Visit with Santa

Every year our old realtor hosts a breakfast with Santa & we make an effort to attend because it is always so much fun.  This year was no different.  They had a balloon artist, face painters, coloring stations, a magician & lots of coffee and donuts.

Gingerbread House Decorating!

The Schmankes came over for dinner & we decided to have the kids decorate gingerbread houses.  We built the houses ahead of time & let the kids have fun decorating.

Janae's soccer end-of-the-season party

Janae's team had an end-of the season party to get their medals.  I'm pretty sure they won all their games this season.  The team has been playing together for almost 3 years.  Janae joined them (along with 2-3 other new girls) this year for the first time.  She's been having a blast but is still trying to find her confidence in herself & her skills.  She made several goals & seemed to warm up in the second half of the game typically.

Elf on the Shelf

The kids begged & begged the last few years for an Elf on the Shelf but Kevin & I weren't sold on the premise of this little spying elf.  We finally caved this year & gave permission to have an elf visit our home.  We found Ginger (named by our family) on our mantle after Thanksgiving.  She hasn't been too mischievous, though sometimes she is a bit silly.

This is where we found Ginger the 2nd morning.

Grandad's 88th birthday

We went to Gretchen's house to celebrate Grandad's 88th birthday.  We made our standard porcupine meatballs & of course had to have an angel food cake.  Happy Birthday Grandaddy!

3rd Grade Musical - The Box

Every year the 3rd Graders at Lana's school present a musical.  This year the theme was "The Box" where the box held all sorts of possibilities.  They had auditions and Lana got one of the singing solos.  They had two shows & Hugh and Elaine were able to come to the 2pm show when Lana had her solo.

 Lana in her "costume".

She was so glad her grandparents could make it!  

The third graders.












The music teacher is really great & we are lucky to have her.  Lana & the other kids had so much fun practicing & rehearsing for the show and we were so proud of the great job she did.  I'm glad I was able to record it to show the family members who couldn't make it.

A Birthday Celebration & A Hayride

We went to Junction City to celebrate Janae & Elaine's birthdays.

They both took turns opening presents.  This is the bracelet Janae picked out for Grandma.

Janae got some doll clothes from GeGe, a glowing pillow pet from Grandma & Grandpa and a jewelry making kit from Uncle Ryan & Aunt Heather.

Janae requested a butterfly cake & Grandma delivered!

Then Hugh & Elaine treated us all to a hayride!

The birthday girl got to ride up front!  We had the little girls ride the first half & then let the big girls take the second round.

We stopped 1/2way & picked out pumpkins and then went on a walk (the girls, Kevin & I) through the corn maze.  The rest of the group met us on the other side.

Janae & Evalyn with their pumpkins.

We stopped & roasted marshmallows & made s'mores.

A shot of the birthday girls!
















We had a blast on the hayride.  It was a such a special treat.