Girls Lunch

Kristen and I took the girls out for a special "girls only" lunch. I picked up Emmy early from school and we dropped the boys off at Kristen's house with a babysitter. The boys thought it was just as great to get to play with each other and have a babysitter. The girls both got American Girl bitty baby twins for Christmas. So we took the twins, Molly & Matthew, and Cody & Lindsey out to lunch at Rose's. Lindsey and Emerson had a great time and so did Kristen and I. I would love to have a weekly girls lunch out!

The girls stole our diet coke and were really enjoying it:)

What cuties!!

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa Douma

Chris' parents came out this weekend from Sioux Falls. We waited to celebrate Christmas until this weekend, so that they could see the kids open up their presents.

We had a good time hanging out together and the kids loved swimming at their hotel pool. The kids are already asking when we are going to Lake Okoboji, so that they can see them again!

What happen to my sweet little boy???

Lately Kaden has not been the sweet boy that he has always been. He doesn't want to pick up his toys, get dressed, say his prayers, etc. Not that he always came running when I asked him to do something, but he did what you asked and generally wanted to please you. All of the sudden EVERYTHING is a battle @ home (thankfully he is still VERY good @ school). We are just really struggling with what to do with him. I want him to be a good listener and be respectful of us and his things. A perfect example of this was that we were at Barnes and Noble Book Store the other day and they had lots of toys clearenced out. I was digging through them and I found some playmobil construction sets (which was a super find b/c playmobil is super expensive and rarely goes on sale). These were perfect for him b/c he received the playmobil construction crane from my parents for his birthday and the construction garage that goes with it for Christmas. I was not about to just buy it for him since he had just gotten a bunch of toys for Christmas. So, I asked him if he would like me to buy it and he can do special chores and projects around the house to earn the set. What was his response?? "No thanks, I don't want to earn it" Are you kidding me??? My son, who LOVES anything playmobil just turned down getting a new set b/c he "doesn't want to earn it"!!! Then the other night Kaden didn't want to get his pajama's on b/4 he went to bed. So we said okay you will just sleep in your clothes then. This battle went on and on and on and on! That is how the below "toy jail" got started. The cabinet is so full now that the doors won't even close on it. Hopefully this is just a phase and he won't continue to act like this but if he does I will be ready b/c I am starting a parenting class (love and logic) @ the end of the month.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! We brought in the New Year with my grandparents and Char and Marc and their kids @ Cascade. They had a kids party that was so much fun! We danced, made silly videos, watched a magic show, got balloon animals, and had a balloon drop at Midnight (it was actually only 9:30). We hardly had time to eat b/c we were having so much fun! What a great way to ring in the new year with everyone that I love!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Treats

Today we decorated cookies with some good friends. The kids had so much fun being able to decorate the cookies however they wanted (w/o me over their shoulder trying to control the chaos). Here is one of Emerson's creations. There is a cookie under all of those sprinkles.

The girls jumped right in and started decorating

The little boys even got to decorate their own cookies. Most of the toppings went straight into their mouth and didn't make it to the cookie.

The kids "helping" make treats for Emmy's dance Christmas party

Last week we went to a gingerbread house decorating party with Grama. Instead of the kids decorating individual houses, they all iced and decorating one BIG house. It was pretty chaotic and there was candy and icing everywhere. But the kids had a lot of fun and definitely came home on a sugar buzz!

We have made a lot of treats, done lots of Christmas crafts, and decorated numerous gingerbread houses. The kids and I are ready for Santa to come!!

Santa Brunch

Last weekend we went to Cascade Country Club for our annual Santa brunch. I wasn't sure how the meeting with Santa was going to go since we hadn't seen Santa yet this year. I have to say that this year was probably the best yet. Perry wouldn't sit on Santa's lap but he let me hold him next to Santa. Kaden asked Santa for legos and Emerson asked him for girl legos. There have been lots of questions about Santa around here lately. Kaden is definitely trying to figure out all of the details about Santa. His latest question was "does Santa ever die?" I wasn't quite sure how to answer that one. Any advice is welcome :)

All of the cousins with the newest addition, Milana
(can you believe how coordinated they all are, we didn't even plan that)

Our attempt at the annual family Christmas photo, it gets harder and harder every year