Warning! Christmas Card Spoilers Ahead!
2015, The year that was!
Hello friends and family! We hope this letter finds you cheerfully enjoying the holiday season.
There never seams to be a dull moment in our house. In fact it was hard to find time to write this letter! The kids are growing as they do. Miles turned 4 this year and Alice is a rambunctious 2 year old. She finally started to grow some hair and had her first hair cut in November.
Bangs!
We love having their birthdays in the summer so we can have our friends over and play outside all day. Plus Grandma and Grandpa Kross don't mind coming up from Florida to visit us that time of year. Miles ate the frosting off of all the leftover cupcakes at Alice's birthday party. Needless to say he was bouncing around on a sugar rush the rest of the day.
Alice and her 2 year old friends.
Puppies at Miles's dog birthday party. Thanks Grandma Kross for making all the masks for the kiddos.
Cheese! Miles and Nora
Our awesome friend Karla!
Miles and Elea
In February, Aaron and Jen went to Mexico with some good friends. We left the kiddos with Grandpa Sam and Nana Linda. We had a great time getting out of the cold in North Dakota and soaked up some sun and salt water. While there we visited an eco-park called Xel-Ha. It was amazing, we saw some cool Mexican wildlife (in and out of the water) and jumped off a big cliff. We have photos to prove it if you don't believe us!
Miles started pre-school in March. We were a little worried about how he would do, we weren't sure if he was ready. Turns out Jen was the one who wasn't ready. He is doing great and comes home singing all sorts of new songs. He also comes home with some weird rumors that the kids start. A few weeks ago when the snow melted he thought Christmas was going to be canceled because there was no snow. He was quite upset about it, but we explained that Christmas would come whether there was snow or not. Funny how a kid thinks when he is growing up with snow every Christmas.
This year seems to be the “year of breakfast.” We have tons of photos of us eating waffles, aebelskivers, and cinnamon rolls. Jen got an aebelskiver pan for Mother's day this year so that is probably why. Come on over for breakfast one Saturday, but you'll have to come early, we are a bunch of early risers in this house.
We've also discovered lot of new books this year. "Don't let the Pigeon drive the Bus!" by Mo Williams is a house favorite. This guy has true kid writing talent. Check out his stuff at the Library, the Elephant and Piggy stories are gems as well.
Jen wanted to make sure we soaked up the summer this year so we had lots of adventures outside. We went to Storybook Land in Aberdeen, South Dakota with our friends Ruby and Janelle. We went to the Bismarck Zoo and had many trips to “The Farm” to see Grandpa Sam and Nana Linda.
Miles and the Monkeys
End of the rainbow at Storybook land.
Carousel ride
Our camping experiment
Our big summer fun activity was a road trip to Colorado! We stopped at Wall Drug in South Dakota and spent a day in Rapid City to see Mount Rushmore. The highlight however was not the big carved out mountain, it was a mud kitchen we found at the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks outdoor area. The kids played in the mud for an hour making mud cupcakes and mud-milk shakes. Good old dirty fun!
Alice was in a grumpy mood at Wall Drug and she had a big problem with this giant rabbit.
The Family at Mt. Rushmore
We spent time with Grammie Julie in Fort Collins and visited with Uncle
Luke, Aunt Brandi, Cousin Carter and the family's newest addition,
Cousin Clara. Miles continually tells us he loves baby Clara.
Miles and baby Clara
On that trip Jen and Aaron left the kids with Grammie and had a reunion with some of our grad-school friends in Gunnison. We all started to count the number of years it had been since we had seen each other and decided not to let it be that long again. We are planning another reunion in 5 or fewer years.
Jen and Amy and a landlocked mermaid
Aaron and Theresa
The gang and a Vista!
What kind of flower is that Dude?
The girls and a Vista!
Jen went to a Lamaze childbirth educator seminar and is on her way to becoming a childbirth educator. She will need to take an exam in April and work out some logistics. Her goal is to be teaching by October 2016.
In September Aaron and Jen had a once-in-a-life-time experience and went to Los Angeles to see our friend Steve Listopad receive the Hugh Hefner Free Speech award at the Playboy Mansion! We are so proud of his accomplishments and we were honored to be part of his entourage. While in L.A. we went to Venice Beach with Jen's friend from Girl Scouts Theresa and visited with Aunt Judie and Aunt Jonnie. We also did some typical L.A. things like see a taping of Conan, walk along Hollywood Blvd., party on the Sunset Strip, and eat at the In-n-Out Burger.
No caption necessary, Dude
Sean, Aaron and Steve at the mall on Hollywood Blvd.
Our award winning friend Steve and the people who helped make it happen including our Jamestown Rep. Jessica Haak
Smooches outside the grotto
Giant Conan bobble head waiting for the taping.
