A few randoms

Kailee is taking horseback riding lessons, and the farm she takes them at is awesome!  They go and help out with chores too, and the people are so nice.  She loves horses and is having a great time.

 

They have a little pen of goats and this little mini horse.  Jocelyn and I met them out there a few weeks ago to bring lunch and see the animals.  This picture makes me smile - they have matching hair!

Jocelyn continues to love to write.  And color.  And draw.  We had her conferences this week, and that was one of her strengths - her teachers said she is over in the writing center a lot!  This was a precious card she made for me the other day - she wrote everything all by herself!  She had been wanting caramel dip for her apples, and I finally remembered to get her some at the store.  So she wrote a thank you note and a card.  And the one envelope has my "kinitials" on it (one of the last remaining cute words she says...I'm not correcting her).

 This is her birthday list, also written mostly by herself (I helped with -ing).  And while she would love a real cat, the cat on her list is a stuffed animal one she saw at Target...so no one get any ideas.  I love this writing stage - it makes me smile every time I look at things she writes.

A bit of culture

Jocelyn loves going to plays.  We took her to her first one probably a year and a half ago - we went to see Dora at the Eau Claire Children's Theatre.  Since then we've been to a few more, and she really enjoys them.  Which is great, because we love them too!  For her birthday we got her tickets to 6 shows.  They have a ton of good ones this year in Eau Claire - I had a hard time choosing which ones to see.  They always put on a great show. 

 

Last weekend when we were home we got to go to another one!  Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse was playing in Hopkins.  She has the book and likes it, so I knew she'd enjoy the play too.  They did a wonderful production - those kids just amaze me with the talents they have.  We got to meet the cast afterwards, and they were all so cute and polite.

 

 Jocelyn with Lilly

  A week before that, we went to see Pinkalicious in Eau Claire.  I had gotten the book in her book order, and was going to give it to her for her birthday, but we had to break it out before that.  She'd heard of it, but hadn't read the book.  She loved the book and couldn't wait to see the play!  It was a musical, which she likes even more than a play - holds her attention better.

 She brought her book, and Pinkalicious autographed it!  That took a little explaining, but she now thinks it's pretty neat.  3 characters signed her Lilly book, so she's getting the hang of it.

 Our friends Anna and Abby met us at the play too - all 3 girls in their cute pink outfits!

Zoo Boo

Last weekend after the recital we headed over to the Cities.  Since Calvin was gone hunting, we went over to hang out at Mom and Dad's - we hadn't done that in a while - just go to hang out.  On Saturday we wanted to see the little boys again, so we planned an outing to Como Zoo Boo!  We had never gone before - Angie was telling us about it and it sounded so fun.  They live about 5 minutes away, and have been before.  I think we'll make it a tradition now - Jocelyn had a great time!  It's basically trick or treating at the zoo - they give out really cool stuff (hardly any candy) and they have a ton of volunteers dressed up as different animals and characters. 

 

We met at their house...had to get a picture of Evan in his costume! 

 Buzz Lightyear!

 Doc McStuffins

 I wasn't fast enough to get them both looking at the same time

 She really wasn't crabby, just had to go with the sign!

Thanks for a fun afternoon Elliot and Evan!

Dance recital

Yes, she did it!  She made it thru her recital.  She was very excited to do dance this time, and really enjoyed it.  It was neat watching her this time - she really paid attention to the teachers and to what she was doing.  The next class level at this place is 5-8 year olds.  She hasn't decided if she wants to do that or not.  We'll wait until spring - this time of year is always busy, and then she has swimming lessons in January, so that will keep her busy too. 

 

 This was un-posed; maybe she will be a real ballerina some day!

 In her glory - 2 grandmas at once!

It was a girls only crowd this time around - the boys were busy hunting and doing home projects.

GG and a wedding

We were over in the Cities the first weekend in October for my cousin Jeff's wedding.  It was a no kid wedding (which I've decided I actually kinda like - it was nice to have a night out!) so we headed over to Great Grandma's hotel room in the morning so she could see the kids. 

 

 These two are so silly!

 Jocelyn handing out the snacks

 Great Grandma with Jocelyn, Ella and Ty

 Picking the last of the raspberries.  The bowl is just a prop...I'm quite certain they all went straight into her mouth!

 The only picture we have from the actual wedding! 

Jocelyn got to spend the night at Morgan & Nicole's...she was so excited to hang out with Henry.  Hopefully they'll have her back sometime - I hear those two were so wild and silly!  

New Cousin!

We have a new member of our family - Angie & Adam welcomed their new baby boy, Evan Patrick, on October 3rd.  Thankfully we were over in the Cities the day after he was born, so we got to see him right away!  He's a keeper - so precious and tiny.  They seem to be adjusting well to 2 boys!

 

 So proud!  She loves her cousins so much.

 And I love being an auntie!

Apple Orchard

We took a trip to the apple orchard about a month ago - I wanted some cute pictures, and some good baking apples.  We got there, and you now have to pay to go there!  Obviously you have to pay for the apples, but they charged $5 a person just to get in.  We'll be finding a different orchard to go to next year - I think that's silly.  Maybe if they had really cool stuff to do, but they don't.  Anyway - it was a beautiful day, and we had a fun time.

 

Jocelyn had a field trip to this same orchard today, and I took the day off so I could go with!  It was freezing out - thankfully it was sunny, but it was windy and so cold.  We both wore 2 pairs of pants, multiple top layers, hat and mittens.  What a difference a month makes around here!  We had a fun time though, and she was pretty excited that I got to go.  Or she was excited because we got to leave after the field trip and she didn't have to stay at day care the rest of the day.  Then we met Calvin for lunch - I had soup and coffee to warm up!