Elliott's 4th Birthday/Kiecker Thanksgiving

Somehow my little boy turned 4 years old this past weekend. He has been super-excited for his birthday for the last couple of months, and he sure wasn't disappointed.

Elliott is still at a really fun age. He is so curious about everything, and asks a million questions constantly. He loves to tell stories, and pretty much talks non-stop when we are traveling in the car, or at the supper table. He knows all his letters and can count all the way up to 30. He knows his colors and shapes as well. He loves daycare, and his teacher tells me that he is a sweetheart and loves to give hugs, and he tells his teacher that she is pretty. He really loves hugs, but can take or leave kisses. He has been going to bed like a champ lately, and has still never wet his bed or had any night time accidents. He loves his marble game, legos, puzzles, and coloring. He is such a sweet little boy, and usually he plays really well with Emma. He doesn't really like having his picture taken, and he doesn't like going to bed when he is so busy playing. He is a really fun 4 year old, and I can't wait to see what this next year brings.

On Black Friday we took the kids, and Jim and Barb, to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Elliott's birthday. The kids have been asking for quite a while to go back to Chuck E Cheese, so we thought it would work really well for a birthday celebration. The kids absolutely loved playing all the games and getting tickets. Both kids did really well learning how to play the games, and they got really excited when they got tickets for their hard work. They also really enjoyed picking out their prizes when we were done with the games. Neither kid wanted to leave, so it was a successful afternoon.

After Chuck E Cheese we ate supper at Sickies and then we headed downtown for the Parade of Lights. The kids were really super excited for the parade, and it did not disappoint. There were 70 floats in the parade, and 40,000 people showed up to watch. It was in the low 30s, so it was a pretty nice evening to watch a parade. Everyone had a really good time, and we were all pretty tired when we left around 9:00pm.

Saturday was Elliott's actual birthday. We got up early and hit the road to Minnesota for Thanksgiving on my dad's side. We got to my parent's house around 10:30 am and enjoyed a nice day with the family. Elliott got to open more gifts, and he got another birthday cake. The kids enjoyed playing with all the new toys, while the adults enjoyed some sheephead and games. The meal was wonderful, the wine was delicious. and the company was great. It was really nice to see everyone, I love the holidays.

On Sunday, we went to church with mom and dad, and then we helped decorate the church for Christmas. After lunch, we headed back to Sioux Falls.

This past week has flown by pretty quickly, and uneventfully. We did manage to finally get our Christmas decorations up, and the kids loved decorating the tree. Tomorrow the kids are going to Grandma and Grandpas so we can go out with friends and go bowling. Then on Saturday, we are planning on working on sugar cookies during the snowstorm that is coming. It should be another fun, festive, weekend.

Chuck E Cheese

Excited for the parade of lights 

Hanging out with Elena 

Opening more birthday presents 

Mouse Trap

Happy 4th Birthday Elliott

Elliott enjoying his sparkling grape juice 

Playing Sheephead with Grandma and Grandpa 

Decorating church 

Elliott celebrating his birthday at daycare 

Thanksgiving 2018/Parade of Lights.

Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, and once again we have many things to be thankful for. I am thankful for a wonderful husband, two beautiful and healthy children, a wonderful, supportive family, great friends, a fulfilling nursing career, and many more blessings I can't even name. God is great!

For Thanksgiving this year, we traveled to Brookings and spent the day at Dennis and Jenny's new house. Their house is beautiful, and it was really fun to finally get to see it and visit with everyone. We had a huge, delicious meal, and then we threw in an early Elliott birthday party.

Elliott opened a few presents after dinner, and all the kids had fun playing with them. The marble run game was the biggest hit. There was also ornament decorating craft that the kids really enjoyed. The adults also had fun and played Bingo, Tenzi, and then just enjoyed visiting.

I also brought a cake for Elliott's birthday, so we sang Happy Birthday and let him blow out the candles. He was one happy little birthday boy. It was a great Thanksgiving Day with family. Everyone cleared out at around 6:30pm. The kids went home with Jim and Barb to spend the night, and John and I went Black Friday shopping at Walmart in Brookings.

The shopping was a little crowded, but it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of luck, and spent over $400. But, we got some good stuff, and we are pretty much done with Christmas presents, so that's a good feeling. We shopped until around 9pm, and then headed back to Sioux Falls, and went home to bed. What a day!

I had to work today, but everyone else enjoyed the day off. John just spent the day catching up at home while the kids played at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We all met up at Chuck E Cheese at 3pm to celebrate Elliott's birthday. The kids had a really good time playing games, and then picking out prizes. They are both getting pretty good at games.

We ate supper at Sickies, and then we headed to the Parade of Lights. The kids were blown away by the parade. There were 70 entries in the parade, and they put on a really good show. Elliott was a little afraid of all the fire floats, but otherwise everyone really enjoyed it. The weather was pretty nice, it was about 34 degrees out, without wind.

The kids danced, sang, and were entertained throughout the entire parade. The parade lasted about an hour, and then we were all ready to go home and go to bed.

We just put two very tired kids to bed, and packed up our vehicles so we can leave first thing in the morning to go to my parent's house for another Thanksgiving and another birthday party for Elliott (on his actual birthday this time).

