Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good night!

House guests and cookie making!

We had a very special house guest with us this weekend. While the Beseler family was out of town celebrating their Christmas, we got to watch their dog Silva. As you can tell from the pictures below, Adam had a great time having a dog around! I don't know which one wore the other out more. Aaron and Claire stopped by for some football this afternoon, and I couldn't resist getting a bedtime, bathtub shot of the Claire Bear. She is getting so big!

I am very proud to say that I had a very Suzie Homemaker weekend. I made three meals, from recipes that I had never made before, and all meals went over very well. I also found a love of Christmas cookie baking. I have included a couple pictures below of some of the ones I am most proud of.

Peppermint Candy CanesPeanut Butter Reindeer

Adam also had fun making Christmas cookies!

Traditions...old and new.

This was a kind of a thoughtful weekend for me. As we spent time in Duluth, I found myself thinking back on my family's Christmas traditions and looking ahead to the traditions we are now setting for our son. As a child, I remember watching my mother and grandparents make the holiday candy, looking forward to trim the tree parties, and of course the Christmas holiday itself. Every Christmas Eve we had our set spots around the tree. My brother and I handed out the gifts and there was always good food, music, stories and a lot of laughter.

I can't remember when these traditions started to really shift for me, but after being home it really hit me that the holiday's are different now. Maybe it is the distance between us, my role as wife and mother, or the loved ones we lost, but I found myself having to let go of the traditions that gave me so much joy. I hope that as Ryan and I build holiday traditions for our family, Adam can experience the same joy our family traditions a gave us growing up.

Ryan, Adam and I took a chilly trip to Bentleyville to see all the beautiful lights

Adam and I standing in front of the tallest man-made Christmas tree in the United States
Telling Santa his Christmas wishes

Having a snack in Granny's chair

Cheese!

Decorating the tree

Putting on the reflectors (a Clover family tradition)

I think we outdid ourselves this time!

Getting ready for Christmas.

We had a fun weekend getting ready for Christmas. We had all the grandmas and grandpas in town to help. We put up the tree, finished our shopping and was even able to get some presents for ours selves at the Norwex party I hosted. I have fallen in love with Norwex. I hope Ryan gets excited about cleaning when our stuff comes in!

Tonight, I am getting some down time. The house is clean, my son is asleep and thanks to my mom, I have some pictures to share from the weekend. Enjoy!

Adam wanted his hair to look just like daddy's does when he is done in he shower!

Hmmm...what ornament should I put up next?
This is a good spot!

Is this candy for eating or for decoration?

All done with the tree. Now its time for bed.

Helping grandpa shovel.

Sliding into the snowpile!

Twas the night before Christmas...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. This was our first year hosting the holiday and it was wonderful. We had lots of friends, family and food. In fact, 3 days later, we are still eating leftovers. When we told Adam what we were having for supper tonight he said, "Turkey? I don't want turkey. We just had turkey for supper yesterday!" We are all getting tired of eating the leftovers. I think tacos will be on the menu for tomorrow night!

I was so preoccupied on Thanksgiving day that I totally forgot to take pictures, but I did get some good pictures of my boys playing in the snow today. The weather was so nice and the snow a perfect consistency for making a snowman!

Adam making his first wish on the wishbone!

Starting the snowman.
Cheese!

My boys.

This one might make the Christmas card.

Cookie Monster

Adam helps daddy make cookies. If you look closely at some of the close up shots you can see the marks from Adam's bully.

Growing Boy

Adam is a growing boy. He had his 3 year check up today and weighed in at 36 pounds and height at 40 inches. He passed all the tests, answered all the questions and did not cry at all when he got he vaccine shot. He was more excited about getting a sticker. If you ask him about it he will tell you that the nurse "pinched him" and then gave him a "bandie" or what we would call a Bandaid.

I realized is has a been awhile since the last post and I have not yet shared the pictures from last weekend. Adam, Erika and I headed to Duluth to enjoy the hunting weekend and to spend time with family.

Taking Adam for a ride at the farm.

The mighty hunters.
I braved a ride with Erika behind the wheel and lived to tell about it.

Adam "dressed to kill"

Adam and Grandma after church.

Granny's boy

On Sunday,the church had a wonderful memorial service for all those who passed away in the past year. It was a great way for our four generations to remember Papa.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! We had a fun weekend celebrating the holiday and getting our fill of treats. Adam had a party at school on Friday, friends Josh and Shyla had there Halloween party last evening, and of course tonight Adam went out and got a bucket full (and I mean full) of candy. I have a bunch of pictures from the party and tonight. Enjoy!

All the kids eating treats around the table.

Adam was a big help when carving the pumpkins.
The lumber jack and his tree!

Adam having fun with Aunt Rikki

Rikki with her princess charming.

Adam and Raleigh had a great time playing together!

Adam with all his pumpkins. Daddy may have had an influence with one of them. Can you guess which one?

Claire cute as a bug in her bumble bee costume.

Knock, knock!

Trick or Treat!

Talking to Grandma!

How fluent is Grandma Sonya at speaking toddler?

Boo at the Zoo!

This was a weekend full of fun. It started Friday night when I was able to go to the Reba McEntire/George Straight concert. They put on an incredible show. It was awesome. My good friend Michelle was also town this weekend , so we were able to do some catching up and have a girl Saturday night. The weekend ended with the Vikings/Packers game. Of course, my Packer Backers were very excited that their team won.

Saturday, we were also able to take advantage of the last of the nice weather and go to the Zoo's Halloween event. Adam got to see all his favorite baby animals and get some trick or treating practice in.

Adam the Engineer! (Thanks Uncle Dan and Aunt Liz for the great costume)

All aboard the candy train!
Lots of candy for the taking!

My boys!

Adam was having a really good time feeding the ducks and peacocks.