story time with ali

christmas tradition "the nutcracker"

we all got dressed up and went to the orpheum theatre to watch the beautiful holiday ballet "the nutcracker". we all had such a wonderful time, and it definitely got us all excited for christmas!

my sugar plums.

working hard

we spent an entire day making cookies. these two are naturals, they even attempted the. oh so delicate "candy cane" cookies, and they turned out wonderfully! baking is the BEST, especially with these two.

backyard fun

"clancy" the snowman. unfortunately, it snowed again that night, like about 9 inches of heavy, wet snow, and our snowman is buried...poor clancy.

yep, sister is watching through the window, perfect opportunity to throw a snowball:)

all tuckered out

shopping is so exhausting!

christmas figurines

we all assembled this lovely winter wonderland one night while sitting around the dinner table. i think we may have stumbled upon a hidden talent;)

oh christmas tree

what a grand tree! we had to rearrange the room, but it's totally worth it.

quinn's section of the tree.

afternoon nap

we all had to crash out after the tree hunt, so quinn found a cozy spot right next to daddy. they napped like this for almost two hours. not sure who enjoyed it more;)

the "perfect" tree

headed to "summer's tree farm" to find us the perfect christmas tree. we went on sunday morning, and luckily for us, it snowed 5 inches on saturday.....perfecto!

jesse's first time at a "cut your own" tree farm, quite the difference between a snowy field, and a parking lot, but i do think it's WAY better!! it just feels right;)

the pose, with the cut tree (i love how ryder is just sitting on the trunk). the kids are both freezing now, quinn has to pee, the walk back is seeming long, but it's still worth it, and we keep on singing christmas songs!

and now it's time to drag it all the way back to the car, and we, of coarse, walked the entire field and found the tree in the furthest corner from our car, but it was the "perfect" tree. ha!! what a tradition. the kids never did this before, it was a memory keeper for sure, regardless of the aches and pains, we were in a snowy field cutting down our very own christmas tree, i mean that is just too perfect:)

first snow fall

we have been waiting so patiently for the first snow fall, and it finally came;) ryder was outside by 7am to check it out! SNOW!!!!!

holiday train show

we went to olbrich gardens to check out their holiday train exhibit, it was pretty spectacular! tons of flowers, trees, lights, trains, and cookies (we all got a plate of cookies, not just one, a plate! yeah, that doesn't work well with ryder. he has no control when it comes to sugar! do you think ryder just ate one? NO! oh, he was a wild wild boy afterwards too, ugh). fortunately, we got to see the trains first and had the cookies afterwards, then we made him run around outside for a awhile:)

hair accessories

quinn asked for hair accessories for her birthday, and that's what she got. she is just starting to get enough hair to actually do something with, so i'm sure she's quite excited! i found her staring at her little jar of clips on morning, she was trying to decide which one to pick, but was having a hard time, so i said "well, why not put them all in", oh wow, did that make her day!

i love this look

this stayed in for about 15 minutes, and then she realized it wasn't that comfortable, ha! (typical girl move)

halloween

we went to a pumpkin patch on a field trip with ryder's school, so all the pumpkins were pretty small, one of the rules the teacher had was "you pick it you carry it...all the way back" so, the kids really thought about that! quinn found a teeny tiny pumpkin, which was just big enough to carve. ryder's is the one on the left, he painted it first, and insisted that his had scary teeth. i, went with the surprised looked, although quinn thought it looked like it was yawning;)

the posed picture before candy chaos!

we hooked up with the neighborhood crew before we all hit the streets. it was so fun, and something we have never done. our trick or treating in SF was pretty chill, and definitely not in large groups, so this was pretty crazy for me, but oh so fun!!

i just loved watching the kids at the door: the anticipation, the giggles, sometimes quinn would get scared and run back to me, the request for candy, the gracious "thank you", and then the mad dash to the next door, and repeat;)

quinn's birthday dinner

it was a perfect evening to head outside for dinner. we cooked up hot dogs, and made a yummy veggie pasta salad to have with them. easy, delicious, and quinnerrific!

s'mores for dessert, and another round of "happy birthday". too fun!!

ryder is a pro at eating these things

quinn's birthday morning

after bringing ryder to school, we took quinn out for a special birthday breakfast to 'lazy janes', she was so sweet all day, she just new it was her "special" day!

all dressed up! i just love this picture, wings, a huge bag, and her new red coat....yep, that's quinny:)

sweetness.

reading books at 'lazy janes' after our yummy breakfast.

