Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had lunch at the farm with the Haekenkamp's and dinner in Hopkins with the Frerick's. As usual we ate too much!

At 9:30pm Thanksgiving night, Mommy, Auntie Jen and Auntie Mandi headed out to start shopping! The night started at Toys R Us where the line to get in was down the side walk to the end of the building, out the parking lot to the street and partway down the side walk! It was CRAZY! We had to stand out side for 45 minutes in negative degree windchills. The good news is we got everything (and more) that we were hoping to get! After 2 hours at that store we headed to Walmart. No standing outside this time. The store was busy! The checkout lines were crazy! I think we got most of the things we were hoping for there too. We took an hour break at Auntie Jen's house before heading to Target at 2:30am. The line wasn't that long so we sat in the car for awhile. Auntie Jen stood outside for an hour and Auntie Mandi and I stood out for about 45 minutes. The Target employees brought out hot coffee and some snack cakes while we waited. Auntie Jen got her TV, Auntie Mandi got a bunch of stuff and I got my camera. Another success! The checkout at target was quick and easy. Target definately gets the award for most organized for the night! I had to go home (my curfew was 5am) so Daddy could go to work. Auntie Jen and Auntie Mandi kept shopping!

Drew had his first playdate where he stayed by himself at a friend's house on Saturday. He did well and had a great time!

The "Elf on the Shelf" showed up at our house on Friday. He is supposed to watch the kids and report to Santa each night. When he comes back from seeing Santa, he hides in a different place in the house. The kids are not supposed to touch him or he could lose his magic and not be able to report to Santa. Drew was very skeptical. We read the book so we knew who he was and what he was doing at our house. Drew thought he was too small and not real. The second day he started to believe more. He has been talking to the Elf he named "Corny" short for "Corn on the Cob" and can't wait to find him each morning. He still wants to touch him. Good thing Corny has been sitting up high everytime he comes back! Some day Drew will understand the irony of the name he chose! Joey and Dylan saw Corny for the first time today. Joey thought he would be bigger too. She also does not think he is real because she cannot see him breathing. But yet, they have been talking about him and to him all day. So cute! The behavior is a little better, but there is STILL room for improvement!

And the boy turns 5!!!

Drew and Friends(the ones that weren't afraid of Chuck E)
The cupcakes

Hungry kids!

The boy of Honor

Buddies

Drew is now 5. Hard to believe. He had his first "friend" birthday party. He chose to have it at Chuck E Cheese. The restaurant wasn't that busy so it was nice. I think everyone had a good time!

On his actual birthday, he had school in the morning and then we went to Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America. It was some sort of Somalian holiday so the park was packed. Auntie Mandi, Joey Anna, Dylan, Lucas and his Mom Juli joined us for the day. We ended the day with a "pizza picnic" in our living room.

Today Drew had his 5 year check up. He is 43 inches tall and weighs 41 pounds. The doctor talked to him about riding in a booster car seat (he still wants his harness seat) and eating the foods Mommy wants him to try (he told her he likes cat food). After he had his 2 injections (would have been 3 if he hadn't already had chicken pox) he screamed at Mommy that "it's YOUR fault!!!" and "I'm sitting in my car seat forever and eating cat food!!!" He was not too happy. We also had an incident today where he pulled a Christmas stocking holder down and it landed on his face. He has a scratch on his cheek, a cut along his nose and a scratch on the tip of his nose. The poor kid kinda had a rough day.

It's tough being 5...

The Wedding

Joey and Drew
Trying for a group photo

Our Family

one cool dude

Friday November 12th Drew was a ring bearer in Brent and Sami Haekenkamp's wedding. Joey Anna was the flower girl. Drew went down the aisle saying "Pizza delivery!" because Auntie Jen told him to hold the pillow like a pizza.

It ended up being a long weekend for Drew. We went to Faribault Mn for the rehearsal on Thursday. Friday morning we went to Drew's preschool conference (he is doing fabulous!) and then back to Faribault for the wedding. We spent the night down there. It took 2 hours instead of 1 to get home Saturday morning thanks to snow. Saturday we went to Monster Jam. Sunday we hung out with Papa for his 59Th birthday. Today is Grandma Luna's 60Th birthday. It is also Drew's last day as a 4 year old. He slept until 9:45am, but I guess it isn't a surprise with how busy he has been for the past 4 days.

Tomorrow my baby turns 5! When I hugged him and told him I don't want him to get so old, he said, "Don't worry Mommy. No matter what number I am, I'll always be your baby." I'm holding you to that buddy!