In October Gramie Julie came to visit and we had a fun trip to the Natural History Museum in Bismarck.
Grammie Julie and the kiddos
Giant pumpkin at Pappa's Pumpkin Patch
For Halloween, both kids wanted to be Scooby-Doo! Well that was easy for Jen to make both costumes the same. They are both really into Scooby-Doo right now, it is a little insane. But that's ok, because Jen and Aaron like it too. We had a party for all of our kid friends and took about 8 little ones trick-or-treating. It was a blast! Aaron and Jen dressed up and went to an adult party that evening. Jen was a SPARKLER! and Aaron was a Price-Is-Right contestant (since we didn't get to go while we were in L.A.)
SPARKLER! and Aaron
Sadly this year we lost the matriarch of the Pearse family, Aaron's Grandma Mary Lou passed away. She was a wonderful person with a generous heart and we will miss having her in our lives. We also lost Jen's Aunt Kathy Kross who lived in New York City.
Alice and pig tails!
The family at Thanksgiving
Alice snuggling up with Grandpa Sam after Thanksgiving feast. Grandpa has some kind of magic, he can always get Alice to take a nap.
Well the ground is snow covered again and we are excited to be going to Florida in January. We are going to celebrate Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Kross and go to Jen's friend Vicki's wedding. We are also going to have a family vacation to Disney World! We got a cabin at Fort Wilderness and can't wait for Alice to experience it for the first time.
First big snow of the year!
What a cutie!
We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and peaceful New Year. May our paths cross soon in 2016!
Love,
Jen, Aaron, Miles and Alice
Last weekend was a bit relaxing with some scattered fun activities. Aaron went up to "the farm" with a friend to hunt pheasants with our dog Willow. They were there pretty much all day. So I had the kids all to myself. I took them to my Saturday Coffee with the girls and they were somewhat well behaved. As long as the batteries for the iPod didn't run out.
Later that afternoon we went to do crafts at my friend Karla's house. I finally finished a wine cork wreath that I started last holiday season. (I still need to add a nice bow so it isn't completely finished)
The kids watched a movie and ate popcorn and candy in Scott and Karla's fine theater. After that they played with Mr. Scott's immense Lego collection! Alice found a tiny Lego pirate knife and dragged it across her face several times. She had 4 red scratches on her face! It took me a while to figure out what had happened. Her injury didn't seem to phase her. Silly kid!
Sunday was our fun day! It was a foggy morning but a great day for SLEDDING!
I had lunch with my wonderful Coffee girl friends and we celebrated Christmas with a secret Santa exchange. It was fabulous and everyone got such lovely gifts.
We are now getting ready for more snow and I need to get moving on our Christmas cards. So stay tuned to your mailbox for our yearly update.
Here is the post my friend posted that inspired my whimsical Christmas Beanie Baby mayhem. I can't say if I agree with his thoughts about the Elf or not, I don't have an opinion either way honestly, but calling out the Beanie Babies went to far:
But look how cute! (Seriously, I don't think they are that cute, kind of cheap looking to me)
Elf on a Shelf - There is a new big thing and craze for this year!!
Yes, it's almost time for the fad and the genius of marketing consumerism fostered upon us sheepish parents, that just hasn't, as yet, gone the way of the Beanie Babies (oh no he didn't!), to appear. The day after Thanksgiving parents will be hunting the box that holds the magic.
And here is how to make the magic this year; trust me, this is the new, big idea. - when you find the imp, take him magically and directly to the dumpster. It's been 11 months since your kids saw him last, maybe they will forget.
What does the Elf teach our kids? He teaches them that a nanny state and the total lack of personal privacy is just fine. Hey, I spy on you and report back to Santa just like the trusty NSA. It's the new normal kids. He is preparing you for a sheep like future.
It's a crutch for parents, an excuse to use lax parenting skills. It's a fake tradition wrapped up in the cloak of consumerism that we have fallen for. It's been here since 2005, lightening your pocket book in the mistaken belief that this is a new holiday tradition. Kids how cool is it that your parents bought a spy to spy on you?
Think about what the imp has done to you as a parent. In the First Stage, you think it's cute and hide him in all kinds of interesting places for your kids. In the Second Stage you no longer care about the kids and you are staging the elf in provocative posses like bending over with a Hersey Kiss coming out his ass (this has become trite and boring). In this stage you have gone round the bend in parenting all the way. In Stage Three, your spouse growls at you about 11 pm asking if moved the damn thing yet. You walk over and kick/swat him a few feet and call it good. Stage Four is either throwing him out or the kids matured out of the nonsense and you thankfully no longer have to participate. This is the salvation phase!
Please join me - take the elves directly to the dumpster and STOP posting about them on FB.
