Giving Thanks

It's unbelievable that Thanksgiving is almost here!  We have so much to be thankful for and this time of year reminds us of our plentiful blessings.  Here are some highlights from the past two weeks!

Cooper and I both made a few special Thanksgiving gifts for our family.  Cooper made the Styrofoam crayon turkey and yummy smelling pumpkin pie plate.  I made the bumpy pumpkin in art class using clay (and yes, I thought it was so funny that clay is like our last name)!  We fired our clay pumpkins in the kiln and painted it with a special glaze.  My parents promise they will keep it forever!

 We are thankful for the tiny bit of snow that made it fun to play outside once again!  Cooper and I cracked up laughing while throwing snow at the doorbell and window.  Mom cracked up laughing when she noticed dog poop in the snow which we handled ourselves (we swore they were just rocks).  I was happy to excitedly report to everyone the next morning that "God had dropped more snow from the sky for us to play with!"

 The hunters were thankful for the snow too.  It was a chilly opening weekend, but the deer were easy to spot and hear in the crunchy snow.  Daddy shot an 8 point buck and Uncle Ben shot a 4 point buck.  Uncle Matt shot one too, but let's just say it was an unfortunate tale that we won't get into on the blog.  Needless to say, Uncle Matt is hunting tomorrow to get his deer.

We are thankful for vension sausage, brats, ring bologne, steaks and ground that are being processed right now... I meant to say the BOYS in the family are thankful for venison- Mom won't touch the stuff.

 While the big boys were hunting, the Moms went shopping and hung out at Grammy's.  Cooper and I love spending time with Bennett and Kyra.  We decided to play barbershop and soon, we were sporting Mohawks.

 While we are all giving thanks, Mom would like to give thanks for finishing her report cards today---- she took a selfie while we were on our way to Feed My People.  Speaking of which, Grandpa Jim continues to have a family charitable trust and today we delivered a generous check in time for Thanksgiving meals.  It warms our heart knowing we can help others in Grandpa's honor.

 We are thankful for hockey and especially for Daddy's help on the ice this year!  He had to take extensive online training as well as a one day clinic just to be on the ice with us.  Cooper was supposed to start hockey at age 4, but he was invited to play with us (even though he is 3 1/2).  He is a VERY quick learner and is already standing and skating (shuffling) without help.  He is a natural forward- he shoots the puck with all of his might and is very aggressive!

We are only allowed to use the gates for bumper tires- a fun game that gets us all laughing!

 I am very technical with hockey- my parents would say I am not aggressive by nature, but I am a very quick learner.  I like to skate fast (that is my favorite aspect of hockey).  My parents hope I will enjoy the game of hockey- for now, we just work on fundamental drills and we do small scrimmages with teammates.

We can't help but share some school news... first off, Mommy realized she never helped me scan in my school picture!  Out of fear of copyright, we are cropping the bottom of the photo off- the actual picture shows more stripes.

Anyhow, I LOVE Kindergarten.  I just completed my first trimester and report cards are being sent home next week. My teacher sent Mommy this email on Friday....
Hi Leslie, 

I am entering in some report card info, and I just had to share that Caden went from knowing one letter sound in September to knowing 20 consonant sounds, 3 short vowel and 4 long vowel sounds! What a rockstar!  I am so proud of him! I just couldn't wait until report cards came out to share!  

I love to phonetically write and my fine motor skills have greatly improved.  I have high scores (we can preview my report card online already) for letter ID, letter sounds, blending and segmenting and rhyming.  In math, I am working on writing numbers to 20 and story problems.  I love to count to 100 by 1's and 10's and am working on counting by 5's.  My parents are so proud of me and I am proud of myself.  Most importantly, my behavior scores were excellent- I had "outstanding" for participation in class, following school rules, and being respectful.  I love school, my friends, teacher and learning!

Cooper had his preschool picture taken 2 weeks ago, so we are still waiting for the professional one to come back.  The above photo was a cute one on my first day of Kdg.  Mom attended his first preschool conference two weeks ago (Daddy was hunting).  Cooper recognizes all colors except pink and grey (called them purple and black).  He calls many shapes a triangle (even when they are not).  He can count to 20, recognizes and traces his name and is doing well with cutting and coloring (age appropriate).  His teacher's comment stated, "Cooper is very kind, polite, helpful and he is a good listener.  He is so much fun to have in preschool."  They kept saying how much they adore our little stinker.  Mommy discussed his frontal lisp and some of his letter sound substitutions.  They agreed that a speech evaluation would help shed some light on whether or not he would qualify for speech services to help him with articulation.  He will be evaluated next week by a district speech pathologist and we will know more about what they suggest soon after.

