Gingerbread House

Yesterday Koleson and I got to visit Ella at school and help her construct a gingerbread house. She insists that hers is called a gingerbread girl house because she's a girl!

First we put frosting on our milk carton base so the graham crackers would stick. Notice Kole has already started to eat some of the candy from Ella's decorating bowl.

Ella found as we continued in the process of making the house that things stuck to the plate better than they did to the actual house. I had to keep encouraging her to put candy on the house.

Final product!! After Ella got home from school she then asked if it was time to eat her house!

Christmas Programs

Over the last two weeks the kids have had their Christmas programs. Addi was in one at school and at church. Ella was in the one at church. Kole is eagerly awaiting his turn to be in the program at church next year. The video is of Addi and her class singing "Showbiz Snowman."

The program at church was held at night in place of their weekly Pioneer Club. The room was dark except for the spotlights so this is the best I could get picture wise.

No more crib :(

Well after having a crib set up in our home for almost eight years we finally are not in need of it! Mr. Koleson is quite attached to his crib and wasn't really very wild about not sleeping in it anymore. We decided that maybe it would help if he helped Daddy take it down. So the boys got out their tools and set to work. Kole loved 'helping' take it apart and seemed to be ok with not having a crib anymore. Then bedtime came and there were many tears. I told him he didn't need a crib anymore because he was a big boy! Kole's answer "I not big boy! I little! I want my kib!(Kole speak for crib!) He has told me this several times in the last week, but I think he is finally getting used to his big boy bed.

Kole even got to hold the real screwdriver when Daddy wasn't using it!

Helping daddy take the crib apart! I not sure about needing a hammer to take it apart, but Kole loved hammering on the side of the crib.

Christmas Cookies

This week we made and decorated Christmas cookies. It was entertaining to watch all three of the kids decorate. Kole decorated a total of 6 cookies. I didn't let him decorate more than that for the two reasons seen in the next pictures!

Kole liked to lick his knife after each spreading of the frosting. Then he decided that it would be more fun to eat the cookies rather than decorate them. His cookies were put in a special container when we were done since he kept licking his knife!

Both girls were very into the decorating. Ella was especially excited about all the different things she could put on top of her cookies. Notice the crazy amount of sprinkles. After we were done decorating they got to eat one and when I suggested to Ella that she eat one of her creations with many sprinkles this is the response I got. "No Mom there are too many sprinkles for me to eat those!!!"

Addi was fun to watch because she has matured to the point that she wants her cookies to look pretty. Look at the concentration as she works!!

Frosty Ornaments

This past weekend we made a fun winter project. Addi found the idea in her Ranger Rick magazine that she checked out from the library. The project is called Frosty Ornaments. We started by filling muffin tins with different things from nature such as field corn, evergreen needles, pine cones, sunflower seeds, cranberries, orange slices, etc.

Kole was very excited to fill his and we needed to take some of the corn out!
The next step was to fill them to the top with water, put ribbon in the water and set them outside to freeze.

Trav and Addi are working hard to get the ribbons in place.

The next morning we went out and they were all frozen. We picked them up by the ribbons and hung them on various trees around our yard.

The idea is that when it gets a little bit warmer the birds will eat what is frozen inside. Even if the birds don't eat them it was a great family time activity. Addi has already asked if we can make it a tradition to do every year!

Our Halloween Costumes!!

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes.
Addi wanted to be a teacher. She even made herself a note to put in her binder that said Miss Popken.
Ella dressed as a rockstar for school since they had to choose a career and then at night she was a lion!!

Kole was a gorilla!!

Apparently I need to be more specific!!!

I asked Koleson to put his toys away in his room and this is what I found when I went to check to see if they were put away. Apparently I needed to say put them in your toy box!!! At least they were in his room!

Our Clifford Pumpkin

Our library in town is having a pumpkin decorating contest and the girls really wanted to participate. This past weekend we created our entry. The only real rule was that you needed to somehow decorate your pumpkin to resemble a character from a book that you read. After trying to come up with something that we could do together that would be too hard I thought of Clifford. We read the book for inspiration and then started to paint.


Our finished product!!

My soccer player

Both girls are playing soccer this fall for the first time. Addi has found a sport that she really enjoys. She has been blessed with great coaches that are really teaching the kids the basics of the game. She loves going to practice and has really enjoyed playing games. She has scored several goals in the three games they have played so far. They have games every Saturday in October.

Here is Addi playing a couple weeks ago when it was a little warmer!



Taking a breather on the sidelines with one of her coaches.

I tried really hard to get a video of Addi actually scoring a goal, but wasn't able to capture one. This is her in action! :)

Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Saturday we had the chance to go to Poppe's Pumpkin Patch near Lakefield, MN. Trav had a volleyball tournament, but Aunt Susan and the Sparks family joined us for this outing.

