Happy 40th Birthday Jenn!

The most wonderful part of  the day was the video that Lisa created with messages from all of our family and friends --- posting it here so I can watch it again anytime I need a pick me up :) 

Jenn Turns 40

 With all the potential of a traditional 40th birthday - a COVID birthday was not the plan... but I still felt full loved and celebrated! 

Patrick and I got away for a day date and lunch outside by Lake wingra! 

Beers with my work wife Anne - so fun to hang together with the hubbies too! 

Traditional Qdoba buffet to celebrate me and Dad --- we eat off of it for days and I do my best to make each plate different --- this was over eggs for breakfast! 

More cocktail selfies  and surprise  front porch visits from wonderful friends! 

Packages of bevvies and treats 

And pampering packages and more treats! 

And 12 days of beers --- this entertained us for days (probably almost 12!) 

The day ended with our neighborhood gift exchange - outside and chilly but wonderful! 

Sushi take out and BYOB and lovely ladies spreading holiday cheer! 

The start of the holiday season - COVID style

Winter arrived and while we were so grateful last year when the pandemic began that it wasn't "winter" - we were glad for the change and some of the white stuff! 

Pretty great snowman - Isaac gave him his hat - though plenty of people on FB were concerned as to wy he wasn't wearing one himself... #giver 

Speaking of giving - my lovely neighbors dropped off some cranberry cocktail deliciousness - yummmm! 

Anna's bedtime shenanigans continued - onesie on the outside to prevent her from taking her jammies off... lining up her stuffies for bed. Adorable, right?!? 

Fast forward to 45 minutes later... 

Still sorta cute :) 

So this was our beer buffet this year --- understandable but sad --- last one in McFarland... 

Thanksgiving morning --- 

started and ended our day with pie.... cause, why not! 

pumpkin pie in our jammies 

We got to have some outside family fun with the Ellestads on Thanksgiving - but not before stopping to take a selfie by the Lighthouse in Fondy --- Christmas card to tell everyone we are moving! 

Traditional Thanksgiving gear - that doesn't change in a pandemic! 

Anna and Grandma keeping each other warm! 

Grandpa delivering drinks to the family. 

Too much Thanksgiving :) just curled up on the stoop in the garage waiting for Mom and Dad to be ready to go home... can't wait until we are just 10 minutes down the road! 

Cocktails once we were home! 

We love the holidays! 

This little miss got a new dress up hat --- so cute! 

doing the dishes --- boy do I love our farm sink! (and so does Anna!) 

Packer selfie! 

This guy won this stuffy at school for being a Rockstar kid! 

He was so proud --- name: Starship 

Note: his hair gets wonky in the washing machine 

Note 2: Isaac will love him regardless of his hair style --- until Baby Luigi comes into the mix - then Starship is old news :) 

Did I mention we like holiday cocktails? 

When we can't hang with friends, I like to send them photos of what I think they are missing! 

Just us...

 Most of November was just us - doing stuff at home. 

Lots of baths for entertainment - goggles - hippos - anything goes! 

We got a super hard candy puzzle for Halloween and the boys and I powered through in just a few days! 

Always the battle for who gets the last piece! 

Bath time buddies 

Some more nice weather - would you believe this was November? 

Bikes down to the Capitol - breakfast at Ancora - again taking advantage of the beautiful weather in Madison before we are too far to bike there! 

Peeling off layers in the sun - still a pretty cute photo! 

family selfie! 

Rode down State Street to see some of the incredible art

Boys were thrilled to get up close and personal with a food delivery robot! 

Pigtails before school! 

And November began our sleeping battle with Anna. To be fair we started packing her room when she started destroying it at night - looking back I am sure she had no idea what was happening and probably was retaliating - but when Brown Bear Brown Bear got ripped to shreds... :( 

She took her bed apart and even ripped up the mattress cover

All smiles during the day and so happy to "help" with the dishes! 

Made some Thanksgiving cookies for our neighbor friends --- James was a huge help! 

Halloween 2020

 We chose to do Halloween a little different this year - no trick o' treating - but some social distance fun with the neighbors and of course pumpkins! 

Easy to skip the crowds at the little stand down the street! 

Anna trying to lift her pumpkin! 

Isaac was all about the insides this year! 

And James was determined to carve his own this year. 

Cheesy faces with their pumpkins! 

Costumes this year - Toad, an Owl, and Mario 

Neighbor buddies! 

The whole crew! 

Spiderman and Toad

Candy swap! 

Momma snuggles with a chocolate mustache! 

When it got dark and cold, we went home for a scavenger hunt in the house. This was plan B in case we couldn't do anything else, but then we got so excited about the hunt - we did it anyway! 

There were clues and bowls of "eyeballs" and the whole house was dark. 

Patrick and I took turns disappearing and hiding and scaring the kids by jumping out at them here and there. They were so focused on the next clue they never noticed and it was awesome to jump out at them. They screamed their heads off and laughed just as hard - it was AWESOME! 

Treasures at the end of the hunt including new toothbrushes after all that candy! 

Honestly it was one of the best Halloweens we have had - might just be our new tradition going forward!