Madeline's Baptism

The Sunday after Christmas our niece and goddaughter, Madeline Elizabeth Rowles was baptized. Madeline wore the baptism gown that Kelly's mom had made for our kids. Uncle Russ had brought back water from the Jordan River from his recent trip to Egypt for the ceremony. Congratulations Madeline.

Clint, Molly & Madeline


Clint, Molly, Kelly, Dave & Madeline

Molly, Clint, Madeline, Kelly, Dave & kids

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning Lauren & Benjamin managed to stay in bed until 7am. We thought for sure they would be up much earlier. The hardest part of the morning was waiting for Noah to wake up at 7:45. He finally did....whew. Here are some shots of the kids opening their presents.

Benjamin opening his Legos

Dad & Noah

Lauren got piano lessons! (her favorite present she said)

Noah as a Race Car Driver

Christmas Eve

One Christmas tradition we have at the Strei house is that on Christmas Eve we make a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. The kids get to frost it however they like. Then we have cake for breakfast on Christmas morning after we open presents. On Christmas Eve the kids also get to open 1 present before bed (which is always new PJ's & slippers). Then the rest of them are opened Christmas morning.

Lauren

Benjamin

Noah

Gingerbread Houses

Noah and Benjamin's class each constructed and decorated gingerbread houses. Basically they took graham crackers and glued the pieces to an empty milk carton with frosting. Then they used candy, etc to decorate their creations. I'm pretty sure Noah ate more candy than he put on his house. Benjamin took Grandma Petersen with him to school to help. They created an amazing house together.

Noah "building" his house.

Making sure the frosting was good enough to use ;)

Benjamin's house

Grandma & Benjamin

Decorating Gingerbread Men

Dave went out to Ortonville to hunt pheasants this past weekend. With nothing else to do, the kids and I decided to decorate gingerbread men. We invited our friends the Meier's over to help. When we were done there was lots of frosting and sprinkles all over and some very "interesting" gingerbread men.

Lauren

Benjamin

Noah - with LOTS of sprinkles

The finished products

From our Family to Yours....

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

Love,

The Strei's

Kelly, Dave, Lauren, Benjamin & Noah

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Welcome to all of our friends and families who have discovered our blog through the link on our Christmas cards. Have fun browsing past posts of our adventures since this blog began. Blogging is a learning process for me and I do my best to keep it updated. Please add our blog to your "favorites" and come back and visit us often. We would love to hear from you.

A Visit with Santa

Santa made a quick stop at the Fire Station today to hear the requests of all the boys and girls in Waconia. Lauren, Benjamin & Noah got to sit on a restored fire truck with him for a quick photo and tell him what they hoped to find under the tree on Christmas morning. Benjamin asked for a remote control race car and Noah asked for an airplane for his train tracks. Lauren surprised us the most. I had asked her before we went what she was going to ask for. She said "I don't know!" Really??? I figured she would have a list a mile long. She decided she would just tell Santa that she would be happy with whatever he put under the tree for her. What a sweet girl.

Decorating the Tree

Tonight we brought in the Christmas tree and decorated it. I always enjoy this part of Christmas because all the ornaments we put on the tree have significance to us whether they are from trips we have taken, ornaments from grandparents to our kids, ornaments to Kelly from her G.G., handmade ones or other memories. The kids were so excited to help this year as well. The job went very quickly and there were no tears when it was revealed that it was Noah's turn to put the angel on the top. Here are a few photos from our evening.

Noah and Dad

Noah putting the angel on top (how ironic huh...lol)

Lauren, Noah & Benjamin

A Hunt for the Perfect Tree

One of the most memorable parts about Christmas growing up was the tradition of going and picking out the Christmas tree. Now most people would say that it involved a fun-filled day of walking through a field filled with trees to find the perfect one to cut down and bring home. I wish I could say the same. My memories involve spending what seemed like hours in the freezing cold at the local garden store literally looking at every single tree with my parents. My dad did the old "hold the tree up and bounce the trunk on the ground" to see if it was good enough to meet up to my mom's standards. My mom had very high standards for the Christmas tree so that's why we were there for hours.

Dave and I have never been one to spend more than about 15 minutes at the tree lot picking out a tree. (My mom is cringing about this while reading this story on my blog. Love you mom!) In fact we usually pick somewhere between the 1st and 5th tree we look at. The same was true this year. We loaded up the kids and headed to the local Home Depot to look at trees. We looked at 2 and picked out the 2nd one. Good enough for us. Then off to Caribou for hot chocolate to warm up.

Lauren

(look how old she looks in this picture)

Benjamin

(speaking of kids who look old)

Noah - mmmmm, I love hot chocolate!

Dad and his "helpers"

A Basketball Star in the making

Benjamin (in the orange shirt)

Throughout the month of November, Benjamin has been participated in a basketball clinic for kindergarteners put on by Community Ed. It was taught by players of the Waconia Wildcat Varsity BB Teams. They taught the kids the basics such as dribbling, passing, pivoting and shooting. No slam dunks yet, but I imagine it's just a matter of time (and growing another few feet).

