Cute Blake Story

I was watching TV with Blake yesterday and there was a commercial for some weight loss pill. Blake says to me 'mom, that stuff is for losing weight' and I told him that yes they were. Then he says 'but you don't need them'. I asked him why he said that and he told me 'because you don't need to lose weight'. That sure made my day! Never even stopped to think that he thought about that stuff. Kids are so cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We did have a good one and we have so much to be thankful for. We have two healthy kids and a great home and family.

I went shopping on Friday and it was a whole lot of crazy. I wasn't a witness to any of the fights but rumor was that someone got a broken nose at Walmart. Probably over some dumb toy or TV!

Now we are into the Christmas season. Our tree is up and there are presents wrapped under the tree. The boys enjoy being the tape boys and giving me pieces as I wrap. It is helpful for the most part but sometimes they just get a little too crazy. They are awfully crazy anyway since all the excitement of Christmas is here!

Well, I better get them to bed! They are wild and need to settle down.

GREAT NEWS!

We got fabulous news today at the cardiologist appointment! Avery doesn't need to go back to see him for a YEAR! He said all his function looks good and it appears that the hole has closed in the patch. Dr Burton said he couldn't find a hole on the echo! He also said that he doesn't think that we will need to have surgery for another 3-4 years. He won't need another heart cath either for a while. He is going back next November! YEAH!

November

Well, we are already half way through November and again I haven't posted in a while. We seem to have so much going on that I never get to it. I started taking a cake decorating class to get some more skills for decorating our cookies. So far it is going well. It is a nice little break and fun to learn something new. I need to get working on our Christmas cookies for an open house we are having.

Mike has been able to get a little hunting in...a lot in my mind but I am sure not in his! He is getting out pretty much every weekend. He is out by himself today. Blake is still enjoying his hockey time. He has been begging us to get him breezers for hockey so I guess Christmas will be good to him. He is improving every week when he skates and it is fun to watch. Next Saturday is their first game day so he is excited! Avery has been getting pumped up for his 3rd birthday. He is so excited for his birthday be we have all been at a loss as to what to buy him! He has come up with a couple ideas for us so that helps.

Here are some of our recent pictures. The one of the two in the old time clothes was taken for a fundraiser. Grandma Sue got them done. They are so cute!

Avery posing so cute

Blake's version of Stomper

Old Time Baseball Players

Welcome November

We made it through another October and Halloween. Blake started hockey practice on the 25th. His first practice he decided to fight with the biggest kid on the ice...and I mean the biggest. I missed that practice but Mike pointed out the kid on Saturday...holy cow! We had to explain to him that he an' tfiHe is having so much fun. He is really excited for his upcoming game days. We had to give him a calendar to keep track of his hockey practices and highlighted the game days in green so he knows when they are coming up. It should be really cute to watch them play!

Blake with our jack-o-lanterns

Halloween was fun for the kids. They are both old enough now to understand what Halloween is all about so they were very excited for it. Avery was an apple tree for Halloween. He decided quite a while ago that was what he wanted to be. It worked out pretty well and was easier. Blake was a hockey player (big surprise there).

Blake the Hockey Player & Avery the Apple Tree

Blake & Avery with Great Grandma Mary Como

Now here we are in November and we started it out with a bang! I took the kids on a walk last night right at the end of the day before the daycare kids left. It was supposed to be short walk just to get a little exercise. Well Avery somehow fell off his bike 3 times and the 3rd time he fell he hit his face on the curb and was bleeding all over! I thought he severed the cord on his top lip but it doesn't really look severed today...we shall see. It is still really swollen. I am very thankful that our friend Joe Grabianowski drove by in his city truck and turned around to see if we needed help. He ended up giving us a ride home. A kind daycare provider came out with kleenex and wipes as well. Thank you to both of them!

Avery with his latest injury!

Let's hope the rest of November is a little kinder to Avery. He does have a birthday coming up on the 28th so let's hope it is a good month. Hard to believe he will be 3!

Busy Month

Wow has this month been busy. Since Blake started skating we have been doing that every Saturday and next week he starts practicing. We went to the Scarecrow Festival at Emma Krumbee's in Belle Plaine and the kids had a blast. It is expensive for everyone to get in and then do any of the extras like ride the ponies or pick out a pumpkin but they enjoyed it. From there we went to pick out some pumpkins at a greenhouse down the road. I posted some pictures below:







The following weekend we had a birthday to celebrate...Blake turned 5! I can hardly believe that he is 5 years old already. Next year he will be going to kindergarten...what a change that will be for us (mostly me)! Friday of that weekend mommy got to go to a concert. It was very fun but also very late. It was a busy weekend to start out that way but it was fine. Saturday morning we had a 'friends' birthday party for Blake. He invited 4 friends and we went to the local craft store to decorate pumpkins. I think the kids really enjoyed it!

Pumpkins decorated by the kids

Then that afternoon we all had time to take a nap and get ready for the family birthday party. Blake got lots of clothes so he is decked out for fall. He only got a couple toys which was a relief for mom and dad as the house continues to be packed with toys. He did however get his one and only request for his birthday...a new John Deere bike! He was so excited. He is having some trouble getting on it by himself and starting but he LOVES it. That also gave Avery a chance to get a bigger bike. He gets to ride the original John Deere bike with the training wheels. Last night I took him for a walk and he did great. They are growing up so fast.

This past weekend was also a busy one. Blake got to go duck hunting in the boat for the first time ever. He was so excited. He wasn't feeling well all weekend but didn't want to miss his chance to go do that with his dad. He had a lot of fun and never asked to go home once according to dad. Then on Sunday mom had a wedding show to do for her dessert business. It was a long day but hopefully worth it in the end.

So that is our month in a nutshell so far and we still have Halloween to get to yet. Avery has decided to be an apple tree for Halloween and Blake a hockey player. Can't wait to see them out there in their costumes!

First Time on the Ice

Blake got out there on the ice this morning bright and early. He was a little slow at first but by the time the hour was up he was gaining speed. He really enjoys skating and being out there with the other kids. I am glad he isn't afraid. His first practice is on October 25th. I will be interested to see how it goes with drills and skating with sticks and a puck..although that will probably be more like practice #2 or 3.

I also took the boys to the scarecrow festival at Emma Krumbee's in Belle Plaine along with Grandma Sue. They liked looking at all the scarecrows but really enjoyed the train ride and pony rides. Then we drove down the road a ways to the apple stand. They had lots of different apples to try and buy. I never knew there were so many different kinds of apples. All taste a little different too. The boys enjoyed it. On the way home we stopped and bought pumpkins. It was a fun-filled day that wore them out. And me for that matter!

Tomorrow we are going to try and head down to visit our friend Amy who is now out of ICU but still in Rochester St Mary's Hospital. Things sound like they are getting better but she will continue to be there. We are dropping the boys off at Grandpa Bruce's house to play for the afternoon. Should be fun for them!

I will post some pictures soon from the trip to Emma Krumbee's today!