Happy Halloween!

 The cast of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse carved on pumpkins? Check.
Glow-in-the-dark Halloween shirts that they liked so much they now want to wear them in November? Check

Jake and Izzy costumes from 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates'? Check
In this picture, Quinn is pretending to hold a sword and saying, "Ahoy!"

Happy Birthday to Tate!

This guy is 5. This guy is 5! THIS GUY IS 5!!!

No matter how many times I say it, I still can't believe it. He's an awesome kid, my best bud, and he has filled our lives with unimaginable joy.

That's why we picked his name, after all. 'Tate' means 'Bringer of Joy.'

Cobber Homecoming

 Reunited!

 Still not sure why we signed up for this on the Saturday morning of Homecoming......So tired.....

 My kids loved the candy parade! :)

 In front of the belltower.

 Friends!!!

 Quinn loves Michael!

Tate thinks these guys are pretty cool!

Football!

 Brother's #1 fan.

 Tate played YMCA 4 & 5 year old flag football this fall. They spent most of the weeks learning skills, then the last week got to scrimmage. I was a "volunteer coach" throughout it all, then somehow ended up coaching Tate's team in the scrimmage. In a brilliant defensive effort and with a solid run-game, Tate's side prevailed 20-6.

Here are our 2 Sooners!

Wisconsin with the Martinson's

 We went over for a quick day with the Martinson's in July, and took the kids to the Fawn-Doe-Rosa Petting Zoo. The kids loved feeding the animals and getting to pet them.

 Ever pet a skunk? Well, we have now.

 And, of course, we had to end with the pony ride.

We love these guys!

Florida: A Respite

After 2+ weeks away from the kids for me, and dreading 3 weeks away from the kids for Kristen, a trip to Florida for our entire family (together!) sounded pretty good. This was a trip that had been in the works before we knew we'd be moving and going through all the accompanying craziness of our lives right now. 

 It was just what we needed.

 Tate was old enough to really enjoy everything.

And Quinn was an absolute trooper. Love these kids!

Our Little Rental Home

So, this is the house we are renting in Alexandria. It's not the first house we rented. That one was so close to a railroad crossing that every time a train passed by - day and night - with its horn blaring, you felt as though the train was actually going to come into your bedroom. You might think I'm exaggerating, but that's because you never tried to sleep there. So...that didn't work out; in our defense, it was really the only rental option at the time.

Then we found our little rental house. It's just a plain little rambler built in the early 60's, in a quiet little neighborhood with a few families but mostly older folks. It only has one garage stall, which means I'll be scraping windows come probably November or so. But it's got a big yard with great trees, it's a few blocks from a really nice little park, next to the park is a boat launch and grassy area for our budding little fisherman, and - we've learned to appreciate after living somewhere without them - it has a basement.

Now, if only our house in OK would sell...

Update...

So, we've (I've) been really bad at posting lately, and kind of a lot has been happening. For instance, this is a picture of our new church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Alexandria, MN. New church, new city, new home, new jobs, new everything. It's tough, and it's terrifying, and yet it's the right move.
The transitions haven't all happened yet. I'm in my office on day 2, and Kristen and the kids just got back to our home (not sold yet) in Tulsa late last night. We'll live apart until May 12, when we'll get to take a vacation together to Florida. Then Kristen will have to go back to Tulsa to do 3 weeks of clinicals. So, in case you're scoring at home, here are some things to pray for:
- Our family, as we live apart
- Our home in OK to sell!
- A good daycare for the kids in MN that we can afford!
- A good transition to our rental house (I get to move in May 1)
- A job Kristen likes in MN
- Good clinical sites for Kristen in MN (and a grad school that cooperates!)
- A good adjustment for all of us to all these changes and more, and a good environment in which to raise the kids
In the midst of it all, I look forward to our kids knowing their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles better. It's also a good church with a promising future. Anything else I say about all these changes sounds like platitudes, so I'll just stop and say, "We'll. Be. Okay."

Christmas 2012

The best 2 gifts ever, sitting under our tree.
Here's our yearly family picture at church.

Pre-Christmas 2011

Kristen's whole family came into town the weekend before Christmas to celebrate 2 graduations, a smattering of birthdays, and Christmas with the kiddos. Such a great visit from Pa Pa, Grammy, Auntie Jill (graduated from Northern State in Dec.), Auntie Kenna (finished her P.A. school through University of South Dakota) and Uncle Bretters.
Love that family!

ECC School Christmas Program

After the program, the kids got a visit from Santa Roger, er, Claus. He did a great job with the kids, but Tate was on to him. He didn't say anything at the time, but a while later he said, "Dad, Roger was Santa." Yes, yes he was.
Tate did a good job singing with his little friends. They were all so cute in their little Christmas outfits. And their Spanish skills definitely paid off when they rocked out 'Feliz Navidad.'

Best. Game. Ever.

In any other case, that might be an exaggeration, but after 4 months of reflection (yes, I know, we got behind again), I still stand by my assertion. As you can see, we were in the top row of the whole stadium, it was pretty cold, and tickets weren't cheap. On the other hand, we saw the most amazing game either of us had ever seen, we cheered until we were hoarse, and the Cardinals won that historic, miraculous Game 6 (then game 7 the next night).
We didn't even care that because the game had been postponed an extra day due to rain, that we had to drive through the night afterward to get back to our kids in Tulsa. It was amazing.
The game ended, and nobody left for a long time. Then, when people finally did start to leave, there were spontaneous cheers that would randomly erupt from people just walking around, and then they would crescendo into a chorus of cheers. There's hardly a sporting event I would have rather been at; one more thing checked off the ol' bucket list.
Since then, Pujols left and the team is re-tooling. But we'll never forget that night.