Dad's birthday (and another) dinner

 
One of the ONLY good things about having a Christmas Birthday (the 21st) is that THE ENTIRE FAMILY is in town to celebrate YOU!  And when I say 'you,' I mean DAD!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

We celebrated in style, Dad style, by going to a low-key dinner at one of his favorites, MacCool's.
It was late and we were tired so that turned into some loud and obnoxious behavior (look below) paired with some hilarious conversation that included Nils telling his hypothetical wife, "Sure Honey, go buy a ham!"  We were laughing so hard (it was late, remember?) but it was no big deal because we THOUGHT we were all alone.  That's when our waiter piped in from the corner and said, "In all my years of being a waiter, this is by far the weirdest conversation I've EVER over-heard."

Ladies, he's single!

Ugly face contest.  It's funny because if you didn't know us, these might pass as our real smiles.  Except for my dad's.  I'm laughing right now just looking at my mom's pic.  I think she's the winner.  And Nils, too.

Aren't my parents adore?

Happy Birthday to the best dad a girl could ask for.  Really.  

Love you.

...

 

The next night, Lee took us out to The Spaghetti Factory.  

AH mazithra!  

It's a HUGE blessing that both mine and Dave's families get along so well.  Lee fits right in.  Or shall I say we fit right in with him?  

You get the picture.

GDI Christmas Party

18th Annual.

Kristen was our lovely hostess this year.  She definitely outdid herself.  Look at the beautiful table (below).  I bet you want to know what's wrapped in those festive packages... Mrs. Fields chocolate covered cookie dough!  Seriously?!  The PERFECT "Kristen and Jami treat!"  I don't think there is anyone who loves cookie dough more than the two of us.  

And to think that it all started with the Rocky Mountain Ranger cookies...

 

I didn't get any pics of the decadent spread, so you'll have to take my word that the food was WONDERFUL, as always!

 Here are some pics of the night.  After dinner, we had a white elephant exchange with some HILARIOUS white elephants.  *why didn't I take more pics?  We're getting pretty funny in our old age.

You've all heard it before so I won't go on and on about how I have one of the BEST group of girl friends EVER.  All I'll say is that it was such a fun night and it was WONDERFUL to see everyone again! 

I'll be home for Christmas

part I...

 We were able to go home to Utah for Christmas and it was FABULOUS! The kids and I were there for about 2 weeks and Dave met us there for 1. 
The day we flew out we left our house around 7:30 am to catch the Rochester to Minneapolis shuttle.  Carolyn (along with her kids) was our shuttle to the shuttle. How nice was that? I think Tol was more excited to ride on a 'real' shuttle bus than the airplane. After we'd been on the shuttle for about 3 minutes, and it's a 70 minute ride, Addison asked if we were at Grandma's yet.  OH BOY! This was going to be a looong day of travel. I'd never flown alone with my 2 kids before and hoped it would be a good experience.  Thankfully it was. The kids were great! They watched movies, read books, colored pictures and cuddled with their new pillow pets.   
 
My dad picked us up from the airport while my mom was teaching piano.  My parents TOTALLY outdid themselves getting everything ready for us. It was so great to see them! My kids were especially excited to see their GRAMMY!  They didn't care, nor did my mom, that she had a piano student, they ran straight to her and wouldn't leave her side pretty much the entire night.

 
My mom put my FAVORITE treats on my night stand; pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies and Mint m&ms, the kind they only have at Christmas. Man those things are good!  It was nice rolling over the next morning to have breakfast right there in arm's reach. Nothing better than cookies and m&ms for breakfast. The kids were STOKED to see their very own Christmas tree in their room!
That night we ordered pizza, chilled, talked and got caught up. Lee came over for a bit to have some pizza & drop off his truck for us to borrow while we were in town. Tol was so excited to be able to drive "the Ford" while we were there. We have such awesome families!
The next day was mostly spent running a bunch of errands. I worked A LOT in the salon while I was in town and had to pick up a few odds and ends for work the next day. In the midst of the errands we met Kristen and her kids for an Olive Garden lunch and some shopping. SO FUN to see them!
And can I just say that I DO NOT miss Utah traffic. That sounds funny, but it's TRUE! All our errands took much longer than I had anticipated because of the nasty traffic. I love not EVER having to deal with that out here in Rochester.
It was a BLAST to be able to work in the salon again. It was as if I never left. I worked my little tail off!! I worked a little too much, actually. Going from not working (except for here-and-there out of my house) to putting in 12 or 13 hour days- it was A LOT. My body was not a fan. But it was super fun to see so many of my clients and friends and the money was also nice. It definitely made me miss working in the salon and dealing with adults on a regular basis, and at the same time made me grateful that I'm able to stay home with my kids. Bittersweet for sure! I love my salon family and am grateful they are so good to me and let me come and work when I'm in town.  I wish I took some pictures at the salon.  That was dumb of me.

