The Holidays Begin!

Our holiday celebrations began in mid-November! Auntie Desha came to Minneapolis for a weekend event, so the boys and I drove up on Friday Nov 18 to spend the day with Desha and her friend. We went to the Mall of America where she helped me bra shop while the boys went to play with Auntie's friend around the mall. Then we had a yummy lunch and set off to the Science Museum in St Paul. We spent several hours there and had lots of fun. Then we went to eat dinner at a super delicious and swanky Greek Restaurant. Desha and I ate octopus legs! Yum! We waited out a snow storm with some long sister talks, and my late drive back home went well because the storm had passed. It was a long and fun day. Tanner and Dallin were so happy to be with their Auntie!!!

Here's a random fun painting that Dallin did one morning sometime this Fall. I think it's a portrait of Daddy. 

The day after we saw Desha, we got to enjoy a special evening at the Hormel Historic Home called Soup and Santa. I am on the committee that helped plan the family event. It included a soup dinner, several crafts, a tour of the home in all its beautiful holiday decor, a cute performance called Selfish Elfish, and a chance to visit with Santa Clause. The event sold out several days beforehand (200 tickets). But even better was seeing how much my boys loved all of it. Here we are watching the funny Elf performance. 

Doing the crafts at the dinner table.

We got to see Santa after most of the crowd had left. This was especially nice for Tanner so he could enjoy it without all the commotion of the crowds.

Dallin liked standing and looking at Santa while they talked. The conversations were short and simple.

Then, we took our tour of the home. The boys liked seeing Santa, but they absolutely LOVED seeing the historic home. We visit here often for various classes and events. My boys have the place memorized and know where everything is. But this evening was the big debut for the holiday decorations, and it was a complete novelty for my kids. They were absolutely enamored, you would have thought they were entering DisneyLand! 

There were Christmas trees in every room and hallway. As we entered each room, Dallin would exclaim, "ANOTHER Christmas chwee!?!" The boys noticed many details like manger scenes in small spaces, the holly on the headboards of the beds and wreaths in the windows. My three year old even noticed the poinsettias in vases that usually have other flowers. 

On the way down the stairs, I noticed a calm warmth had filled the home, perhaps because we were the last ones there. The Christmas lights glimmered from several trees, making the wooden wains coating shimmer. I smelled cinnamon. The stairs creaked a little, as if they were telling stories of Christmases past. Then my five year old boy said what I was thinking, "This place feels just like Christmas Eve. Can we sleep here and stay here forever?" 

Seeing my kids so excited about the decorations in this home made my heart brim with joy! I've tried to instill in them a love of history and an appreciation for the Hormel family's legacy. This home has become very special to me, and it was rewarding to see in my children's eyes that it is also special to them.

A few days later it was Thanksgiving Day! Tanner likes to open the drapes this way because it looks special.

We slept in and relaxed all day. No guests, no parties, just us with lots of peace and quiet. This year, that is exactly what our little family needed.

Jeremy bought us a fake tree the day before. We spent a long time decorating it on Thanksgiving day. The boys had a ton of fun doing this.

Here's a cute turkey project Tanner made at school.

Here is our yummy spread, which included autumn casserole, bean casserole, and chicken. I promise that the chicken looked a lot like a turkey.  We didn't want to got through all the hassle of a real turkey this year. 

The next day, we headed up to the cities to try playing at an indoor park called Edinborough Park.

We ate a picnic lunch inside the park.

Then we enjoyed all the fun! They have a giant gym with basketball, bikes, hula hoops, and a bounce house.

And this. A HUGE play place. 5+ stories tall. At least 10 different slides, tons of tunnels, monkey bars, jumping contraptions, bridges, ropes, etc.

It was too crazy to take pictures while we were inside the thing, but it was fun! And big, and loud and crazy. When things got too overwhelming, we would come back to the gym area. The boys got tons of wiggles out, and me and Jeremy enjoyed the workout we got, too.

