Christmas with the Bindls

As promised here are some more pics from Christmas. This time from the Bindl side.

Below are pics of the boys with aunt Lisa and Laura.

They love being silly together.

Jacob and Evan love both grandma Jean and grandpa Tom. However, Jacob usually gravitates to grandma and Evan to grandpa.

Christmas Adventures

Christmas week was none stop activity for the Bindl family. The boys and Nate first went to spend some Christmas time with his side of the family while I worked. Then we all headed up to Minnesota for Christmas with my family. Next it was off to Green Bay for Nate and I while Nate's aunt Carol took on the challenge of our boys (or Jacob). It was a great time in Green Bay with Nate's family, but it reminded me that I am not in my 20's anymore! I am hoping to share some pictures from Nate's side of the family as soon as I get them.

I'm sure you've heard me say it before but this was the first time in seven years that we have been able to make it to Minnesota on Christmas, so I was very excited. Thankfully we made it there before the really bad weather started. The snow on Christmas was thick and wet, perfect for our first snowman. I failed to bring the boys boots and snow pants so we had to improvise with wool socks and plastic bags. But, boys will be boys. They spent more time throwing snowballs at me with their dad then actually helping make the snowman.

Evan, Jabari, Jacob
(Jacob was not being very cooperative when it came to picture time)

Grandma, grandpa, Jasmine, Evan, Jacob, Jabari, Arbrianna and Asia
(Seriously Jacob... so stubborn!)

Santa

Santa came to the Verona library last night. I have to say it was the most pleasant Santa experience yet. The only glitch was that the boys saw Santa get out of his CAR in the parking lot. Come on Santa! At least park in the side lot. We ended up telling the boys that the reindeer were tired after flying to American Family and Walmart and then to the library. (all the places they have spotted Santa). I guess it was partly my fault because of my need to be early to everything... I was just trying to avoid standing in line.

I may never understand why my loud, energetic, assertive boy becomes so shy and nervous when adults talk to him. If you look closely he is nervously playing with his shirt.

Attention Stampers

(I found this idea in Parents or Parenting magazine.) Use the stamps that you once made cards with. Roll out play-doh and then stamp... no ink! The pictures come out nice and you don't have the mess of ink to clean up. This kept Evan busy for quite awhile today.

Our little man

Evan had his 2nd professional haircut this weekend. We wondered why he didn't move an inch the whole time... after looking at this picture we realized that he was terrified because a ghost was cutting his hair.

Santa and Rudolph

Last year I made all of the Christmas cookies while the boys were at daycare. This year I gave up control and let the boys make them. Santa and Rudolph nutter butters. They are getting pretty good so maybe next year they can make all the other cookies too.

Round Two

Nate and Jacob made a little snow fort our second time outside today. When they went to shovel some more Evan and I took advantage of it. The cave gave us a break from the blowing snow.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Stay home and enjoy the snow day!

American Family Christmas breakfast

It's that time of year again. The annual American Family Christmas breakfast. After staying awake all night at work and then eating a huge breakfast, I was pretty much sleep walking. The boys had a good time though. They met Santa, Rudolph and Frosty. Jacob was most excited to meet the Tooth Fairy. He was in awe of her. (I'm not quite sure why the tooth fairy was there).

The boys insisted on wearing the same shirt.

Thankful Turkeys and Tasty Turkeys

This year I wanted the boys to think more about Thanksgiving and being thankful. So we made Thankful Turkeys. I asked each of them what they were thankful for and wrote it on the turkey feathers. I think it will be interesting to see how their answers change each year.

Evan is thankful for: Dinosaur Train, grandmas and grandpas, family, Jaxy Baxy(our kitten), McQueen and Dinoco and Mean McGreen (cars), and his Buster, Freddy and blanket.
As Jacob said he is 'thank you' for: Super Why (tv), Jax (kitten), grandmas and grandpas, people's houses (friends), Dinosaur Train (more tv), and lastly Music and Dancing.

After the boys were thankful I decided to let them have fun with Tasty Turkeys. I saw these turkeys online and thought they would be fun to make. Surprisingly it was a very kid friendly project. They were able to do almost everything. Their motivation to listen was being able to pick a turkey to eat when we finished. MMM!

Cowboys and Pirates?

We found some clearance Halloween tees for 50 cents. A cowboy and a pirate.

Kind of cheesy shirts but the boys played all evening.

It might be hard to keep them from wanting to where them out of the house.

Trick or Treat

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Aunt Laura was here to Trick or Treat with us. During the day we went to Hilldale for the boys to enjoy some music and Trick or Treating in the warm indoors. Then at night the boys ran their little hearts out. Since we still don't have many houses in our neighborhood we decided to crash a near-by neighborhood. I'm sure a couple people were thinking... who are the pirates with Scooby-Do?

We, I mean the boys, made out nicely! We enjoyed stuffing our faces with candy in front of the fire when we got home.

Jacob was a little more into character than Evan was.

Evan didn't want to have any facial hair.

Jacob wanted to give Scooby-Do a try.

Pumpkins

Hard to tell they are brothers in this picture. Why is it so hard to get a nice smile at the same time?

Mr. Potato Head meet Mr. Pumpkin Head. The boys had just as much fun decorating these pumpkins without all the mess.


A Pirate pumpkin to match the boys Halloween costumes this year.

Halloween Treats

It's that time again! This year we switched from spider cookies to spider cupcakes. A little more work than I anticipated but they turned out cute. The boys had fun helping me add the finishing touches (eyes and nose).

What are you looking at?

Time to dig in!

Eugsters

We went to Eugsters this weekend to get our pumpkins and apples. Weather was not on our side this year. Last year I remember being hot but this year we were freezing. There were moments when the wind would stop and the sun would shine through, but they didn't last long.

We still had a good time visiting the animals, picking our pumpkins, and drinking some hot chocolate. The boys enjoyed feeding the goats the most.

Jax

Meet Jax, our newest member of the family. We picked up Jax on Sunday night. He is cute and little.... and meowed all night long! I think he misses his mommy. Things are already better today so I am hoping for a little sleep tonight.

Evan has been sick for awhile now..... transitioning to diarrhea over the weekend. (Sorry again mom) Jax actually sat nicely on his lap, he must know Evan is under the weather.

Weekend in MN

This past weekend we headed to MN. We took the boys to underwater world at the Mall of America. We all loved it. We were able to see many different fish and sharks as they swam all around us. Very cool. Then grandma and grandpa Dohman babysat so Nate and I could have a belated 5 year anniversary celebration. We spent a night away and had dinner, drinks, and a comedy show. We loved every second of it. Thanks mom and dad!

In the shark tank.

My treasures!