Merry Christmas!

What a great day we have had!  Happy Birthday Jesus!!

We were able to sleep in until 5:00 am and then I heard the sounds of little feet running up and down the stairs.  By the time Payton and Carson got to my room they had already counted the number of presents under the tree that had their names on them!  :)

I made them brush their teeth and we got Aidan up and headed downstairs to open gifts.  I am so overwhelmed at how blessed we are.  As I was watching our kids open gifts and Mike video tape them I had to almost pinch myself to realize that this really is my life...I have such amazing kids and a great husband. There is no place I would have rather been this morning.  The kids were a lot of fun opening their gifts.  I do have a funny story about Aidan.  As all three were opening their very first present Aidan realized Payton and Carson each got a cool toy.  When he opened his box and saw there was an outfit in it...he just looked at it...head bowed down.  He wouldn't look up, wouldn't touch the box and wouldn't talk to us....  Reading his mind was easy....  "Santa...I just got jipped!"  We made sure he had toy in the next one and he was much happier!

We had non home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast :) and enjoyed opening box after box and trying to figure out what to do with all of the garbage.  We had a great lunch of ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy (for the kids), corn, Grandma Betty's home made mac and cheese and rolls.  All of it was so yummy!

We headed out in the afternoon for some sledding fun but it was way too cold to stay out long!

All in all we had a fabulous day and I am looking forward to a week at home with the kiddos!

Merry Christmas to all and God Bless!
Becca

 Time to open the stockings!!

Do you think she likes it??  

A remote control Thomas the Train??  What more could a three year old ask for?

Carson and some of his loot!

Decorating some yummy cookies!

Payton having fun decorating too!

Where did November go?

I realize it has been forever and a day since I last posted!  I am not even going to try to catch up on items missed!  :)

We are settling into Dassel and really loving the town, people, schools and location!  We feel very, very blessed and I can not put into words how happy we are!

Christmas is coming and we are READY!  We are very excited to be getting a real Christmas tree this year. We are going to go to a tree farm tomorrow and actually cut our tree down ourselves.  It sounds like they also have reindeer and Santa will be visiting!  I am not sure how much Payton and Carson really still believe in Santa but they don't ask and I don't offer any info!

Yesterday our elf "Chris" sent the kids a letter in the mail.  Payton was so excited and read the letter and re-read the letter.  I have been busy on pinterest getting fun ideas for Chris this Christmas season...I have a feeling we have a very mischievous elf on our hands!

The kids have a crazy busy schedule and it does get hectic at times.  I wouldn't have it any other way though.  I love that they are involved in so many things and enjoy being involved.

Payton has joined a gymnastics gym in a neighboring town and spends 10 hours every week there.  It is a lot of dedication but it is absolutely amazing at what she has learned!  Every practice seems to bring out something new or perfected.  She loves it and it is a great opportunity for her.

Carson played summer baseball, football in the fall and will not start wrestling.  He will have his first meet on Sunday.  I am bummed it is on Sunday because I love low key Sunday days but I am glad that it will be a meet I actually get to go to.  I won't be able to make many due to Payton's gymnastics schedule.

Aidan is in pre-school and is loving it.  He talks about his friends often and loves when we go somewhere and he sees them outside of pre-school.  He is talking non stop and constantly reminds me of a little man.  His new word is "actually" and he throws it in whenever he can weather it is in context or not!  he loves following big brother Carson around and tries to not irritate him!  :)

I am loving working from home.and am super excited I won't have to drive in the crazy winter weather this year.  It has really opened up opportunities to spend more time with the kids.

Hopefully I will be better about keeping this blog up to date!  Until next time...

Becca

Full Weekend!

We have had a very busy and exciting weekend!

Friday night Mike and Carson headed to South Dakota wrestling.  I stayed home with Payton and Aidan because it would have been too late for Aidan to be out.  Carson had a great night and earned a first place t-shirt!  He was pretty excited (as were we)!

We all got up early on Saturday and Mike took the boys wrestling while I took Payton to the Mall of America to do some American Girl shopping!  Carson had another excellent day and brought home a first place medal!

