Eli's 5th Birthday

My baby turned 5 on November 4th. This year he got to enjoy 3 birthday parties. First was the one in Sioux Falls which all these pictures are from. We got to stay at a hotel with a small water park in it which was the perfect size for the boys cause the pool didn't get over 3 foot deep. He enjoyed a Hulk cake and even got a new bigger bike from Grandpa & Mimi Spoo. Next he had a small birthday party at our house on his actual birthday "Election Day". Nick and I felt so bad the day before we were talking about going and voting and Eli started to cry cause he thought that we were going to have to vote all day and wouldn't be able to spend his birthday with him at all. That evening we had Grandpa & Mimi Spoo and Grandpa & Grandma Hanson come out for lasagna and jello cake. He enjoyed having a small little party. That weekend his favorite present arrived. His aunt Liz flew back from Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday along with our niece Aubrey's birthday which is the 10th. Liz has always been home during Isaac's birthday in the summer and this year was the first year that Eli asked Liz why she never comes home for his birthday so it just happened that it worked out for her. Eli was so excited to get that as a present.. even Isaac said it was the best present ever even though it wasn't his birthday. Those boys have a special bond with their Aunt Lizzie they love her dearly as they do the rest of their aunt & uncles.

He was also excited that he got to celebrate his birthday with Aubrey. The boys absolutely love their cousins. They have a special bond with them too. They take such good care of Aubrey and when Imrie gets older they will enjoy her even more! It was so nice to get a chance to spend a whole weekend with the whole family! We are all looking forward to Christmas when we will all be together again!

Family Pictures

The morning after Halloween we headed out to Sioux Falls to celebrate Eli's birthday with my parents and brother and sister-in-law. We first started off eating at Chuckie Cheese per Eli's request. Then we meet my brother and sister-in-law at Falls Park so my brother could take family pictures for us. We had a great time and the boys really liked being able to climb on the rocks and the tower. They turned out great and it was so nice that my brother was able to do them. It is great to have a great photographer in the family! Thanks Joe! Here are a few samples of our pics.

Halloween

It has been a real long time since I have blogged so I thought today was a perfect day to start. Halloween was a very busy day being it on Friday. Isaac was the red power ranger and Eli was Bumblebee from Transformers. Both boys had Halloween parties and then it was time for trick or treating. We started at my parents house and then went around their neighborhood like we do every year. When we started going around we got done with 3 houses and Isaac decided that he had enough and didn't want to go any farther. So Eli & I kept going and he ended up with a lot of candy. We told Isaac it was sad that his younger brother out did him this year. After we were all done around there the boys helped my mom hand out candy at her house and then we were off to see Nick's grandma at the nursing home. She was very delighted to see us and of course spoiled the boys with LOTS of candy since not too many kids come to the nursing home to trick or treat. We then headed out to Nick's parents and again they were spoiled and we had supper with them. The boys were exhausted and in fact fell asleep on the way home.

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight we decided that we would carve our pumpkins. The boys were really excited to do it. Isaac enjoyed digging his pumpkin guts out and Eli thought it was alright at first and then he decided he wasn't too thrilled about the feel of the guts! So he went to watch Nick working on his pumpkin and I finished gutting his pumpkin. Nick and Eli carved his pumpkin and Isaac & I worked on his. The boys had a really fun time. Nick even got into it carving the third pumpkin and cutting out a snowmobile. He thought he was pretty awesome being able to do that!

Eli was checking out how their pumpkin was turning out with his dad at the knife!This is Isaac and my finished product! Isaac actually did most of the carving of this pumpkin!Eli was so very proud of his pumpkin. Him and his dad did such a great job!Here is the finished products the first being Isaac's, middle is Nick's snowmobile, & the last is Eli's pumpkin! We all had so much fun and the pumpkins stayed lit the whole night and the boys are really looking forward to trick or treating. Tomorrow I will post trick or treating pictures!!

Nature Walk

The other night my friend Tara had invited us to go with her and her family to the Emmet County Nature Center which was hosting a Creatures of the Night Nature Walk. It was pretty cold and rainy but we decided to brave it out and go anyway cause we knew the boys would think it was pretty interesting. So our walk was scheduled for 6:25. We meet Tara and her family there and waited for our turn to go on the walk. You started and meet your group at a bonfire and they gave all the kids glow sticks. We then walked into the woods and learned about different animals.

