architecture

 creative tought. steady hands. determination.

satisfaction! 

and then he pulls one piece out, and it all comes crashing down...

and he will start all over again.

handmade christmas

one of my favorite family traditions that we have been doing is making a special gift for our kids, instead of buying something. it does take more effort on our part, but the time it takes and the partnership it involves between jesse and i, it's always such a wonderful time! this year we made masks. we have so much fun pretending around here, so we thought this would be a great addition. we may love them more than the kids right now, but it's more than just a mask...and one day they will see that:)

nutcracker

 another year at the nutcracker, one of my favorite traditions! this year madison finally had live music (the ballet is so much better when accompanied with live music), and we knew a few people in the ballet! 

and we were like three rows behind the symphony....it was amazing!!

things we do up north...

 we love playing on the lake up north in birchwood. it's just a huge open space where the kids can run wild......free, free at last:)

 we also entertain some activities that we would NEVER do at home...but this seems like a great place to try out some of our more dangerous stunts, right?

pulling the kids behind the four-wheeler....on a super cold day. they kept asking to go faster and faster, so i pulled them as fast as i could get myself to go (no where near the speeds my dad pulled us...he was a crazy man!) but, fast enough that they were ready to be done after about 5 minutes! ryder will say that his favorite place to go is to grandmama and grandpapa's.....hmmm, i wonder why?