy, but still lots of fun.  Noah has been working hard in preparation for his karate black belt test in January.  He did well at a recent tournament and screening.

 Sam's 3rd grade class was on stage to sing for their school's Veteran's Day Celebration.

 We started out the long Thanksgiving weekend right, with donuts!

 Molly has shown some typical cat like interest in her first Christmas tree.

 Had my usual kitchen helpers prepping the potatoes for mashing!

 Thanksgiving Day started out at Bamma's house.  Everyone is marveling at how tall Noah has become this year!

 Pre-meal wrestling, why not.

 We headed over to the Rodriguez family gathering and celebrated Addison's first birthday!

 Cousin love!

 Noah takes his growing tall and posing tough tips from Nick.

 The day after Thanksgiving ladies lunch gathering was fun, this year we celebrated Meg's 50th!

That's a long table this year, and always so fun!

 That night we had the Townsends over for some fun and Mike had us all try Malort.  It was, as expected, horrible.

 Saturday night my mom gifted me with a night in the city having dinner and going to see the CSO perform Harry Potter!  It was kind of a wet and chilly night, but still so much fun!

 And today we got out all the Christmas decorations.  Sam was our tree topper this year, although we can't get it to stay on!

 So, Happy Holidays are here again and some of us couldn't be more happy!

Halloween 2019

Despite the ENTIRELY TOO COLD conditions, we enjoyed Halloween!  We did our pumpkin carving a little early, since Mike was going to be gone the weekend prior to Halloween.  I have to say, it's much more enjoyable now that the kids pretty much do their own!

 Our own little Halloween mascot really was curious about the pumpkins.

 Kitty cat for Isaac!

 Pretty good likeness I'd say, but as usual Molly is not impressed.

 Toothless the dragon for Sam!

 And Cobalt (yes, the element) for Noah!

 Outside, ready for the squirrels to eat!

 Isaac had a VERY chilly trip to the zoo, he's way in the back on the right, barely visible with his red hood on.

 Molly is a very vigilant back yard observer, and the wildlife gives her quite the show!

 Noah started broadcast club at Nerge School, he helps out on Tuesday mornings prepare and film the biweekly, student lead broadcast for the school.

 Cute art, courtesy of Bamma!

 Sam's collection of illustrated creatures.

 Cold weather means indoor activities.  These two are pretty inseparable.

 Molly has finally decided that the kids aren't all bad, they are useful for warmth on cold days.

 Mike went out of town to visit friends, so we had a night at Culver's!

 Noah also enjoyed his karate halloween party.  His costume hadn't yet all arrived, so he just wore his uniform.

 Mike up to shenanigans in Ames at the ISU game with the Lorenz crew!

 We celebrated the day before Halloween with a jack o lantern pizza from Papa Johns.

 Halloween swag from school provides a good chuckle.

 Noah in his full costume.  He was a Cobalt goblin.  He and his friends chose different elements from the periodic table and researched a bit.  He chose cobalt and discovered some goblin related lore, so here we are!  He was happy to go out with his friends even though it was so cold!

 Meanwhile, we forged out in the snow with a dragon and some french fries!

 Mike's face tells you about how enjoyable the conditions were.

 We also celebrated Molly's 1st birthday!  Happy Birthday Kitty, we love you!

 Candy sorting time!

 So now we head into full holiday mode, complete with matching pajamas!

 Josh's dog Emily (aka the sweetest dog) has desperately wanted to play with Molly for the past 9 months.  Molly had no interest, but has slowly warmed up to at least looking at Emily.  This week was a major breakthrough as they got this close before Emily's excitement got the best of her and Molly dashed away.  We are getting there!

 Sam has decided to give Cub Scouts a try, he was pretty excited when Mike brought home the uniform! Now on to earn some patches!

 Since Sam was out at an ice cream social, Noah and Isaac had their own social here at home!

And now we are already in to November, looking forward to family time and the holiday season!