frozen fun...

what do you do when it is frigid outside in minnesota? well you could...

make a rice krispies train

 after the mold is made

 decorated on one side

 decorated on the other side

 you could put together a k'nex rollercoaster

 (or have bobby do most of it for you, since it had 900+ pieces...)

 you could put on fake nails...

or

go jumping at skyzone...

  or...

 you could go fishing for trout in an "indoor" pond...

 sophia caught the first trout of the day!

grandpa assisted livia with her fish...

 livia caught the second trout of the day! 

we had our luck with fishing ONE MORE TIME, and livia caught one of the biggest trout in the pond - 1 lb. 2 oz! She was grinning from ear to ear :)

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So, if you ever wondered what we do when the temperatures drop here in minnesota, you just caught a glimpse into some of our frozen fun!

merry GRINCHmas...

our family attended the production of "how the grinch stole christmas" at the children's theatre over break. We had a grinchy good time and even had a fun dinner afterwards!

 a fun event calls for fancy wear, especially bows! even when you grow up, you can still wear bows on your shoes :) 

 waiting for the show to begin...in the background you can just make out the grinch's cave

 merry GRINCHmas!

after the wonderful show we headed over to benihana's for dinner and another show!

 the girls were enamored with the chef, and how he cooked our meal right in front of us! their faces were priceless!

how did he do that?

 after supper had ended, livia said, "i want to come back here again soon!"

that is the measure of a fun day :)

and to all a good night...

i feel like christmas is a little like the saying in the "wizard of oz" - "my, people come and go so quickly here." The week of Christmas break, I kind of feel that same sentiment. We look forward to seeing our friends and family and it always goes by too quickly! Over the span of seven days, we had 3 christmases and that didn't even include the fun we had over new year's! Here are some pictures from our QUICK break and all the fun that ensued!

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schaffer christmas

 at lorie and scott's house (christmas eve night)

we had scott take our picture in the exact same spot 16 years later almost to the date of when i brought bobby over for the first time to meet the family :) scott called us "the young affair"

 ready for santa and rudolph!

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christmas morning

 santa brought THE gift that the girls wanted more than anything! yay!

 our "kids"...copper included!

 we even had time to do a christmas project in the evening from pinterest...

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christmas with the sederholms and withers' families

 so cute!

 we set the table with our christmas dishes and used a new pinterest idea for the place cards - pipe cleaners 

 the girls getting their eggs ready for the first annual withers egg drop

 here we go!

 checking their eggs to see if they made it!

 elana's egg, "bob", was the winner...of course it would win with that name!

 they look egg-cited!

 family photos!

 jill, susan, nancy, sharon, and bobby

 don't mess with the chef and his "manly" apron :)

a little bowling fun for the kids and adults!

we had a good time, and i think we may have even started some new traditions this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!