Birthday's are so fun it's true!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaden!!!!!

We love you very much!!

This past thursday we celebrated Kaden's birthday! Where do three years go? We were very fortunate to have many family and friends celebrate with us, including my dad, grandma and grandpa from Canada! I will have more pictures to come!

How Lovely Are Your Branches

I have gone in search of the perfect Christmas tree in snow up to my knee's in 30 below weather, on four wheeler & by sled. I have also strolled through a Walmart parking lot by foot in search for a cheap tree.

Today was a new first...pouring down rain, pushing a stroller through a corn field through the mud and muck!


It definetly would have been better to have some snow to put us in the Christmas spirit, but we still had a great time on the 'search'.

Normally, it would take me a lot longer to find a perfectly uniformed tree, BUT when you have two young children in the pouring rain you learn to do it the fast way. So here it is, the tree that will adorn our living room over the next thirty days!

As you can see, Kaden is completly soaked. I think the people at the tree farm thought we were nuts to want to go and cut down our own tree.
At this point all Kaden wanted was some hot chocolate...so did we all!
It was a fun day. Home we go!

Another Thanksgiving Gone By

We had a wonderful thanksgiving over at Brian's mom and dad's house! Here is our place settings a few minutes before we sat down and devoured everything in sight! I always find it funny how it takes so long to prepare a meal and a fraction of that to eat it!!

Brian and Daryl carving the turkeys. One was cooked the traditional way in the oven; the other we tried in the deep fryer pot outside.

Here is the deep fried bird. Tasty, but not real good for you! (kind of like most things at thanksgiving!)

Among many other delicious desserts, here are some cupcake turkeys I made. ( I don't usually take pictures of food, but I thought I'd do it for my sister-in-laws sake!)

The boys having a pre-meal snack.

Kaden playing with cousin Olivia.
Ethan being thrown up in the air by Brad.

To top it all off...Kaden requested roasting marchmallow's in the fire. Thanks to Brad who went and bought some for us.

Fun times with Grama!

Clark Griswold & Chuck E Cheese

We have been keeping busy around here, trying to bear the colder weather. Brian got out his staple gun this past weekend and starting putting up our Christmas lights....Christmas Vacation style! The kids sat and watched in amazment!

We also headed off for the first time to Chuck E Cheese's. The kids loved it, and I had never been there before. What a great place to go and let the kids burn some energy. We got some pizza, played some games and watched the show. Fun.

Kaden got this salamander from his winnings. He made a bed for it that night to sleep in and then in the morning insisted that the salamander needed fruit loops too!
He has been carrying that thing around the house for days. Ethan also HAD one, but on our walk across the parking lot he lost it!??? We have no idea where it went. Good thing he didn't care!

7 Years of Wedded Bliss

This past monday was the celebration of 7 years to my best friend! We had a great time. The boys stayed with Grama and Pops while we headed off for a childless getaway. It was great.
We went to Scranton....visited some friends Pam, Jim, Micheal and Dwight. We toured the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, did some shopping, and then visited Shrute Beet Farms. Very Intriguing!
It was also very interesting to us that Scranton is called the "Electric City" and yet endless amounts of business signs had burnt out bulbs. I think a person could make a living replacing those bulbs!
It was a great getaway!

Fall Fun

Here is an update from the past few weeks.......

The boys with their pumpkins and the spiders that they made in the background.


Kaden climbing on a tree that fell in a windstorm. He enjoyed playing on that more than the treehouse we built him. If I would have known that, we would have dragged a dead tree into our yard instead!!

Ethan trying to be like his big brother.

Two not so happy ducks for Halloween. I can tell that their going to love this picture when they get older!
Melanie and Hannah came for a visit this past weekend...actually for a work weekend, but we still had a great time seeing them.

Here the kids are raking leaves....while I take pictures?!

~Fun times at Summit Grove~

A Blog from the Past

It's about time I get around to blogging about the great time I had with my family when they came to visit! Thanks Mom for nugging me on! Indeed, they came from Canada and Australia to enjoy the wealth and prosperity of this country. But mostly our company!!!! Here is our week in pictures.

My Sister, Ethan and Mom.

Before they came, the muffler pipe on our car was making a racket. On the way to the outlets, the pipe fell and was dragging on the highway. Here they are trying to lift the car so we could pull the muffler off and keep going. (of course we didn't find the jack's until the job was almost over!) Looks like my sister is doing most of the lifting!!!
Uncle Ryan with Kaden on a bike ride!

Poor Jen didn't get any rest when she was here. My brother put this onion on a pillow in front of her nose while she slept.

The boys with Papa Don and Computer Grandma.....(that's what Kaden calls my mom cause we always talk to her by video on the computer)

Kaden and Papa Don

One afternoon we got dressed up and had a relay race...girls against boys. It was exhauating but the girls definetly pulled it off and won!

Here we are looking normal....my mom, sister, me and my brother.

We had a great time. It was sad to see them leave, but we were able to make a lot of great memories while they were here!