the Hipps family...

Six.

Six years ago our adventure in parenthood started. What a wonderful and interesting adventure it has been! We are so blessed to have Owen. He is beyond words.

Can we go sledding?

We got our first snow on Saturday and Owen has asked this every day, possibly every hour, since. He has been out sledding for a good hour everyday.

Today we received the boys school photos. It is so fun to see them and have the boys tell me all about their classmates. I have to say they turned out quite well! If you want to see Owen's previous years photos they are here 2009, 2008.

I like when daddy sings, though.

I was singing along with Walter yesterday and he asked me to stop because I didn't have a good singing voice. He then told me this. I think I need to get his hearing checked.

After seeing President Obama in Indonesia and hearing his trip might be cut short because of a volcanic eruption, Owen became quite interested in volcanoes this week. We made a home made volcano here one night and spend a good half hour watching youtube videos of eruptions another night. He then told me he did his first research at school and he was going to write a report on it. Today he brought home this:

In case you can't read his writing, the occasional backwards letter, and phonetic spellings here is the translation:

"When I went to Hawaii I went over a dead volcano. Hot lava is made from hot rocks."

Maybe it doesn't quite knock your socks off, but it sure did mine! He is officially a kid. No more baby, no more toddler, no more preschooler. He is a kindergartner at its finest.

JJ Classic

Intermat put on a pre-season wrestling tournament a couple weeks ago. There was quite a bit of hype surrounding it in our house and continues to be lots of wrestling talk. When the boys ask Jeremy about previous wrestling matches, Walter always asks if it was at the JJ Classic.

It was the first time Intermat has ever put on a tournament and though there was quite a bit of nerves surrounding it, it went beautifully. They have been receiving accolades from those who attended and are already thinking about how to improve it next year. The boys loved wrestling on the mats, taping and rolling up the mats, and having the freedom to run between the head table, the stands, and Owen even helped stop a few matches.

All I want for Christmas is my...

How cute is that smile!?

I am voting for the Vikings.

Owen was asking me about my 'I Voted' sticker and who I voted for, etc. After I answered a few questions, Walter chimed in to tell us this.

My other quote could easily be "Are you ever going to do a blog again?" Jer's been asking me this for a while. Yes, my answer is yes...I just was taking a bit of a break I guess.

Halloween was a huge success this year. The boys were Robin Hood and Little John. We went to the park & rec's party at Minnehaha Falls with Sunny Hollow on Saturday, got to go to a neighborhood Halloween party and capped it all off with some major trick or treating up and down the streets. We went again with our neighbor friend Aiden and she and Owen led the pack of kids eager to fill their bags with treats. Walter held his own and stayed out the entire time this year and we have the candy to prove it.

I almost forgot about starting the celebrating off with a special delivery from my mom. My dad swung by on Thursday on his way to North Dakota with some cupcakes and gifts for the boys. We had a great time decorating and eating them. Now that I'm writing all this out, I think the candy will need to disappear sooner than later...

I'm going to be like Jeremy.

Walter has been talking about when he gets bigger lately. He's talked about becoming a doctor and today he told me this. I like it.

I had a lovely weekend with my mom's group at one of our friend's cabin. I got in some much needed girl time and came back feeling refreshed with my patience restored. Perfect.

The boys obviously had a wonderful guys weekend with Jer. They also got some special time with Grandpa Monster and Grandma Joanne. They had kid's choice on what to do and enjoyed time at Under Water World at the MOA. When they got home they were excited to tell us about all the cool fish and creatures they had seen, particularly the alligator fish.

Finger Toothbrushing

With Tricia out of town for the weekend with her girlfriends, the boys and I attempted to have some serious fun!

On Friday, we started the evening with a game of touch football in the neighborhood triangle. Owen's favorite route is a left to right post. Walter just likes to take hand-offs. After the game, we made up Berry and Coconut ice cream bowls, and watched a few movies that we had earlier picked up at BlockBuster. Walter's choice was "The Chipmunks Halloween" and Owen picked a Veggie Tales episode. I picked 'getting some shut eye'.

On Saturday morning after breakfast we went bowling at Cedarville Lanes. Owen started the day with a strike down the middle. Walter countered with two spares and took home the honor of beating his brother in both games that we played. Owen confirmed that he wants a bowling birthday party.

After the bowling we grabbed a quick Mexican lunch and picked up a pumpkin at a local stand. I only call it a Mexican lunch because it was at a Mexican restaurant....Owen had a hot dog and Walter had a cheeseburger. I went with the tacos. I'm not sure if the sour stomach was from them or another Gopher loss.

Once we got home, we carved our first pumpkin of the year. It was a scary two headed monster with each boy responsible for drawing a face. After they were drawn, Owen did the carving (see the pictures below), and we saved the seeds for roasting. The seeds must have been good since we had them all down within a half hour (check out the recipe I used: Pumpkin Seed Recipe ).

After the pumpkin carving, we headed back to Blockbuster because the boys wanted to rent a few Wii games to play. Walter picked Mario Galaxy 2 and Owen picked Carnival Mini Golf. When we got home, we decided to go back to the triangle for a little more touch football before we played video games. After the video games were over, uncle Moogs came over and we played a few rounds of UNO. Walter won the first game and Owen won the other. Uncle Moogs is still dusting off UNO cobwebs.

As we were getting ready for bed, we remembered that Griffin had eaten their toothbrushes earlier in the day. As a result, I gave them an ol' boy scout lesson in finger toothbrushing. It was a fun end to a fun day.

