Snow Fort with Friends

It's December 30th and we FINALLY have enough snow to make a snow fort!!

 Savannah and the neighborhood kids!  The snow rolled up like rolls of sod.

It's also fun to just toss the stuff around!!

 Starts out small....diligence, diligence!

Workin' hard!

 She still takes time to smile for momma's camera!

The whole gang!  They did a GREAT job!

D is for DONUT!

Savannah asked for a donut maker for Christmas!

Isn't this CUTE!?  And MINI!!

It makes 6 donuts at a time and it came with a recipe book.  Savannah chose chocolate ones to try first!

With chocolate frosting of course!  This is VERY SERIOUS business you know!

TA~DAA!!  Look at all those sprinkles!

And the taste~test!  Yep!  They're good!!

Manicures & Pedicures

December 28th, 2011

Today is an exciting day for Savannah.  When your birthday is 2 days after Christmas, it's hard to throw a timely birthday party.....the kids are all on break from school and most people are spending time with their families.  SO ~ for the past few years, we have been getting together with our best friend Grace and doing something special either ON Savannah's birthday or the day after.

We've done it all so it was hard for mom to find something to do that hasn't been done before.  Then it hit me ~ SPA DAY (sort of)!  Off to the mall we went for mini-manicures and pedicures!

 Of COURSE we had to get a pic with Justin!  Sheesh!  Is this guy EVERY-FRICKEN-WHERE!?!?

Such BEAUTIFUL GIRLS in their FUN chairs!

 Don't forget the nails!

SUCH CUTE TOES!!

 That cements it.....chatting at the beauty salon is INNATE!!

I was AMAZED at how fast the nail artist whipped up this design!  SO CUTE!

 All BEAUTIFIED!  Hands AND feet!

See?!  I wasn't sure about doing this at their age, but I was informed by the salon that they have worked on girls as young as 3!!  It was SO MUCH FUN.....for the girls AND for the moms!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAVANNAH RAYNE ~ I LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!

Making Chocolate

I was cleaning out the cupboards and came across a chocolate making kit that I had purchased YEARS ago, but never used.  Savannah was SOO EXCITED we just HAD to stop EVERYTHING and make some chocolate!

 The kit came with molds, sucker sticks, the double boiler pots and a squeeze bottle.  Nice.

Just look at how helpful Parker is!  This was at the end....we didn't re-use the ladle after he licked it!

 We just happened to have some green chocolate melt pieces from pretzel sticks I made at Halloween time.....

She is SO PROUD of her little chocolate bears!  Each of the kids ate one and the rest got old!  Ohhh well.....it was time well spent!

Spendin' My Justice "Credit Cards"!

For Christmas and her birthday (which is 2 days after Christmas!), Savannah got a few gift cards from her (current) favorite store ~ JUSTICE!  She couldn't WAIT to spend them!  Here are a few of the items she purchased!

 Oh my....you see that shirt?!  Can anyone say "the 80's are BAAACCCKKKK"!!  She wears it as much as she can!

 She also picked out this cute blanket.  Those stars are made out of rainbow-colored sequins!  The other side is a lush purple and says "love who you are".  It's really soft!

And the BOOTS!  Of COURSE we had to have a pair of BOOTS!  I don't think we've EVER left that store WITOUT a pair of BOOTS!!  She LOVES them.  I'd say the shopping experience was a success.

Christmas 2011

Christmas Morning, 2011

Look!  Santa came!  He filled our stockings and brought us a couple of gifts!!  Guess we made the "good list" after all! 

Savannah was SOOO EXCITED to get a Singing Justin Bieber Doll!!

Parker got one of the video games on his list!

Oh GOODIE!!  Just what Aiden Lee needs....ANOTHER LARGE NERF GUN!  (uff~da!)

In the afternoon, we hosted dinner at our house for the VERY first time!  Grant and Taylor came!  That Grant....such a handsome boy!  He was such a good sport playing with the kids! 

Here's part of our "spread" ~ an Al Capone roast, green beans casserole, scalloped potatoes, corn, veggies.....we also had Lutefisk (for the brave ones!), oyster stew and mashed potatoes and gravy!!  YUMMY!

Another first ~ Steve and Joey joined my side of the family to celebrate together!!  That's a picture of all their grandkids (so far!)!

Then we booted up the XBox Connect and Danced along to Dance Party 3!!  It was a HOOT!!  EVERYONE gave it a try ~ even the adults!!  SO MUCH FUN!!

