Christmas 2022

Another perfect holiday season is under wraps!  Christmas is and always will be my favorite holiday.  I love absolutely everything about it, and it just gets better year after year!

Although now it's getting harder to plan all of my festivities with these children.  Decorating used to be an all day fun filled tradition, but now Brad and I literally put the tree up, get the lights on and they finish the rest.  I'm lucky if I get 2 hours with them....

And yes, they still bitch the entire time that someone isn't pulling their weight, or someone is in their way...its amusing.  Truly.

And of course the biggest argument is who gets to put the angel on top.

Emma won.

Rachel, Emma and I went to our church's outdoor Grinch play.  It was SO good!  They put a holy spin on the Grinch and it was just perfect, can't wait to see it agian next year.  It's all done outside and they sell coffee and cider, it was cold, but a perfect night!

And yes, I still grudgingly do the elf on the shelf.  Funny enough is that the girls don't request it, I just can't quite come to terms to quit it.  Feels like their childhood is gonzo.  Sad.  In the meantime, I just complain about having to find a place for him every morning.  Oh wait, sometimes he's in the same spot for a few days...

We decided to have our family Christmas the weekend before.  My mom and her husband came out for smoked ribs and cheesy potatoes and we stuffed ourselves silly.

 

After they left, we opened gifts with the girls (and Hunter!) and then the fun began...

Rachel made a Christmas cocktail which was delicious!

And then we started playing games.  I came up with (and when i say came up with, I mean Pinterest came up with) some fun games to play that included money.  We laughed SO HARD!!

Rachel ended up winning the most money around $50, followed by Emma and poor Mousey only won a few bucks.

It was such a fun night!

Christmas Eve morning I made Alayna fried Christmas trees, which was just canned cinnamon rolls made into a tree and deep fried. Super nutritious and right up her ally!

Around 2:00 we all headed over to Barb and Darrin's like we do every year.  We eat appetizers, play the white elephant game and open gifts, it's always a great time!

Afterward we came home and chilled and watched Christmas Vacation for the last time, it's always a bittersweet night. 

I will always cherish all of these traditions we have and I can't wait to see what fun traditions my girls start!

Fall 2022

We enjoyed a beautiful fall!  I really made sure to take the time to be outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather we had.  One of my goals in 2022 was to take the time to be outside and just enjoy it.  I spent many nights on the patio reading and enjoying our little gas fire pit.

I enjoy fall because it is the start of a slow season for us.  I love the cooler weather, darker evenings and just the slower pace of fall and winter.

One of my favorites this fall was seeing the Goo Goo Dolls at The Ledge Amphitheater in Waite Park.  This was our first time at the venue and it was incredible!  It helped that the weather was gorgeous that night.

They sounded exactly like they do on the radio, and my love for Johnny Rzeznik continues...

Like I said, the weather that night was incredible.  A couple times I forgot we were outside, haha.

Alayna has been thoroughly enoying her junior year of high school.  At least I think she is, that girl is ALWAYS on the go!

She had her first PowderPuff game, and they got their butts whooped by the seniors, haha!

Love the relationship this girls have!

For the first time, Rocori had a homecoming formal which she had a blast at!  How is our mousey growing up so fast??  Ugh...

That girl is on year 4 of having braces, I think she is ready to take them off herself!

And no, that is not a cigarette in my hand, when I first saw this pic I did a double take!

Our family grew again....with a cat!  Emma and her roomates got a cat, meet Francesca May Zimmer, aka, Frankie.  She is the cutest damn thing, 100% naughty and funny enough, plays fetch!

I mean seriously....

Like I said before, we had an AMAZING fall with gorgeous weather.  Brad, Alayna and myself decided to head out to St. John's and walk the trails to the chapel.  We literally couldn't have asked for a better day.  I mean we could have, because they were a crap ton of other people out on the trails as well, but I digress.

Love these pics of Brad and Mouse.

In October Alayna got the chance to go on a duck hunting trip with Brad, Bruce, Connor and William to South Dakota.  They hunted for 5 days and she had way more fun than I thought she would!  Apparently she's our own little Annie Oakley.

Josie got to go too!  This meant that mama was home alone for 6 days, which was amazing.  I literally cleaned and organized everything in the house, which felt so good.

All of the kiddos came home to carve pumpkins, it felt like the old days, they whined and complained and argued just like they used to.... :)

Halloween we went to the Rothsteins for apps and drinks and then made our way down to the La for a Halloween party.  Brad went as Bob Ross and I was an 80's gal.  We literally spent no money and just pulled from our stash, it was perfect!

It sure is fun having older kids now!  Except we end up paying everytime we go out....

The end of October we had our annual Friendsgiving, this year was at Rick and Tonia's.  They smoked a turkey and everyone brought sides.  So much amazing food and such a fun time!

It was definitely a different season for us, not having Brad's dad here.  Going through all of the first's wasn't fun but we all made the best of it as much as we could.

Lobsterfest 2022

Every year in September we have Lobsterfest at Cory and Christi's lake home.  We (5 couples) all head there on Friday and this year we met at a local winery close by them.  It was a gorgeous day, and just a perfect way to start the weekend!

I adore this pic of Brad and I, although just like our kids, it took awhile to get him to cooperate...

See below.

All I wanted was a cute kiss pic.  He came in like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber...

Pain in the ass.

So grateful we have these peeps, we've been together for more than 25 years, and can't imagine our lives without them!

Back to School 2022

September seemed to come way too fast this year.  While summer was fun, it was SO busy that I didn't feel like I had a chance to think about back to school, haha!

This little lady started her junior year (WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??) of high school.

Seriously, I am going to blink and she'll be graduating, ugh...

She was seriously peeved with me that I wanted a pic.

I told her I would post this. :)

Now, the other two behaved perfectly and sent their mama "first day" pics for them!

Rachel's Senior year of college, she will have 2 semesters left of nursing school and she will be DONE!!!  #bless

Emma started her Sophomore year of college and also moved into a townhome with two of her besties from college last year.

She will be applying for the nursing program in the fall.  #fingerscrossed

Every.single.morning I pray for God's protection over them and that God will lead them HIS way, not their way, or my way.  Boy is that a humbling prayer sometimes.  As their mama, I just want everything to work out perfectly and fix every problem they encounter.  Apparently that can't happen, I feel like I was not told about that haha!!

I know they will have an amazing year!!