Christmas Time is Here Again and St. Nick Comes

I spent most of the week putting up Christmas decorations. Scott and the kids finished decorating the trees.

Our house always feels extra special all decked out for the holidays.

My project for the day was to make paper bag snowflakes with the kids.

You made hats? Well, not really, but they would be cool at Mardi Gras.

Meadow got excited with having paper bags and decided to make some Santa puppets.

We were having our renter neighbors over for pizza. One of them is gluten free, so Meadow made a gluten free chocolate cake.

These were easy to make and look nice in our porch.

I like that these could be kept up all winter. They look magical lit up by our golden white porch lights.

I only have a few people left on my list to shop for Christmas. I was having a small panic attack that I was starting late this year.

Oh, don't worry. I can tell by how much you spent. Brooke's family really go all out for Christmas.

This kid loves snow globes.

Theo would love this.

We got shy when the neighbors came over and didn't take any pics of our pizza night.

Meadow's cake was delicious though.

The next morning, St. Nick came.

St. Nick sure spoils these kids.

Meadow got hoodie pajamas, a Warriors book, root beer, cat ornament and a knitted cat hat. Plus chocolate coins in her wooden shoes.

Theo got a Waldo ornament, Where's Waldo travel book. lego set, root beer and Christmas pajamas. Plus chocolate coins in his Dutch shoes.

Comments

Chicago Chrismukkah + Michigander Xmas

Before heading out on our trip we let the kids open their Christmas gifts from us. A knitted sweater for Theo and a kitty dress for Meadow (I fixed the straps for her) both made by me. I wanna a sweater. Scott got them new compact sleeping bags. We all got smaller sleeping bags this year and we'll now have a lot more room in our car. This year we had talked about hosting my family at the cottage. Then meeting up in Milwaukee, then meeting in Chicago. But in the end we made stops in Chicago and Lowell this Christmas. We left on a Sunday which was nice to have a few days to prepare. On the way down to Chicago we stopped at our favorite roadside restaurant, Foster Cheese Haus. We had plans to break up our drives so we didn't have to rush like we normally do. We had made it just before the cheese haus was set to close for the winter. Just not enough folks stop here in winter and snowmobile season is becoming shorter and shorter this far so...

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1 Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19 precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month. I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...

Work Trip: Carlinville, Illinois and a St Louis Walk on the Hill

Every few shoots for my main client I end up somewhere I'd never heard of before. This time it was Blackburn College in quaint Carlinville, Illiniois. Apparently famous for it's chili factory and its parlor. The family friendly chili parlor faces the town square, meanwhile the Anchor Inn faces the street behind it where the chili is also served alongside beers and rail drinks. I was informed the chili comes with a kick and that was no lie. Knowing this fact I went with the chili mac and I'd do it again. Even though Carlinville is much closer to St Louis, the Anchor is definitely a Cubs bar. This town rules. After my shoot at the tiny Blackburn College I drove back to St Louis, where I'd flown into, for dinner. Well, one of the inner ring suburbs that's more urban than parts of Minneapolis. Anyways, Balkan Treat Box may have been the best meal I've had all year. After dinner I drove over to the Hill, an old Italian neighborhood of St. Louis. I don't know wh...

Search This Blog