Christmas Day

Here some pictures from Christmas Day, I took them with my new camera. We haven't shut off our outdoor lights since Christmas Eve, since it has been so cold and icky out. Darin worked from 8 AM to 10 PM yesterday, was out for a bit in the night, then again this morning around 8.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is fun:

Christmas Eve

We had a nice, but really quiet Christmas Eve. The boys and I made some treats during the day, then we went to church at 6:00. Good thing we went to that service, the pastor said there were around 1,000 people at the 4:00 service!

We came home, had chili and some muchies, then opened gifts.

Here are some pics of the night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xmas Catchup: Church Program

Last Saturday, the boys had their church program. They both "sang" in the same group at the beginning of the service, but I'm not sure that either of them really sang.

The service was really nice. During the kid's sermon, St. Nick (our old neighbor, Jon) and his elf decorated a tree while the pastor read a poem about how St. Nick is one of God's servants. Then they had a live nativity that the kids got to see while they were up in the front of the church.

When Carter got back to our seats, he said that Jon was Santa....and Santa must have been sick tonight, so Jon was helping. Jon has a pretty distinct voice!

You can only see Carter in the first picture.  Caden's teacher is holding him on the other side in the front row.

Xmas Catchup: Kindergarten Program

This cold, snowy Christmas afternoon seems to be a good time to get caught up on pictures and videos from all of our Christmas activities. Darin has been out working all day, hopefully he'll have some time for a family dinner tonight.

These pictures are from Carter's Kindergarten Christmas program. I was impressed that some of the classes actually sang Christmas songs. Carter's class sang 2 songs and then had another song where they used metallic streamers. He is in on the left side, second row from the bottom, with a green shirt on.

His class and the other morning kindergarten class sang together.

Weekend Pics

Lots to do this weekend and lots of fun...

Friday: I took the day off and finished up most of my Christmas shopping. We went to an open house at the Y for dinner and the kids made an ornament. I had stamp club Friday night and made this olive bread for our treats...it was very yummy!

Saturday: What a nice day, the snow started to melt, the kids (and Gracie) played outside and had lots of fun.

Sunday: The snow and cold came back. So far, we've made Mama Dar's sugar cookies and are hoping to wrap some presents this afternoon. It looks like a great day to STAY HOME!

Favorite Christmas things...

Caden likes to run off with my camera and taking very interesting pictures around the house. I decided to take advantage of this "hobby" today and asked both the boys to take pictures of their favorite Christmas things...

Carter's Favorites:

Caden's Favorites:

(Liz helped them make the chain to count down the days until Christmas)

Upcoming Activities

If you are looking for something to do and a trip to western South Dakota sounds like fun, we have a lot of Christmas things going on over the next two weeks:

• Dec 15th @ 9:00 AM: Carter's elementary school holiday program. He already told me that he will not be singing the songs. 
• Dec 17th @ 4: Carter's YMCA program/open house. I'm not sure what they will do at this, but they've been practicing some songs and sign language...should be good.
  
• Dec 18th @ 5:30 PM: Church Christmas program. I think the kid's just sing their songs during the Saturday church service. Maybe Carter will be ready to sing by then?? Caden can really belt it out during practice, so I'm thinking he'll have quite a performance!

Everyone is welcome!

The Lodge

We spent last Saturday night at a new hotel, The Lodge, in Deadwood. The casino just opened on Friday at noon and MDU's Christmas party was held there on Saturday. We had a great time and the entire place was really nice, there is a sports bar, restaurant, casino, hotel, water park and convention center. I forgot my camera, which was a big bummer, as the kid's had a blast at the water park. It was perfect for their age, nothing was over 4 1/2 feet deep. Our friends/neighbors Jess & Glynda brought their son, Grayson, and they watched the boys while Darin and I were at dinner. Judging by all the crackers on the floor and in our bed...I think it got  pretty crazy!

If you are looking for a hotel in Deadwood, we highly recommend it!

More fun from Mrs. Sterling

Carter brought home a new book yesterday with pictures of the class dressed up in their costumes. It was similar to the other book "Kindergarten, Kindergarten, what do you see". Here is Carter's page:

Storybook Island

We fit lots of fun into Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday night, we hit the opening night of the Storybook Island light display. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, businesses decorate the displays with lights and they are open in the evenings for families to visit. The weather was nice, so it was a great night to do it, but we still had to bundle up. Most of the pictures are from the barrel train, which is always a hit!

On Saturday night, we went to the Parade of Lights. I forgot the camera, but it was a lot of fun. The Fire Dept float had fire shooting out...wow! The Grinch always crawls down from the roof of the Firehouse, so the kids thought that was pretty fun to see. Although they were a little nervous about where the Grinch went when he got down from the roof.

Note to self: Remember chairs and blankets for next year's parade. It gets a little cold standing along the street for an hour.

Happy Birthday Darin!

Yesterday was Darin's 36th birthday...inching right in on the bit 4-0!

I think he had a fun day, he opened some gifts, lunch date with me, dinner with the family and DQ ice cream cake for dessert. I don't even want to know how many calories that is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

It was such a beautiful day, so we spent lots of time outside. Darin and his dad put up the Christmas lights outside and the boys, Lizzy and I put our tree and the inside decorations up.

The boys said they are thankful on this Thanksgiving Day for...
Carter: Birds, Tigers, Harlem, Gracie, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa & Lizzy...and Gypsy too
Caden: Mom, Dad, Bumpa, Blue Grandma, Papa, Grandma, Lizzy, Gracie, Gypsy and Harlem


Here are some images from our day...