Payton and I also had a successful day of shopping!  This years AG doll of the year is McKenna Brooks - who just happens to be a gymnast!  Payton was so excited when she learned that gymnastics was involved.  We headed to the MOA to pick her up!  While we were there we had lunch in the Bistro of the AG store.  Payton also found a new favorite store called Little Miss Matched.  They have crazy socks that are sold in threes.  They all are different but go together.  Payton did get the cutest pair of boots....she has not had them off since!

Today we headed to Windom for a team wrestling tournament.  Carson was chosen as an alternate and did get to wrestle one match today.  The team brought home first place!  It was nice getting to watch all the boys wrestle today.  They work so hard and do such a good job!

Below are some pictures of our weekend!

Gymnastics Anyone?

We had a full weekend of gymnastics!  Payton had her first competition on Saturday and then her end of the year performance on Sunday.  She is on the first level of the competition team so she only has one meet.  We arrived a the gym on Saturday at 8:00 in the morning to practice for Sunday's performance.  In the mean time, Mike took Carson and Aidan to a wrestling tournament in St. James. We were done with the practice at 10:00 but only had a one hour break before we had to be back to the gym for warm ups for Saturday's event.  Warm ups started at 11 and went to 1:00 with the competition starting at 1:30.  Payton was extremely nervous but once she got started with her warm ups and getting the feel for things you could tell she was having fun.

Mike ended up getting to Payton's competition late due to the high volume of wrestlers.  Carson placed second only missing first place by a one point loss in his final match.  So proud of him and how much better he is getting!!

Payton did so great as well and I was so proud of her.  It is hard to describe the feeling you have as a parent watching your child accomplish huge things.  The competition didn't get over until 5:30 and we were ready to get out of the gym!!  BUT...we turned around on Sunday and went back!  Mike's parents came to watch her performance on Sunday and then we all went out for ice cream afterward.

By this time, our weekend was over!  Crazy times in the gym!!

Here are some pics of Payton at her performance:

Annie sporting her new leo!\

 Payton Amundson!!

Happy New Year!

Well, let's hope that I am able to update our blog a little more frequently than I did last year!

Payton had gymnastics practice on Saturday until noon and then we headed to Ames for the Rickey family Christmas.  We got there late but still got to see lots of family and the kids enjoyed opening a few more gifts!  We actually were able to stay up until midnight this year!  Payton made it until 11:30 and she just couldn't take it any more.  I think this is the first time in many years I have made it that late!  LOL!

We woke up on Sunday morning and had more present opening with the Amundsons.  Payton and Carson were introduced to Hex Bugs and they are addicted!  We were done opening gifts around 10 or 11 and Carson played with them non stop for the rest of the day!  They are fun to watch and he got enough pieces that he can make multiple different sets for them.  Payton got a cool pink BB gun and it is super cute!  It came with matching pink safety glasses too!

Great Grandpa Rickey and Aunt Martha came over for lunch and it was nice catching up with them.  It seems like time always goes by so quickly and you don't get to chat as long as you would like!  Mike actually woke up sick on Sunday morning.  He apparently had a touch of the flu and was out of commission.  He was feeling better by Monday morning and none of the rest of us ended up getting sick.  We headed back home on Monday in time to unload, get a little organized and get the kids ready to go back to school!

Today was the first day back for them.  They were so tired when I picked them up today.  Carson had an appointment to get his allergy shots so we headed there right after school and then he had a quick snack and he and Mike headed to wrestling practice.

Payton has dance tomorrow and Mike is driving in the car pool.  I signed up to take a class on "extremely good couponing".  I don't necessarily want to be like some of the people on TV but am really interested to see how people -- real people...in a small town -- are able to save so much money.  I am pretty excited about it.  I also signed Payton up for a duct tape class where she can learn how to make different things out of tape!

We are preparing for Payton's first gymnastics competition this weekend.  In the past she has participated in performances but nothing where she was actually scored and competed with other girls.  She is pretty nervous (as am I) but I am so proud of her and can't wait to see how it goes!

We hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2012!  I know we have several things we are looking forward to this year!

I heart Aidan!  :)

A pretty mean game of monopoly!

Guess who won???

Hi Sweet Aidan!

Carson's new obsession!

Yes ladies and gents...it is PINK!!

Hexbug fun is ON!

Great PaPa Rickey and Carson

Carson and sweet baby Grace

This box proved to be lots of fun!

Aidan is excited about something!

She is a pretty good shot!  :)