Ethan's school Christmas program

Ethan had his school Christmas program last week. Each class had some memorization they presented. Ethan's class quoted the books of the Bible. The whole school then put on a program that presented the Christmas story very well. They all did a wonderful job!

 Ethan's class. He is on the far left.

He was on angel for the program. Front row third from left.

New car no more

Dave had an adventure today on his way to work. He fishtailed on icy roads, hit the ditch, and ran into a patch of trees. Needless to say....the tree won. Dave walked away without a scratch though and for that we are SO thankful. Our God is an awesome God! The new truck is totaled but it is replaceable and a life isn't. Counting our blessings today and also back into searching for a new car.

 

Thankful tree

Each day in November, that we were together as a family for dinner, we shared what we were thankful for and hung a leaf on our Thankful Tree. Each leaf had a Bible verse on one side and Ethan got to read that each night. We each shared one thing we were thankful for and then hung our leaf. Levi got into it and each night after getting put in his high chair always pointed to the tree and was ready to go. We miss the tree now that we are onto Christmas but have reminded the boys that we don't just have to be thankful in November, we always need to be thankful. Thank you God for our wonderful family....Love our boys!    

Halloween

Three little boys. A big haul of candy! We'll be enjoying it for many weeks to come. Good thing we just went to the dentist. =) The boys all had fun tonight going out for candy. We had one little builder, Captain America and Iron Man 3. Daddy took them around the block and Mommy stayed home to hand out candy. It was a fun night!

AWANA Bible Hero night

This week at AWANA it was Bible Hero night. Ethan came home last week and said he wanted to be Samson and Micah said he wanted to be David. We started thinking about what we were going to do and this is what Mommy came up with. The boys were so excited. Ethan has a long ponytail of yarn behind him, the best we could do as we couldn't find a wig. Ethan got a candy bar for being one of the best dressed. Lets just say this Mommy was proud!

Preschool party

 Micah (Spiderman) had a fall party at preschool this week. The kids were allowed to dress up and they went to the offices at church and were given candy. Micah also brought the snack for the party. We had fun making sugar cookie turkeys with candy corn tail feathers.

Carving pumpkins

We had fun carving pumpkins this week. The boys helped some but mostly had fun watching Daddy carve after they told him what they wanted. Levi had fun being Levi and running around. Maybe next year we'll carve one for him.

Leaves

We had a nice fall afternoon so decided to do some leaf raking. The boys had fun raking and then throwing the leaves and jumping in the pile. A fun fall afternoon activity. We then bagged them even though they wanted to keep playing. I showed them all the leaves still yet to fall and assured them there would be many more leaves yet to rake and play in.

I told Levi to look at Mommy and he dropped all and turned to smile for the camera. Love this little guy!

FALL

We had fun today shopping for fall things to decorate the front step. We picked out pumpkins, gourds, and mums and then came home and got out the haybales and indian corn. The boys had fun helping and then it was picture time when we were all done. Fall is here and we are ready!

A little fun...

Daddy was cleaning out the garage so the kayak was down and these three little boys had a little fun. They LOVE playing in the kayak. They are always asking when they can go out with Dad again. I think we'll have to buy another because soon we'll have at least one who will be wanting this one to himself.

Zoo

Micah got to take another field trip with his preschool  to the Zoo in Sioux Falls. Mommy and Levi got to go along as well. It was a fun filled day and a first for both the boys.

 Bear!

 We got to see a baby giraffe, so cute!

 Levi and the leaping lemurs

There are monkeys behind us...somewhere.

Field trip

Micah had his first field trip with his Preschool yesterday. He was so excited! He kept asking all last week when the day for his field trip would come. So hard to understand time and having to wait as a little child. Well his day finally came. He got to go to The Master's Corral. It is an animal farm in a nearby town. They have all kinds of unique animals. Mommy and Levi got to tag along and we enjoyed ourselves too. We enjoyed seeing all the cool animals and then we got to bring home a Peacock feather.

New Car

So they say that I am only 1 but look at what my Daddy just bought me!! I thought about it though and decided I would let him drive it for now. He'll take good care of it and he did need a new car. Yes, my friends the Carlson's have bought a new car. A 2003 Chevy Trailblazer. Dave's car has been getting worse and the decision was made, the look began and the new car was bought. It will be good to have 4 wheel drive for the winter and it will haul a kayak real well. All are excited at this house!

School

Summer break is officially over. Today marked the first day of school at our house. We had two very excited boys! They both had a wonderful day and are eager to return and learn lots this year. Ethan was excited about returning to school and getting to see all his friends again. Micah was excited about finally going to preschool and getting to do things like Ethan does. We are excited about our year and feel blessed to have the boys in Christian school surrounded by good staff and solid Biblical teaching.

 Our 1st grader!

 Our preschooler!

 Ethan's schoolmates and teachers

 Ethan is second in line behind his teacher, Mrs. Hofer.

Micah and his teacher, Mrs. Hanson.

Picnic with Daddy

We have gone once a week all summer long to Scotland for a picnic lunch with Daddy. It is fun to meet him at the park to play and have lunch. We are coming to the end of summer and will miss going to see him. One thing to look forward to next summer!

Harvest

The boys and Mommy headed to Murdo for a week to visit and get in on a little combining. Great Grandpa and Grandma Schneider were also up for a visit. We had fun swimming at the pool, going out for ice cream, riding combines and tractors and eating dinner in the field. It was a fun week!

 Four generations

 Levi's first tractor ride.

 Micah and Ethan riding with Andy in the combine.

Levi's first combine ride.

Family Camping

We headed to Oakwood Lakes a few weekends ago to camp as a family. It was great fun! We were really wondering how well Levi would do at his age but he showed us that he was perfectly content throwing rocks and wandering around. He stayed away from the fire, Mommy's big fear, and actually slept pretty good. The older two and Daddy had fun playing baseball and football. We went hiking/exploring and spent a little time by the lake. We loved our weekend and look forward to doing it again next year.

 Helping Daddy with the tent

 All ready for bed

 Baseball

I guess camping wears you out! It was a nice quiet ride home. =)

Tough Mudder

Dave and 5 other guys from our church participated in a Tough Mudder this past weekend. Nobody had ever done one so we didn't know quite what we were heading into but a fun time was had by all and they are already talking about the one next year! It is a competition that is about 12 miles long and this one had 19 different obstacles. The spectators weren't able to see all the obstacles but we got pictures of the ones we could. 

 

 Getting pumped and ready to go.

Cage crawl (using the cage overhead to help get through the water)

Electric eel (muddy water with hot electric wires hanging down)

Berlin wall

 Can't remember the name but a 15 ft. jump into water.

 An official Tough Mudder!!