The kids sat on Santa's Lap....

I know it's a while after Christmas...but as always, I am playing blogger catchup!

We took the kids to sit on Santa's lap.
Gunnar sang "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" and Santa laughed and told him he'd made his day!!
Santa asked Sienna if she'd been a good girl, and she looked at me out of the corner of her eye first (as if checking for my approval).

When I smiled and nodded to her, she perked up and said, "I've been a very good girl and I have been nice to my little brother."

Christmas Afternoon....

We went to my parents house on Christmas Day and ended up getting snowed in. It was a lot of fun to be able to spend all that time together.

Cute little Hannah Banana is such a sweetheart! I just love her smile and her cute personality.
And by the way...I am totally jealous of her gorgeous curls!
Gretta and Hannah are good friends....
Michel and Nolan manned the cameras - capturing all the festivities :)

"We are sexy manly men!"

Sienna, being the great helper she is, assisted Gretta in learning how to use her new skates.
My little Sienna bean is so cute - see how she is soooooo fashionable in her new Christmas hair ribbon!!
This day was the first time we met little Isaac! He is so stinkin' cute - I just wanted to snuggle with him the whole day!
Aunt Holly got some cuddle time too (practicing to hold her own baby boy - due any day now!)
And of course...EVERYTHING must go in Isaac's mouth for some taste testing!! Such a cutie!
He was very excited to open his gifts...
Hey! Who turned out the lights?!?!
Among other things, Gunnar was excited to get TWO brand new pairs of pants!! Without realizing it, Grandma Eileen and Grandpa Paul had bought him the exact same pants that Uncle Michel & Auntie Melanie had.
As Grandpa Paul worked on his present, Grandma Eileen gave Sienna a big "Thank You" hug for her gift.

Melanie and Kevin sharing a laugh

My super awesome superhero husband ... "Bug-Man!"
Later on Michel's "Rock Band 2" was busted out ....
And here is my Super Awesome Superstar Husband rockin' the guitar!
And here is super cute Grandma Eileen wailing on the drums! Go mom!!

We are so fortunate to have Michel and Melanie living here for the next few months! They drove across the country from New Hampshire, and arrived on Christmas Day. It was very apparent how tired Melanie was when we were downstairs talking later that night (around midnight). Either she was in mid-sentence or I was, when her head sank down and she fell asleep. It was only for a few seconds though, then she woke up and laughed when she'd realized what had happened.

We Carved Pumpkins

Halloween came around again and of course we needed to carve pumpkins. So Grandpa & Grandma & the McCaffertys came up and we had a pumpkin carving fiasco.

Grandma Leene and Grandpa Paul are so silly!!


Sienna insisted on carving hers all by herself. So we only helped her with the guts, then handed her the safe cutting tool and off she went.

She is so artistic and creative!

Ta Da! Here are the finished products.

Another example of Sienna's talent.... Do you recognize the house and monster? - other than the fact of course that the color scheme is a bit different.
Gunnar is proudly displaying our evening's work.
And here are Gunnar's (left) and Sienna's (right) pumpkins all finished. Gunnar carved his the week before at the Newbolds....
and this week, Gunnar drew an awesome bicycle on this ghost pumpkin (which we grew in our garden)...

He did this by himself! :)

Black Island Farm Corn "Maize"

The weekend before Halloween, we went to the Black Island Farm Corn "Maize". We took Sienna's friend Kayla with us, giving her mom Leesa (my best friend) a much needed day off from everything. She needed the rest...and it was so much fun to have Kayla come along with us.

When we got there, we first went through this area where they sell all of their produce,
then found a huge expansive area set up like a playground! It was very cool.
There was a jack-o-lantern bouncy house,
some big slides,
Check out these videos...

Gunnar & Daddy in the big tube slide

Sienna in the tube slide

Kayla in the big tube slide

...and some small slides too.
There was a pumpkin launching pad, a small tractor ride for the kids,
Check out the video...


and a little area with a teeter totter and some big tires to climb on.
We got very lost in the phase 3 section
and the kids were worried we wouldn't make it out.
Check out the video...

We re-assured them that we would and they calmed down a little.

After we exited the maze, we took the kids on a "Hay" Ride (really just a big tractor ride)
out to the pumpkin patch, where we all got to get off the trailer and go pick out a pumpkin - one for each of us!
When we found our perfect pumpkin, we were supposed to stand by it and raise our hand until the farmer came along to cut and de-thorn the stem.

Gunnar caught onto this concept very well!

We wore the kids out...
...which really made for a pleasant ride home.
Gunnar was so wiped out, he couldn't even wake up for pizza when we got home.
What a great day! It was so much fun and we are excited for next fall so we can go again!