- Jeremy

I was just trying to recognize.

We were in a rush to get out the door this afternoon to pick up Owen. When I asked Walter to come get his shoes on for the third time, this was his reply. I love hearing words come out of his mouth that he has heard before but doesn't really understand what they mean yet.

We spent the weekend in Wisconsin Dells celebrating my mom's big 10.10.10 birthday. It was such a fun weekend full of smiles. That place is heaven on earth for kids. We went to a different water park every day, went mini-golfing a couple times, played plenty of video games, won plenty of cheap prizes and went on the Ducks...the boys even went twice! Talk about a party.

Last week the boys brought me in to their classrooms to show me what they are working on. Walter was quite proud to show Owen and me around his room. He brought us up to the loft/reading area a couple of times and read us a book in another area of his room. Owen showed Walter and me the bird cards and a few other reading materials. His skills floored me for sure. It was a true pleasure to see my boys take such pride and show such joy in their classrooms.

I want to show you Walter.

Sunny Hollow had a open house of sorts this evening where parents get to go into the classrooms and the children show them what they are working on individually. The boys and I were done with Walter's class and moving on to Owen's class as we overheard Walter's teacher ask a girl if there was anything she wanted to show her mom. The little girl, Lola, responded with "I want to show you Walter." I hear a good amount about Lola and apparently Lola is equally talkative about Walter.

We are loving fall and living up the 70 degree days. This weather reminds me of our beautiful wedding day...which was nearly 8 years ago now. We spent last Saturday exploring the Afton area, enjoying nature centers and nature hikes.

Last night Owen came running out of his room to tell me his tooth had come out. It is tooth number 3 and sure is a big one. I absolutely love his new smile!

Is that part of Oceania?

Owen was telling me about a map that he is making at school and I was asking him what color different continents were. When I asked him what color Australia is, he asked me this. You take my love of the world, cultures and travel combined with my kindergartner coming home and clarifying my geographical skills...and now you know why I have a hard time thinking of sending the boys anywhere else but Sunny Hollow.

So I can't find my cord for my camera (time to clean upstairs!) so I can't share any photos from the great times we've been having lately, including a trip to The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins with my parents. So instead, I will share this lovely drawing of a lion by O. We are talking about redecorating their room and this was an idea for an African safari room. The final theme decision has not been made yet. It wavers between this, space, jungle, Star Wars, western, ocean and Toy Story. I have a few other spaces to decorate before we get to their room anyway, so we will continue to waver.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I admit it, I love presents. I'm especially giddy on Christmas Eve and again on April 12. So, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when my son wants to start his birthday list two months before his birthday.

If you are interested, I do have my Christmas list started...although I don't think mine will be quite as cute as O's! :)

My bones are shaking.

The boys were on a bike ride around the neighborhood recently while I was on foot and Walter told me this as he was going up a hill. Cutie pie! I realized sweet Walter doesn't get as much time on his bike as his brother did at his age. Now that Owen bikes like a pro and I got a new bike this year, we always go on big bike rides on the lovely bike baths near our house. Sounds like I have a new idea on how Walter and I can spend our afternoons together while O's still in school.

We had an after school picnic with some of Walter's besties on Tuesday. We went down by the lock and dam and enjoyed watching the boats, exploring the machinery and watching nature. Although I tried, I failed to get any great pictures of the boys. Next time you are with 3 three year olds fresh out of school, super excited to be together, pretending to be super heros, in a new and exciting place, I challenge you to get a descent photo! Here are a few of my failed attempts:

Can I have one that makes me laugh?

The new last request of the night from Walter is a kiss that makes him laugh. After the request, I dig into his neck and blow and kiss and tickle while he laughs so hard he is silent. How awesome is that!?

After two full days of school, Sunny Hollow was closed today for Rosh Hashanah. So today, the boys and I decided to head to a nearby apple orchard with some friends from school. Since 99.9% of schools just started this week, we had the place to ourselves! We had lots of fun feeding the goats and donkey, playing on the enormous playground and picking raspberries. It was like our own private farm. Fun, fun!

My cool is fun!

Walter started Sunny Hollow last week, with three days of an introduction to his classroom. The first morning after he was done, he came out and told me "I had fun, Mom." Now when I ask him about school, he will tell me "My (s)chool is fun!" He has made this nice and easy on me and I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

We spent the long weekend in International Falls visiting my sweet grandma. She had a sweet, beautiful smile on her face all weekend and hasn't lost her spunk! We enjoyed playing with all of the cousins, which Owen reminded me we don't see often enough. They had fun running around, playing football, building forts, exploring the woods, swimming, saunaing, and eating plenty of s'mores. Between the wonderful family and gorgeous lake, I'm in total agreement with Owen.

I'm walking on sunshine!

After dropping the boys off at school this morning, Jer and I came in and I put this song on. I love those boys, but it is going to be nice to have a few hours every morning to myself! Awe...

We had a great morning getting ready for school. We had a special breakfast together, complete with sprinkled donuts, and all piled in the van to head to Sunny Hollow. Walter was very ready to get there and get dropped off. Owen was excited as well, especially to see his friends again.

I'd tell you more about what we've been doing, but this time is precious! I'll fill you in later.

DQ is even open at night!

We were driving home from a friend's bbq late tonight and the boys were super excited when they saw the beautiful lights of DQ lighting up the night. Walter shouted this out to ensure I saw the amazing site.

I forgot my camera/computer connector cord at my mom and dad's house, so I have no recent photos. So here are a few flashbacks for your viewing enjoyment: