Christmas

I guess my trend lately has been to do a once-a-month recap.  Basically, the holidays are busy for us (like everyone).  We had a fantastic December full of concerts, lights, baking, snow, traditions old and new, and all things Christmas-y.  It is so fun now that Miriam and Abbie remember what Christmas was like before and eagerly anticipate all of the things we do to celebrate.  Some of our favorite traditions are decorating the tree together, baking cookies, driving to see Christmas lights, watching Christmas movies, baking a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and opening one present on Christmas Eve.  We always celebrate Christmas with our families after the actual day because Matt works up until Christmas Day.  We have come to enjoy that because we get to celebrate as "just us" before the busier celebrations with our family (even though we always love those, too!).  So, here's a snapshot of our December...mostly around Christmas.

November

I didn't blog at all throughout November (except for highlighting trick-or-treating), so I thought I'd list a few things from our month:

-Matt and I celebrated 7 years of marriage!

-We went to Chick-Fil-A in the twin cities...we love that they are closer to home now

-My college roommate and her son came to visit one day

-We played more inside...the weather is getting cooler

-We had our share of coughs, sniffles and sneezes

-We celebrated thanksgiving with Matt's family and then spent the rest of the weekend sigh my family

-Matt and I saw Steven Curtis Chapman in concert...he was fantastic

-I went Black Friday shopping with my mom

-I got to play my French horn in church...it's been many months since I've played

-Matt got glasses

-The girls and I baked Christmas cookies with my mom

-We had a family Lefse making day with my extended family

-Apparently we did a lot in November!

outside

We spent part of this weekend doing some fall clean-up in the yard.  We didn't have too much to do, but we all enjoyed being outside and enjoying the cool, fall weather.  We started a fire, raked leaves, dug in the dirt (well, the kids did), trimmed plants and ate apples.  A fun afternoon!

fall happenings

Fall is definitely one of my favorite times of year.  I love that the weather is a bit cooler and yet we can still go outside without needing to completely bundle up.  I love apple orchards, leaves changing colors, baking pumpkin and apple desserts, eating soups and sitting outside by a fire.  We have done almost all of those things already and we're only a week into this wonderful season.  I love living where we can experience each season.

The girls have come to enjoy much of fall, too.  Last weekend, Matt and I headed out of town for a wedding and the girls got to stay back and play with grandma and grandpa.  They had a great time...and so did we!  Here are some pictures from both of our weekends.

the fair

It has been a family tradition to head down to my hometown's county fair every year.  Not only do I love going, but now the girls are getting excited each year fair time comes around.  This year, the weather was perfect and we got to make many trips out there with family and friends!  It's fun to run into old classmates and people from town I haven't seen in awhile.  It was a great week and we are officially exhausted!

lately

Sorry for the lack if blog posts lately, but we've been playing outside...doing all sorts of summer things!  I feel like I've been soaking in every moment possible this summer because it many ways (like all the way through May), I wasn't even sure if summer would get here!  But here it is...and here we are: