Grandpa Glen & Grandma Sharon Visit

I had a quick work trip to Crandon in January so Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Glen came to help hold down the fort. Our big kids love grandparent visits! They get spoiled rotten with things like warm cookies after school! 

 

Grandpa and Grammy took Leo to run errands while the other kids were at school. Our babe is quite the wiggle worm these days! Grandma assured me that Leo was buckled into the cart but still managed to do a 180 in the seat. Hahaha!

It is so nice to have a Dad who is an electrician!! :) He has done many house projects for us over the years. On this day Dad put an outlet in our living room floor. This was a much needed change in a room that has pretty poor lighting.

On this day Grandpa Glen has a little apprentice at his side.

Doing electrical work is exhausting so the boys needed a nap afterwards! ;)

Big thanks to Grammy for walking the kiddos to their bus stop in the mornings. 

One of the highlights of the week was a trip to Menomonie to have breakfast with Uncle Glen on Friday morning. Mom, Dad, and I met up with Glen for a pretty amazing truck stop breakfast and lots of coffee. A little bit of breakfast pie may or may not have been consumed as well. So good to catch up with Uncle, glad that we are living just down the road these days. 

You can tell that Mom and Glen are siblings, right?! What a fun morning. 

MLK Weekend

We had some bad weather and January snowstorm going into MLK weekend but everything died down by Saturday afternoon and we were able to head over to Roseville for our planned visit with the Cihacek family.

We packed a car picnic and drove to MN. 

We spent the afternoon at the pool at the Shoreview Community Center. Look at how beautiful this facility is! The kids were so excited! The pool even had a big waterslide where you could choose the music that you wanted to play while you zipped down. It was such a fun place and we can't wait to go back. 

Other than that, we read books.

Roman is such a goofball.

We had ice cream together.

And the kiddos enjoyed a movie night.

The little boys talked to the dogs and hung on the gate.

 

Look at how big they are getting and how much more hair Neal has compared to Leo!

We painted and crafted in our jammies.

And went back to Wisconsin with full hearts. 

January Happenings

We spent much of our January cheering on our beloved Packers! Here are my boys in their Sunday best! ;) Leo is even holding onto Roman's Packer colored stuffed Hodag in this pic. 

 

I made Packers chili which just means that I use green and yellow peppers. My kids still decline to eat it! Hah!

Lucy spent time at High Rollers skating away her Sunday afternoons in January. Here she is with her friend Shylo. :) Until we moved to Eau Claire I kind of forgot how much I used to love Carousel Skate as a kid! Just like the skating rink in Sioux Falls, High Rollers has crazy carpet, snacks, arcade games, carpeted walls, and a big disco ball. Good stuff.

I sat back and enjoyed the game in my cool new shoes!

Our friend Jason and his son Llewyn visited us; they came all the way from Alaska to pick up a sweet new pup. These guys have a sweet English Setter Birkie that was Scout's cousin! 

What a precious pup! After just a few minutes of holding this cutie, I was already wanting another dog! No worries, I quickly talked myself out of my puppy-fever craziness.

But look at how cute she is nibbling on your ears!

Be still my heart!! Babies and Puppies! These two were so cute together - Leo was still not walking at this point so they were crawling around the house all evening.

What else happened in January? Well, Roman pretended that he was trapped in a cage with zebras. Haha! Lucy went to a birthday party at a waterpark and Roman put on quite a performance for all of the 2nd grade girls in the party room.

The big kids started an art class at UW-Eau Claire on Saturday mornings this winter. It was so much fun! I love these colorful balloons.

I love it when my kids curl up on the couch and read books.

I also love it when they play outside. :) They made this cool snowman with blackberry eyes.

Leo played dress up - his older sister and brother think that it is hilarious to put him in a princess dress. LOL!

Lucy brought her list of 2020 resolutions home from school. 

Leo's resolutions included learning to walk and drinking melted ice cream from a bowl. You can check that one off the list!

We take Ranger to the dog park to play regardless of the season. He loves to run around in the snow!

I took the boys to play at the YMCA family night at the Sports Center (Lucy was playing with a different friend).

Leo loved all of the new toys at his fingertips!

Roman was a big fan of the bounce house (and the concessions!)

Love spending time with my crew!