Monster Jam

Drew and Lucas in the Hot Seat
Drew and Daddy checking out a new video game

Drew and Grinder

Drew and Blue Thunder

Drew cheering for Grave Digger (with foam Grave Digger hat firmly on head)

Mommy, Daddy and Drew attended Monster Jam on Saturday night with Drew's friend Lucas and his Parent's Juli and Larry. The boys had so much fun together! They are both big Monster Jam fans. It was kind of a long day. We arrived at the "pit party" before 4pm and the show ended around 10:30pm. Drew did well though.

When we arrived back at our car after the show, Daddy realized he had lost the car keys! When we were walking towards the Metrodome, Daddy thought something fell down his leg. He was carrying Drew and it was snowing. When we crossed the street he put Drew down and checked his leg but found nothing. It was not until we went to the car to go home that he realized he had a hole in his pocket and what he had felt must have been the car keys. Daddy went back to walk the block between the ramp and where he checked his leg. This was 10:30 at night, 6 hours later! Mommy called Papa whole agreed to go to our house to get the second set of keys and bring them downtown to us. In the mean time the three of us walked the block again. Daddy and Drew went to see if they could get into HCMC to see if anyone turned in keys and Mommy went to Hubert's to check. Mommy hit the jackpot! A very kind person found them and took them there! Papa hadn't left his house yet, so that was good too. We were VERY lucky since it was snowing and windy. Those keys could have easily been buried, crushed or taken to the ramp to look for the car in which case we could have lost more than just keys!

The Birthday Season begins...

Monster Truck for Drew and Big Rig for Papa

We celebrated Drew turning 5 and Papa turning 59 with a small family lunch at Papa's house.

Halloween Fun

Drew the Cop

Painting Pumpkins

Halloween Dance

Rocking out at the Children's Museum

We had an extremely busy Halloween. We went to Halloween parties/dances at Edinborough Park, the MN Children's Museum, Medina Entertainment Center, Hopkins Legion, Lund's, Byerly's and Cub. We did some Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood with Drew's Cousin's the clown, the dinosaur and the monkey. It was fun, but once a year is fine with me!

Farmer for a Day

Drew and Jamie
Drew and Dave

How do I look?

Niiiiice

A little bigger than Simon, but still likes to be brushed!

Drew and Daddy went out to the country to play farmer for the day! One of Daddy's friends from college was nice enough to let Drew hang out with her family while they did some fall harvesting. Drew got to ride in a combine, drive the grain tractor, pick eggs, ride a pony and play with cows, chickens and cats. When he came home he was exhausted, dirty and talking a mile a minute about everything he did. The farm he went to had all Case equipment, but he had the time of his life. He also made two new friends in Dylan and Devin. I know one little boy who is sleeping with a smile on his face tonight!

Finally Friday!

Drew had a great first week of preschool. He made a new friend named Dylan. When Drew came home the first day he said, "I have a friend named Dylan and he's allergic to WHEAT!" I'm sure he does not know what that means because he made it sound exciting. I met Dylan's Mom yesterday and Dylan is autistic. The class Drew is in is an integrated class. I think Drew was happy to have a break from school today even though he loves school so far. Three days in a row was a bit much for the first week. We will adjust. It was hard getting Joey to school today. I think she is in need of a weekend too!

Not much planned for this weekend. That is fine with me!!!

1st day of Preschool 2010

1st day of preschool
locker

off to school

Joey Anna's 1st day of Kindergarten

Joey Anna's 1st day of Kindergarten

Drew had his first day of the last year of preschool today. He came home talking a mile a minute. He loves it! He had a hard time getting out of bed this morning and seems tired this afternoon, but school was a hit. His "girlfriend" Brynn is in his class again. He has 2 other little female classmates from last year in his class.
He wants to go to Broadway Pizza tonight to celebrate. Too bad their food isn't very good. He only likes it because it has the model train that goes around the restaurant.

Joey Anna started Kindergarten last week. She seems to be enjoying it too.

2nd Annual Duluth Trip

1st visit to Gooseberry Falls
Daddy and Drew on a train ride

Watching a ship go under the lift bridge

Family bike ride

Playing on the pier

Drew waited a year to go to Duluth again. I think it is his current favorite place in the world! We went in August, but looking at our blog I see I have REALLY gotten behind.

