Family Pictures

While we were with Mike's family (see previous post) we had some family pictures taken. Here are some of them:

Mike's parents and siblings:

House of Fun

The first weekend in December we spent the weekend with Mike's family. His parents rented a house (Three Peaks Lodge) to enjoy. It was perfect for the kids. Everyone had a great time. One wall in the living room had been converted to a small climbing wall and there were two slides and lots of fun toys.

Here's Blake trying out the slide:

Thanksgiving and Trees

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Island Park. We had a wonderful time. We rode four-wheelers and played in the snow and even cut down our Christmas Tree.

The tree:

The tree turned out to be a lot larger than it appeared in the forest. It takes up a good portion of our living room. A lot of people's first reaction to it has been, "Wow, that is a big tree." And, yep, it is! I dare say next year we will try for a smaller one.

Blake

We just really love Blake at our house. He's so much fun.

One of my greatest (ok, maybe the only) ideas I have had since moving to the new house was to put the kids' drinking glasses down low. That way when Carson wanted a drink he could just go get his own cup and fill it up from the fridge water/ice dispenser. For a while, Carson was climbing on the counter to reach his cups. He kept promising me he wouldn't fall, with words like, "Mom, I'm big now, I won't fall." but I knew a little better, thus the cups-down-low approach began.

About a month ago, Blake discovered the cups. He now crawls to the cupboard, picks out a cup and bangs it against the fridge until someone fills it for him. Pretty darn adorable if you ask me.

Also, one Sunday when we were rushing to get out the door for church I walked out and saw this. He was soooo excited about it. Mike ran and got the camera and I'm glad he did, cuz now I think it's pretty darn adorable too!

Halloween

A belated Happy Halloween from a lion and Spiderman!

Carson practicing his Spiderman moves before the big day.

At the trunk-or-treat.

Carson

Carson turned four years old last week. Unfortunately he was sick on his birthday and his party with our families had to be canceled. He was terribly disappointed and told me, "Mom, but today is my happy birthday and I don't want my party another day." Pretty sad. Here are a few pictures of the very low-key evening with just the four of us.

Getting ready to open his presents. He kept pulling funny faces when I would take the pictures.

Carson and Blake sitting by Carson's new train set.

Carson wanted one of these train sets (it's a GeoTrax set) ever since he saw one at a friend's house. I told him every time he was extra good that he could have penny to put in a certain penny jar. Then when he earned a certain number of pennies he could have his train. So, he happened to earn it a few days before his birthday. Then Mike and I bought him some extra tracks that he opened the morning of his birthday.

On Sunday some of my (Shara's) family came to visit and Carson was so excited to have people here. He opened his presents and got some pajamas and a new train to add to his train set.

As a side note, we really love this train set! I would recommend GeoTrax to anyone! We have another train set that we bought a year ago, and we like it, but I would definitely recommend this one.

Sugar Beet Harvest

My parents and younger brothers are currently super busy with harvest. The farm is done with grain and potatoes, and last week we went to check out the sugar beet harvest. We visited Grandma F. at the beet dump (the place where harvested beets are gathered before being sent on the train to be processed). We saw a truck filled with beets and Carson commented, "Look at all the coconuts!" Yep, not quite coconuts, but really cute.
We rode with Grandpa F. on the tractor. Carson wanted to steer, but it wasn't necessary because the tractors are GPS guided.

Derek was also on a tractor pulling a new harvester.

We took a break because of a truck shortage and Carson pulled this beet out of the ground. Lookin' good!

Things have changed since I was at home and working in harvest. There's more technology, bigger equipment, and my younger brothers were driving tractors! But, the dirt still smelled the same (yummy!) and I loved being able to be there.