Merry Christmas!

It was another great Christmas and the kids were very spoiled.  Ava's 1st Christmas was so much fun....she enjoyed opening a her presents and was interested in eating the wrapping paper and playing with the boxes. 

The big family gift for this year was a new computer, but due to the poor weather conditions it didn't make it in time for Christmas.  I'm hoping it is delivered early next week so the kids can enjoy it before they go back to school.  Below are a few pictures of the kids with some of their gifts below. 

Let the Holidays Begin

Last weekend we traveled to Hutchinson to celebrate Christmas with Dave's Grandma and extended family. We had a lot of fun enjoying good food, spending time with family we don't get to see as often as we would like, and opening gifts.

After the party we packed up the kids and headed back to the cities to go to the Holidazzle parade. The kids really enjoyed it even though it was a bit cold outside. Ava was in awe with all the lights, sirens, and music. It was so fun seeing her get excited every time something new went by. After the parade we decided to go and do some last minute shopping at the Mall of America. My Dad, sister Leslie, her husband Josh, their kids, sister Kathy, and Owen (who had met us at the Holidazzle) decided to meet us there as well. It turned out to be a great last minute family night. We bought discount bracelets for the kids to ride the rides, so they hung out with Grandpa and their cousins, while Dave and I picked up a few last minutes gifts. There were no lines for the rides, so they had a ball. By the time we were done shopping, we spent a little more time in the theme park before leaving.

After we left MOA we went to IHOP for a late supper before driving home. Below are some sleepy babies on the drve home.

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Goofy Ava!

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Trouble!

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Bath Time

The kids were helping me get Ava ready for her bath and this is how I found them....

They sure do some funny things with their little sister.

Getting Ready for Christmas

It's a good thing we decided to put the Christmas tree in the basement this year....as we were putting up the Christmas tree Ava was busy taking off every ormament as we put it on.

Rollerskating!

Saturday night Dave and I took the kids to Brownsdale rollerskating. We had a great time, but it was really the first time my kids have been skating. Allicia struggled with it at first, but by the end of the night she was a skating fool. She had such a good time, she didn't want to leave. As you can see from the video below....Ava enjoyed herself as well.

Ava at the rollerskating rink from Theresa Freese on Vimeo.

Allicia's Winter Show

Yesterday Allicia had her winter showcase for dance.  Again she did a great job, below is a clip of one of her performances.

Santa Mambo from Theresa Freese on Vimeo.

And here is her little sister wearing her cute santa suit....she sure loved watching all of the dances.

Look at what I have been up to with my big brother and sister...

Look at what my Dad did you me.....

Dad's always trying to be funny and the other night at supper I was throwing my food around so he threw a noodle back at me and look at where it landed. Silly Daddy!

Ava Meeting Santa Claus

Sunday when we were at the Festival of Trees for Allicia's dance performance, we happened to run into someone very special for this time of the year. Any ideas who?? Alright, alright...I guess I will tell you, it was Santa! Ava had her first run in with Jolly Old Saint Nick and to our surprise she wasn't scared of him at all, she even sat on his lap without shedding one tear. She did give him a few strange looks and was quite curious as to who he was, but overall she didn't mind sitting on his lap one bit. I guess we will see if she feels the same way next year.

Allicia's 1st Dance Performance of the Year

Yesterday Allicia performed for the first time this year at the Festival of Trees at the Rochester Civic Center. They performed two dances, "Do You Believe in Magic" and "Santa Mambo." Both were great dances, but my favorite was by far "Santa Mambo", it made me want to get up and dance. Below is a picture of her in front of her favorite tree they had on display.

A Visit from my Dearest Friend Carolyn!

Last week Carolyn visited from Boston. We had a great time just hanging out and it felt OH SO GOOD! We're looking forward to hosting another visit anytime her schedule allows.

Wow!

Well I can't believe I am going to say this but for once our life doesn't feel completely out of control and busy. We have actually been able to have supper at home on a consistent basis. Wow! It feels so good to only have 2 nights a week filled with activities for the kids. I guess that is why I haven't posted for awhile...because there isn't much going on to post about.

Ava is going to turn 10 months old in a couple weeks. Below are some of her 9 month pictures. We took these when we had our family pictures taken back at the beginning of October. Not much has changed with Ava. She isn't walking yet, but I don't think it is too far off. She is busy as ever getting into drawers, cupboards, dog dishes, shaking the bird cage, and whatever else she happens to find. She sure is a busy girl.

Allicia is getting ready for her Winter Show in dance. They're going to perform to a song called The Santa Mambo (or something like that). She's really looking forward to it, but we haven't heard the exact date of the performance yet. I'll be sure to let everyone know when we find out.

