Tooth Fairy

Wes lost his first tooth on Sunday!

Sweet Treats

For Valentine's Day, I decided to whip up some special pancakes for breakfast. I added a bit of food coloring to the batter and made each boy his favorite colored pancake. Jack wanted purple and Wes wanted green!
I didn't really think it would make a difference but they seemed to eat more than usual!

I tried my hand at making French Macarons. They were super easy to make and I will be trying again. I added raspberry flavoring and the filling was a raspberry vanilla buttercream.
They are supposed to have a raised dome to them but I think I over mixed, they tasted wonderful anyway!

Let it Snow!

Jack has a touch of Spring fever!

Wes did a great job helping Daddy shovel the driveway

Holiday Fun

I've been behind in posting family pictures from the holidays so, here is Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years all rolled into one!

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house in the cites. My sister Jennifer makes THE BEST pecan pie (it could possibly have to do with the massive amount of bourbon she added this year)!

Aren't these the cutest cupcakes? My sister Molly picked these up at a bakery downtown, I especially love the mashed potatoes, gravy and butter looking one.

Jack in the box! He loves mama kitty, I'm not so sure she is so enthusiastic about him though.

A good evening for a friendly wrestling match

Horsey rides from daddy

A ride from big bro

We had a fun weekend babysitting cousin Lauren, Jack loves to hold her and kiss her.

I don't think we will ever get a 'normal' picture from these two. One is pant-less and the other shirtless and yes, Wes insists on putting fake tattoos on his belly.

Christmas/New Year's vacation seemed like an eternity. I think because the weather was too cold to go outside or anywhere for that matter. Aunt Molly gave the boys her old tent and they love it! I especially love Jacks static hair!

Robots!

I just had to share this, I think these are so adorable! Giant Robot Large wall decals by Blik
Blik is a company that makes artwork for you walls, kind of like stickers, but they are removable and won't damage the walls, how fun!
The kids are into robots so this would be perfect for them. Also, we are considering buying bunk beds and moving the boys into the bigger bedroom as this will free up space for a guest/playroom.

Fish of a lifetime through the ice!

Hey peoples - Kyle here. I don't usually update the blog, but I have some news that motivated me to whup up a post. Ice fishing is one of my favorites pastimes, and the fishing this winter has been terrific! I've caught enough perch and walleye to provide several yummy fish suppers for us.

On Wednesday (12/23) I took the day off work to fish all day. I got out to Pike Bay at about 9:15, and set up camp on one of my favorite spots, going after perch and walleyes in about 22 feet of water. I caught a half-dozen real nice perch right off the bat, then they quit biting completely for a couple minutes.

I reeled up to make sure the minnow was still on my perch-color Jigging Rapala, then sent it back down. After a couple quick jigs, something hit the lure, and hit it hard! I immediately thought it was a northern pike, since there are some good sized pike in that lake. I had only 6-pound line on my medium-light action ice rod, so I knew I had to be careful.

I loosened the drag and let the fish run. WOW did it run! It was peeling line off like crazy, and after about 5-6 minutes, I was running out of line on the reel. I tightened the drag just a touch, and started pulling back as hard as I dared with the light line I had. Luckily the fish was starting to tire a little bit, and after about 5 more minutes (and several more powerful runs), I was able to get the fish up far enough that I could see the outline of the through the ice.

I almost wet myself.

It was BY FAR the biggest fish I had ever hooked, and probably the biggest fish I had ever seen with my own eyes. Now that I had seen the size, I really got nervous, because I knew how hard it was going to be to get it up through the ice.

After several minutes more, I finally got the fish up under the hole, and saw that it was in fact a trophy muskie, but there was a problem: the lure was in the back corner of its mouth, so when I lifted the rod, the fish just rolled instead of coming up into the hole! I put a glove on my left hand and reached down through the 14" of ice to try to grab a gill cover and hoist it up.

Of course as soon as I touched the fish, it was off on another run, taking several yards of line (again) and going out of sight.

We repeated this dance four more times, until I was finally able to completely exhaust the monster, reach down, and lift it up through the ice. I flopped it down on the ice, and nearly screamed! It was a monster muskie, and I grabbed my measuring tape and measured it at 50 -1/4" - a trophy by any standard.

I grabbed my cell phone to take a picture, buy my phone had got so wet that the pics looked like those blurry alleged Bigfoot pictures that nutters send to the National Enquirer. I was NOT going to let this fish go without photographic evidence, or nobody would have believed me, so I sprinted over to a nearby fish house, and banged on the door. The guy who answered was a business partner of a friend of mine, and he had a camera in his car. He was kind enough to come over to my portable, and take a few nice pics for me.

Woweeeeeee!

A, B, C