We spent a couple hours at the Alpine Coaster that opened in July. Drew was initially worried he wouldn't like it. We ended up going down it 5 times each. It was a blast and we would highly recommend it.

We saw 4 or 5 ships go under the bridge. That and the train museum were Drew's favorite parts. We spent a couple hours at the train and Children's museum and then went on a train ride. We drove up to Gooseberry falls which we have not done before. Next time we are going to plan to spend more time there so we can do more exploring.

We did some of the same things as last year because Drew's plan was to do mostly the same trip. We rode the family bicycle, ate at Timberlodge and Red Lobster and spent some time in the hotel pool. We went to Betty's Pies and on our way there Daddy and Mommy were talking about what kind of pie they wanted. Drew said he was going to have a big glass of ice water. Where did he come from anyway?!?

We enjoyed hanging out as a family. We spent the rest of Daddy's week off at the State Fair, playing at the park and truck pulling!

More photos

workin

on the monrail looking at the Bison
Drew Chicken

On the monorail

On the wagon pulled by a John Deere

Drew and friends

What's new

Drew is excited. He was on a wait list to play T-ball. We found out last week he gets to play! He will play Fridays and Sundays starting in July. Last night he said he "better start practicing".

This past weekend Drew and I went to a 2 day truck pull in Ottertail, Mn with Papa, Mimi, Joey and Gerry. Drew was in heaven. He LOVES truck pulling. Well he loves tractor pulling too! Papa placed 4th of 16 trucks Friday night. We spent the night at a hotel in Perham and went back for more Saturday. Saturday Papa placed 12th of 15 trucks. Drew and Joey had a grand time running around, getting dirty and playing with other kids that were there. They are getting too big! Drew came up with the idea that we could be in Ottertail everyday and go to Perham to sleep in the hotel every night. I guess he had that much fun! Daddy stayed home for the weekend and did his own thing. He turned 39 on Friday.

Drew is attending Vacation Bible Camp this week. Yesterday was the first day. He came home telling me about Bolivia and that they have to drink dirty water. He went straight to his piggy bank. He was told every dollar would turn a brown drop of water into a blue drop. He found he had $3 in paper money he wants to take to VBC. When he was supposed to be sleeping last night, he was in his bed reciting the bible verse they had talked about. What a difference a year makes in what they learn and pay attention to.

At playground play group yesterday Drew found (another) new girlfriend. Her name is Emily. He talked about her all night. Yesterday morning when I woke Drew up for VBC he said, "I'm not done sleeping with my girlfriend". He said this before he saw Emily, so I'm not sure which girlfriend he was referring to. I am not ready for him to grow up!

Zackory is attending Auntie Daycare this week. So far so good. Dylan was picked up at noon and Joey went home after playground group. Well, the three 4 year olds did go to VBC for 3 hours of the day and playground play group for an hour. Then 1 hour of "rest time" in which Zackory did sleep (Drew did not). No wonder it was such a good day!

We ended the day at Chuck E Cheese for a birthday party. This whole week has stuff going on that is going to keep us busy. Our event for tonight was postponed until Thursday so today we will try to get back on schedule for naps and bedtime.

The MN Zoo and more

Drew and I finally made it to the MN Zoo last week. Drew has been asking to go there forever. We scored the free pass from the library and then had to wait for the weather to cooperate. Luckily it did! We were there for 6 hours. We saw EVERYTHING once and some things twice. Drew did not want to leave. He wanted to go through one more time. By the time we left we were exhausted. Drew slept all the way home while we sat it traffic. Front fountain
play area

play area

His favorite part, sitting on a John Deere!

Drew has always wanted to ride the monorail, so we did that too! We spent a lot of time sitting in the dolphin arena. We went down the Northern Trail stamping animals on a certificate. We rode in the wagon pulled by the John Deere to the farm. When we wanted to ride back we had to pass on the horse drawn wagon to wait for the John Deere. Drew was disappointed the nocturnal section was under construction, he wanted to see the bats. We can't wait to go again!

Thonander Weekend

The weekend before last we went to Mark and Wendy's cabin in South Haven for some Thonander family time. We all had a great time, especially Drew! Drew loves being the center of attention and boy was he! That's what happens when you are the only one under 20something.

He thought he was the coolest kid ever driving the boat!

The weather could have been nicer, but it was nice to hang out with family. We went fishing, boating, played yard games and board games, had good food and good times. Drew and Uncle Craig were the best of friends all day. Drew had so much fun he slept until 11 am the next day!