Thanksgiving 2015

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving weekend filled with family time on both sides.  We started in Iowa and got there late Wednesday afternoon.  We celebrated birthdays that evening - Heather (Eric's fiancé) and Michelle (Chris' girlfriend) share a birthday of November 25th!  Unfortunately Heather and Eric weren't able to get to Iowa until late, late on the 25th (closer to the morning of the 26th!) but we still had a fun time celebrating.  Grandpa Kenny's birthday is December 2nd so we always celebrate when we are back on the farm for Thanksgiving.

Emily hosted the Thanksgiving day meal on Thursday which is always fun to reconnect with everyone.  We love our time on the farm and the kids are in heaven!  They are the center of attention for all the uncles, aunts, grandpa & grandma!  Ryan and I get to kick back while others play and wait on the kiddos :)

Friday morning we took off for Owatonna.  The kids always look forward to playing with their cousins!!  And of course Nana and Papa :)  We took our annual Christmas pj picture -- which actually turned out great this year as all the kids were up for it!

Saturday my mom hosts the Bishop's for Thanksgiving.  We took our annual walk on the path and the kids got their Christmas present for Aunt Sandy.  She gives them books which are awesome!  The kids love them and they are books that we read before bedtime.  So special!  

We headed home Saturday evening and then on Sunday day we put up our Christmas tree.  We've started this tradition the past couple years and it's fun to spend the afternoon decorating and getting into the Christmas spirit.  I have a feeling this year is going to be a fun Christmas!

Madelyn with the birthday girl, Michelle!

Celebrating with Grandpa - there is always extra ice cream for the kids!

Nana reading to Jack.  He's loving it!

Love these 4 so much!

Love of Learning

Madelyn has always enjoyed learning but lately she has blossomed.  She doesn't take naps at school anymore so she goes to the "awake" room.  She transitioned to the awake room back in Sept after the 5 year old went to kindergarten.  She was so excited!  She talks about it all the time and loves all the "challenging work" she does during that time.  She is sounding out letters in order to write words and I think reading will come next.  She recognizes words and pictures so it's almost like she can read but she's not quite there yet.  Many nights during dinner she will ask how to spell words and her latest is she copies words and phrases.  Her penmanship has gotten so much better lately.  She used to write all over the page but now she writes in straight lines and you can read what she is writing.  She learned how to spell her last name so she loves signing cards now with her name, Jack and Bormann after each name! :)

Earlier this week she couldn't wait to tell us that she got a reading book at school!  She is first one in her class to get this book and is very proud....as are we!  It's the next step in learning to read.  She showed Ryan the first night he picked her up and then the next morning we looked at it and she was very excited to work on it in the awake room.  It's fun to see her brain processing and learning all these new things.  They truly are little sponges at this age and it's amazing to us all that she has learned and she hasn't even started kindergarten yet!

Tea Parties

This week both kids had tea parties at school.  They could bring one guest so I went to Jack's and Ryan went to Madelyn's.  Both kids were excited....Madelyn because she knows what it's all about and loves showing us what she learns in school and Jack because the rest of us were excited :)

Jack's party was on Tuesday.  Everything is new to Jack now that he's in preschool so I couldn't wait to see how he did......and I would say he did great considering he was over 6 months younger than the next youngest friend in his class.  The parents line up outside the gym and then one by one the teacher lets the kids know their guest has arrived.  I was next in line and Jack saw me and he came running up to me.  It just made my day!  His teacher told him he needed to wait for one more person and then he could come get me and so Jack went back to his seat and waited patiently, even though I'm sure it was hard for him.

He poured 2 glasses of apple juice, with some help from his teachers, and then he dished up the crackers, grapes, strawberries and cheese all by himself.  He counted everything before we ate it.

Then his class sang a turkey song.  Jack knew the whole 1st verse and tried do the hand actions to the 2nd verse.  Lastly we went back to the classroom and the kids showed us what they work on all day long.  Jack was overwhelmed and wasn't sure what to show me but his teachers helped him get started and by the end he was picking out his own work and showing me.  He was very particular about his work mat and making sure everything was put away before getting something else out.  I always wish that translated to our home life but I'm happy to know he does it at school!  Leaving is always hard and he was very sad when Ms Kari rang the final bell.  Both our kids are very much routine and they do great at drop off in the morning but if/when we see them during the day they always struggle saying good-bye a 2nd time.  I don't blame them - these days I keep reminding myself that they are 4.5 and almost 3 and they are still so young!

