Sunday, April 30, 2006

The Big Bash!

This past Saturday, April 29th, we held the kids' joint birthday party at my parents' farm, near Oakes, ND. The party was wonderful, the food was amazing, and we realized, once again, just how lucky we are to have such wonderful family and friends...


First, a couple of pictures of the decorations...we had "1st Birthday Barnyard" decorations for Halle, and "John Deere" decorations for Brendan...


Everything looked great! Here are a couple pictures of my favorite decoration....the cupcake tree!
We also decorated the garage, where many of us sat while eating lunch...

CAKE! (or should I say...cupcakes!) YUM!



Pictures of some of the guests...A picture of Audrey and Halle (with Grandma Lee in the background) - I love this picture...
Time to open presents...





The birthday goofballs...


A huge THANK YOU to everyone - it means the world to us that those that were able to made the trip, and spent the day with us. Thank you to Grandma Connie and Grandpa David for hosting the party, and for all your hard work in getting the house ready and all of your help with everything. Thanks to all that brought food to share - it was DELICIOUS, and was much appreciated. Thanks to everyone for your generous gifts for the kids; they are now the best dressed kids with the coolest games and toys in Park Rapids! For those of you that weren't able to make it to the party, but thought of us on Saturday, thank you, as well! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and great friends.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Fun at the playground!

On April 9th the whole family went to the Nevis school playground and had a great time! Nevis is only about 10 minutes away from our house, and we'd never been to the playground before. The previous year, when we took Brendan to the Park Rapids school playground, he was a bit reluctant to go down the slides by himself, or climb on the playground equipment - what a difference a year makes! This time, he was more then eager to climb on everything, and went down all of the slides by himself!

Brendan climbing up one of the ladders...

Brendan at the bottom of one of the "twisty" slides...
Brendan climbing up the ladder to the tallest slide...
The kids and I...

Cary and Halle...Brendan enjoying the "big kid" swings...

And finally, (I love this picture!!) Brendan and Halle together at the bottom of the little slide...

Happy 3rd Birthday, Silly Boy!

Brendan's 3rd Birthday was April 8th - we started out his special day by going to the local drugstore, and picking out some birthday balloons for both he and Halle (since she didn't get any for her actual birthday).
A family picture...

Brendan had a Spiderman cake - one of his favorite characters!

Time to open presents...

One of Brendan's favorite gifts was this shirt - it's got a picture of a John Deere combine on it ("Just like Grandpa David's!!") - he insisted on wearing it twice last week!
A picture of Brendan's remote control truck - he's asking Daddy for a turn driving it! (We're not sure who likes it more, Cary or Brendan!!)

Next, a couple of pictures taken outside - what a gorgeous day!
First, Halle gets her first ride on the 4-wheeler with Daddy - she loved it!

Finally, a picture of Halle and I enjoying the sunshine...

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Girl!

Halle celebrated her first birthday March 24th, 2005. We had a family party at our house, where Halle got her first taste of cake!

She loved it!!

Time to open presents...


It's hard to believe how quickly the past year has flown by - and harder to believe our little girl is already ONE!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Merry Christmas to you! (2005)

Christmas started out great, with a visit from Santa! He brought Brendan the coolest train! It was so much fun to see Brendan's sheer excitement upon discovering Santa had stopped by for a visit!



Halle's 1st Christmas! These pictures were taken at Grandma Connie and Grandpa David's house - we celebrated Christmas with Mom's whole family the 23rd of December. We all got wonderful gifts and had so much fun!

Oh my goodness - Brendan got a COMBINE just like Grandpa David's! Grandpa David and Grandma Connie gave it to him, and it's easy to see just how excited he is about it!!


Christmas Eve - at Grandma Margie and Grandpa Bill's house - they gave Brendan a set of toy cars and a semi, and he absolutely freaked out! It was so funny, he was SO excited when opening his gifts!

The "girl cousins" Erica, Roxanne, Jacinta, Carrie, and Dawn (in front)
Halle meets her 2nd cousin!

We spent Christmas Day and Grandma Marion and Grandpa Tom's house, fun was had by all!! :) Thanks to all for the wonderful food, great gifts and awesome times!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Decorating Our Christmas Tree

Picking out the tree...

Adding the ornaments...Posing in front of the decorated tree...


Halloween 2005

Halle's FIRST Halloween was a BLAST! She was a flower...



And Brendan was Spiderman (can you see the excitement??)...