Kyle is busy doing a whole lot of nothing....no he really is staying busy with school work, but he has decided to take the winter off from wrestling. He really didn't want to go out last year, but decided he would try it for one more year. After trying it again, he has decided it is just not the sport for him. He doesn't enjoy it and would rather find something else to do. For now, we are still trying to figure out what that might be, but we are keeping our eye out for something fun offered by community ed. So for now, he will focus on school work and just enjoy being a kid.

Our busy Sunday....

Sunday we toured Southern Minnesota making our way to a handful of fun events. We started our morning at the Adams Fire Department's Pancake Breakfast . The kids enjoyed seeing their Grandpa Pete and trying on his Fireman's helmet.

Following the pancake breakfast we made our way back to Rochester to Kyle's End of the Year Football party. The coaches did a great job putting together a very nice speech talking about each of the boys. They also presented them with a trophy for finishing the season with a 6-0 regular season record, making them the American League Champions.

From the Football party we made our way to a friend's house to celebrate his Birthday and watch the Viking/Packer football game . Unfortunately the Birthday Boy is a huge Packer fan....so he was a little depressed considering the outcome of the game. You can just about imagine the amount of heckling that went on during the game. What a victory it was!!! Way to go Vikes!

Halloween 2009

On Halloween Kyle dresses up as the Joker, Allicia dressed up as Elphaba the "bad" witch from Wicked, and Ava dressed up as a Bear....only appropriate because we call her our little Ava bear.

Below is a picture of us handing out candy in front of the fire in our driveway.

Kyle's last football game

While I was gone to Seattle to see Joni it was playoffs for Kyle's football team. They went into the 1st game un-defeated, but due to the weather conditions their team just didn't perform like they usually do. They ended up loosing their first game of the season 12-0, which ended their season. The team was bummed but they had a great season and did very well up until this game. We're already looking forward to watching them again next year.

The Circle of Life

Well you know the saying...When one life ends another begins. That has certainly proven to be true for our family. My Grandpa past away last week just a few days before my new nephew Houston was born. Although Houston's arrival was a bit hairy...we're very thankful things turned for the best and he is here for us to love. I know Grandpa was watching over us and that's why things happened they way they did. Below is a picture of Grandpa taken just before he died in the hospital. He's too cute here giving thumbs up. And below that is a picture of my new nephew Houston. He's just the cutest thing ever!

What A Game!

Well, Kyle's Football team is still un-defeated. They had a nail biter of a game today and did an awesome job. We are so proud of him and his team for the tough game they played. They were up against another un-defeated team who apparently hasn't been beat in 4 years. The game was 0-0 until the third quarter when the other team made their first touch down, but we held them for the extra points. At that point the game was 0-6. We came back in the beginning of the 4th quarter with a huge run tying up the game. The team decided to kick for the extra points and it was good making the score of the game 8-6. The rest of the 4th quarter was a touch one for the boys...they held the other team at their end-zone several times to win the game. It was an amazing game that the boys should be very proud of. Way to go Kyle and way to go ProStall!

What do you think???

Does Ava look like her Grandpa Pete or what???

I was recently given this picture of my Dad and my Grandma Helen from my Aunt Louise and I just couldn't get over how much Ava looks like him. Crazy huh???

Trouble already...

This is the type of trouble Ava gets into now that she is crawling....

What are we going to do once she master's walking????

My project for the girls...

Dave thought I was crazy making all these bows for the girls hair, but I sure had fun.

Another big update...

I've decided that my blog posts aren't long because I don't post for such a long time, but because we do too many fun things as a family, I just can't keep up.

Since my last post so many things have happened. First of all, our dearest Narcy passed away. She died early in the morning on Saturday October 10th. We were shocked to hear the news. She will be missed greatly by all of us. We have so many cherished memories of Narcy that will never be forgotten. She holds a very special place our hearts, and always will. We miss you and love you Narcy, but we know you are watching down on us from heaven.

Kyle's football team had another big win this weekend. It was a very cold Saturday morning here in Minnesota for football. Can you believe we had snow already?? Well we did and Kyle had to play football in the bitter cold. I'm not sure who was colder the kids playing football or the fans. We certainly froze watching him. I'm hoping this weekend is a bit warmer. This weekends game is a big game because the team they are going against is undefeated too. So it should be a good match up and we're anxious to see who the winner is.




Sunday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard. We had a lot of fun taking the hay ride up to the orchard and pumpkin patch. We took pictures, walked part of the corn maze, picked out our pumpkins, picked apples, and looked at some animals. We all had a great time, even though the weather was chilly.






When we got home the kids and I decided to warm up by having hot apple cider while we made some homemade applesauce. It was a lot of work but the kids really pitched in to help me get it done. Even Ava helped by sitting in her high chair, like a good girl, eating apples while we cut, peeled and mashed the apples. It was a lot of fun and the kids have been enjoying the apple sauce ever since...Ava especially. She hasn't been a fan of her applesauce baby food, but sure loves her Mommy's homemade stuff.







As you can see it was another great weekend with the family.