Well there you have it, part I.  Stay tuned for the next installment I like to call "all about parties!" ...

I'm kidding.
But do stay tuned...

TOLMANS FRENS

When we were in Utah for Christmas, I found this in my parent's office. Tol made a list of all his friends. I freaking love this kind of stuff!! 

*and I'm just now posting it because I finally got around to scanning it.

"TOLMANS FRENS"

CHRASE = Tracy

LOGIN = Logan

CORDR = Carter

ALISA =Eliza

LOOC = Luke

DAVEID = David

MAX = Max (way to go, Tol)

JAC = Jake 

DOSIN = Dawson

COOLIN = Collin

TI = Ty

TOMIS = Thomas

MATHYO = Matthew

...and while I'm posting this, I'll throw in this:

Tolman drew this in November when Uncle Curty, Grammy Jan and Grammy Shar celebrated their  Birthdays. It's a picture of  them with their new ages below. And don't you love the car under Curt?!

*drawing isn't Tol's strong point. He pretty much hates to color and draw...

Addi has a BIRTHDAY!

 

Addison turned the BIG "4" on December 12th- Boy, how time flies!

She woke up to LOTS of presents so the first thing she did that day was open them...

As you can see she got some new dress ups (this girl is constantly in a "Princess dress") 
and the My Little Pony Butterfly Island.
She was in heaven, especially because we had the ENTIRE day to stay home and play.  
Church was canceled due to the storm so we played dress ups, ponies and even ventured outside to play in the snow for a while.

Speaking of playing in the snow: I was inside while Dave was out shoveling and the kids were out playing in the snow.  I heard a faint knock on the door so I answered it to find Addi pretty much upside down in the snow on the door step.  I guess she wanted to come inside but fell and got stuck in the snow right outside our door.  She supposedly knocked on the door with her boot that was up in the air.  Luckily she thought it was funny even though she was an icicle! 
 

Gosh, I LOVE this girl!

Addison brings so much joy and happiness into our home and family.

She keeps us constantly laughing with her randomness, quirkiness and her hilariousness!

She loves to pretend and create.  She still loves princesses, ponies and anything girly. 

She is smart & Witty.  She loves school and is very independent.  She loves telling stories.  She is a good listener and a great helper.  She is a nurturer and talks daily about having a new baby.  She also talks a lot about her imaginary sisters, Samantha, Sadie and Sarah.  She has the most angelic little face and the biggest blue eyes that melt my heart every single day.  She is happy.  She loves to cuddle.  She is THE BEST and I'm the luckiest Mom in the world to have Addi as my daughter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Princess Addi Belle!

Minnesotans? or just CRAZY?

This picture was taken outside our front door the night of the  December 11th, the BIGGEST MN snow storm since 1955.  
It was WILD!
We got about 16 inches of snow combined with 35-45 mph winds.  That made for some SERIOUS snow drifts.  
The snow plows were out all day until they realized they couldn't keep up and Mn/DOT pulled them all at about 6 pm.  I've never heard of plows being pulled.
Needless to say, the city shut down, like, completely!  All that snow froze and the city continued to hibernate for 2 whole days after.  Roads were closed, stores were closed, church and school was canceled.