"cute as a button"

we had quite the celebration for quinn's third birthday! forty friends, all things "mini" to eat, fun crafts, a pink explosion, and a cold rainy day (i was a bit worried about all of us fitting into our little house, but we did, and it was nice and cozy!). a special thanks to mimi, for all your help the night before and morning of, uncle troy, for hanging with the kiddos for an entire afternoon while i was baking 150 "mini" quiche, and to james and ali for sticking around after the party and playing with the kiddos while we put our house back together!! love you all;)

the birthday girl....too cute, right! (this picture was actually taken after the party, just reflecting)

she LOVED everyone singing "happy birthday" to her. look at that face, can't you just feel her excitement!

nothing like cold hard cash!! thanks hillary;)

best swing EVER!!

a few weeks ago grandmama and grandpapa came for a visit. they brought us lots of goodies for our home, played in the backyard, grilled yummy steaks, and hung this awesome tire swing! it's hanging in our front yard, and just makes that space feel perfect. the kids love swinging, climbing, twirling, and whatever else they can come up with, on this huge truck tire! who thought to hang a tire from a tree....ha, crazy and fun all in one!

goo goo goggles

quinn's birthday wish list

here are a few of her favorite things:)

garden shed no more

now that summer has gone, so has the heat and the bugs (don't get me wrong, i did enjoy the warm summer evenings, but those bugs, they were just TERRIBLE). we play in our backyard just about every day (unless we're in the front, ha) and i have noticed that our kids lack backyard toys, but really didn't want to clutter the space with bright colored plastic objects either, so my mind has been racing to find a compromise. one morning while doing the dishes i was looking out at our garden shed, and a light went off....and that's all it took! what was once a garden shed for one family, is now a super awesome playhouse for another!

the kids drew all over the outside of it, and we cleaned it all out and put down some mats on the floor. it's pretty bare bones, but with a little more love, and lot of imagination, this could be something amazing (restaurant, nursery, castle, science laboratory, and today an art studio, or as ryder says "arte", that's spanish, ha ha).

i think ryder made like 25 pictures today, he found this space to be very creative:) they were both in here several time throughout the day, and it simply made me smile. i love when a good idea comes together!

apple orchard

we went out this morning to eplegarrten to pick a peck of apples. it was a cool crisp day, the sun was shining, and us mangersons, were a little bit hungery;) wow, rows of apples (macintosh, jonagolds, galas, jonees, golden delicious), just waiting for us! we picked our peck, and then some, and left with full bellies and a great memory!

pulling the wagons. and notice that ryder is wearing his packer outfit (he woke up at 6am and put that thing on)

friday frollicks

we have started to take friday afternoons for some much needed family time. we all pick ryder up from school then head out to play, and then go somewhere new for dinner (well, that's kind of for jesse and i, but the kids are quite the foodies). this friday we went to the arboretum and played under a huge maple tree. we packed a thermos of apple cider and a few cups, the camera and the tree had everything else:) it was so FUN!!!

sweetness

ryder had so much fun with this tree, look at this move, so impressive.

first time playing in the leaves.....yay!!!!

daddy and ryder climbing the maple tree, i'm not sure who had more fun:)

fishy face

quinn's first day of school

we found a lovely little preschool for quinn to attend this year, although i can't believe she's big enough to go! the school is called "the meeting house", it's a bike ride away (although everything seems to be) and she'll be going tuesday and thursday afternoons.

our little sassy pants heading out the door. she has her mittens on, a tutu, a snack and her new cd that her school sent her, she's all set:)

hanging with ryder after school, checking out her new picture book of all her classmates. cute, cute, cute!!

contemplation

while visiting the family up in birchwood, us ladies decided we should take the kiddos out on the four wheelers (cause that what you do in the northwoods). so we, meaning my dad, got the machines fired up and ready to roll, and we were off, well then we stalled and my dad had to come and start one of the 4wheelers again, and then we were off, whew! we cruzed down a path for awhile, we were trying to take the kids to one of my fav childhood hang outs, and suddenly had to stop. a huge puddle the size of the pacific was before us and as tempting as it was we decided that we shouldn't drive through it (our risk taking has dropped considerably), so we stopped and hung out and just admired the hugeness:)

quinn's reading material

quinn loves looking through all the real estate pamphlets (she will comment on all the houses, like "oh, this one is pretty nice", or "hmmm, i don't really like this one"), it's dead cute. anyways, she insisted on grabbing a handful while hanging on state street for her ride home, and this is what i saw when i stopped....i guess there must not be anything good on the market these days:)

aunt tessa came for a visit

the hardest thing about leaving san francisco was that we were leaving aunt tessa behind;( she was an integral part of our life in the city and truly made an impact on our children! so, when we heard she was coming to visit, we put her arrival date on the calendar and patiently counted down......pins and needles i tell ya!!!

oh, the three amigos, being silly on state street

can i have some cheese with that?

we had a birthday bbq for tessa (she turns 30 on sunday) and invited a few of her old school pals over. nothing like a summer picnic in the back yard.

contrary to popular belief, tessa can actually ride a bike, and "she rides pretty well" say ryder! we participated in the "ride the drive" while she was here, where we had the opportunity to bike downtown without the car traffic. it was a beautiful day and was such a fun experience. man, i have forgotten how fun life can be while riding a bike.......