The Ross Family

Ok, continuing on (a little out of order, but hey I at least got all the pictures up!)...

It was absolutely freezing cold in Minnesota while we were there. I was desperate to get some energy out of the kids so we went to this cool place called The Blast in Eagan. They had a little slide for Layla.

That she did approx 4 times and then proceeded to spend the rest of the time snacking. Why play when you can eat yummy snacks and watch people play?

Bad picture with my phone but here was the playground part. You can't really tell but it was huge and super high and Brady had a blast (no pun intended).

On Wednesday we went to the Mall of America. My parents literally live 5 minutes from the mall (which can be a great thing and a bad thing, mainly for my wallet). We went to the Sea Life exhibit there which is just basically a huge aquarium.

Brady, my ever so cautious, little boy not too keen on the observation deck.

My kids sure do love fishies!

And Layla sure loves her Grampa!

It was pretty neat seeing all of the different sea life

That's Brady's OH MY GOSH, SHARKS AND TURTLES! face

We went to the rotunda and saw the giant Christmas trees

Which my pictures do absolutely no justice to

And Layla used her lady mullet in all its glory to greet passerbys at the mall.

Another night we met our friends Spike (Layla's godfather and no that's not his real name) and Jenna (his girlfriend, as far as I know that's her real name) for another fun trip at the mall

First we played with Legos

And then rode some rides

They were such good sports!

And some more rides

Me taking a picture, trying not to puke on the spinning balloon ride

The kids opening their Christmas gifts from them. Brady got a Planes airport and he thought it was just about the greatest thing ever, it made me excited for Christmas this year!

Brady trying to re-create his Daddy's picture. Couldn't quite capture the ultra short shorts though, haha!

Catherine's boyfriend also flew in so we got to spend some time with him. Excuse the blurry pictures. Not only is my camera pretty crap-tastic but Layla also tried taking pictures with it and got her smudgy little fingers on my lens and I didn't realize it till after this picture!

As tradition goes, we all got sick while we were there and proceeded to get everyone else sick as well. This is what Thanksgiving morning looks like when no one feels good. Sadly my family's Thanksgiving got canceled because my parents felt so sick. We really missed seeing my Aunt and Uncles. Hopefully we'll see them when we go home for Christmas!

After naps though my kids were re-charged and ready for some Thanksgiving grub! We headed to Brian's aunt and uncle's house and had a fun Ross Thanksgiving. Brady really liked the turkey and gobbled it right up (pun intended).

The part I was looking the most forward to: the cheeseball Brian's grandma makes, this time shaped as a turkey. Soo good!

Some of the family

and some more! We were so blessed to be able to spend time with everyone but we were really missing a certain someone. Holidays apart are never fun but I'm so glad I at least got to spend it with Brian's family.

Brady and his buddy Chris working on some coloring and Sudoku. I'll let you guess who is doing which! :)

And Layla got to spend some time with her great grandma reading stories. Melts my heart that they have so much family they get to spend time with.

And this was the best picture I got of the two of them on Thanksgiving, oh well!

Thanksgiving night I actually went shopping. I said I wouldn't, but the kids went to bed early and I was curious what it would be like that night since I'd never gone before. It actually wasn't crazy at all (besides Kohls) and I got a ton of Christmas shopping done and got a lot of great deals! I also went out a little on Black Friday too. I sure took advantage of the no sales tax on clothing in Minnesota and got some cute stuff for myself and the kiddos as well.

After shopping I took the kids to an indoor park in Edina, MN and we met up with Laura (Brady's godmother) and my friend Alex.

The playground was all sorts of crazy but the gym part was relatively calm so we spent a majority of our time there.

I even got to be pushed around. While Brady told me, "Mommy! You're sooooo heavy!!" Thanks, bud.

Laura got to be pushed too, haha!

Saturday I took Brady for a date and we got him some new shoes! I also got to have a lunch date with a dear friend, Stacy, who I hadn't seen in a long time.

Saturday night we got to celebrate Aunt Cat's 23rd birthday. We had some delicious cupcakes and then got ready to take the kids to the Holidazzle!

