Pumpkins!

We got to go back home this weekend! Cody and I were high school sweethearts so our families live pretty close to each other. Last minute Cody found out that he was going to get Thursday off (he doesn't work Fridays) so we go to go home Wednesday through Sunday! Our little mini vacation. We are very close with both of our families so being four hours away from them is difficult to say the least. We can't wait to get back to the Fargo/Moorhead area!
My dad has a little land that he bought for hunting, this year they planted corn, soybeans and pumpkins to feed the deer around the area. They planted pumpkins last year but they didn't take. This year there were hundreds of pumpkins. Connor wanted to take them all home! We probably walked through the Field for about an hour just looking at all of the pumpkins. It was so much fun. We even carved one because Cody was craving some baked pumpkin seeds!  Here are some photos of Grandma and Grandpa's pumpkin patch!

After we went to the pumpkin patch we drove around the woods admiring the leaves. Minnesota is so beautiful this time of year. We spent most of our weekend playing outside in the sandbox, and watching the boys play football, & baseball. It was the perfect weekend!

Skol Vikings!

This weekend my little family ventured to the big city (or should I say cities?!)! My parents are season ticket holders for the Vikings and invited Connor and Cody to join them. They were more than happy to accept! The game was going to be Sunday at noon so we decided to go early Saturday morning and bring Connor to Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America.

When we got to MOA Connor was really nervous, I don't think he knew what to expect looking at all of those rides. I was starting to get nervous myself thinking he was going to chicken out and not ride a thing.. Once he finally got going he had a BLAST! He was just tall enough for some of the bigger kid rides and he was not scared! I was really proud! I even went on one of the rollercoasters, I think I embarrassed him by screaming.. He kept saying, "REALLY, MOM?!" I think that was code for "be quiet, you are embarrassing me!" haha! Reese was not into it obviously, she is only 5 months. So after a while I took her for a walk around the mall, I didn't mind at all! ;)

The next day Connor and Cody went to the game while Reese and I stayed at the hotel. Con got SPOILED; he came home with a new jersey, a foam finger, a little helmet, and a Vikings Robot. He was so excited! Cody said he cheered really loud too. Once we got home he told his dad that he didn't like watching football on the TV anymore, he only likes REAL football! haha! I don't blame him, but I think my parents would go broke if they had to bring him to the Vikings every weekend with them!

 My mom "Grandma Julie" and Connor at the Vikings Game September 23, 2012

                                                     Daddy and Connor

Maybe a little loud?

                                                Connor and his Robot

Fantasy Football is CONSUMING my life!

I used to look forward to Sunday afternoons. I would watch the Vikings and eat popcorn. It was a past time that I look back on fondly. Now, I view Sunday's as the bane of my existence. My husband has been involved in fantasy football for about three years now. It seems like every conversation reverts back to his team, his players, etc. IT IS EXHAUSTING. Not only do I get to watch my favorite team, The Minnesota Vikings, I also get to watch the games of every other team in the NFL (Note my sarcasm)!  I know players stats, projected stats, their injury status's and trust me, it isn't by choice!

Sunday's at the Bendickson home now look like this, my children playing, me reading, doing homework, or tending to my children and my husband vegged out on the couch watching two games (split screen)with the remote in one hand, his phone in the other (checking stats on his Fantasy App) and the computer in his lap. To put it mildly, he is obsessed.  I'm starting to think my children and I should spend every Sunday from now to January out of the house (for my sanity), I doubt my husband would notice!

Ok, my rant is over. I know everyone has their hobbies, my husband LOVES football and I wouldn't consider denying him that one pleasure (as if I actually could) ;). And I always have to look at the bright side, football is only on from August-January.. It could be worse! I've shared a picture below of Cody watching football..Do you see the reflection of the game in the window? His face looks like he is saying "Shut up Alison I am trying to watch the game!" haha!

Baby Pictures

Recently I had my kids pictures taken. Reese was four months when they were taken, and Connor was four and a half years.  I am a little later with Reese’s pictures than I was with Connor. Poor second child, I was so on the ball with Connor, I made sure I wrote everything down, took pictures, the whole nine yards.  But we got the pictures taken and that’s what matters!

