Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas at the Zoo 2011

This time of the year is filled with so many things that we are doing to continue the different traditions that we have started with the boys. We were both super excited to take the boys to the Indianapolis Zoo for Christmas at the Zoo for our 2nd annual trip. The first Saturday of this month we made plans with Zach & Emily to watch the boys so we could do some shopping and then we picked them up and unbeknownst to them headed to the zoo. We didn't mention anything about it to the boys until we were getting ready to turn into the parking lot and Karter asked what the lights said. When we had him spell out the last part (Z-O-O), he knew we were at the zoo and got super excited! He said, "I didn't know we were going to the zoo, I thought we were going home!" It was precious!

Fortunately and unfortunately, the weather was perfect and everyone in Indianapolis had the same idea.


We had to wait in line to get into the parking lot and then again to buy our tickets, but besides not being able to see the dolphin show, the crowds didn't bother us at all.

The boys loved looking at all of the lights. Kaden kept yelling saying "more Christmas lights".






Santa was there, but the line was too long for our busy crew. So we opted to writing Santa a letter.


Kaden asked for books, balls and cars.


Karter asked for cars, books and games.


I love this crazy babe!



Our last stop before heading out was the marine life exhibit. We definitely saved the best part for last, both boys (and both adults) really liked trying to touch the sharks.




This little guy was a little crazy and I didn't want to get too close!


It was a beautiful night to spend with our boys at the zoo!!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Jonah's 4th Birthday

This past Saturday our nephew, Jonah, turned four years old. We love that little guy so much and it is hard to believe he is four already!




While they were in Indiana for Thanksgiving, Jonah's mommy planned a party for him at Pizza King in Indianapolis. The located was picked, because Jonah has a slight obsession with trains and this particular Pizza King delivers your drinks by train (although, we were in the party room and this wasn't the case, the boys still liked watching the train).


A week before the party, Jonah informed his mommy that Aunt Dana was going to make him a blue train cake for his birthday. Not wanting to disappoint my train loving nephew, Aunt Dana got to work on a train cake!


I think he was pleased with the train cake...and the attention he got while we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him!

Cousin Karter was on hand to help blow out the candles!


Jonah really wanted to eat the train...and he did! He ate all of the green decorations off, and maybe one small bite of cake. The train was made of fondant, but wouldn't be all I would want to eat!



After cake it was time to open gifts. Karter was excited to help him open the gift he got for Jonah.


A PEZ dispenser!


(I love this picture!)



Who's more excited!?


Of course, our sweet niece Miss Olivia was on hand to celebrate big brother's birthday!



On Black Friday we got a new video camera and were eager to try it out. Check out our first video on the new camera...us singing to the birthday boy!





Happy Birthday, Jonah! We love you!!

Friday, December 2, 2011

One Big Cookie

Hello, my name is Dana and I'm addicted to cookie cutters! On Cyber Monday my favorite cookie supply website (Karen's Cookies) was having some great sales and free shipping on their products. As I was browsing the cookie cutter selection (and kept adding them to my cart!), I saw a cute house cutter and thought I could use it to make some cabin cookies in the future. When the package arrived yesterday I was surprised when I saw just how large the cookie cutter was.






It is literally the size of Karter's head! A few of these cookies would take my entire batch of dough, needless to say we are getting a smaller house cutter. (Please excuse the cheese in Karter's teeth!) Next time, I will be sure to read the dimensions a little bit better.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

New Family Tradition

We are super excited this year to continue with some of the Christmas traditions that we have started for our family, and even more excited about creating new ones. For the past 6 years we have had a beautiful faux Christmas tree (including last year when we used Kim & Terry's). Now that we are (almost) in our house and will be here for Christmas we decided to get rid of the old one and start the tradition of getting a real one! We have always dreamed of getting a real one, but thought it was a waste when we lived in MN and were never home for Christmas. We decided that we will start the tradition of getting our tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving...and apparently that means rain or shine! This past Sunday was not the ideal weather for picking out a tree, but we bundled up and headed to the beautiful Whitetail Tree Farm.



Much to our surprise, when we went into the lodge, Santa was there! Karter had a tough time remembering what was on his Christmas list....and Kaden was hiding behind me!


He's still trying to remember!

After walking around checking out all the trees (in the rain), we finally picked this beauty! A Spruce tree.


Karter has clearly had enough of the rain!

This is one of the only times that Kaden would actually let us put him down. Whenever we would try, he would start yelling "boots are muddy!" First of all, he didn't have boots on, and second, he hadn't taken a step...how could they be muddy?!


After we decided on our tree, one of the workers came by to tag our tree and chop it down for us.


We promised the boys suckers if they were good outside, they were excited to pick out their suckers back in the lodge.


Sticky mess!!


The Boy Scouts helped strap the tree to the van and we headed home to start decorating.


Kristoffer made a fresh cut on the tree and then we put it in the stand.


It took us a bit to find our ornaments outside in the rec room. We knew they were out there someone in the pile of stuff that we have, but it took a little bit of digging to find them. We are still missing a few boxes, but hopefully soon(?) we will be able to find them when "The Great Move of 2011" happens.


Kaden is in love with the tree and really enjoys looking at the ornaments. In the 5 days it has been up, we have had 2 casualties...opps!


Karter was such a great helper with the ornaments.








The workers at the tree farm all wore shirts that said "Family memories that last forever" and we are glad, despite the rain, that we are creating those memories for our family!