Christmas Fun

We have been able to spend the last few Christmas's with both sides of the family because my parents have been coming up here for the holiday, but this is the first year my parents lived here. The 3 1/2 of us stayed at their new house for the first time. Their house really turned out nice, but I still think it's big for just 2 people. I guess I thought they were downsizing....not so much. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of lutefisk and lefsa... Nate is scheming a way to change/add to our menu and I'm fully supporting that. I need more food than that! We had boiled potatoes and meat balls to go with, but I still left the table wanting more. Erik missed out on the family festivities this year as he was in Arizona trying to figure out life...he's doing an internship in Scottsdale to become a golf pro. He sure picked the right winter to go south!!

Anyway, Christmas Eve was fun. Jade did great handing out gifts to everyone and opening gifts of her own. Spending Christmas with a 2 year old is amazing. The excitement she got out of little things was so fun to see! Christmas Day we went to the Noland's for dinner. We didn't open gifts there as we were going to meet Lee and Jenna at Thumper Pond the first weekend of January. Jade got to go sledding on her new sled at their house and show Amma (Gramma) her new baby.

Jade is getting ready for bed, but wondering if there are any presents left...she searched for more!

Santa came Christmas Day to Gramma and Grampa Elgin's

The first weekend in January we left a day earlier than planned to miss a snow storm and made it to Thumper Pond to meet Lee and Jenna. We had a blast! Jade got to go swimming all weekend, we had a mini Christmas dinner in Mike and Jean's suite, and opened gifts together. It was perfect! Mike and Jean brought all the fixings for brisket sandwiches and garlic potatoes. It worked perfect to have them cooking in crock pots all afternoon.

As for New Years....we didn't do a thing. We missed the New Year for the 3rd year in a row! We are duds! Maybe next year we can bring in the new year like you're supposed to.

Jade and I got our New Years cheers in before she went to bed with our sparkling cider!

We hope everyone had as great a Holiday Season as we did! Look at me go...2 blogs in 2 days! Stay tuned for some house updates!!

Jade's 2nd Birthday

Winter is freezing (not blowing) by and I again haven't posted anything in over a month. Maybe someday I will get better with this, but then again, maybe I will just come to the realization that I'm a once-in-awhile type blogger.

So, the month of December brought a busy time of year once again for us. Jade turned 2 years old, we were up in Grand Forks for Christmas, and we have been making decisions for the house left and right.

Jade's birthday was a hit! We had family and friends over to celebrate our munchkin turning two. Our house felt really small with everyone that was there, but we had a lot of fun. Jade was a little overwhelmed with everyone that was there even though she knew everyone. It took her a little while to not cling to me so much, but I really do think she had a great time. Her birthday was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed. It was a lot of work to get everything together, but I was happy with the way everything turned out. Jade just loves her Mickey Mouse!

I should have taken a picture of the island with all the food on it. We had fruit and vege pizza, lil smokies in the crock pot and chips and dip. You are able to see our cupcakes in one of the following pictures. I had fun coming up with the decorations!

You can download the Disney font to your computer! I was even able to figure out how to do it. I don't know if I could do it again, but I figured it out when I needed to.

The kids loved the Lil' Smokies in the crock pot!

I would have put this on the front door, but our storm door was pretty foggy so you wouldn't have been able to see it.

The birthday girl and her Mickey cupcake! She's really not into having her picture taken right now, must be a stage huh?

"Ok, Mom...this is the best birthday picture face you're going to get so you better just take it!"

That's all I have time for right now, so I will get back to the rest of our winter fun later.