Simple Pleasures: Cookie Decorating...

Mormor made so many sugar cookies that the next day we decorated the rest of them. While out shopping she asked us to pick up some pipping bags so we could try to pipe the frosting nicely onto the cookies. Once we got home with them she whipped up some homemade frosting to use. I think we spent hours decorating those sugar cookies. Cousins were helping, friends stopped by to help. It was a grand ole time spent trying out all the things we've seen done on the Great British Baking Show (we watch every single episode!).

Later that weekend while Oliver played card games with Morfar, Lucius helped Mormor with more cookie making. Actually I guess they both helped and they both played the game- they took turns with one on one time with both their grandparents. Some times living with your grandparents is a blast!

Bowling...

We all loved bowling so much last month with my twin sister's family that I wrote it on my calendar to do it again. The remind popped up on my phone that we needed to go bowling again mid December. I chatted with my sister and we were all set.

Saturday afternoon we met them at the bowling lanes and had a blast. Oliver got a bit grumpy toward the middle of the game because he thought we would be having pizza again like last time. We forgot to tell him that we went bowling a little earlier so that we could go home to have dinner. The cousins were invited too. That did not seem to help his attitude and we forgot to bring him a snack. Lesson learned. We'll be having pizza at the lanes next time we go!

After dinner we all decorated some sugar cookies that Mormor had made that afternoon while we were off bowling.

Our Gingerbread house...

In December we finally got around to visiting our Gingerbread house at the Norway House's Winter wonderland display. It was fun to see all the other creations there and to spot our house with all the other master pieces. The boys went and read every single one off the list to see who made them and what the names of their buildings were.

It was a fun experience and I think we are all really pumped to try again next year with all the good ideas we gathered from the other creations.

One Second Video continues in 2018...

I'm not sure why I've forgotten to post these this year, but I have been continuing to document our daily life in video form for the fourth year in a row, much more than by photo taking. We're now three quarters of the way through 2018 and I haven't posted any of our one second videos yet. Let me fix that right now.

Our first Quarterly video from January 1st through March 30th: 

Our Second Quarterly video from April 1st through June 28th:

AND our Third quarterly video from June 29th through September 30th:

Opt outside...

The day after Thanksgiving (aka Black Friday) was a different day than we usually spend. Typically Jerimy and I wake up early (but never too early) to go black Friday shopping for Christmas presents and things we need that are cheap that day. This year we really didn't need Christmas presents and we weren't really feeling like we NEEDED anything specific. I know that we probably would have found all kinds of things had we choose to go shopping but well... it was more fun to sleep in a little and relax.

Once we were up the boys and I decided to head over to Lebanon Hills regional park to search for the gnome they had hidden somewhere in the park boundaries. The search started at 10am and I think we got there a little after that. There were scavenger hunts for gnome figurines and other activities but the boys were determined to find the BIG gnome.

We walked all over the area by the main building and we did see all the little figurines. We waited till noon when they posted the third and final clue. The boys and I tried to figure it out and drove to another area of the park (since the grounds are HUGE). We walked to where we thought it might be and as we got closer and saw a park map Lucius figured out the "mirrored numbers" in the clue were 6 & 9. We raced to the part of the trail that was between the 6 & 9 and we were 15 minutes too late. Someone had just managed to find it before us. Oh well. Lucius was a bit extra bummed we didn't find him but we survived. We had a LOT of fun and we hope they do this again next year.

Later that same afternoon Jerimy and I made homemade Lefse again. We love to make it but it is a lot of work and takes a long time. This year we borrowed the neighbors griddle and then decided we'd finally invest in one of our own. So it did start going a little faster because we could make two at a time.

Quotable kids: misc...

October 2018 quote: I think my kids are officially much fancier food people than I am. Lucius told me what they had for snack one day:

 “We made yogurt parfaits. Oliver added cinnamon, honey, vanilla (just a tich), fruit juice, cinnamon sugar to the greek yogurt. I added fruit cause we have strawberries and then cinnamon.”

My little food experimenters, they get it from their dad.

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November 2018 quote: “I can’t wait till I’m older so I can buy myself a cat and go to the FIFA world cup. Then I’ll be more free” - said by Lucius one afternoon when he was bored.

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November 2018 quote: “I’ve become a master of redecorating my room. All I need is a clock and a pantry full of food and I’m all set!”- Oliver one afternoon after he finished thumb tacking these items up on his wall.

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September 2018 quote: I told my oldest that I was gonna have a hard time paying attention to any second, third or even fourth items on a list that started with “FIRST- we NEED to buy a Unicorn!”- Oliver

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September 2018 quote: “I don’t understand all of what you were doing. All I know is you were finally brave!” - said Oliver when I told him I was in front of people all night at a PTA meeting. I love that kid! He taught me how to be brave and how to be around people. Still introverted but I try.

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August 2018 quote: Lucius said one day “I want to take gymnastics and martial arts! Then free style dancing. If I start with gymnastics, that’ll help when I take martial arts, and after I take martial arts I’ll have good moves for my freestyle dance moves for the (school) variety show when I’m in 4th grade.”
Um, sure. Sounds like a reasonable yet slightly expensive master plan.

Thanksgiving...

On the night before Thanksgiving we gathered with Marmee's side of the family to have a spring roll dinner. The kids all choose to eat noodles and the fillings, instead of making spring rolls. But the adults knew that spring rolls are amazing and should always be eaten as a spring roll!

After dinner we all played a rousing game of Oregon trail the card game version. It's a hoot and we never make it to Oregon, just like the old computer game, but it's fun to see how we all die. This time we lost Auntie Mick pretty quickly of some disease and the rest of us died because we couldn't fix the wagon wheel. Bummer. Lot of laughs were had by all!

On Thanksgiving day we traveled to Wisconsin to visit with Jerimy's side of the family. The boys love spending time with their cousins on daddy's side because they are the same ages as O & L. Plus they have like a million pets and the boys are currently obsessed with cats right now. I think Auntie Sara has like 6-9 cats. Lots of laughter and a lot of fun was had that day.