Our first stop we learned about the horned owl and got a chance to feel its wings and hold an owl foot. The boys were a little unsure at first about touching it they left their gloves on to touch. After the lady was done telling us about the owl we moved on further into the woods and our next stop we learned about the white tailed deer. The boys got to touch antlers and deer jaws. This time they took their gloves off to actually take a feel. They thought that was pretty awesome. They got to hear the sounds of a fawn, doe, & buck and what it sounds like when to bucks are fighting and hitting their antlers together. They were impressed. The third stop we learned about raccoons. The kids thought that stop was hilarious and laughed and are still talking about what the people talked about while pretending to be raccoons. They liked how they were going to have dessert at the trash can! Our last stop was a bat stop. The two guys we up in a tree and at that point it was really dark so we could only see small lights in the tree and barely the outline of the gentlemen. They found that interesting too but still the raccoon stop was their favorite.

We then walked out of the woods and back to the bonfire to end our journey. It was then time for us to go. The 4 of us got back in the with shoes covered in mud and coats wet from rain but decided it was all worth it. The boys had so much fun and actually learned and remember what they were taught.

Nascar Experience

Nick & I were fortunate enough to get to finally go to a Nascar race. We got tickets this past weekend and went off for a great weekend with our friends Dan & Amber. The weekend was perfect. The weather was fantastic in the upper 80's and we had so much fun! We got to Kansas City on Friday nite around midnight. We were all excited we got to sleep in on Saturday morning but we were at the race track by 10:00 that morning. We spent the whole day there and left the speedway around 6:00. We then went to a dirt track race were we meet a guy who sponsered the race that nite and he took us in the pits and we meet some of those drivers and saw there rigs and what a hauler really looks like inside. We even saw Carl Edwards brother and Kenny Wallace. We left before Carl Edwards made is presence there. We left the dirt track around 9:30 and headed for supper. We made it back to the hotel around 11 and headed to bed cause we had to be up and at um early to get to the track for the big race by 8:30.

We had a lot of fun walking around by the speedway and having fun tailgating a little. We went into the speedway in time to see driver introductions and seeing the guys drive by in convertibles and actually getting to see Dale Jr. and the other guys up close!!! The race was awesome and we had tons of fun.. Watching it on t.v. and watching it live is a totally different experience. The only thing I missed about watching it on t.v. was the instant replay, other than that live is so much cooler :). We left the track around 5ish and made it to Paullina around 11 to drop off Dan & Amber and then we treked it home. Nick and I finally got home and into bed around 1:00am Monday. We had tons of fun, in fact we are already looking at going to the Las Vegas race in March to experience it all over again!



Amber and I on our way to Kansas City on Friday nite. We finally arrived at our hotel around midnight. The ride down was fun and went by really fast. Probably helped to be able to chat all the way down there with a best friend :)

This is a picture of the Nationwide cars waiting to start the race on Saturday. It was really neat to get to see how it all goes on race day!
Amber & I during the Nationwide race!!!
You guessed it... the boy in white is none other than the man, Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was so awesome to get to see him that close! Now if I would have only gotten the chance to actually meet him the weekend would have been absolutely perfect. Maybe next time :)
Here is a picture of all the cars lined up getting ready to start their engines.

Here is Dale Jr. just pulling off of pit road getting ready to start!

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity Boys Lets Go Racing!!!

Amber & I on our way home from Kansas City on Sunday. We were all exhausted but we had such a great time! We ended up arriving back to Estherville and in our beds at 1:00am Monday morning. Lets just say Monday at preschool and all day was a real struggle. But let me tell you it was completely worth it and I would do it again in a heart beat!

Eli's First Day of Preschool!!!

Well today Eli finally got to start preschool for the year. Eli's day started with an early morning at 6:00am having to get up and head to my mom's. Nick had to leave around 5:45 this morning and I wanted to be at the preschool at around 6:30 to make sure everything was all set and ready to go before the children got there at 8. So I wrapped him in a blanket and took him into my moms. He got to enjoy a bath and then breakfast with Mimi and Isaac! Mimi & Isaac actually got to bring him to school today and he seemed to like the fact that he got his picture taken with his big brother on his first day of school!!! This is Eli's second year of preschool so he knew the ropes and the preschool very well. Last year he was in a class of 7 ad this year he is in a class of 16. So needless to say he was a little shocked when he walked into the preschool and saw all the children. He had a great day and did so well despite being tired from the concert the night before! he meet a lot of knew friends and enjoyed the day. I say he has the best teacher in the world... since he has me :)!!!