Breezy Point

We got to spend a week up in Pequot Lakes at Breezy Point. My parents got a 3 bedroom, so we got to stay with them. We enjoyed sledding, skating, and swimming. We had friends over and played games. We did crafts and crafts and crafts and did i mention...crafts? ;) The kids had fun doing crafts and they have a craft room where the offer specific crafts, so i don't have to bring all the crafts!!! (Did i say "crafts" enough? :) )Allison, Ellie, Amelie, Isaac, Linda and Bob were also up at Breezy Point the same week. The kids played with Ellie quite a bit and LOVED that. We had them over for supper and played some great games. Elephant ready was really fun and the kids could play too. Later we played Would you Rather and Linda beat us all ;) We played BINGO with the resort and everyone won, it was the highlight of their day. When asked, the kids said their favorites was playing with Ellie, making crafts, swimming and winning in BINGO. I see on their list was missing..hanging out with my cool mom and dad ;) It was a great week!

Amelie's fun toys!

The kids doing a performance for us!

The kids winnings

Sydney learned to swim all by herself...without a life jacket, with flippers and a snorkle

Amelie loved the water slide

We're not proud

There is really nothing else to say...we're not proud! :)

Sheppard Christmas

At Ben and Deanna's house, we played a lot of games together. We worked on Soduko a lot, watched movies, played with the kids, read books, went on an adult date without the kids (that's mom and dad!) and ate WAY to much food! The cousins played really good together and were sad to see the weekend end. We wish we lived closer to them so we could spend more time together.

Gramps...getting the kids all crazy, then calming them down with a book

Jacob went downstairs to sleep with the kids on the floor...or on them!
New Year's Eve - games, movies and wine (non-alcoholic ;) )

Our first picture of the year!

Arlie trying to sleep in on New Year's Day
Fists
Gramps
Jacob in the wrapping paper
Sydney hiding
Momma and Son
Sydney and Uncle Ben

Gingerbread house?...

Every year we try to build a gingerbread house as a family. This year..we got the kit...set aside the night...and hmmm....it just didn't work right. The icing wasn't sticking hard enough so everything kept falling. Some of the pieces were broken and didn't want to be fixed. We tried to set it and leave it in hopes we could decorate later. The next day we ended up throwing it away! No house this year...that must mean we build a bigger one next year!

Sledding Cousins

The weekend of New Years, we got to spend Christmas with my family down at my brothers place. We got down there on New Years Eve and immediately brought the kids out sledding. They had been sitting in the car for a long ride and needed to get some energy out...and the rest of the weekend was going to be VERY cold. We walked several blocks over to a school and across a field with about a foot of snow. Soft snow that sunk up to our knees. We finally got to the hill and us adults were tired. Luckily the kids still had enough energy to sled.

Being the only girl pays off...notice who is walking and who is being pulled

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Arlie trying to "snowboard" on the sled.

Ben taking Arlie down...just like two little kids.

And they are down....

Ben jumping over the posing kids

Reindeer

Sydney made "reindeer" food at school. They said if she put it out on Christmas Eve, Santa would come for sure because the reindeer would smell it. So...Christmas Eve, she threw it out in the snow. Amazingly...Santa came with 1 gift! That's all our Santa brings...mom and dad give most of the gifts :)

BentleyVille Light Show

After leaving Duluth, we stopped at a really amazing light display called Bentleyville. They had free hot chocolate, cookies and popcorn. They had all these bonfires that you could cook free smores. They had Santa's reindeer and Santa along with Mrs. Claus. There was Ice Skating there...you probably could spend hours hanging out there. Being Christmas lights are one of my favorite things...I LOVED IT!!!

Sydney and Jordan had to help Mrs. Claus hold her basket while she put on her gloves. They were great helpers and the envy of many of the children.