Thank you Johnny B!

One may look at the photo below and think, "Oh that playdough looks like fun". Well that person would be half right. Only half right because it was a lot of fun, but the four piles of color are actually balls of colored sugar cookie dough. This fall John was selling some items to raise money for his DECA club and found this fun cookie dough in the catalog.

Being the "nice" brother that he is, he asked me if it would be a fun birthday idea for Gracie. I thought she would love it so we tried it. I still think she would've loved it for her birthday, but being the family we are, we forgot about it. When I went to the freezer during the last snow day, I discovered it. SCORE!! What a perfect activity for such a blizzardy day.

Here is what the dough actually looks like before you roll it out and cut out shapes.

And the finished product. These are just a few of the cookies that were made.

All in all we had a fun time using the dough. We did have some trouble convincing Jaylen that it was not playdough and he COULD NOT eat all the dough.

Thank you John for the great idea and for the fun you provided us when it was just too cold to go outside. We had a great day.

The BIG game---Can they do it?

Here is to you purple and gold. My crew is all ready for the big game and have

definitely dressed for the occassion.

Dad and Jerrin are bellied up to the bar as the game is about to start. We enjoyed the game over at Hackmann's. Marc just finished the bar in his basement and was excited to have people over. Great job Marc, it loooks great.

These two goofs decided to take a break from the fun and watch a movie.

Trust me it didn't last long.

Now it was Gracie's turn to support her daddy. I still do not like the fact that she has decided to wear the purple and gold. She was my only hope and I guess that is gone now too.

Things started getting pretty intense durig the game, so Joel needed to sit down for a bit. The next three photos give a good description of Marc's Man Cave. There are three televisions in the basement, all within 50 feet of each other. and yes they were all in use.

TV #1

TV #2

And back behind the bar. Bar $3

Now by this time, Jaylen was getting pretty silly and needed togo to bed. He hadn't slept all day and when this photo was taken it was almost halftime. Shortly after, I decided to take the kids home and enjoy the game at our house, so dad and his buddies could watch the game by themselves and yell when they needed to. (Boy am I glad that I did).

This was Jaylen about 5 minutes later. We got inside, took off our gear, and then I turned around to grab a diaper. When I came back around, Jay was sleeping. No lie, he had fallen to sleep that easily. It was a pretty hard day for Vikings littleest fan.

Daddy took us sledding.

Even though the weatherman said we are suppose to be in a Winter Storm Warning, it is over 30 degrees outside and beautiful. It is actually melting outside, so daddy decided to take us sledding. (After a call from grandma first of course. It always helps to get a little bit of a push.) Dad took us out to the Durbin over pass. For those of you who do not know what the Durbin overpass is, it is just that, an overpass. Some may think this would be pretty dangerous, but it is not a typical overpass. It does not have traffic that is oncoming from the Interstate, only those who are driving through in the rural areas. The overpass makes an awesome place to sled. We also have a great time standing on top of the pass and waving to all of the traffic and trucks below.

It is so exciting when someone spots us and honks.

(Then we truly know we live in ND.)

As you can see they had a long walk back up to where dad was standing.

Jaylen did it all by himself.

Well....... maybe not ALL by himself. Thanks Jerrin.

WIPE OUT!!!!!!

Three isn't always a crowd. Nice job guys.

Thank you daddy for a great time sledding and for all the photos. As you can see dad may have accomplished his goal of tuckering us all out. Thank you for the memories that were made daddy,

we love you lots!

2010 Pinewood Derby

Checking in for the big race. Each Scout had the opportunity to make their very own car and before it could be raced, each one needed to be officially weighed in and checked over. The guys were a little surprised when the judge said... Oh no, not quite heavy enough.

Dad a nd Jerrin then began the process of adding weights to the car.

OK, weights are added and it is time to weigh in again. And the verdict is.....

Perfect it is ready to race.

Here are some of the cars that have already been passed through inspection. These kids go all out and create some amazing cars.

Jerrin's is the Red car with the black stripe on the far right.

Todd, the official start man, is getting Jerrin's car ready to race.

Everything looks good!

Watching nervously, only to come in a bit behind.

Even though Jerrin's car did not do quite as well as he would have liked and he didn't win a race, all in all he could still smile. Each year we learn something new to bring back to our car next year. Great job Jerrin, we are still very proud of you for giving it your best. Love you.

Regional Bowling Tourney -- Go Warriors!!!!

Here they are the Warriors. Jerrin decided to invite his team to bowl with him at the Regional Youth Bowling Tournament in Enderlin. These kids bowl together every week in our youth league and have grown to be a pretty good team. The tournament was held over two days. The first day they bowled SIX games, as they bowled the single and doubles events. The kids were pretty tired after the day, since they are use to bowling TWO games a week in league.

Jerrin was a bit nervous since this was the first tournament that he had ever bowled in. Even thought nerves were high he did a great job and improved each and every game.

I think they may be doing some strategizing here.

After the first day both doubles teams and each of the singel bowlers were on the leader board. Not bad for their first tourney.

This photo was taken after the first day and by the smiles on their faces I think they will be coming back again.

Great job Warriors and good luck at State!!!! (if we can make it work out) Can't wait to hear how you did overall.

Gracie's Skateland Party

Our year started with a pretty big event, Gracie Rae's birthday. It is hard to believe that our little ball of fire is already seven years old. We did not have a "friends" party in kindergarten, so we decided to give it a try this year. Gracie chose to celebrate her big day at Skateland. I have to admit that at first I thought she was crazy, but it turned out to be a very fun day. I have to thank two moms for staying just until we got everyone's skates tied up tight. I kind of forgot that might take us awhile. Needless to say I didn't get any snap shots of that process, although I wish I had.

Here is the birthday girl.

Here are 7 of the 10 kids that enjoyed the afternoon. If you have never been to Skateland, they have one whole wall that is lined with a sitting bench. Great place to take a break with some friends and catch your breath.

Our afternoon started with an hour of skating. After about an hour, Gracie's name was announced over the loudspeaker and everyone sang Happy Birthday. They then called us back to the birthday room.

Our helper was great and had everything we needed for a perfect lunch. Each child had a place setting already set with a hotdog, cupcake, ice cream cup, and a glass of pop. (This was mom's favorite part, because there was virtually no cleanup or mess. MOM LOVED IT!!!!!)

Now it was time for presents and Gracie made a haul.

Thanks to everyone who gave her a gift. She is truly a lucky girl to have friends like all of you.

This guy's birthday was going to be on the following Saturday, so he thought that we needed to get a photo of him with a birthday hat on too. The funny is, he was going to be celebrating his big day with Mickey and Minnie at Disney. We hope you had a fun day too.

The birthday kids.

Great friends

The girls of the party

and the boys.

Thanks to great kids and place to be, we all had a wonderful time. Happy Birthday Gracie Rae.

We love you.