Layla all bundled up, haha!

The Holidazzle is a parade of lights that goes through Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. The last float is always Santa and it's a pretty magical parade. We used to go when we were younger, I'd even marched in it a couple of times in high school. With it being the last year, I knew we had to take the kids to experience it at least once.

Brady LOVED it!

Layla was cold but had fun too!

This was by far their favorite float...the choo choo!

Seeing the magic in his eyes was worth the cold, traffic, and all around craziness that is the Holidazzle.

And then on Sunday I braved it and drove from Minnesota to Omaha by myself with both kids and the dog. They did amazing, I couldn't believe it. We made it in 5.5 hours which is pretty awesome (only 2 stops)!! This was the pretty sunset as we approached Omaha. We had a pretty great trip to Minnesota. Besides the sickness, it went really well. Surprisingly the kids slept well which is usually our biggest issue which then leads to crabbiness, etc. We got to see a lot of family, the kids got to see all of their grandparents, all of their godparents, all of their aunts and uncles, and some friends too! I got to have some me time and get lots of shopping done and catch up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile as well. We really are so, so blessed to have both sides of our family and our friends just 5-6 hours away.

It really is so good to be home though and getting back into our routine. And now it's December too (can I get an amen?)!! We're getting that much closer to Daddy coming home and then Christmas! I have so much to do: unpack, laundry, clean, shop, decorate, and maybe find some time to sleep in there too.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm off to tackle some things on my never-ending to-do list! :)

Wow, it's been so long since I've blogged, I apologize! The last couple weeks have been so busy and really just got away from me. I've missed blogging but at the same time it was nice to have a little blogging vacation too! I'll try and catch you up as best as possible, it was a busy time!

Last Tuesday (the 19th) we had a special visitor: Aunt Cat! Aunt Cat (Catherine) is Brian's younger sister and my kids just absolutely adore her. We hadn't seen her in awhile and she was gracious enough to come hang out with us for a couple of days and then help us drive to Minnesota. Her flight didn't get in until late Tuesday night so the kiddos loved getting to stay up late, put their jammies on, and go the airport!

Just in case anyone was wondering who the ninja turtles guy was looking for.

Aunt Cat was such a good sport...running around the backyard...

bouncing so, so high

at the trampoline place,

snuggling and watching endless kids shows,

going out for froyo,

and building tents in the living room.

We seriously spent like 2 hours in these little tents

I guess holding the phone means you frown?

And we also got our first snowfall! We had some serious fun and it was so great to spend time with her, she's a pretty great aunt and sister-in-law! :)

On Friday we brought the kids to a gym to run their energy out as much as possible and then we hit the road for Minnesota.

5.5 (surprisingly not too horrible) hours later...

and we were enjoying a home-cooked meal with Nana and Papa

and my parents too at my parent's house in Eagan

My kids are seriously so lucky to have all 4 of their grandparents, especially since they're all pretty cool. The kids were in heaven if you couldn't tell by their faces!

Saturday morning we took the kids to downtown Minneapolis to go see the Macy's 8th floor Christmas display. This was Brady's first time in a skyway and that could have been our only activity, he was pretty impressed.

The Christmas display- Brady, not a fan. He was terrified of all of the elves mechanically moving around. Not that I can really blame him. The more I think about it, it is kind of creepy. But all of the lights were neat and it was fun to say I took them there. This used to be a tradition we did when I was a child but I have to admit it was way better done when I was younger.

After the display I left the kids with Gramma and Grampa and headed to a local bar to go watch the Gopher/Wisconsin football game with some of my old college roomies and my bestie from elementary school who is an honorary Gopher alumni. This is Alex and I, she was my roomie starting freshman year.

And Sharday and Laura. It was fun just getting out and being in Minnesota watching the game and not having to watch a Nebraska game!

Think they missed their Gramma a little bit?

The next day we went up to hang out with Nana and Papa. Uncle Danny and Aunt Dana were in town too so we got to spend some time with them which was fun!