Merry Christmas 2016 pt 2

I acquired a head/sinus cold over the weekend, so loaded up on meds and took a good power nap when we got home from Minot.  Don and the kids did some power cleaning.  Shortly after I woke up from my nap, Jonathan asked if he could talk to me in private in his room.  I assumed he wanted to discuss a gift of some sort for Eric.  Instead, he sadly told me that his girlfriend of 360 days broke up with him via text message while we were in Minot.  Stab me in the heart.  Poor kid.  I gave him a little hug, while he hung his head.  He said he told Eric, but didn't want to tell Dad yet.  I asked him if there was anything I could do, and he said "Just sit with me for a little bit".  After a few minutes, Don came in to check on what was going on.  Jonathan said he just wanted to lay down for a little bit, so I left his room with Don.  Lo and behold, Megan and Eric were sitting in the living room with big smiles on their faces, holding a big, wrapped box.  Don called for Jonathan "You can come out of your room now."  Jonathan comes out of his room with a big smile on his face.  It was all a scam to get me out of the kitchen area so they could hide my present!!!!  No broken heart/break up via text message.  All a lie.  My first gift was one of 4 clues that led to 4 gifts hidden throughout the house, including a squishy kitchen mat, some new kitchen towels, a big jug of vegetable oil, and a new deep fryer.  The scam by Jonathan was needed because I got up from my nap before they had everything hidden.  Well played, kids.  Well played.

 Jonathan and Megan each played some Christmas Music prior to our gift opening.

 Our Advent candles

 She got some matching puppy slippers with her new jammies!

 a Sarcastic T-shirt for Eric

 The perfect shirt for Don

Hamlet watching Megan inspect her Santa gifts

 

 He did not want his pic taken.

 Very excited to get a new, grey, stocking hat

Skyzone passes!

Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas!  We are on our 'Plan C' Christmas plan, which involves staying home, just the 5 of us.  Plan A involved going to Minot the 24th-26th. Then, with the pending blizzard potentially brewing, we thought we'd wait until New Years.  Then, spontaneously on Friday morning, Don suggested we go up Friday and come back Saturday before the pending blizzard arrives.

The kids decorated our Christmas cookies at Gma's house.  We dined on Dickey's BBQ, to Eric's delight.

 Rushmore got to ride kennel free this trip.

 Megan thinks she's taller than Grandma...I'm not so sure though.

Grandpa is recovering nicely from his knee replacement!

Valley City Hoops

We had a one day tournament in Valley City yesterday day.  6 teams in the 8th grade bracket.  We've only played one of them before, and not since 6th grade.  Won all 3 games!  Fast paced games.

Up since 5 am, 3 game of basketball, post tourney nap on the drive home

Snow!

We've had an unseasonable warm Fall this year.  That all came to a screeching halt on Nov 28th.  We got nearly 2 feet of snow over 2 days, and another ~5" a week later.  The second round of snow came with gust of 50 mph, and sustained winds of 30 mph.  This resulted in an unprecedented 2 consecutive storm days from the first storm, and a never before in my lifetime since being in Mandan a third storm day from the second storm, followed by a 2 hours delay start the day after the storm day.

 There are some funky drifts in the back yard.  The kids used them for some protection from the wind when they were playing with the dog

 This puppy loves loves loves the snow.  There were some big drifts, but he figured out how to get through them.

 He loves the snow, but is not so fond of the bitter winds

 This was at 11:20 am on the first day of snow

 Keeping warm!

 I only got stuck once!  We have a challenging driveway to navigate to through the snow, especially since our street was not plowed from the end of the first storm.

 The snow has drifted to the top of the fence on both sides bordering our neighbor's yard.  This has allowed for their dog and our dog to run freely between yards for puppy play dates at will.  We find Tika at the bottom of our deck steps waiting for Rushmore to come outside.

 Megan enjoyed her snack while watching the storm and snow

 snow day board games

thanksmas 16

we had our combined Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration in Park Rapids.  The boys, Holly, and I ran the turkey trot in the morning.  had fun opening gifts in the evening.  eric tried his luck bow hunting for the first time friday morning.  no luck!  Maybe next time.