You know how you occasionally still meet that one nut that collects Beanie Babies? You know how you tilt your head to the left, fake smile, shake your head up and down (knowingly) and say, "that's nice". Meanwhile your mind is screaming to you to back away slowly, because this person is insane. Folks it's time. It's time to look at elf folks just like Beanie people. It's crazy... (Is this how people really feel about my collection?)
Go directly to the dumpster, do not post, do not go past Go! It's the new, big craze. Really it is...
So, I've now taken to barraging this friend with photos of my Beanie Baby antics and tagging him in the photos. Because, you know, that is how you use Facebook and pick on friends who live too far away to annoy them in person.
Here is day 3:
Miles berated the monkey for making such a mess with cutting the tags off the other Beanie Babies. Then he asked how he got the scissors. Probably because we put them way out of his reach. I told him that monkeys are good climbers. Heehee!
A few years ago I made a Christmas countdown calendar for Miles out of toilet paper rolls and put little prizes in each tube that he opened each day in December. Last year was a bit of a cluster with two kids wanting to punch open the tube and trying to get them to share was a bit of a fight.
So this year I made 2, one for Miles and one for Alice. I think they turned out rather nice and I found lots of little trinkets to put in the tubes. I believe this is the year for miniature. I found tons of miniature toys in the store perfect for this project. I remember struggling last year to find stuff to fit in the tubes. So this year they are getting a lot fewer Hershey's kisses and more trinket toys to aggravate Aaron!
In addition I have taken on a certain challenge to spread Christmas cheer in our household. It was spurred on by a Facebook post of a friend of mine who was dissing the "Elf on the Shelf" phenomenon. Now, I'm not into "Elf on the Shelf" but this particular friend decided to drag Beanie Babies into his argument and I just couldn't stand for that. So I have started a whimsical parade of Beanies that I think the kids are really going to have fun with.
It started with a mysterious present under the tree that showed up on December 1st. Miles, loving presents and surprises was immediately drawn to it.
"It doesn't have a name or anything on it!" he said. "Well it is a mystery I guess," I told him. All day and that night he was constantly asking me if he could open the present and when are we going to open the present. It really occupied his thoughts to the point of when he woke up this morning the first thing he said was, "can I open the present?"
Well....I told him, why don't you go check it out. This was his reaction (sorry the video is so dark, it was early in the morning)
We were awesome Christmas presents once, weren't we?
They played with the Beanie Babies all morning until it was time to go to school/work/day care. It was fun to see them so excited about these toys, even though they have seen and played with them before. Maybe I should just do that for Christmas this year, wrap up all the toys they have now and put them under the tree.
We are a busy family with little time to sit down. But we need to make sure the loved ones in our lives are up on what we are up to.
Miles and Alice both wanted to be Scooby-Doo for Halloween. (Miles is the taller one)
Aaron and I got the opportunity to attend an award ceremony at the Playboy Mansion!!! in Los Angeles. The Grato is right behind us.
Alice got her first hair cut on Monday. She sat so well for the stylist.
She has bangs, now she can see. Miles got his hair cut too.
I got a new hair cut too.
New layers
Miles finished up a swimming lesson session and I'm going to sign him up again in January. He is progressing, but not quite swimming without a flotation device yet. His swim instructor assures us he will get there.
Our cinnamon roll morning
I attended a Lamaze Childbirth Educator seminar in Madison last October and am working toward my Lamaze certification. I will take the certification exam in April, and right now I am building a curriculum and working some connections to see where I might be able to teach.
On my drive back to Jamestown I met up with my friend Melisa who was traveling through. We crossed paths at the wind turbine outside of Valley City.
Aaron is getting all the hunting in he can these days. I'm a little sad that I haven't been able to get out this year, but as it gets colder I'm more apt to forgo sitting out in the cold.
This is us on Halloween. I was a sparkler and Aaron was a Price is Right contestant.
Grandpa Sam and Nana Linda are coming for Thanksgiving and we are cooking a great meal to give thanks and celebrate.
Kids playing in the first snow of the year.
Some sad news, we lost Aaron's Grandmother Mary Lou early this month. We traveled to Kearney, Nebraska to attend the funeral and be with family. Grandma Lou has a large family and there were many people who came out to say goodbye and share stories of their fond memories of her. We will all miss her dearly.
Miles and cousin Carter playing in the snow outside the church where Grandma Lou's service was held.
We have been having lots of fun this summer. It seems like every weekend if filled with things to do. We love being outside and we have had more sunny days than rainy ones it seems. We have been up to Grandpa Sam and Nana Linda's farm, we have been to the outdoor pool, we went to the Dakota Zoo, to Storybook Land, and on a big road trip vacation to Colorado.
Our garden is growing so we have been eating a lot of chard. The tomatoes and green beans aren't ready yet. But the RASPBERRIES are getting ripe. We are picking them every night. It may be time to start canning.
Here is just a glimpse of what we have been doing with our weekends.
