Bentleyville

This place is absolutely amazing!!! We took the boys there this eveing to see Santa :) It was Cainen's first visit ever to sit on Santa's lap and I don't know if he was really afraid or if he was just cold. Non the less we had a fun time. Bentleyville became a yearly event for families when a man and his wife started decorating their home in Esko a couple years ago and it has grown into such an amazing spectacular event! They start putting up lights and decorations Sept 8th, with over 14 acres to light up they have to. There are several million lights, 600 plus snowflakes suspended in the trees, 230 lighted reindeer scattered throughout the woods, a dozen pallets of cider, coffee, and cookies are served, also Santa is there every year on a gigantic sleigh to greet the children and hand out winter caps with Bentleyille imprinted on them. The entrance to Bentleyville consists of a 78 foot long, 28 foot high steel framed castle and a lighted tunnel....Christmas music fills the air. Everywhere, themed displays of mostly custom-made lighted steel frame holiday decorations brighten the woods along 700 feet of paved paths. From skiing polar bears to gingerbread kids romping in a playground to playful penguins to a delightful carousel to a downtown with old-fashioned streetlights to the Twelve Days of Christmas characters with musical accompaniment, Bentleyville shows off the spirit of Christmas in a big way. There is a Cookie House, a commercial Popcorn machine, 6 fire pits to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. There is parking a mile down the road where buses pick you up to shuttle you inside Bentleyville for safety purposes. This place is absolutely unreal, it is magical and enchanting!! We look forward to it every year.
Thanks to the Bentleys'

Hockey Season

Introducing this years hockey team......We are in full swing of Carson's Sixth Hockey Season. I can hardly believe he started skating when he was 3 years old! This young man has become quite the hockey player and is a true joy to watch. He has learned alot about himself and made some wonderful friendships along the way :) I am one proud mother!

The tree is up

Our decorating is done.....awwwww, what a sigh of relief! We bravely decided to keep it in the living room in front of our big picture window hoping we would be able to ward Cainen off. HA what a joke that has been. On Thursday my mother (who bless her heart, watches him while we are working) called me at work to tell me "He did it, he knocked the tree down and looked like the witch on Wizard of Oz with his little legs sticking out" You can hardly get mad, in fact I laughed and then hoped she was able to take a picture :) Cainen is such a trooper, he did not cry at all. My mother lifted the tree and he apparently had a very confused look on his face. What I would have paid to see that!
I can hardly blame him when a tree turns out so pretty and colorful......

Fun in the Snow

We had our first official snowstorm that left us with 7" of snow on Saturday, for early December that is the most we have had in years.........not certain I am ready for this?
Non the less it was a crazy day, we were busy decorating, and getting things done around the house that we had been neglecting. There was no hockey either so we definitely had to take advantage of that!
During all the hectic hustle and bustle and I will not lie, some frustrating arguing, we did all manage to make it outside for some fun time. It was Cainen's first snow and he absolutely loved watching the powdery white fluff fall from the sky :) He was hysterical when the snowflakes were falling on his long gorgeous lashes......