An early Thanksgiving

Last night we were invited to an early Thanksgiving dinner at our friends the Larson's. There were also 3 other family's that we are friends with there as well. Tim and Nikki have recently moved into the country where they are able to to have some animals. The 100 chicks they started with have grown to include goats, dairy steer calves, geese, ducks and turkeys. In honor of Thanksgiving we got to eat one of the fresh turkeys. This turkey was huge! After they butchered it and cleaned it, the sucker weighed 40 lbs! I have never seen such a large turkey. It was by far the most delicious turkey I have ever eaten. Very moist and tender. Thanks Larson family!

I escaped!!

No really, I did! This past weekend, 3 friends from college came to the Twin Cities for a get-away. They invited me to join them at the hotel for the weekend and I was happy to join them. We spent the time shopping, eating, visiting and other things I'm not able to mention on this blog. ;) It was fabulous and much needed. I feel like a completely new person. When do I get to go away again????

Marvelous Me

This week was Benjamin's turn to be the Marvelous Me in his kindergarten class. It's their version of the VIP. Everyday of the week there was something that they did to get to know him. He completed a sheet about himself to share with the class. The class traced him and colored in his picture on a giant sheet of paper. His family came to visit one day and he also got to bring treats. A great way for the class to get to know him.

The picture the class made of him by tracing around him. He said that it really tickled when they did that.

The story the class wrote about Benjamin based on the information sheet he filled out for the class.

Dad, Noah & Lauren coming for a classroom visit.

Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Tonight is the big night that the kids have been waiting for. They are so excited about trick-or-treating. Everyday for the last few weeks, the first thing Noah asks when he wakes up in the morning is, "Is it Halloween???" Let's hope they can contain their excitement until it gets dark out. Lauren is going as Annie Oakley (she read a book about her this summer). Benjamin and Noah are Race Car Drivers. Dave and I aren't dressing up tonight but when we went to a party a couple weeks ago, Dave was a triathlete and I was Smarty Pants. Have a fun and safe Halloween.

The Strei kids - plus one neighbor kid who didn't want to feel left out.


Love those cheesy smiles!



The whole gang

Very Important Line Leader!

Last week at preschool Noah was the VIP (Very Important Person). Each child at school gets a turn at being the VIP throughout the year.



He had to fill out a poster about himself (with mom & dad's help). Then he told his class about it with the teachers's help. This is what the poster said about him.

*I am 3 years old.

*My favorite color is blue.

*My favorite animal is a Tiger.

*My favorite things to eat is the Giant Pancake.

*Picture of Noah.

*Picture of his family.

*Nikki's farm is my favorite place.

*When I grow up I want to be a Race Car Driver.

*My favorite thing to do is go to Safari Island (our community center).

*If I had one wish, I would wish to live in Grandma and Grandpa's town.



In addition, he got to wear a special sticker and received a certificate. The highlight for him was that the VIP also got to be the lineleader. Every time we asked him what VIP stood for he would say, Very Important Lineleader.

Telling the class about his poster with Ms. Cherie.

Twin Cities Marathon

October 5th Dave ran the Twin Cities Marathon. Despite it being rainy, cold and wet, he finished in a great time (4hr 3 min). Afterwards he realized that he has been running this event since 1998. That's a lot of running! If you even want to join him, just let him know. :)

High 5's for Dad near the end.

Dave - after. He doesn't look like he just ran a marthon!

Two of his biggest fans.

Gale Woods Farm

Many of you know that I work at an educational farm called Gale Woods. I work there intermittently which basically means when they need extra help and I can find child care, I go to work. Last week Noah and I went out for a visit there and I took along my camera. Here are some pictures of the farm and the animals. This really is the best place in the world to work. How did I ever get so lucky?

Gale Woods Farm

A Visit to the Apple Orchard

We all made a visit to a local apple orchard over the weekend. It was a beautiful day for fun at the orchard. We picked apples, rode on the wagon, visited the petting zoo and sampled lots of apples! The only bad thing that happened was Noah got stung by a bee. :(

Apple Orchard - Strei Family

Noah's preschool class visited the same orchard on Tuesday. I thought that maybe he wouldn't want to go back because of the bee but I guess the thrill of riding the school bus made him forget!

Apple Orchard - Noah's Preschool

Ummmm...I don't think so Noah

Lauren was headed out the door this morning to the bus stop. Noah was in his room and heard her start to leave. He wanted to give her a hug so he came running out of his room just like this to say good-bye. It was hard not to control the giggles. After she left I asked him what he was doing. He told me that he was ready to go to school. Yikes! I don't think Miss Cherie wants you showing up like that.

Nickle Dickle Day 2008

Waconia's annual Nickle Dickle Day was held this past Saturday. It's a fun-filled day with a running race (kids and adults), car show, craft fair, food, entertainment, etc, etc. We always enjoy going to it and seeing many of our friends from around town.

Dave ran in the 10K race. It's a nice race because the course literally goes by our front yard. Very easy viewing and cheering for Dad! Lauren, Benjamin & Noah ran in the 1/2 mile race, called the Nickle Dickle Tickle. Lauren and Benjamin had run it before but it was Noah's first time. He was so excited too. Although he was a little confused about how he was going to participate in the race because when we were leaving to go, he said he needed his bike. Because that's what was going to make him go really fast to win the race! Dave also said that half way through the race, he asked Dave if he could have a ride now. Too funny.

Dave finishing the 10K - rainy, cold and wet.

Noah, Lauren & Benjamin at the starting line.