Wednesday

Daycare had pumpkin pie for the families. Such a nice gesture and a great way to send the kids home early. 

Thursday

Thanksgiving! We tried to get a picture of Caroline next to a big bottle of wine but she didn't want to pose. 

Then Bennett chilled with his uncle. 

Saturday

We went to the old fashion holiday celebration in Hopkins. 

Sunday

Hopkins tree lighting

Small business Saturday for the Hopkins tree lighting. We saw reindeer, had hot cocoa, rode the carriage rides 2xs, and then bailed on the tree lighting ceremony cause Caroline was very cold and squirmy. A few minutes later, mommy and Bennett bailed for a potty break. We all met at Big Ten in Hopkins to warm up and eat. 

First sledding this winter!

After visiting the bachmans holiday play on lyndale, Bennett and daddy cleaned up the patio (put away all the summer toys). We got the sleds out! 

It's weird not having to carry Bennett back up the hill....

Thanksgiving day deer

Shortly after matt Freeland left for the Minneapolis children's hospital after spending the night, There was quite a bit of action around 11am today. We had to tell Bennett that the daddy buck was hugging the mommy doe. 

The daddy was a 9 pointer. 

Friday

Bennett decided to have oranges for eyes:

Then came over to show us exactly what he wanted for Christmas. Yes, on his own he brought the book over to show us. This puppy. (I really don't know who put it in his head that he needed a puppy for Christmas.)

Saturday

We finally took Daddy to the MN Zoo. I think he was more excited about everything than the kids were but we had a great time. We saw the dive show and were able to wave to the diver and then watch him out his mask on, so Bennett was scared of him at all. During the Q&A session Bennett raised his hand to ask a question. "Turtle," was what he asked, wanting to know where the sea turtle was. It was actually a great question.because I had been wondering the exact same thing myself. Then we saw the bird show but Caroline got antsy so we left halfway through. 

After naps we decided to go to the library, then had dinner at the mall and walked around. Actually Bennett insisted we walk around the mall, he didn't want to go home. Some day when he refuses to go to the mall, I'm going to remind him how much he loved the mall. The (arguably) best part of the excursion was Bennett's need to wear his bike helmet. Yes, that's right. We decided to pick our battle and let him do it. Not at all weird. And yes he wore it around the mall with no shame. 

Then Caroline fell asleep on the way home 

Sunday

We were home all evening so I made Bennett a box fire truck. When he saw it he gasped and said, "A fire truck! Thanks, mom!" Caroline wanted to get in the box too and Bennett pushed her round. It's pretty cute to see them play together and see Caroline want to do EVERYTHING Bennett does. 

Monday

Caroline wasn't herself at daycare and was content to sit and watch. After lunch she had a fever of 100.4 so they called us. We know she's teething and most of her teachers do too, but this one teacher apparently didn't and called. 

Tuesday

Thursday Caroline did some painting: 

Friday Caroline made handprint turkeys and Bennett's class got ready for the holiday art show next month.