Christmas 2018

Those that get baptized together get promoted to Wise Men together. These two were supposed to be shepherds, but they were short on wise men, so they stepped up - trading in their crooks for gifts.

Wyatt and Jedd as wise men

Christmas with the Jeskes in Springfield.

Stocking presents at Mom's house.

Post church picture.

The whole fam at Jeske's.

Annual sister photo.

These two were twinning with their gifts.

Winter Fun

Jacob had a band concert earlier in the season.

Mom & I went to the Christmas Tea at church. It was on my birthday, so nice of them to throw me a party.

Gavin had a band concert - he's playing percussion. Each song lasted no more than 20 seconds.

Jacob, Wyatt and I got out for MN's Nordic opener to try cross-country skiing (it was free!!!). 

 Kim & Kyle treated us to tailgating and a winning Vikings game against Miami. Fred couldn't join us as he had coaching duties.

Crazy hair day for Wyatt - his hair needed a hair cut, but that worked well for the craziness.

 Party at the Campbells! Kate and I coordinated without coordinating.

Promoted to Wise Man

Wyatt had been practicing to be a shepherd, but there was a shortage of wise men, so he got promoted for the Christmas Narrative.

Wyatt & Jed, these two were baptized together and now they've grown to be wise men.

Hoedown Cuteness

Wyatt's class performed square dances at their Hoe Down in November.

Pumpkins & Halloween

Jacob, Gavin, Wyatt, Mom, Dad

Ninja Wyatt and Master Chief Gavin ready to trick or treat.

Rock Out For JDRF

October 27th was our second Benefit Bashers event. We hosted Rock Out For JDRF at the Chaska Legion to raise money for JDRF. We had a great time with the 80s/90s theme and all the people that came and rocked costumes. We raised over $5,500 for JDRF and had a blast doing it.

Decor:

 

The Awesome DJ & his Wife:

DJ Nate (Slash) & Diana (Axel)

Speakers:

Jack, who has had diabetes since kindergarten, and his mom talked about what it's like to live with diabetes.

Jill and Chuck spoke about what it's like learning to live with a new diabetes diagnosis.

Costumed Guests:

Remember working out in the 80s - Richard Simmons and friends.

Cousin Eddie and Princess Leia with Wayne & Garth. 

Fred's family came in singing the Smurfs happy song - "la, la, la, la, la, la..."

Best couple costume - Waldo & Wenda.

Liberty Heights Neighborhood Ladies.

Hosts:

Diane & Sam from Cheers

Wayne & Garth

Jacob's Room

Jacob got to go to Washington DC over MEA. I don't have any pictures of him in DC - he did take pictures of the sites, just not any with him in it. While he was gone, I painted his room and upgraded his decor. He'd been asking to paint his room orange - and I just couldn't do that, but I did give him an orange stripe.

PS It hasn't looked like this since he came home from DC.

Project Down & Dirty

Adrea, Kate & I got to go to Mystic Lake Casino for Project Down & Dirty Comedy (by FM 107). The radio hosts did their best to be stand-up and improv comedians for the night. We laughed with & at them. Funny story - I thought I was getting tickets and Adrea thought she was getting tickets. We both got tickets - but I messed up while getting mine and didn't end up with VIP, but Adrea did. I ended up selling my other ones and we enjoyed front row seats and the photo op (AKA meet and greet) with the hosts.

At O'Briens for supper beforehand.

Waiting for our "Meet & Greet"

Photo with the FM107 hosts.

1st Day of School

Another fun Glamping Weekend

This year's weekend with the Blommels and Michaels took us to Biwabek to a beautiful house on Wynne Lake. We had great weather - great food (too much of it) - and great times with friends. The area is on the Iron Range and the water looked like iced tea - which was new to most of us. We soon got over not being able to see more than 2 inches below the surface and enjoyed jumping off the dock and floating on the pizza slices the Blommels brought.

On the way up to Biwabik we made a stop at Banning State Park to hike to Wolf Creek Falls - it was a BUGGY hike.

Wolf Creek Falls.

The beach down the road from the house - we had the lake to ourselves on Friday - we floated pizza slices and other floaties across the lake and back.

Picture perfect setting.

We love that these kids see each other once or twice a year, but act like they hang out all the time.

Sandstone Rapids

On the way back to the cities we stopped on the south side of Sandstone and hiked to the Sandstone Rapids on the Kettle River. Fred had left for home the night before to head to Texas for the week for work, so it was just the boys and I on this adventure.