Kickball, dodgeball, cake, and presents!...

...Best. Birthday. Ever!

--> If... you are a 7-year-old boy!

For your friends birthday party, we chose to do the "Games Galore" birthday package at the Onalska YMCA. Kickball, Dodgeball, and Scatterball (another version of dodgeball) were the three activities you chose to play in the gym with your friends.
Fourteen, out of the fifteen friends we invited, were able to come to your party!
After an hour of game play in the gym, we went into a private room to eat cake and open presents.
What a fun party!

Happy birthday little man!
We love you!

It's going to be a white Christmas

The snow began to fall sometime after midnight.

When the kids woke up on Thursday, December 20th, this is how it looked outside...

It was a snow day for our whole family. Jackson, Jessica, and Lia were in and out of the house all day. And, they had fun playing with neighbors, Ali and John.

The snowy blizzard ended up leaving us about 6-8 inches of the white stuff to play with!

Happy 7th Birthday Jackson!

Dear Jackson,

This year, your birthday was on a Monday. However, the celebrating began on Friday, December 14th, when you received your first birthday gift in the mail.
It was from Grandma and Grandpa Gundy. Thank you!

Sunday, Dec 16th...

Grandma Chris and Grandpa Bob served us a "birthday brunch" at their house. Always very tasty. And then, there was this surprise...

SKIS!!

...now, we just need some snow!

After brunch, we headed to Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Terry's house for a birthday lunch. Grandma Barb made you a very yummy birthday cake...

And, you opened a few presents as well!...

Monday, December 17th (your actual birth day)...


We decided to surprise you with breakfast in bed on your special day. And, you also were able to open your birthday gifts right away in the morning, before leaving for school.

After dinner, you frosted and decorated your birthday cake...

Ta-da!!...now that's a cake!

Happy 7th birthday to you, Jackson Terrence! We love you.

Rotary Lights - La Crosse, WI

Opening day was Friday, November 23rd. We took the kids to the parade for the first time this year. Brrr! It was a cold night! Wind chills hovering just above zero, with 20-30mph wind gusts. Not exactly ideal weather for a parade. Luckily, the beautifully lit vehicles, floats, people, and animals in the parade made up for the poor weather conditions. Not too mention the LARGE amount of candy and beads the kids were given!...made it all worth it. They all had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the kids on opening night, rotary lights parade...

Taking the kids to see the Rotary lights display has become a holiday tradition for our family. Typically, we have to drive through the park to see the lights, but since we've had such warm weather this year, we were able to enjoy a walk through the park with the kids.

Live Reindeer!

Rotary lights mission is to feed the hungry in our Coulee Region. This year, the goal is to collect 3 million food items.
It began in 1995 and has been growing ever since... 2.6 million lights illuminating Riverside park this year! It's pretty amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving!...cont'd

We celebrate Thanksgiving on it's day at Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Terry's house. This year's fun and excitement inside the house was the same as years past; however, the activities we were able to enjoy outdoors were very unusual!
It was record-breaking temperatures - mid-60s!
Jessica, Lia, and I went to play at the park.
The girls played on the train...

Jackson played kickball with Uncle Zach...

Course, there was lots of fun to had indoors too...

Daddy carving the turkey...

Beautiful, and very fun day!