All the kids loved riding the barrel train.

There were several animals there to try to feed. Addi was the only one brave enough to put her hand out. She got the llama to eat from it and we got to see his ugly teeth. The goat would sniff their hand, but he didn't want anything to eat.

Ella and Kole enjoyed checking out the storybook part of the patch. They are in Cinderella's carriage.

Looking for and picking the perfect pumpkins!!

Lilly and Addi on the hayride on the way back from picking our pumpkins!

One last picture with some of the big pumpkins!! What a fun day at the pumpkin patch!!

Ella's New Glasses

As of Saturday Ella is now a glasses wearer. She was very excited about getting them. So excited that she cried when we didn't come home with them the day of the eye exam. We were a little surprised that she needed them. She had an exam back in August for preschool. I didn't know how to prepare her so after awhile she got tired of of saying the letters. So we had a schedule another exam which I was expecting her to pass now that she new what to expect. Not so! It has been fun to watch her get used to them. There have been many funny faces made as she gets used to the feel of them on her face. There have also been an abdunance of questions regarding them. "Do I have to wear them when I sleep? What do I do with them during PE? Do I even have to wear them in the shower?" Both siblings are also quite interested in them and have been instructed that they are not allowed to touch them. Wearing glasses has also opened El's eyes to now many different people also wear them. I took her to the volleyball tournament for a little while on Saturday and at one point she was pointing to people around the gym. "That person has glasses. Oh look, they have glasses, and look so do they!" Oh the excitement!! Last but not least at least 20 times in the last two days we have heard "I LOVE MY GLASSES!"

Ella and Dorcas

The other night we read a devotional on Dorcas and how she put others first. We talked about how different things we could do to help others. I never know how much sinks in, but always hope something does! The next day when I picked Ella up from preschool the first thing her teacher said was "Ella did you tell your Mom how you were kind today?" The teacher then started to explain that when on a field trip the kids received a sucker. On the walk home one of Ella's friend's lost hers. The friend was sad and crying so Ella gave her sucker to her friend. When I asked Ella why she did it her response was "I didn't like to see Kendal sad so I gave her my sucker and you know what mom? It didn't even make me sad that I didn't have one anymore because Kendal was so happy that it made me happy too. What was the name of that lady we talked about last night? "Dorcas" Yeah her I wanted to help others like she did. WOW!! I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with my four year old. It brought tears to my eyes talking with her about it. When they got back to school it turns out that one of the teachers grabbed extra suckers so Ella did still get one!

Ella's other exciting news is that she will soon be changing her look. Ella is getting glasses!!

Kole's Favorite Activities

Here is a little clip of Kole's favorite activities as of late. All kinds of things have been put in the wagons like Goldfish, Teddy Grahams, gummies, acorns, etc. Kole counts several times a day and usually goes to at least ten, but he has started to go even higher!

Mr. Koleson

This morning I canned tomato juice. This something that Koleson has never seen me do before. Usually he is sleeping when I undertake the process. Things were moving along and I was starting to run the cooked tomatoes through my strainer. He was standing on the chair at the left so he could watch. All of a sudden as juice is spilling out Kole starts saying repeatedly "Mommy make mess!" "Mommy messy!" He could not stand to have juice on the floor and wanted to clean it up right away. He even go himself a towel to start cleaning pronto! I was able to hold him off long enough to complete my task and I put him to work. He cleaned the floor
for me. Apparently he doesn't like messes just like his daddy!!

I had to share these other two picks of KB. He recently got a new to him bike with training wheels. He hasn't gotten the pedaling down, but that hasn't stopped him from using his 'new' bike. I won't let him ride it without shoes so he put his mud boots on the wrong feet and was ready to start walking it around the driveway!

Monarch Butterfly Festival

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to the monarch butterfly festival at the Dickinson County Natural Center. This is an event centered around the monarch with the most exciting part being that you get to tag and release your own butterfly.

The girls got to pick the butterfly they wanted. They both wanted a girl! Apparently males have a dot on both wings that females don't. After a small sticker was put on one wing Addi was able to hold the butterfly and we released it.

There were also many other activities to do there. Addi shows off her finished flower pounding that they made with cheesecloth, a hammer, and flower petals.

Ella colored her own butterfly finger puppet.

The nature center has a small butterfly house. Ella & Kole enjoyed playing with the activities there.

The kids used stampers and markers to decorate their own butterfly wings to wear.

There was a nature play area where Kole enjoyed 'painting' rocks with his paintbrush and water.

We also did a small amount of hiking while we were there on the mowed trails. This is the kids and some friends climbing the 'mountain.' We had a great time at the festival learning more about butterflies, playing with friends and enjoying a beautiful day. We hope to make it to the festival again next year!