We continued putting up Christmas decorations through out the weekend. Dallin put these stockings on and said "look at my socks!" I'm not sure of he really thought they were socks or if he knew they were stockings. Either way, he succeeded at making us laugh. And then Tanner wanted to try too! 

On Saturday evening, we went to our first hockey game of the season! Tanner wanted to wear his cheetah costume because it's super warm and comfortable and because it's similar colors to our town's team. We first sat down next to a group that had cowbells. That got really annoying, especially for Tanners ears, so we moved to the other side of the arena and had a great time. Tanner and Dallin are so excited that hockey season is here!

November Photo Journal

These pictures are from Nov 1-17. 

The weather was in the 60's and 70's for several days. We were able to play in the leaves again and enjoy the outdoors!

My view from the kitchen sink window. Can you see the boys?

Tanner and Dallin had a lot of fun building forts in the basement. They always have some kind of pillow fort or a boat house being constructed.

For snack one day, we had strawberries with whip cream. I was intrigued by how differently my boys chose to eat because it was a perfect reflection of their personalities. Tanner meticulously cut his strawberries into slices...

Then ate it carefully with a spoon.

Dallin took a couple bites out of his berries, then discovered the cream, and went all in!

Lilia and Manny took us out to eat at the Chinese buffet. We had a great time!

There was a hot air balloon out back one morning.

Dallin asked Jeremy for a ham and jelly sandwich. Huh? Jeremy decided why not, and made one for him. It was actually really good!

Hurray for being innovative with food, Dallin! 

Lol, this just happens to be the next picture in our files. Another silly way to eat food. Dallin loves shredded cheese in a bowl. He eats it by the spoonfull!

On our last night with Lilia and Manny, we ate a yummy dinner together. I made cashew chicken and Lilia made egg rolls. Manny made more paper kites for the boys and we wrote down the instructions so we can remember how he does it. We gave the Bravos several special cards that we made.

Tanner and Manny worked hard on the kites together.

The next day, it was time for them to go. Tanner cried and cried and cried. Dallin cried too. I was able to hold my tears back until after they drove away, then I cried, too. We were so blessed to have them in our home from Sept 5 - Nov 12, almost 10 weeks! While they were here renting from us, they cleaned our dishes and kitchen everyday, helped babysit, kept the boys company and made us yummy Filipino food. They joined us for many meals, especially Sunday meals, and for family night every week. I learned some Tagalog phrases and some Flilipino recipes. And we had many fun outings as seen in previous posts. This picture was taken right before they drove away, so everyone is a little sad.

The last couple of weeks that they were with us was spent helping them figure out where to move next on their journey to visit/live with family. I felt bad seeing their plans fall through over and over again, along with them being very sick, it was hard on all of us. But eventually, God opened a door for them to go to Kansas where a family member can take care of their car while they travel overseas. Jeremy volunteered to drive them there. He said it was one of the best road trips he's ever had. He took their van, dropped them off, and then came home on a greyhound bus. 

We have missed the Bravos a lot. But we are glad they are visiting/living with family that they haven't seen in many years. We will always remember the sweet spirit that Lilia and Manny brought into our home! Salamat and Mahal kita!!! (thank you and I love you!!)

Here's a little project we worked on one morning. It's for the song "Grey Squirrel." I got some cute videos of them singing, but can't post those here.

A trip to the Spam Museum one afternoon (or morning? I can't remember). Yes, shorts in November!

We were able to go to the library one morning in between my teaching schedules. We don't make it to the library too much, mostly because we have hundreds of our own books, several that the boys still have not read. Their favorite part about the library was playing on the computer, haha.

I made some sensory trays for the boys with flower and brown sugar so that they could practice writing their names in the "sand" with their fingers. (thanks to Sheila for the idea).They loved it and we did it several times over the month.

Check out this fort I made with the boys! A fun way to spend a November day.