December Days

We had some great December days this holiday season. 

This is Leo in his happy spot - eating at Cancun after church. Kids eat free on Sundays ;)

Can you tell that he demands his own lil bowl of salsa?

These two love decorating Christmas cookies.

I mean look how cute they turned out?

 

December is middle school swim meet season so we spent many days cheering Lucy on at the Northstar pool.

Back at the ranch we worked on our annual gingerbread house build. 

This set came with little characters to decorate as well. 

I know I have said this before but will state again for the record, buying the preassembled house is 100% worth the investment!! Haha!

Here is the finished product! 

Dan and Roman came back from their pheasant hunting adventures and Leo was eager to be part of the processing effort. He thought that the bird legs were especially cool.

Leo collected coins for a holiday donation drive at his elementary school. 

He loves wearing a Santa hat during the month of December. Snuggling with a dog and reading a book are two of his favorite things.

Dan spent time in the woods, gotta deer hunt at every possible opportunity. ;)

I took these three out for some Christmas fun.

First up, we stopped by Ramone's Ice Cream for their seasonal Grinch event. What a cool treat! 

Next was the Pablo Center where they had a cute area for photo ops.

We had tickets to see the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra perform the Magic of Christmas. 

It was a wonderful show - we heard some beautiful holiday music! Sadly Dan was out of town on a work trip but the rest of our crew really enjoyed it. 

Love this festive time of year!

Early December Updates

Here are some early December scenes from the Storm household.

You know that we adore Hamilton around here and this love has trickled down to Leo. I found this notebook and it cracked me up! Here are all of his favorite songs from the musical all listed out. Gotta love that he even includes (reprise) in some of the titles. This kid clearly knows how to ask Alexa for what songs he wants! ;) 

The big kids worked on manager dioramas at church - so fun!

The L's, Grandma and I went to see the Nutcracker ballet at the Pablo Center. There were some opportunities for crafting in the lobby so Leo made a fun little snowflake.

Also in the lobby - fun Christmas decor! Leo's favorites included the K-Pop Demon Hunters and Packers themed trees.

We found our seats and settled in for the show! 

It was such a wonderful evening - this show always puts me in the Christmas spririt.

Where were the other members of our family you ask? In South Dakota pheasant hunting!

Ranger and Roman were in their happy spot. 

These guys had the best time with the Storm uncles and cousins.

Lots of memories made!

Roman loved spending time with his grandpa and the crew.

Back at the ranch we feasted on Nachos Navidad.

My lil helper and I worked swim meet concessions.

Leo went to a movie with Grandma Nola - Zootopia 2. Lucy was feeling a bit under the weather on this weekend so that is why she is not really pictured here! 

The kiddos worked on ornament creation at Grandma's house.

They helped decorate her tree too!

Our beloved elf made his annual appearance for the month of December! The older kiddos take great care of moving this guy around our house and setting up his activities. ;) It brings everyone a lot of joy.

Elf management is one of the greatest benefits of the 5.5 and 7 year age gap between the bigs and Leo! 

Our mischievous lil elf put googly eyes on some of our family pictures and it made me laugh so hard!! This photo of baby Roman is right outside of Leo's room so I had to suppress my cackling and I had literally had tears running down my face! Bhaha!

Leo took the eyes off of the picture in the morning and wanted to walk around the house looking like a goofball.

Season's Greetings!

Thanksgiving 2025

You guys, I have been on this Earth for 40+ Thanksgivings and for the very first time, I signed up with my crew to do a Turkey Trot for the holiday. 

It was a very chilly morning and I was regretting my life decisions but we warmed up in the YMCA before making our way to the Start Line.

We were ready to run! In my case, walk/jog/run - Haha!

This kiddo was NOT in a mood to participate so most of the trot was spent encouraging / carrying Leo. Ai yi yi

He and I were lapped by sister who was part of the 5 mile run! Lucy happily reported that she passed her gym teacher on the route. You go girl!

We made it to the finish line!! Whew! Leo was thrilled to be done and glad to meet up with cousin who happily participated in the race. ;)

No better way to start the day, right!?! 

Thankful to be in a warm house, surrounded by family and good food, watching a parade, dog show and football like the Lord intended. ;)

Lucy is the queen of clever charcuterie boards.

Yum - dinner of champions!

Here is the Storm Family - just look at how tall Roman is this year!

Awww!! Love these cutie grandkids!

These 2 goofballs always have a good time together.

How do we feel about Dan's mustache? I am on the fence ... ;)

In addition to the delicious Turkey day food - we had other treats like monkey bread for breakfast. Good thing that we all did that turkey trot! ;)

Of course the ladies did some thrifting. Nola spotted a nice winter sweater for Daniel, it is a rare find to stumble across a men's TALL so we quickly scooped it up upon getting his approval via text. 

And look at this precious crossstitch! Someone spent hours working on this hunting / outdoor craft back in 1984 and it was on sale for just a few dollars 40 years later ... I fell in love with it at first sight and promised it a nice new home. 

The ladies also went to the Wicked For Good movie - what a treat! 

You better believe that we went to Chippewa Falls to see all of the lights at Irvine Park.

This is always a holiday favorite for the kiddos {And adults!}. On this day there was a 4H group onsite with hot drinks and cookies too - jackpot!!

My Lucy has always adored the Nutcracker story.

Here is Lucy next to our favorite festive rodent - zoom in and check out his name tag. GLEN! ;)

We celebrated our November girl's birthday - check out the colors, you know we had to embrace the Wicked theme!

Our best girl wanted sushi for supper.

Love our 14 year old!

Lucy will always be the queen of all of the boys on the Storm side of the family!

She had been wanting a 'non-candy' Advent calendar and Uncle Brad delivered with this fun one filled with baking items.

We did some Christmas Bingo.

And other games too!

We had to celebrate Uncle Brad's birthday too! Just look at all of those nephews and niece who love him to pieces. 

In other weekend activities we got our Christmas tree! We were in need of a new tree stand so we made our way to Menards - Leo adores their Xmas space.

Look at what I spotted in their Christmas village section - a dang casino!! Good grief. 

My big kids went back to the theater to see Wicked for Good - one of them for a second time. ;)

We got our Christmas tree situated! {Those are fake dress up glasses but the way}

Love setting up the tree - one of the happiest days of the year!

Bring on the holiday season!