Christmas Wish List

We asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas this year. These were the responses we received:

Nick: "I want a DS and some games to go along with it, a DVD player for MY room, some new Wii games and.....(long pause), a baby brother." I guess we can provide the first few items for him, but we'll have to see about that last one! God has already decided if this next one will be a boy or girl. I just hope Nick isn't disappointed if it's another girl.

Kadence: "I want a Barbie, a Baby Alive, some Barbie clothes, some socks, some shoes (can you tell she's a girl?), and a Leapster! I think Santa's going to bring me the Leapster so you don't have to worry about it mom."

Kyra: "Baba" for Baby

We are going shopping soon for Project Joy. The kids are always so excited to help me pick out those gifts. Nick asked me this year if I knew who received the gifts. I told him I did not know. His response, "That's okay. It'll be like a surprise present for them!" What a sweetie!!!

I am making our "to-do" list and cannot believe the amount of things we have left to do before the big day! I think we're going to leave the baking part until last....it creates quite a commotion and a mess. The kids have a lot of fun though and Aaron and I enjoy eating their creations! I have a knack for "raw" cookie dough...LOVE IT. Guess I'll have to wait until next year to eat any as I don't want to risk having anything serious happen with the baby!

Merry Christmas from the Bowne's

Please check out the following website....something I created to go along with our Christmas cards and letters this year. You may need to make it full-screen before you play it...the pictures are a little fuzzy but you can see them better. (I made it high-definition, so it may take a little time to load, dependent upon your computer/internet settings.) Enjoy!

http://animoto.com/play/Z32LfYT0fBcsDdFD0XANrA#toolbox

If that website doesn't take you to the video, then try this one below as well.

http://animoto.com/play/Z32LfYT0fBcsDdFD0XANrA?autostart=true

Girls Night Out

This past Saturday, a few of us went to the Miranda Lambert concert in Brookings for a Girls Night Out. It was a lot of fun! Eric Church, who performed before Miranda, was awesome. He has a blend of country/hard rock music. Our seats were awesome as well. We could sit for the majority of the concert and see everything! Watch out Blake Shelton...we're coming back for more in February!

Happy Halloween!

Thank God grandma had a camera! I completely forgot to take pictures of the kids before leaving and so I am using my mom's so you can see what they were! Kyra was a ladybug, Kadence was a witch (a good one though...according to Kadence), and Nick was a Motor-cross dirt bike rider. We went to our usual stops and had so much candy when we returned that it will take nearly a year just to get rid of it before next Halloween!

This is Brady, some good friends' of ours son at his house.

Patiently waiting for grandma to open the door.

We went on a hayride earlier that day as well at our friends, the Jorenby's. We all had a great time. The weather was beautiful. This is John riding next to Nick on the hayride.

This is Lydia the Lion. Isn't she adorable??

Getting ready for Halloween

The two older kids actually wanted to get their hands inside the pumpkin this year. We dug the seeds out, cleaned them off and dried them and then roasted them for a yummy treat! The kids wanted to make their jack-o-lanterns scary this year.

I had so many pumpkins this year that we also painted quite a few outside. Each kid got a few pumpkins to paint. They were pretty colorful (themselves) when they finished, but they had fun!

Happy Hobo Day 2010

Happy Hobo Day 2010! Just waiting for the parade to start...notice the umbrella in the back? There was an older lady who didn't want to "be in the picture". How cute, huh?

Kadence the cheerleader

Kadence wanted me to take some pictures of her doing a few cheer jumps. Here are a few of the pics I took of her.

Kyra....the climber

Kyra is quite adventurous. She has been climbing onto things (pulling her full body weight with her arms) up onto chairs, then onto our kitchen cupboards where she will stand and walk around and open our upper cabinet doors. She is not scared one bit and can get there in just a few seconds. Needless to say, I am VERY scared and have actually turned my chairs on their sides, to which she climbs onto again and gets back up.

Kyra wanting to give herself a "bath" in the kitchen sink.

"Let's see how far I can get up on this before it tips over!"

How Kyra gets up to what she wants.

