Fall and Winter

Some things that happened in the fall of 2014 and winter of 2014/2015:

We got some family pictures taken. First time (unless you count Sam and Katherine's wedding 2.5 years ago) that we've done this since Jake was born. 

I got accepted to run the Boston Marathon!

The boys dressed up for Halloween.

Zach went as U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard,

Drew was a minion (from the Despicable Me movies), and Jake was Wolverine.

We trick-or-treated with the neighborhood kids.

We went to visit Sandy, Will, and Anders for one weekend in the fall. There was Hawkeye football watching, leaf raking, and lots of playing and cousin memory-making.

Zach and I traveled to Kansas City for a soccer tournament in early November. 

Mike turned 38!

We celebrated Christmas on Thanksgiving with Curt, Linda, Colin, and Pa.

Jake got to have his first ever friend birthday party, which was at Build-a-Bear.

His party included (L-R):  Zach, Trey, Jake, Jonathan, Kason, Max, and Drew.  I thought it was smart to schedule the party from 1-3 on a Sunday afternoon, not thinking at all about how busy the mall is on weekends in December. 

Here's the birthday boy making a wish.

This was Jake's actual birthday.

A couple of days later, Jake and I went to a Friday Funday at the Children's Playhouse and then headed over to a little bakery for a chocolate croissant and a vanilla steamer for Jake, chai for me.

We love milk foam!!

Then we celebrated with family.

Jake also had his first preschool program.

Here he is with his best buddy Trey again.

Mike surprised me on my birthday with this awesome piece of artwork by my childhood neighbor. I'd been wanting one of these for a long time, so I was very surprised and happy, even if I don't look that way in the picture.

We also visited Santa, and the boys took him some gifts (homemade cards, a K.I.N.D. bar and some water, and a rainbow loom bracelet). 

 

The boys and dogs posed for a Christmas card photo in their Bronco gear.

The boys decorated some sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dick came for Christmas and we all went to church together on Christmas Eve.

I taught Zach how to play Space Invaders (and other games) on his new Atari that Santa brought for him. It's hard to say who enjoys that Atari more, Zach or me.

We also went out to Cabela's and looked around one day. Everybody, even Grandma and Grandpa, got in on the target shooting action. These were fun little laser guns that you shot at targets with for a couple of bucks.  Then we went bowling in the cool bowling alley they have there. 

We all got to meet Hawkeye football great Brandon Scherff. Zach was the only one brave enough to ask for a picture. We are all anxious to see what team drafts Brandon at the NFL draft in April.

All three boys played some tennis in the dome at the club. Jake seemed to enjoy his first experience with tennis lessons.

Jake taught Ginger about patterns and worked on some fine motor skills by using a clothespin to make his patterns.

Everybody got some more math time in, actually.  Here Jake and Mike are working on writing numbers, 

while Zach and Drew do some good, old-fashioned timed tests.

We had some beautiful snow.

I went to a party with my CrossFit friends that had an 80's theme.  In an effort to do something a little different, I dressed as one of the back-up ladies from Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love video. My friend Liz went the traditional 80's girl route.

Here's what I was trying to look like.

Mike and Jake got silly while playing games.

Mike and I went to the American Heart Association's Heart Ball again this year with friends.  We had a great time!

Jake and I took Ginger and Maggie on a walk along the Des Moines river to look at the Bald Eagles.  We saw probably 6 or 7 Bald Eagles that day!

I tried to upload a couple of videos, but they're apparently too big to upload. Darn.  I'll keep trying.

Ginger

I was going through photos to see what all I'd missed since I had last posted, and one thing I found a lot of was pictures of Ginger. So this post is dedicated just to Ginger, who is sweet and snuggly and wonderful. She did have a serious ear infection that just would not go away for about a month or more, and in that time, she seemed to get depressed about all the ear cleaning and ear medication (much of which she ended up having adverse reactions to), so we are happy to have finally moved past that and to have our happy dog back. These pictures are definitely not in order. In fact, they may be in reverse chronological order.

Just look at that face!!!

Just resting on Maggie while they wait to go outside.

Maggie, Ginger, Jake and I took a  walk along the Des Moines river to see the Bald Eagles one clear winter day.

Sometimes at night, Ginger and Mike hold hands. 

Cooling down in the Wisconsin snow after a thorough ear-cleaning on vacation.

"Helping" me stretch.

Poor girl had a tummy ache. 

Chillin' out and relaxin' all cool...

An early morning run in below zero wind chills with a full moon to light our path.

This is at the end of the aforementioned run. Notice the frost on our eyelashes and whiskers!

Snuggling Jake at nap or bed time.

Snuggling Zach.

Saying goodbye to Zach before he leaves for school.

Snuggling Dad.

Enjoying a quiet moment with Mom.

Snuggling with Drew while he reads.