Our New Refridgerator

I know, I know, you're disappointed there are no pictures of the kids, but I had to post a pic of our new refridgeration system.....

.....thankfully it's November in Minnesota, so our back deck works perfectly for all our refridgerated items (freezer items are at our very nice neighbor's). Our fridge broke, AGAIN, and AGAIN, I had to clean it out quickly first thing in the morning. Just what I wanted to wake up to at 6:30am on a Saturday - chocolate ice cream melting all over the freezer and the floor :-( For those of you keeping track, this is the second time it's broke in 6 months. We have very bad luck with refridgerators....our basement fridge died a month or so ago, and when we lived in IL, our fridge broke twice in the four years we were in our house. I'm starting to think I'm doing something wrong to all these refridgerators......

The repair man said he'd be back Monday with the parts.......Mike and I will be shopping for a new one next weekend :-) I'm not waiting for it to break again!

Pictures of the kids tomorrow, promise!

Happy Turkey Day from the Kiddos

Sleep-Over FUN

Abby had her first sleep-over tonight, and she was so excited! Her friend Lindsey came over for dinner, and then we played games and did girly things until bedtime. It's 9:30pm, and they are quiet, so I'm hoping they are out for the night. They looked so cute, cuddled up in Abby's bed - thought you would like to see some pictures!

Happy *early* Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early because Mike's parents were in town for a visit. Aunt Nancy, Uncle Don, and cousin Dave joined us for the turkey feast. We had a great meal, and I had high hopes for a nice family picture, but again, Hannah & Griff refused to cooperate! Below are some pictures of the evening. Enjoy!

And me and the chickens.....

Fun Times with Dad

Thought you might want to see some of the fun that Mike and kids have together. He really is their favorite playmate, and he plays with them endlessly when he's home. Hannah & Griff like to climb all over him, and cover him with stickers; Abby loves to play games...any game: card game, board game, made-up game....any game!We have a big week planned. My Aunt and Grandma are coming in for the afternoon on Wednesday to see the kids. Mike's Mom and Dad are coming in Thursday to spend a long weekend with us so Mike and I can go to the IA/MN football game on Saturday (a night away! yeah!), and Friday we are doing an early Thanksgiving with Mike's parents and Aunt and Uncle. I've been busy planning menus, grocery shopping and getting the house cleaned up (well, as clean as it can be with three rug-rats running around!).

That's all for now....more pictures later.

Special Friends Day

Abby's school had a Grandparents/Special Friends Day today. Since our Grandmas and Grandpas live a bit of a distance away, we asked Abby's great Aunt and Uncle, who live locally, to go to school with her today. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don were more than happy to attend the event, and Abby was super excited to have them see her school. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don attended Mass with Abby, and then we all went to a brunch reception in the Fellowship Hall. We all had a really good time. Below are some pictures - enjoy!!

Before leaving for school.......

Two of Abby's friends from school, Lauren S. and Lauren P. (who is also our neighbor if you recognize her!)......
Abby chasing Hannah around Fellowship Hall.....

And on another note, Hannah LOVES to get her picture taken. If she thinks she looks especially cute, she will walk up to me and say, "pea-ture". Or, she will find our play camera and bring it to me so I can "take" her picture. The other day she walked up to me looking like this, asking me to take her picture......I had to oblige, seeing she looked so, um, cute!

And here she is this morning, posing for me before we left for school.

The Rock-CATS

I took Abby to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Starring The Rockettes today. It was at the Target Center in Minneapolis, so we made an afternoon of it....or rather, we were supposed to. We left in plenty of time to grab some lunch before the show, however, upon entering the parking garage, I was told they only accept cash, and you need to pay upon entry of the garage. Whoever heard of a parking garage not accepting a credit card??? And I don't ever have cash on me, so we were off on a wild goose chase to find a stinking ATM. After a 1/2 hour of driving around downtown Minneapolis (and muttering under my breath), I finally find an ATM and get myself some money. By the time we found our way back to the parking garage (you know I'm not great with directions.....), we had all of 2 minutes to RUN across the skyway to the Target Center and slide into our seats before the lights dimmed. Poor Abby had to wait until AFTER the show for her lunch, which now consisted of 2 cheeseburgers from Mickey D's, in the car, on the way home. In any event, the show really was spectacular, and we had great seats, so we really enjoyed the production.

On our way out, I bought her a Rockettes Christmas tree ornament. In the car, she took the ornament out of the box and asked me how to spell Rockettes. I spelled it out to her slowly....R*O*C*K...and then E*T*T*E*S.....and she says, in her sweet little five year old voice, "Oh! I thought it was Rock-CATS, and I was wondering why it was spelled funny on the ornament". Love her :-)

Below is a picture of us before leaving the house, looking forward to lunch and a show....at least we got the show!

Already?

This is what I woke up to at 6:15 this morning.It was still coming down at 8:15......And still coming down at 10:30 when I took the babes out to play. And can I tell you how ill prepared I was for the snow? Hannah has boots and a coat, but no snowpants, mittens or hat; Griff has a coat and a hat, but no snowpants, boots, or mittens......I know what I'm doing this weekend. We attempted to build a snowman, but just as I was going to snap the picture of our creation, it fell over...much to Hannah and Griff's disappointment!

I'm not going to complain about the snow, but I'm already counting the days until spring. :-)

And a picture from last night. This is what happens when Mike gets home from work. Everyone climbs all over him....Abby calls him the human jungle gym! Notice Hannah's bloody nose in the background? Didn't notice it til after the picture. Don't worry, she didn't hurt herself, we think her nose was just dry from the cold weather. She didn't even know it was bloody. Freaked me out a bit, however :-)

Happy Halloween

The kids had a great time trick or treating last night. We were out way too late, walked way too far, and ate way too much candy, but everyone had a blast! We met up with our neighbors for a pizza get-together, and then all headed out for some Halloween fun. Abby was off and running with all of her friends, and once Hannah and Griff caught onto the concept, they desperately tried to keep up with everyone! Mike and I ended up carrying them towards the end of the evening, as it was getting late for them, and their little feet couldn't carry them any further. A good time was had by all, and judging from the fact that everyone woke up about an hour later than usual this morning, I'd say they were tuckered out!

Apologies in advance for the pictures. I didn't get one good one (perhaps b/c I forgot to turn on the flash? oops) of anyone. Abby was a bit under the weather, as well, so she wasn't much interested in getting her picture taken. Anyway, enjoy! (oh, Griff was suppose to be Thomas the Train, but after getting his picture at home, he demanded to take the costume off.....so, as our neighbor said to us, he went as Mike, since he looks just like him :-)