We set up our Christmas tree on Tuesday night, and Grandma Gordon just happened to be in town and helped us. Sarah's trying to figure out where to put the Santa ornament.
Caleb, Sarah and Lucas, trying to be on their best behavior since Santa is coming soon.
Erin sets up the Christmas village.
Moby invades the Christmas village.
Putting the star on top of the tree.
Sarah started dance classes a couple of weeks ago and she absolutely loves it. Here she strikes a pose.
Each session includes lessons in both ballet and tap dancing. Sarah's wearing her tap shoes here. They're slippery and the little girls slide all around the room!
After eating our turkey dinner, Sarah, daddy and grandma drove to downtown Minneapolis to see the Holidazzle Parade, which runs many nights until around Christmas. Mommy and Grandpa stayed home and missed out!
It was still pretty warm for late November. It was only about 40 degrees. But we dressed Sarah up in all of her winter gear anyway, and grandma needed a hot chocolate as we waited for the parade to start.
Running back and forth in front of the camera to try and foil the photographer was a fun idea.
"When's the parade gonna START?!"
Finally! There were about 20 floats in the parade, all of which were lit up in lights (and so were the participants!). This one is a circus train.
The Jack and Jill float. I think this one might have been the one that was sponsored by the Star Tribune, but not sure.
Waiting for the next float, while holding the glow stick daddy bought her.
This Metro Transit bus had more lights than we could count!
"Is it? Could it really be?"
"IT'S SANTA!!!"
Grandma and Grandpa Gordon joined Sarah, Rich and Erin for Thanksgiving this year. Here's grandma helping Sarah with an art project they bought at a store.
The whole crew posed just before we ate a big turkey dinner. Daddy's behind the camera.
"Mmm, mmmm GOOD!"
Grandpa piles on the whipped cream to make Sarah giggle.
"Hey, this pie is GOOD!"
Sarah and Daddy carved her 38-pound pumpkin down to, oh, maybe 25 pounds on Halloween Day. Here she is, up to her armpits in pumpkin guts.
Sarah picked out a kitty-cat design and Daddy got to do the cutting.
On Monday, Sarah's preschool class visited Dehn's Pumpkin Patch in Dayton, a few miles away from her school. Sarah and daddy had a good time checking out the huge pumpkin patch, and sitting on the big ones!
Child of the Corn. Eeek!
"Dad, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends!"
"Hurry up and take the picture, please!"
Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins.
Sarah and a few of her gal-pals went all DeNiro on a helpless pumpkin and kicked the dirt off of it.
The walk back to the farm was long, so a few of the girls hitched a ride in a pumpkin cart pulled by one of the other dads.
There were free kittens available at the pumpkin patch! Fortunately, we got out of there without having to bring one home.
Sarah and one of her classmates get ready for a hay ride!
Riding through fields of corn on the hay ride.
This little boxer chased us the entire time we were on the hay ride. He had fun chasing the wheels and jumping up and barking alongside us.
The dog even showed us the way through the fields.
Still on the hayride. That's Miss Lisa, one of Sarah's teachers, behind us.
Heading back to the pumpkin patch.
The kids finished their day with a little parachute playtime, and Sarah picked out a 38-pound pumpkin to bring home from the patch.
Rich took the twins and Sarah north to Bowstring last weekend and helped Grandma and Grandpa Gordon split some more firewood and pulled the dock out of the lake for winter. Grandpa got out his old John Deere tractor and gave rides to Lucas and Caleb.
Some of Rich's group of cyclist friends got together a few weekends ago for lunch at the French Meadow Cafe in Minneapolis. Here are John, Rich, Curt, Bob and Suzanne.
And Mary, Julie (who organized the gathering) and John.
Trying the balance beam.
We've been having such nice weather lately, and daddy decided to get outside and wash both cars. Sarah helped him wash them both. Here she is working on the Flex.
Lucas broke his right arm a few weeks ago while riding an electric scooter. He got his cast put on last week, and chose a blue one.
Sarah had her first day of preschool on Monday! She was so excited to go that she was literally bouncing up and down as she ate her apple before we left. Mommy made Sarah's hair look just like singer Taylor Swift's. (Sarah knows practically all the words to "You Belong With Me," but that's another story.)
We arrived at the school shortly before 1 p.m. and were the first ones there. Time for a photo op! Sarah wore her new "Hello Kitty" backpack to and from school ... even though there was nothing in it.
The first hour of each Monday is spent doing different activities with moms and dads. Here's Sarah playing with some blue Play-Doh that smelled like Kool-Aid. There are 10 other children in Sarah's afternoon class, and all but two are girls. There are also three teachers for the class. Sarah and most of the other children did just fine during the 60 minutes that their parents left to do their parenting class next door. No separation anxiety...
On the way out the front door after her first day, Sarah stopped to display the painting she did for her mommy.
"Thanks for checking out my first day, everyone! LOVEYOUBYEBYE!"