We have so many things to be thankful for, but most of all, we are thankful for God, family and friends, good health, food/shelter, and love.  We wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!  

Cute Scarers

We managed to pull off another Halloween with theme costumes.  This year, we decided to dress up as Monsters Inc. characters Sully and Mike.  We love the Monster Inc. movies so we set Mommy to work on finding our costumes.  Mine is from the Disney Store and was from the original movie~ it was a labor of love according to Mom (not that she made it but she had to search for it and spend some serious $ on it). Cooper's costume was found online at a Halloween warehouse and what made his special was the mouth was a pouch that actually housed his candy from trick or treating.  We had so much fun being monsters on Halloween night!

We dressed Liberty up in her horse jockey costume- she humored us for a quick picture before heading out to trick or treat.

Since we live in a golf course community, it is not uncommon to travel by golf carts on Halloween night.  Daddy thinks this loses the true Halloween spirit of walking miles and miles for candy, but we sure love it!  We went trick or treating with neighbors and friends.

Our 2 mile loop is perfect for gathering enough candy and not being totally wiped out.  We were most excited about the full size candy bars, juice boxes, chips and popcorn, etc... We have some very generous neighbors!

Moving backwards... we carved pumpkins 2 days before Halloween night.  Here are some pictures of our handy and messy work.

Cooper digs right into pumpkins... he is your typical boy with messy projects!

I on the other hand, think the pumpkin guts are pretty nasty.  I still deal with the goop for the sake of Halloween tradition and the end result.  My parents just chuckle at how different Cooper and I can be.

Here is my silly/scary pumpkin guy that Daddy helped carve.  I thought he was the coolest pumpkin ever!

Cooper wanted Mike for his Halloween pumpkin, so Mommy had to take on his pumpkin and it turned out pretty cool too.

We had a great Halloween this year (as always) and have already talked about next year's costumes (which by the way, are much easier to find, so Mommy is pretty excited about our ideas!)

A few days after Halloween, we headed way north to meet our beautiful new cousin Everett (2nd cousin).  He was adopted and truly a gift from God.  We are so happy for his parents who have dreamed of a baby for quite some time.  He was so fun to hold and cuddle.

With over 50 guests at the Welcome Everett party, we stayed with family at a hotel!  We love water, so the hot tub and pool were perfect for some play time.  

And thankfully, Cooper didn't crack his head on the tile on this jump- yes, he was falling backwards as he slipped on the deck.  Thank goodness the pool was nearby!

We stopped in Duluth on our way home to see the lift bridge and enjoy the waterfront.  It was a beautiful fall day for a quick stop!

Monkey See, Monkey Do- skipping (aka throwing) rocks into Lake Superior.

We also stopped at Mom and Dad's Alma Mater- St. Scholastica where their story started long ago :)  

A sign to our future?!?!?  Our parents better start saving even more if so!

 Ironically, two amazing admission counselors were gearing up for a huge tour day, so they stopped their car when they saw Mom and Dad.  They remembered Mommy and Daddy (mostly Dad, don't ask why, LOL!) They took our family photo for us in front of the college which was cool.  Cooper asked if the college was a castle or a jail... hmmmm, depends which parent you ask!

This past weekend was also eventful- Mommy and Dana designed a table again this year for the Wonderland on the River Hospital Charity Luncheon.  Their theme was "Let's Get Jolly!" with a snowman design and a huge hydrangea snowball that they gathered (from a garden) and spray painted white/sparkly.  It was a great event for a great cause- the hospital is updating their birth center.

 Mommy took this photo for Daddy since he is hunting in MN and was unable to see the table and Mommy dressed up (she occasionally gets out of sweats, ha!)

 Finally, we celebrated Emmett's (Uncle Matt and Auntie Jill's son) 1st Birthday!  We cannot believe he is one already!  Since their house is not completed yet, we celebrated at Jill's parents house who also live close by to us.  Emmett gave us fun hats and glasses to wear along with some fun birthday trinkets.  Happy Birthday Emmett!  We love you!

And we apologize for not having smash cake pictures for you to cringe and giggle at- we were off to swim lessons and had to miss our favorite tradition for one year olds :)  Have a great week!