Catch Up!

Wow, did I ever get behind on posting! I will try to catch up a little bit and keep the pictures coming. We are finally over one of the longest, coldest, and snowiest winters ever!! It seemed like we could never catch a break. It was honestly too cold to even go sledding most days so we took advantage on the few opportunities we had.

We had a lot of days stuck inside trying to find ways to keep our energetic boys entertained. There was plenty of fort building, wrestling, movie watching, and Wii playing this winter.

Luckily we had some birthday parties to go to, which helped provide some variety to our weekends and encouraged us to get out of the house.

Every so often I get to sneak away for a girls' night out to relax and refresh. I love hanging out with some of my favorite ladies.

 The boys are really into the Despicable Me movies. These were Alex's Valentines that we made this year. "Valentine, I think you are one in a minion."

Alex has had a great experience this year in his Fab 5 preschool class. He has grown a lot both socially and academically. He is very proud of the work he does at school. I "caught" him reading one of his books to Weston after dinner one day. It was very cute!

Alex's preschool class puts on several performances throughout the year for parents to come watch. I sent him to school in his nice, red sweater but apparently he got hot and took it off. So instead of a red sweater, that is my son in the black "DUDE" t-shirt singing in chapel. Whoops.

We had a nice spring break despite the cold weather. Andy and I took the boys to their first 3D I-Max movie one weekend. Wes didn't quite make it through the movie and still talks about, "fish movie too scary." I think the 3D action was a bit too much, but at least they rocked the glasses.

One day during the week of spring break we went to open gym at the Eagan Community Center. The boys always have so much fun running around and playing with their friends there. It was nice for them to burn off some energy.

Tommy's Malt Shop is one of the boy's very places to eat. They are in heaven with their ice cream sundaes!

Alex played soccer this spring through a local place called the Soccer Blast. His favorite day was definitely the last day when they scrimmaged the whole time. While several of the other kids were losing interest after a while, Alex was happy to run around them and score goal after goal.

When the situation came up, I could not turn down a trip to Florida with my mom and sister. We spent a long weekend on Clearwater Beach at a fabulous resort. We ate, drank, sat on the beach, walked along the water, looked for manatees and dolphins, and just relaxed. The weather was perfect too. Sunday morning we got up early to do a 5K across the causeway. It was a tough run but we all made it!

We had a nice, relaxing Easter at home this year with just our immediate family. The boys colored Easter eggs and luckily the Easter Bunny pulled it together to make a visit, scavenger hunt and all. Alex and Weston did a great job finding all of the clues, which lead to their baskets full of goodies hiding in our closet.

Last week one of the schools I work at hosted a fundraiser for a teacher who is 30 years old and battling cancer for a second time. While cancer is such an awful experience for her to go through, it was an amazing event that was put together in support of her. Over 400 people showed up to participate in the 5K run/walk for her.

We made a long overdue trip to the farm this past weekend. Alex was happy to have a bunch of people to play games with. Weston was of course happy to see "his cows." And of course no trip the farm is complete without a Sara frosted cookie.

Here are a few more random pictures from the last couple of months. Now I think I'm finally caught up again!

Christmas

We made the road trip down to Texas again this year. With kids now old enough to push each others buttons and a couple of rough patches of bad weather, the trip seemed a little longer this year (or maybe have just forgotten since last year!). We had a fun time once we were down there though. We took a trip to Bass Pro Shop to get the obligatory Santa picture. It was a 2 hour wait, but luckily grandma and grandpa came too to help entertain the kids. They rode the carousel, drove remote controlled cars, and checked out the aquariums. Weston was very excited to see Santa until it was actually his turn. Then he wasn't quite so sure. Alex wasn't nervous this year and told Santa he wanted cars and hexbugs for Christmas.

When we pulled up to my mom's house, the boys were excited to see Mickey and Minnie greet them. Throughout the week, Wes frequently checked to see if Mickey and Minnie were awake (inflated) or sleeping (deflated). Alex and Wes went out on Christmas Eve to sprinkle their reindeer food on the lawn for Santa's reindeer.

Santa came to visit and boy did we have a lot of presents to open! It was a beautiful day outside so the kids got to try out some of their new toys.

One morning we went to go see Frozen at the theater. We all enjoyed the movie.

We spent the day after Christmas with our friends, Angela, Jason, Avery, and Addi, at the Fort Worth Zoo. There was practically no one there, which made it really nice to see all of the animals! Notice how the MN kids are wearing sweatshirts or light fleece jackets while the TX kids are in parkas, hats, and gloves.

One of Avery's favorite things to do at the zoo is feed the birds. You can buy seed sticks and then walk inside an enclosed area and the birds instantly flock to you. Alex initially freaked out and screamed, while Avery and Weston loved every second of it. The rest of us probably fell somewhere in between.

On the way back from Texas, we stopped in Wisconsin for one night of Ausman family Christmas. It added a little extra time to our drive, but it was worth it to see everyone, even if it was only for a night. Alex and Greta enjoyed watching a movie together, while Weston played with his new barn.