Kyra at the Children's Museum

Of all the things at the Children's Museum, Kyra was and is so interested in the mommy pig and her babies. She kept taking the piglets off the mommy, putting them in the basket, and then going to the wheelbarrow to get them "food". She must have thought they needed real food rather than drinking from their mommy! She also gave the piglets kisses and petted the mommy pig. It was so amusing to watch!

Big brother Nick

Kyra loves to play outside. Nick noticed that she wanted a "ride" and that I was busy so he hooked up the sled to his bike and pulled her around. He then took for a ride on the tractor. What a sweet brother!

Fun at the Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we went to the Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch near Harrisburg, South Dakota with our friends, the Jorenby's. It was a beautiful day! We had a great time together.

Smiling pretty for the camera! Kyra, as you can tell in most of these pictures, doesn't like to sit long for pictures. There is too much to see and do!

As much as these two can fight at times, I know they truly love each other.


A very nice lady came by while I was waiting and told me to sit by Kadence so that I could be in a picture too. She told me she was a scrapbooker and knew how much she missed being in the pictures herself. Jacob is in the middle of Nick and Kadence.

My girls and I. I told Aaron I cannot wait until they got a little older so we could go shopping together! Watch out daddy----the checkbook and credit card are coming with us! :-)

Jacob and Nick having fun together.

Of course, since Nick and Jacob got their pictures taken together, Kadence wanted to be in one with Jake as well. Nick got in the background just as I took the picture and boy was Kadence mad!!!

Kyra found the petting zoo, specifically the sheep and was persistent that I knew they were there!

Nick crawling around on the hay bales. For some reason, he was a pro at this and knew just how to jump from one to the other. I wonder where he learned that?????

Kadence enjoying the fall day!

I was trying to take a picture of these three but Kyra kept running away. This was the best I could do.

Nick picking out our pumpkin for the day.

Kyra thought we should take that one but it was too heavy for me to carry around!

Kadence standing near a few of her favorites.

Karen and Claire on the hayride. Claire was pretty scared when we started but soon adapted and enjoyed the ride!

Kadence enjoying the hayride.

John and Nick on the hayride. They're best buddies!

Fun and Busy Saturday

This past Saturday we were busy!!! We first went to Nick's soccer game where he scored a few goals---way to go Nick! Then, we went to First Bank and Trust Kids and Coins Club Fall Festival. There was a petting zoo, carnival games that were free, inflatable slides and bouncing room, and a free lunch, including cotton candy---mommy's favorite! Nick then went to the SDSU Football Camp for kids. We finished the day by going to the SDSU Football game with Karma and Brittany. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the busy day together!

Nick on a "pony ride". Kadence didn't want anything to do with it other than to watch Nick.

One of the animals that we fed was the pot-bellied pig. The kids laughed at "how cute" it was. I don't know about the cuteness, but it was pretty funny to watch!

Children's Museum of South Dakota

Last weekend I took Nick and Kadence to the South Dakota Children's Museum, located in the old Central Elementary School in Brookings. They had a BLAST! What a wonderful learning environment for children of all ages. We spent 3 hours there. The only reason the kids wanted to leave was because they said they missed Kyra! How sweet! I knew we had to leave because Isabella, Kadence's friend, needed to get home for her daddy's soccer game. He's the coach of the SDSU Women's Team.

Here is Nick with his "tile". Last year, children from the area were invited to paint a tile that would go into the Museum. He was pretty proud when he found his! (Notice how wet his shirt is...it's from the water room--he had fun!)

Here is Kyra's tile. Since she was only a few months old, I put her footprint on the tile.


Here is Kadence's tile. Can you tell she loves pink and purple?


The baby dino was Kadence's favorite. She thought it was going to come out of the fenceline. She kept asking, "Is he coming to eat us?"

The big dinosaur was Nick's favorite. It literally looks like it is breathing and looking at you. Nick was pretty inquisitive about the dinosaur until he saw the speaker where the sounds came from.

Kadence and Nick played in the water room for some time. Even I was playing with the different tools!

Kadence made designs in the sand as the circular plate spun around.

Here is Nick at another sand plate. He was more interested in dumping the sand and watching it accumulate at a similar rate around the edge.

Kadence fixing the tire. She knew what needed to be done!

Nick showing me "This is how it's done, mom".