Christmas time?

It's supposed to be Christmas but we have absolutely NO snow so it's a little hard to get into the season.  We're just not feeling it.  In an attempt to get it to snow, we went about our regular year-end rituals.

We went to chop down the tree and had to walk in this year as there was too much mud to drive.  We found the perfect tree and, as usual, mutilated the poor trunk in the process.  You know me.  I like to tell the story through pictures.

 

Then we brought in the powerhouse and let the chips fly!

The tree is huge and sits about half an inch from the living room ceiling.  It's beautiful!
Still, no snow.

We're waiting...

Sioux City Road Trip

After Holden's birthday we told him he was taking a short road trip with Mom.  He got to pick the destination.  It needed to be about 4-5 hours away and be somewhere he's never been to before.  He chose Sioux City, Iowa.

It was a rainy and cold the day we got there so we had to make our own fun.  On the way into town we found a guy that restored old cars and chatted with him for a while.

Then we headed to the local public library to have a little fun and stay dry.

 

The next day the sun (and wind) came out and we were able to do a little more.

We found a few places to dance and recorded his fourth dancing video inside the Sioux City Art Center.  The staff was very sweet and were happy to let him record his video in the rotunda.

By the way, if you haven't subscribed to his YouTube Channel, you can do it now.
Seriously.  Just do it.
He goes by "Offbeat".
Here's your link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk_9JUIHFi6aAcUE-XNgeTQ

Then it was off to the Mid America Museum of Aviation and Transportation.

And a selfie of the two of us (my favorite) taken by Holden, and we headed home...

Holden's Vocal Workshop

Holden also had his vocal workshop performance right around his birthday.  He did a great job and had a blast on stage.  Here's a link to the youtube video to watch his Bon Jovi song.

https://youtu.be/jzVCPWZdo7M

Holden's 13th Birthday!

Yep, Holden turned 13!

OK, I know I'm really late on this one.  But here you go...

Holden's favorite selfie...

The day started out with a few presents and a trip to the Mall of America.  I tried to catch a picture as we entered the Mall.  Here's the final one...

And now I'm going to publish what I usually don't.  This is what we went through to get that picture.  This is actually an anomaly as we usually snap 10 or more pictures until Holden can get his goofies out.  Notice how Andy is just walking around in the background, waiting until we get the picture we're looking for.

 And then the boys headed to Flying Aces to fly some World War II planes in a simulated dog fight.

  

And then to the amusement park for some rides...

And, again, trying to get a picture of Holden and Sydney together.  Here's the final pic...

And here's just a sampling of what we took to get there...
Sydney looked EXACTLY the same in every single picture.  Just waiting patiently...

After a wonderful birthday lunch we headed home to finish off any presents that were left and to have his birthday pie.  Chocolate.

And, to end the day, I let the camera turn on me so I could get a picture with the birthday boy.