We were advised to stay in unless it was an emergency.  But on the 11th, Dave was off and I was in serious need of some girl-time. That was an emergency!  So Carolyn and I braved the storm and went shopping.  Like, ALL day.  In a way it was nice cause it felt like we had the city to ourselves, until the city closed down on us.  When the mall closed we were happy to see that Panera was open for a kid-less dinner of soup and sandwiches.  DELISH!
It was all going just fine until it turned dark.  Then it got scary out there!  Luckily we made it home safe and sound.
When we got home I realized I'd forgotten to buy ingredients for Addi's birthday cake (her real birthday was the next day).  Dave LOVES driving in bad weather conditions (he's crazy) so he ran to Target just to realize he forgot his wallet.  He came home and said there was NO WAY he was going out there again.  His exact words were, "It was foolish of me to go in the first place."  That coming from Dave says A LOT!  
Poor Ad didn't get a cake on her Bday.  But she made up for it a few days later by picking out a MONSTER carrot cake at Sam's Club.  And of course she only ate the frosting-carrots on top.

And as Carolyn so perfectly put it:
  "...we're either crazy or becoming true-Minnesotans (maybe there's no difference?)" 

Here are some pics of the next day (snowed-in).  Dave shoveled and shoveled and shoveled.  Luckily our neighbor was kind enough to let Dave borrow his snow-blower for some of it.

Welcome to Minnesota!

Princess Party

For Addison's 4th Birthday, we had her friends over for a 

PRINCESS PARTY 

and a few handsome Princes made an appearance, too! 

Here we have Bella, Addi, Keri, Emily, Lilli, Finley, Caroline 

with the party-crashers, Tol & Sterling, in the background.

First up was Princess Musical Chairs.  Thanks iTunes for all the Princess music!

Then it was time for Princess Pizza and decorating Princess cupcakes.  They also made their own Princess candy necklaces that I didn't get on film.

 Big THANKS to Andrea for all your help with those necklaces... and the photo taking.

Look at all these delectable cupcakes.  We have quite the decorators!



 Addison got SPOILED with all her presents.


Thanks all you darling little Princesses for a fun and fabulous party!  
 Addison sure is lucky to have such great friends!


*and it's a good thing we had the party when we did.  A HUGE storm came in that very night that would have prevented ANY party from happening for a few days.  That'll be the next post.
stay tuned...

HOLIDAZZLE

A city that has an outdoor Christmas light parade can't be that cold, right?

WRONG!!

But who cares?  We heard the HOLIDAZZLE Parade in Minneapolis is a holiday MUST-DO.

We, along with the Hanson's, packed our cars with all our warmest gear and drove to the cities.

After a yummy dinner at Chevy's we headed to the parade.  We parked the cars, threw on our gear (wish I had a better pic of Carter, his get-up was the best) and booked it a few blocks to the festivities.

It was awesome and definitely worth it.  The parade featured a bunch of story-tale characters, like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (Addi was SO SCARED of the wicked witch), Pinocchio, Humpty-Dumpty and The 3 Little Pigs.  It also had other cool things like a city bus completely covered in Christmas lights and life-sized Christmas light bulbs (that were so dang adorable)!  

Click here for pics if you like.

When the parade was all said and done, we warmed up with some Barnes & Noble hot chocolate before heading home.

Turning our backs against the lights and toward the camera was rough.  But it IS all about the photo-ops, right?

The Hanson Fam
Jeff. Carolyn. Carter. Tommy. Kate
Aren't they cute? We love these guys!

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Dave and Jeff are in the same residency program and that is how we met.  It's actually a funny story that I'll save for another time, but let's just say Dave & Jeff have spent a suspiciously LARGE amount of time together.

And us, The Lamborn Fam
This pic might look familiar if you received a Christmas card from us this year.

HOLIDAZZLE is definitely a new Lamborn (and Hanson?) holiday tradition.  For the next few years anyway.  Well except next year when we're in AZ for all of December.

SNOW!!

Bundled up nice and WARM to go out and play!

Tol had fun sledding down the hill on the side of our house while...

Addi was busy making snow angels.

Playing in the FREEZING snow never looked so adorable!!

"Nunu"

NUNU our CHRISTMAS ELF,

straight from the North Pole,

came to make sure the kids weren't

NAUGHTY but NICE

this HOLIDAY SEASON.

The kids were HAPPY (and surprised) to see him again.

He was first spotted in the wreath.

And along with Nunu came the book. 

We love this tradition!