Getting ready to sing!

So proud!!

Madelyn's tea party was on Thursday.  She talked about it all week and couldn't wait for Thursday and she was thrilled that Ryan was her "guest".  She dressed up and wore her high heeled shoes.  She was fancy and loved every ounce of it!  I know I say it all the time about the kids but they are growing up so fast.  It's hard to believe that Madelyn is one of the oldest in her class.....and from the pictures she is almost a head taller than her classmates.  Ryan had lots of fun too - he's such an awesome dad!  They enjoyed their "tea" and then went back to her classroom.  Madelyn showed Ryan how she works on adding and then did an activity working on reading.  He said he was impressed with how well she did.  These kind of days are so fun because we don't get to see or hear what they work on everyday.  I ask Madelyn but I usually get the same response....played outside, made bracelets and worked on my workbook......which is better than some so I am happy with it!  Madelyn did well when Ryan left.  She was sad but she didn't cry and he was able to wave good bye as they went outside to play since it was another beautiful fall day!  A fun week for the kids and mommy and daddy!

My Birthday

Could never get enough of these two!

Another birthday has come and gone and they just keep getting better & better!  My favorite part about birthdays is seeing and hearing from so many friends and family!

My family came up last weekend to celebrate.  They are the best!  My mom always makes my favorite dessert and Carla and her family brought me a card with the kids' handwriting (love that!) and beautiful flowers!  We had such a fun afternoon - it was gorgeous outside so the kids played outside while the guys watched the Bears-Vikings game.  The kids had a blast!  They made up new games and just ran around.  My sister and I are going to do a sister day and we had planned to do it last week but with my work schedule and then we were out of town for Ryan's uncle's funeral we are going to schedule it for December which will be perfect!

Then Ryan and kids made my actual birthday so special!  We went out for pizza at Gina Maria's (my favorite) then had homemade chocolate cake with white frosting (again my favorite)!!  Madelyn made me a birthday card which brought tears to my eyes as it was so sweet and something she wrote all by herself.  I was showered with gifts, hugs and kisses.....plus I get to schedule a massage which is another one of my absolutely favorite things to do!  Here's to 38!!  (PS - I keep losing track of my age - I honestly thought last year I was 38.....but I guess that's good that I get to do 38 again :)

Growing up so fast and best friends!!

Halloween

This year Halloween landed on a Saturday which was fun so we could celebrate the whole day!  Madelyn was a witch and Jack ended up being a skeleton.  We had a fireman costume but we were lucky to get him in his skeleton shirt so I didn't push our luck!  The kids missed their school Halloween party as we were in Iowa for Ryan's uncle's funeral so we decided to head to one of the strip malls in Maple Grove where they were doing a special trick or treat on Saturday morning so the kids could dress up.  They loved it!  It was a little rainy and cool but that never seems to bother the kids.  There were bouncy houses and of course lots of candy!

We continued our tradition of trick or treating with the McCormick's in their neighborhood.  Oh my gosh the kids got a ton of candy!  There are so many houses and kids all over -- it is so fun.  The girls enjoy it more and more every year and now we even see people we know which makes it even more fun.  Way too much candy but totally worth it!  Jack was tired about 1/2 way and requested we head home.  Since we weren't on the ball like some of the other families who brought a wagon or stroller, Ryan and I took turns carrying our little (but growing bigger!) skeleton!

Tegan the butterfly fairy, Madelyn the witch, Jack the skeleton and Evie as Ariel!!

The triplets! :)

Each of the preschool classrooms decorated a pumpkin.  I was very impressed with all the pumpkins but was biased to the TMNT which was Madelyn's class and the ghost from Jack's class!

 Then we did our own pumpkin decorating at home.  We used Mr Potato Head which ended up looking super cute.....since neither Ryan or I are very artistic or clever when it comes to carving!