Levi is 6!

And just like that our "baby" is 6! Where has the time gone? We started his day with an L pancake with candles and singing. Home after school for presents and cake after dinner. We had piano lessons so weren't able to go out for birthday dinner so we are extending his birthday and going out to eat this weekend. We love our goof of a boy and are thankful for his 6 years and pray that God continues to bless him with many more.

Birthday L pancake with 6 candles.

 Birthday cake made by Dad. Levi said he wanted a Case Keenum jersey cake, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, but changed his mind at the last minute to wanting a Levi 6 jersey. We thought this was more fitting too.

 

Fun birthday gifts.

Ethan is 11!!

And just like that we have an 11 year old in our house. This past week we have been celebrating this boy. We started last weekend with a combo birthday of Uncle Heath, Ethan and Levi. Papa and Nana came down to help us celebrate. We celebrated on his birthday with Grandpa, Grandma and Great-Grandpa Gordon. He chose to celebrate with some friends at Galaxy gaming yesterday for the final party. All have been fun! What a blessing this boy is to us and we are so proud to call him our son. Now to catch our breath and get ready to celebrate Levi next week. 

 Star Wars BB8 cake

 Special guest, Great-Grandpa Gordon...Ethan's name sake.

 Green Bay Packer cake. Dad did another great job.

The boy crew after gaming, lazer tag and birthday cake.

Family adventure

Saturday was a beautiful day so we decided to take advantage of the 40+ degree day and do some exploring. There is a new start park not far that we wanted to go check out. We did a bit of hiking around and then headed off to other locations that Dad wanted to check out. We did some geocaching, park exploration and ended with some "ice skating." A fun time was had by all and Mom enjoyed joining them again with a healed foot.

Levi's new look

We are on a new adventure....Levi has entered the world of glasses! It has been going well so far. We do have to remind him sometimes to put them on and then there are other times he remembers and runs off to get them. It is a new look we are getting use to.

Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had a fun Christmas in our new home. This is the first time in about 8 years that we haven't traveled for Christmas. It was fun hosting Cherry's family this year and being home. We got snow on Thursday so had a white Christmas. We were beginning to wonder. All were excited and the weather was then nice over the weekend for those traveling to us.

 

 Christmas Eve and stockings

 Merry Christmas morning

 Great-Grandma Daum was able to be with us

 Ethan, our Green Bay Packer boy

 Levi, just our loveable little goof

Micah, spy gear and all

Catching up

Ok, time to do a little catching up with the Carlsons. We have had a fun filled past couple of months. Here are a few pictures of some of our happenings.....

 

 Dave was gifted 4 tickets from POET to the SDSU and NDSU football game in November. We asked our friends, Josh and Sara, to join us. It was a fun day and SDSU won!

 Cub Scouts!

 We went to Spearfish Canyon with Cherry's family for a weekend in November to celebrate her parent's anniversary and Cherry's birthday. We had a fun stop at Wall Drug on our way because you can't go to the Hills and not stop for a donut! And thank you Papa and Nana for the fun guns.

 Dinner out at Red Robin for Cherry's birthday.

 Home in Rochester for Thanksgiving. The Carlson football team.

 A little ice skating fun over Thanksgiving.

 Sugar cookie fun

 Singing in the Christmas program at church.

Ethan's first Christmas band concert. They did an awesome job!

Halloween fun

We've been having some pumpkin fun at our house. We went on Sunday to pick out pumpkins and came home to carve them. Mom gutted, Boys designed and Dad carved. Lit them up on the front step after dark. Today, Halloween, we headed out to get candy and then home for the sugar high! It was a little cold but they didn't seem to mind. Dad walked with them and Mom, sporting her broken foot, drove in the van. When they did get cold they rode for a bit and then went back on the candy search. It was a fun time and we now have enough candy to last awhile.