a hockey weekend

Friday afternoon we headed out of town for a hockey weekend. Drew's hockey team was having some team events Friday and Saturday in a quaint little town of New Ulm.

Friday night Drew's team and the dads went to a Mankato State hockey game.



On Saturday, they had a scrimmage and a practice.



And had some fun in the hotel.



I had never been to this old little German town before so it was fun to explore the new sights and to take some pictures.



::the historical society-musuem::



::a church::



::the Glockenspiel- the door opens up on the bottom several times a day to produce some additional figures and bell chimes::



::an antique store::



::these next photos are from the Schell Brewery which was suprisingly a beautiful place on goregeos grounds::











It was a fun weekend for the boys and for the parents!

Cowboy Cookies

I made these Cowboy Cookies recently and oh they were good!



1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cup M&M's
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Mix sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in mixing bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then stir in oatmeal, m&m's, chocoalte chips, and pecans. Roll cookie dough inot 1 1/2 inch balls and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

a fall memory

This photo is one of my favorite photos taken of my sister and me when we were little. I am not really sure why I love this picture so much- but over the years, whenever I come across this photo, I always stop and look an extra second or two.

This picture was taken in the fall of 1972. My sister was 1 1/2 and I was almost 4 years old.

I am joining Scottsville today for "A Walk Down Memory Lane."

Notre Dame weekend

This past weekend, while we were busy celebrating birthdays, Jake had the opportunity to go to Notre Dame with his good friend. Jake and his friend R met in preschool and have been friends ever since.

over the years R has invited Jake many times to go to Notre Dame with him and his family but for various reasons it has never worked out. Until this weekend! Jake had so much fun!

And I was so happy when Jake came home with pictures from the weekend! His friend's mom had taken a bunch of pictures and even had them printed out before they came home! Yeah!







This next picture is of Jake making the touchdown sign in front of "Touchdown Jesus".

Wikipedia says: The stadium is known for its view of "Touchdown Jesus", a nickname given to the large mural by Millard Sheets of the resurrected Jesus entitled "The Word of Life", located on Hesburgh Library, which looms over the stadium mirroring the raised arms of a referee signifying a touchdown. The stadium expansion had the side effect of partially obscuring the view of Touchdown Jesus from the field.

Jake and R at the football game.



Jake had such a great time and came home with a lot of great stories and memories!

birthday weekend recap

Thursday evening- Tyler had friends over for poker and a birthday get together. I had asked him how many people he thought might come so I could make sure that I had enough food and drinks. His answer was probably around 12. Well, I lost count-- there were kids coming and going out of both our front door and the downstairs door- but there were 20 pairs of shoes by our front door and more by the other door!



I think Ty had fun and he won poker for the night--as one of his friends put it--"Tyler didn't just win, he dominated."

Friday was Ty's 18th birthday.



His big gift this year was an iPhone.



It was a day off of school so he spent the day getting his iPhone set up, playing Connect 4 with a friend (while he was waiting for his phone to download),



played in a kickball tournament at school, went out for dinner with friends, went to a football game, and went out with friends after the game. Needless to say, we didn't see that much of Tyler on his birthday but I think he had a great day!

Saturday was Drew's 12th birthday. His big gift this year was a big Lego set.

Drew spent the day building Lego's,



(this is what his floor looks like :)



eating homemade cinnamon rolls,



going to a Gopher football game,



going out to Olive Garden for dinner, and scoring a goal in his hockey game. I think he had a great day!

Sunday we had a little family birthday celebration with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Kim and Uncle Ron and 3 sweet cousins. It was a fun afternoon opening presents,



grilling out in beautiful weather, visiting, looking through old photo albums, and making birthday wishes....



It was a fun birthday weekend!

happy birthday Drew

Today we celebrate Drew's 12th Birthday!!! (My youngest is 12!!!)



Happy Birthday



to you,



Happy Birthday



to you,



Happy Birthday



dear Drew,



Happy Birthday



to you!!!


(Drew went to a U of M football game today with a friend and had a blast! What a way to spend a birthday- outside in the new stadium in 70 degree weather!!!)

Love you Drew-Drew!

happy birthday Tyler

I am seriously trying to figure out how my 'baby boy' can be 18 today!?!?

I really can not believe how quickly the time has gone- it doesn't seem that long ago that these pictures were taken of us as new parents holding a brand new beautiful baby.



And that baby has grown into an amazing young man that I am so incredibly proud of!!




Love you Ty!

a bathroom re-do

Well, I have been procrastinating again.

Anything to get out of choosing a paint color and painting my living room, dining room and foyer.

I decided just the other day to paint Tyler's and Jake's bathroom downstairs. We have lived in our house for 10 years and I have never painted their bathroom or really done much to it. This picture was taken after I had cleaned everything out of the bathroom and taken pictures off the wall.



So yesterday I painted their bathroom and I am really happy with how it turned out.

the legend

A few weeks ago Drew came home from school and said that older kids at the middle school have been asking him if he was Jake's brother.

When he says yes, they ask him if it is hard to live up to "the legend"?


After Drew shared this with me, he asked; "What did Jake do???" Ummm...I think I would like to know too!!!!

Jake is at the high school now, but apparently his name lives on at the middle school. =0)

halloween fun

A few pictures from Halloween.