art museum

ryder's art class went on a field trip to the chazen art museum, so naturally, quinn and i met them there:) we all just love ryder's art teacher, and art class is one of his favorite subjects (go figure)! each group had a docent, and we learned about several different artists, but mainly a japanese artist, hiroshige (the piece above is not his). the kids were doing prints at school, after studying his style, so it was fun for them to actually see his work up close, to really give meaning to what they have learned! 

everyone's doing it...

during the cold winter months, i naturally turn towards knitting, rather than sewing (unless i need to put patches on the knees of ryder's pants...that seems to occur in every season), so it didn't take long for the family to join in on the fun! ryder picked up on the simple garter stitch within a few minutes, so he decided he wanted to make a scarf for quinn (he's still working on it, but it's looking great). jesse sat down and tried to give it a shot (thinking that knitting once as a child gave him some sort of expertise), and soon realized that you can't just wrap yarn around the needles...seriously, i have no idea what the heck he was doing. we all had fun. it was just nice sitting there together, relaxed, creating, and simply, being a family!

sledding day

When the sun is out and the snow is glistening, it makes it so easy to find the desire to head outside and play! We called a group of friends and invited them to meet us at Indian Lake State Park, for some sledding, a bonfire, and food. It's so easy to enjoy the outdoors if you just put some effort into it. This beautiful place was just waiting for us:)

Jesse was the brat/hot dog master!

 Ryder insisted he had to take his jacket off, even though it was like 20 degrees. He was constantly going down the hill and walking back up.....i guess he was probably working up a sweat! he is a serious sledder.

 quinn, on the other hand, would much rather hold baby ginnie! 

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?