Thanksgiving in the Black Hills

We spent Thanksgiving near Deadwood, SD with Dave & Joyce and the Monterastelli crew.  We went over a day early to beat a storm and the kids had fun swimming at the hotel in Deadwood.  We spent the rest of the week at a beautiful rental house a few miles down the road.  The kids were so excited to have their own bedrooms together and had slumber parties every night.  

Kids cuddled up watching "The Polar Express"

Thanksgiving dinner, complete with the chocolate turkeys they had decorated earlier in the day.

Grandma Fern was able to come from Spearfish to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with u s.  Jacob is not into getting his picture taken.

On Friday, we to the Polar Express train in Hill City.  The kids had a great time!  It was complete with cookies, hot chocolate, and a visit from Santa at the end.

Maya with the "North Pole" in the background

Late Fall Happenings

Here are some pictures from October, November, and early December!

Gabi received a scooter for her birthday.  Since we don't have much concrete around our house, we have been taking it in to town on Mondays while Maya is at dance class to ride around the ice rink.

My loves!

We celebrated Papa Dave's birthday with dinner at our house.  He is well loved!

The girls and I participated in the "Make it with Wool" contest for the first time.  I made Maya this persimmon dress out of very lightweight wool.  She did a great job modeling it and we won first place!  She will be able to wear it for the sheep lead this summer.  I have some extra wool, so I think I will make Jacob a matching vest and bow tie so he can walk with her.  :)

Gabi made this poncho out of wool.  She would NOT make a skirt or a dress, so this was the next best option!  She did a great job and won 4th place.  She will also be able to wear this for the sheep lead and enter it as a 4-H project this summer.

Our sweet kitty, Rocky.  Can't believe he is almost 13 years old.  We are thankful for his friendly nature and warm snuggles.  We could do without the slaughtered mice in the bathtub every night, however.  ewww.

Maya lost her first tooth in November.  The second one came out not too long afterwards.  The new teeth have grown in fast.

The girls love decorating the tree in their bedroom every year.

Halloween

We kicked off Halloween festivities by meeting up with the other KL&A families for the "Monster March" through downtown Buffalo.  Jacob & Landon (the minion) weren't too into the annual picture.

Jacob is the 4th one to wear the beloved giraffe costume.  He thought it was pretty cool. :)

Gabi carved the owl, Maya carved the kitty, and Jacob was the mouse.  :)

Maya was Pocahontas.  We found feathers, including the huge turkey feather, to make her headband.  

Gabi was Jasmine from the movie, Aladdin.

We didn't do much actual trick or treating around town, but went to Splint and Diane's house for the annual Halloween pinata and cousins party.

Best part of the giraffe costume!

One Tough Girl

Gabi had so much fun playing flag football this year!  Being the only girl didn't phase her one bit.  She holds her own against those boys!  We are so proud of how tough and determined she is!

 

Touchdown Gabi!

 

Getting chased by boys is fun!  All smiles!

and...the clown. :)

Wyoming Cowboys Game

We made a trip to Laramie to watch the Wyoming Cowboys play.  We were also able to see the new bronze statue that was created by Mike Thomas, an artist in Buffalo.  We saw this when it had been in the clay stage at his studio.  It was awesome to see it finished and in person!  It is called "Breaking Through" and is in front of the new Gateway Center that greets visitors to UW.

 

 

 

We went down and stood next to the pathway that the players walk into the stadium.  It was pretty awesome to see them hit the bucking horse on their way onto the field!  Maya thought they were "so big!"

Touchdown!!

Visit from Grandma Dot

My mom brought my Grandma Dot to our house for a visit shortly before Gabi's birthday.  It was so fun to see her.  She was really glad to see the kids!

 

My mom and dad gave Gabi a scooter for her birthday.  She was very excited!  We don't any concrete at our house besides the garage, driveway, and path to the front porch, so I have been taking her to the ice rink in town to practice on Monday afternoons while Maya is at dance lessons.  She has a lot of fun with it!

8 years old!

Gabi celebrated her 8th birthday on September 25!  In lieu of a cake, she opted for the awesome football cookies decorated by Auntie Amanda!!

 

 

Dave, Joyce, Don, & Phyllis came over to celebrate with Gabi's favorite, chicken enchiladas!

 

 

The following weekend, we took 5 of Gabi's friends to Tie Flume in Sheridan for an afternoon of ziplining, rock climbing, and other fun adventures for her birthday party.

 

Gabi was having so much fun that I couldn't even get her to sit still for a group picture.  Here she is jumping behind them.

 

We headed back to Buffalo and all ate dinner at Pizza Hut.  Marco, Milan, and Maya were all a little bummed that they didn't get to go to Tie Flume, but I only had so many seats in my car.  We tried to make up for it by treating them to pizza and more football cookies!