Check this out!

Dave and I took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo the other day and this Lynx was in a playful mood.




The kids were running from one end of the glass to the other and the Lynx would chase them and pounce on the glass. It was so fun to watch! And so cool for the kids to be that close to a wild animal. Here's a photo I took of Tyler and the Lynx eying each other.

Silly Dress-Up Baby

Here's little Miss Emily sporting Mommy's socks and Brother's hat. Isn't she gorgeous? :)

Sorry I haven't been posting much. Lots going on around here to keep us busy! I'll try to get back into the swing of things quick.

Oh! I started a Nature Study group. If you live in Minnesota and use nature in your homeschooling check it out! CM Nature Study in MN

Nice little surprise...

The kids and I took a ride down to one of our favorite fishing spots here in The Cities and we saw this when we got there...

I'm still kickin'!

Did you think I fell off the face of the Earth? Well I didn't! I'm right here. Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I guess I just got caught up in life. I'll try not to let it happen again... no promises though!

So here's a list of sorts to get you up to date...

• ~Emily is walking. Look out!
• ~Emily now has a vocabulary... it consists of "Hi", "Ow" (Spoken as I comb her hair. Learned from her big brother.), "Mooooooo", and "Bow wow wow" (Translates to "Bow Chica Wow Wow" from The Chipmunks. Pretty durn cute if ya ask me. :) ).
• ~Tyler has 3 loose teeth!
• ~Tyler has learned the secret about Santa... which led to the secret about the Easter Bunny... which led to the secret about the Tooth Fairy... which led, well you can see where this is going. My little guy is growing up. *sigh*
  
• ~School is going good and is so much fun. I love being there with Tyler as he learns... and learning right along with him most of the time!
  
• ~The kids and I are going to see Disney on Ice tomorrow.
  
• ~We are in the process of starting a business making custom fishing rods. Wish us luck!

I think that's about it for us. I'll leave you with a photo of the kids and I at Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America yesterday...

Winter Fun

With the high of 38° F today we decided we would get out and enjoy the day before it gets cold again (like tomorrow's high of 10° F). So we gathered up Tyler's best friend, Jacob, and his Daddy and went sledding. Everyone had a good time. Even the Daddy's got to go down the hill a couple of times. I had Emily bundled up in her carrier and she really liked watching the boys go up and down the hill. A couple of photos of the boys...

We even had the chance to get a family photo taken (Thanks, Manny!). I am pretty sure this is the only photo we have of all 4 of us...

I was playing with the video feature on my camera too. I hadn't messed with it before. I put a couple on YouTube just to see how it worked. Here's one of the boys going down the hill together...

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Today is my big guy's 7th Birthday. He had a full weekend of playing and fun!. His best friend, Jacob, came over yesterday and I took the two boys to Chuck E. Cheese's for the afternoon. Jacob spent the night and we had cake and ice cream this afternoon. He got some good presents too... toys and woodworking tools and even cash! I think he had a good Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Hello?

This is Emily calling you on her new phone to say
Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Happy 1st Birthday, Emily!

My silly baby

Hard to believe she will be a year old a week from today. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Thanksgiving FuN!

So, Wednesday night Daddy got it in his head that we should go bowling. Now, I am soooooo not a bowler... BUT my sweet little boy gave me the puppy dog eyes, so off we went to the bowling alley. Tyler had a blast and has not stopped telling me how he LOVES bowling. Tyler and Daddy bowled a game and then they talked me into bowling one with them. It wasn't too bad... I had more fun watching Tyler though.

I bought Tyler a Lariat Lanes t-shirt as a souvenir. He was so excited he had to put it on right then. NOW he had a "bowling shirt". THEN... then.... are you ready for this?? As we were leaving the man behind the counter gave Tyler his very own bowling pin! Can you believe it? He absolutely MADE my little boy's day. Tyler has shown everyone his pin... it holds a place of honor on the shelf right beside his bed.

On to yesterday... Thanksgiving was awesome. Lots of food... lots of family... some friends... lots of fun. A friend of ours joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards he and Dave decided they would like to play pool. So we all loaded up in my van and headed to Southtown Lanes where they have pool AND bowling. We arrived and realized bowling was really expensive, so the guys played pool and Tyler, Emily, and I ate and played darts. Tyler offered Daddy a little help with pool game as well. ;)

An unconventional Thanksgiving... but tons of FUN!