We started taking pictures with Connor first. As usual, he was a shy boy (see first picture) but he started to come around! Especially when we started bribing him with Halloween costumes! Did I mention he LOVES superhero’s? He even got to take pictures in his Spiderman costume, which was a big deal to him!

Reese was her normal happy self, at first! She took pictures in her christening gown which my mother knitted, absolutely beautiful! She also wore an adorable pink tutu made for her by Cody’s mom! I am so lucky to have crafty mothers! By the end of the pictures she was DONE! As you can see in the final picture of her she buried her face in the pillow! It made an adorable picture and is actually one of my favorites!  

Now I am in the process of picking out who gets what pictures, ordering, and buying them.  Throughout this whole process I am thinking I am going to have to do this again in another 3 months when Reese takes her 6-7 month pictures! It is an endless process! But I couldn’t be more pleased with how they turned out!

Single Parenting

This week I have found a new admiration for single parents.. HOW DO THEY DO IT? Cody has been gone for work since Monday and I have been the one in charge of doing everything for the kids, home, etc. I understand that there is a large portion of what a single parent has to deal with missing in my duties this week, the job! However, I have been going to school so the long hours are similar. After one week of this single parenting I have decided that once children of single parents are raised the parents should get some sort of award for years of no sleep, little help, kids testing their limits and the constant game of catch up. I have only been doing this for about four days so I cannot imagine the hardships a single parent goes through.

I do believe that this is going to be a wonderful learning experience for me though. As a teacher, I am going to be dealing with many kinds of different families. Single parents make up a large portion of the United States population. I have done some researching on how to survive single parenting and found a site called Divorcewizard.com and they wrote an article called "Top Ten Ways to be the Best Single Parent" Which I thought I would share. 

http://www.divorcewizards.com/Divorce-and-Single-Parenting.html

Hopefully this will be a good resource to use and share with those single parents out there.

Now the week is almost over and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't get me wrong, I love my children but sometimes a person just needs a break, and a little help! http://www.redtri.com/happy-mom-tip-take-a-break

Power LIONS!

I am more than likely going to post about my four year old, Connor, often to say the least. Connor has the best personality, he is shy, a real thinker, and it takes him a while to warm up to people. Once he does warm up to them however, it's hard to get him to stop talking! He is at the age where he is curious about everything, so naturally questions are a pretty constant in our household! He comes up with the silliest things, we like to call them” Connorism’s” because they are so unique and funny. Here is an example of a “Connorism”

One day Connor and Cody (my husband) went for a bike ride. During the ride Connor was noticing the orange flags that were buried in the ground, so of course he asked his dad what those orange flags were; his dad said "They buried lines under there". Apparently Connor accepted this answer and they kept riding. On the way home Connor ask his dad "Hey dad, where are those tigers?" Cody was confused, and Connor corrected himself and said "No, I mean the Lions.. You know, you said that they buried those LIONS under the ground." It took Cody a while to understand where he was going with this and realized that Connor thought that they were burring live lions under the ground near our home. It turns out he was scared they might get him. Cody assured him that there were no lions buried near our home and that what he said was “they buried lines, like power lines in the ground. Not LIONS!".

Family Introductions

Hello! My name is Alison, and this is a picture of my family. When I thought about blogging I had no idea what I would write about. My life is consumed with finishing my bachelors in education and my family. I figured the easiest thing to write about is the thing I could talk about FOREVER, my family. Nothing makes me more proud or happy than those faces you see in the picture above. Cody is an Auditor for the State of Minnesota. In his spare time he enjoys hunting, sports, and of course Fantasy Football (more about that later). Connor is four years old and attends Preschool here in Marshall. He loves superheros, transformers, and is starting to become interested in sports (much to his father’s delight). Reese is just five months and is really busy rolling over, learning to sit up, and working on teeth! Her smile is infectious. Like I said, I am working on my Bachelors in Education, and Early Childhood. I have been going to school for what seems like forever, but I'll get there. Cody and I like to joke that we have done everything in life backwards. First came Connor, then marriage, then his college graduation, then he got the job, then baby #2, then I will be graduating, and next step is to buy a house. It works for us, and we couldn't be happier with how things have turned out!