What a crew!!

Sweet little girls ~ Avery and Taylor :o)

All in all....it was a FUN and FULL day!

Hope you all had a Blessed Christmas too!

Christmas Eve 2011

CHRISTMAS EVE, BABY!!

We always spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family....(that's the Buschette side, for those of you who don't know ~ wink!).  This year we are hanging out with the fam at my mom's house!!

 My 3 most FAVORITE Blessings!!  Aiden Lee (9), Savannah Rayne (7) and Parker Steven (12)

 Here is Parker reading the Christmas Story from the Bible....we do this EVERY YEAR before opening presents (but AFTER dinner!!).  My Grandpa Orris used to read it each year at their lake house on Big Cormorant and then when I got old enough, since I was the OLDEST (can we just use the word "WISEst"?!?!) grandchild, I got to read the story for the WHOLE family!  I distinctly remember how proud and honored I was to read!!

The kiddo's with Great Grandma Pat and Great Grandpa Al, Grandma Pam and Grandpa Emmett (Mark).  We couldn't have WISHED for a more wonderful family!!

 Highlights: Savannah got the Barbie that you can make hair extensions with....

And Parker and Aiden got the ENTIRE Lego's set of Alien Invaders!!  Other highlights were opening gifts from Auntie Missy, Uncle Josh and our ADORABLE cousins Graeson and Jayden!!  Parker got a coveted gift card from Hollister (with which he bought good smelling body products and some really comfy pants), Aiden got a really cool Legos Star Wars video game (that he can actually play with mom!) and Savannah got a really neat Lava Lamp made with orbees!

We then went to the Christmas Eve Church Service ~ Service of the Bells ~ which is one of my favorite services, and then I went to work for the night!! 

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!!!

BLENDER'S Concert, 2011

December 17th, 2011

Last year I took the kids to the Blender's concert at the historical Fargo Theature!!  They couldn't WAIT to go again!!  It was a GREAT, MUSICAL night (I got some good video!) and I hope we can continue this tradition for YEARS to come!!  Thanks, my lovelies, for a FANTASTIC night!!

Sleigh Ride, Sleigh Ride!

DECEMBER 13th, 2011

This is the second year our church has hired a local horse-drawn-carriage company to give sleigh-rides one night in December!  It was a GREAT night for it tonight....lightly snowing and not too cold!

 We brought our neighbor and good friend, Brayden!

 Had to ask the driver if I could get a pic of the kids with the horses!!  See those cute santa-hats!?  YAY!!

Then afterwards, you can congregate in the faith life center and have hot chocolate, popcorn and licorice.  What a good evening.... ;o)

Bella Blu

So, it's December and I just wanted to post an update of our little lady, Bella Blu!

 This pic (above) shows her different colors.....white, grey, black, and brownish-tan.  She is SO SOFT!  I can't even tell you how soft she is!  And, when her hair is grown out a little, she looks like an EWOK (sp?)!!  I LOVE IT!!

And her sweet little face!  She is VERY loving and only barks to let us know that someone is at the door!!  She is half Bishon & half Lasa Apso and one of those breeds was designed to be Japanese guard dogs!!  YOU GO BELLA! 

LOVE YA!

~Cousins~

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND, 2011!

So....Chad and I have family that we don't get to see as often as we would like because ALL OF THEM live "far, far away (STAR WARS PEOPLE, come on :o))" Anyway, an unexpected trip to Fargo by our cousins from Florida brought us MANY SMILES over the Thanksgiving weekend this year (remember....I'm talking about 2011 here!).

 Here are ALL the Juntunen cousins (SO FAR!!), at Mexican Village ~ our FAVORITE place to eat!!  Uncle Shane is Chad's brother who married an adorable lil' lady from New York.....together they followed in the "Juntunen Tradition" and had three AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL little boys ~ Noah, Brody and the lil' guy Parker is holding is Reid!  While we may not have as many activities to attend as these kids are used to here in ND, they all seem to love  just hanging out with each other! YAY!!

 Here are Brody and Aiden....can you say "two peas in a pod"?  Yep....they are both the middle boys!

Parker and Noah.....the BIG BROTHERS!!

 After lunch, we decided to go bowling!  They had SO MUCH FUN!

And Auntie Brandi just couldn't resist a pic with this darling little man!  Don't ya just wanna KISS and pinch those cheeks!?! 

Thanks Shane, Dana, Noah, Brody and Reid for the "FAMILY TIME"!!  We miss and love you TONS!!