Ice Skating Lessons

Eli has been bitten by the ice hockey bug! When you live in Minnesota, it's a sport that some start pretty much at birth. Scott & I are not thrilled about the idea but we agreed that ice skating lessons would be a good place to start.

Most of the sessions we just rented skates at the rink. In the end, we bought a used pair from Play It Again sports so that he can skate out back on our pond.

Daddy was giving some tips before the lesson.

Eli became quite the skater after 1 session. He can skate backwards, glide on 1 foot & speed skate. Unfortunately, he broke his arm right before Christmas & hasn't been on skates since. 

I'm not sure what the future holds for ice hockey but he really enjoyed learning how to ice skate!

Junie B. Jones

We try to take the kids to a play every year. This year I found a great deal from a local entertainment website for $6 a ticket! We headed to Outback for some yummy dinner then off to the Children's Theatre for our performance!

Before the play started, we grabbed a quick pic on the stage. Wow, my kids are getting big!

Waiting for the show to start. Thankfully the seating was 1st come, 1st serve. We were right up front where everyone could see. 

This is a terrible pic of us! It doesn't really show how much fun we really had. The play was so funny & we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving

We made our annual trip home for Thanksgiving! We decided to leave the Friday before and extend our time with family & friends.

Martha Stewart look out! Mom & I prepared the feast over a couple of days. We always have a big crowd & make both gluten & gluten free dishes.

Grandaddy always fries the turkey. This year mom baked a small turkey breast & we bought a Honey Baked Ham too.

Eliot & Elese hanging out waiting for the feast to be ready.

One of our family traditions is to complete a puzzle together. Some of us love this while others put in 1 piece just to be a part of it.

Scott's 38th birthday was on thanksgiving this year. We celebrated with a gluten free carrot cake & Derby pie. Our gift to him was an iPod touch.

Grandaddy thought he would be funny & bring in the fire extinguisher while we were singing happy birthday!

Who's the turkey now?

Cousin Krista always treats us to pedicures & manicures!

Grandma & Grandaddy bought Eliot this play gun last year. As soon as we pulled into the cabin, he instantly remembered & had to get it out of the safe. I honestly don't think he put it down the entire time we were there!

Another thing we love to do when we travel home is visit all of our favorite places to eat! The boys & I enjoyed some Krispy Kreme donuts. We also had Steak N Shake milkshakes & Mc. Allisters Deli.

Our visit wouldn't be complete without a few visits with our long time friends. We had dinner with Kelly & the boys, went to church with the Renner's, hung out with the Thompson's, spent the day with Brad & Michelle as well as dinner with Mamaw & Papaw. Whew...what a visit!