In other news...
You'll notice a new ad at the bottom of my blog. I was intrigued by the ability to spotlight toys that are Made in the USA and Lead Free. So check it out. And, if you are so inclined, click it a few times... you'll get to check out some cool toys and I'll make a few cents! Win-win!

Also, Digital Scrap Garden is having a Black Friday sale! 50% off the entire store!! They are also offering a free collab kit with any purchase! AND another free collab kit just for joining the forum over there! Awesome stuff!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

The continuing saga...

So I'm pretty sure that if something can go wrong for me, it will. I had a rough Summer and its continuing right into the Fall for me. How nice. In the last 6 months I have had 4 surgeries, blood transfusions totaling 6 units, and enough drugs to... well, alot of drugs... including antibiotics, steroids, and even Cocaine. Simple and routine procedures have just been going totally wrong on me for some reason. Last week was no exception. After spending last Saturday night in the ICU over my tooth I went to the oral surgeon and had the tooth extracted on Thursday. All went well with the surgery. EXCEPT... here we are 4 days later and my mouth is still NUMB. Can you believe it? I was a nervous wreck Friday morning when I woke up and it was still asleep. Wonderful, I thought, now they've messed something up and my mouth will be paralyzed for the rest of my life. Go figure. I was on the phone to the oral surgeon's office the moment they opened... and finally got a call back around 2:30 in the afternoon. The nurse tells me that my roots were really close to some nerves and sometimes the nerves get "bruised" during the extraction, but its temporary. Not to worry. Easy for her to say. So I ask her how long it usually lasts. Guess what? Could be a week... could be a month. So I guess I just drool away till it decides to wake up. No problem. No problem at all. Seriously though, have ya all ever heard of such a thing??

Oh yeah, I scrapbooked yesterday... I am loving this digital scrapping! So fun... and no mess!

We got a new pet yesterday too. We're accepting suggestions for names!!

Get ready for Make Me Merry Monday tomorrow!!!

Tricks and Treats

Trick or Treat, Blogland!
From my little magician and his bunny rabbit.

I took the kids to Fall Family Fun at Calhoun Square here in Minneapolis on Sunday. It was fun. Pumpkin decorating, singing and dancing, trick or treating... all the makings for FUN! And it was all FREE, which never hurts the fun factor for Mommy!
So, now the real trick or treating goes on tonight. You know the tonight I mean. The low of 32° tonight. Ugh. Nice trick, Mother Nature. So I don't know what we'll do. Tyler is so looking forward to trick or treating with his baby sister on her first Halloween. I am thinking maybe we'll hit the Mall of America for indoor trick or treating. I don't know. I'll let ya know what we decide.

Until then though I have a treat for you!!

Welcome to my second Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway! This time around I have a grab bag of 40 coupons! Who can use some coupons?? I bet you can. And you. And you. And YOU! So all you need to do to be entered in my drawing is leave me a comment right here on this post. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you, blog or email or something. I will choose a winner randomly on the morning of Saturday the 3rd.
And don't forget to sign up for my other drawing HERE.
You guys, there are 525 drawing to sign up for as of right now!! You better go get started!

AND

REMINDER! Today is the last day of the $2 or less sale at Digital Scrap Garden!! Don't miss out! Everything in the store is $2 or less! Wow!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
The winner has been announced HERE.

New hats & a digital scrapbook freebie alert!

The kids got a box in the mail from Grammy & Grampy yesterday. They always find cool little trinkets to send. This time they each got a new hat. :o)

Grampy bought Tyler this cool Marine hat at the Crawford County Fair in PA.

So Grammy had to go on a hunt for a hat for Emily.

Tyler wanted to try taking a picture... (ignore my wet hair, please)

In other news...
The girls over at Digital Scrap Garden have some awesome freebies on their blogs today!! Run, don't walk, over and grab them!

Ladybug has a beautiful quick page for you made with a new kit she is working on.
Flutterby has a gorgeous page kit called Ultimate Passion just for you.
AND
Purple Frog has a whole pile of paper clips for you!

And they're all spotlighting my layouts today too! *blush*