I'm excited for more family time, but it will be nice to be able to relax and have some normal evenings after this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

P.S. I can't wait to put up my Christmas Decorations when we get home on Sunday!!

Someone is excited for presents 

Decorating Ornaments 

Almost 4 years old!

Loving the games at Chuck E Cheese

Parade of  Lights

Making Lefse.

This past week flew by in another blur. On Monday, Emma's school celebrated Veteran's Day by having a very nice Veteran's Day program at school. I had the day off from work, so I helped serve some food and took Elliott to the program. It was nice to see Emma sing some songs, and it was a very nice program to honor some of the Veterans of our congregation. After everything was cleaned up, I took Elliott to get a haircut, and then dropped him off at daycare so I could run some errands.

The rest of the week was so crazy, that we didn't have supper together as a family of four for the entire rest of the week. Between meetings, happy hours, outing with friends, and vendor parties, it was a busy week. I took both kids to a vendor party at Polzins' house on Tuesday evening, and the kids had a really good time playing with all the toys and kids. And I had fun buying Pampered Chef things. I also won a door prize, so that was fun.

On Friday evening, I went out with some girls from work to see the band Sugar Daddy at the Legion. It was a pretty fun evening, and the band was really good. But, we stayed out until about 1 am, and my butt was dragging the next day.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day making Lefse. Barb had some family over, along with us, and we all helped make some Lefse. It was a learning experience for everyone, but we ended up getting the hang of it by the end of the day. We made 12 dozen bags of Lefse. It was a long afternoon, but it was pretty fun.

Today was a fun day. After church, we took the kids to the move "The Grinch" at the movie theatre. The kids loved it, and it was a really cute movie. Afterwards, we ran a couple errands at Sam's Club and HyVee and then headed for home. We spent the rest of the evening doing crafts, playing games, and Emma and I even did some fingernail polish. After a crazy week, it was a nice day to spend together as a family.

Right now, we are watching the Vikings struggle against the Bears in Sunday Night Football. Typical Vikings fashion. But on a positive note, we are heading into Thanksgiving week, and I love this time of year!!

Build a Bear/Minnesota Trip.

Here we are in the middle of November already, and I'm not sure how that happened. Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away!

These past couple of weeks have been pretty busy again. We always seem to be doing something. Right now, we are in the middle of a cold spell, which isn't very fun. We've had some lows in the single digits and highs in the teens, which is way too cold for the beginning of November if you ask me. Luckily, the snow has pretty much stayed away so far.

Last weekend, my parents came to visit since we hadn't seen them for a little while. It was a nice quiet weekend of spending some time together. We went out to eat for lunch and then we went to a Stampede Game in the evening. My parents had never been to a hockey game before, and I think they really enjoyed it. Dyllan, Lizz, and Reese were also there, and they ended up coming to sit by us during the game.

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and my parents left in the early afternoon so dad could go home and hunt some deer. In the evening. we went to Red Lobster with Jim and Barb for some endless shrimp. Yum!

This past week was pretty quiet. We had parent/teacher conferences at school on Tuesday evening, and all the teachers said Emma is a really good student. There are a few things she can work on, but overall they all enjoy having her and she is doing really well in all her classes. We are a couple of proud parents. We took the kids to Dairy Queen afterwards to celebrate.

On Thursday, I took the kids to the mall after work to look for snow boots for Emma. I didn't find her any boots, but we happened to walk by the Build a Bear store, and the kids lost their mind. They were super adorable and excited to get a bear, so I found a couple of bears that were two for $35, and I broke down and let them each get one. Emma picked out a kitty (of course) and Elliott picked out a hot wheels bear. They were really cute when they got to help make them, and they both love their bears. I felt like a little bit of a sucker, but we decided it is part of their Christmas present, and it was a fun experience.

This past weekend, John went hunting in the hills with his family, so I took the kids to Mankato to visit Rachel for the weekend. Mom also met up with us there. On Saturday, we all went to Baker's Square for lunch, and then we went to the Children's Museum in Mankato. It was a pretty fun trip to the museum, except that Elliott lost his shoe in the big jungle gym tree, and we spent a good 45 minutes looking for it. Then, we found it on a tall support beam up in the celing. We still aren't sure how it got there. But, we eventually got it down.

We stayed until the museum closed at 4pm, and then we went back to Rachel's house and enjoyed visiting while the kids played. In the evening, Rachel and I went to a Dueling Pianos event for Rachel's work. Carlos didn't really want to go, so she took me instead. It was pretty fun, and there was a ton of free food, so it was a win. Carlos and Mom watched the kids while Rachel and I had a fun night out.

Today was a lazy day. We spent most of the morning just visiting and playing with the kids. We left to go back home at around noon. I spent most of the afternoon catching up on things at home, and playing with and bathing the kids. John got home at around 7pm. The kids are tucked in for the night, and it's finally quiet.

I have the day off from work tomorrow, so I get to go to Emma's Veteran's Day program at school. The kids sing some songs and there is some breakfast as well. I never get to go to these things, so I am excited. Then, I'm doing fun day-off things like an oil change, haircut, and going to the gym.

I'm feeling pretty tired right now, so I'm going to call it a night. Happy Veteran's Day!

Building a bear. 

The finished products. 

Elliott's shoe 

Passed out little girl. 

And I voted last Tuesday.