So, I haven't updated in a while, mostly because I like to update with pictures, and my computer time is usually on the laptop, which I cannot seem to load pictures on to.  The other big reason is that we've been pretty busy with hockey mostly, but also with Emily's ice skating.

Here are some highlights of the last few weeks of both...

Jacob had a Termite tournament in Valley City, ND.  It was a lot of fun, very cold, and we played mostly other West Fargo teams, but it was great.  So fun to watch our boy have fun and he did so well playing hockey with some kids who have been playing for almost 3 years now.  He held his own pretty well :)

Here he is playing, probably his favorite position, goalie...

Here is how Emily makes it through a hockey game.  She doesn't really like to watch at this point, but she'll still cheer for Jacob every once in a while...

See...

Even though Valley City is an hour away from home, we decided to stay at the hotel with the team.  We thought it would be a good chance to get to know some other hockey families better.  We were wrong, but it was still fun.  Here we are having a pizza picnic on the floor of our hotel room.

Here is Jacob with his medal from the tournament.  He sure had a fun weekend...

Back at home, a week or so later, Emily's art work was on display at school.  Luckily, we had conferences the same week, so it was easy to get a picture of her with her picture.  It is the black one, above her in this picture...

"It is buildings with a moon and stars and waves under the buildings and has a lot of windows on the buildings," says Emily.  What a great little artist we have!

Jacob's teacher told us about a special bulletin board that Jacob's picture was on.  Respectful, responsible and safe are the criteria that one student from each class had to meet.  Jacob was chosen from his class.  

The whole week after Jacob's hockey tournament, was Emily's week.  She had Ice Show practice Monday - Thursday, dress rehearsal on Friday, and shows on Saturday and Sunday.  Whew, that was a lot of skating and running around for our girl.  She obviously had a lot of fun with it though...

Here she is on the first night of the Ice Show all dressed up, makeup and everything...  she LOVED that :)

Here is Emily giving Jacob a hug.  Why is she giving him a hug?

Because we sent him on a "secret mission" to go get Emily flowers for after her show.  Great Grandma and Great Grandad gave her some also that night.  Grammy and Grandad gave her some the next day, but I didn't think we needed two pictures of her with flowers...

Here she is at Sunday's performance...

Here are the kids playing at the park after the ice show.  

And, of course Jacob's art work was on display the NEXT week at school.  We had to make a special trip to go see it and take a picture.

It is "a cup" says Jacob :)  He's not too talkative right now :P

So, that is what we've been up to lately.  Everything is about done now.  We'll hopefully be starting swimming lessons soon, but for now, we'll enjoy some R&R :)

Christmas 2011

Christmas came all too fast at the Sell house this year.  I didn't get Christmas cards out this year, which is really too bad, because I have them bought, but have no time to get them done.

Here are a few highlights from the season...

Emily and Jacob decorating Christmas cookies...

This is why we don't share our Christmas baking...  Just kidding, he was posing for the picture :)

Emily goofing around with Christmas decorating also...

Opening Christmas eve pjs...

Christmas eve gift opening...  Jacob got a mini-hockey set... LOVES it!

Emily got her much-coveted Nintendo DS...

A quick family picture since we all looked so nice :)

My kids, always ready to open more presents...

Merry Christmas Lola!  The kids helped her open her gift first thing on Christmas morning...

Jacob gave Emily a LaLaLoopsy.  She was pretty happy about it :)

Jacob got Legos...  always a favorite with him...

My, oh my, they are gonna be roller-kids this summer.  And the weather was so nice, that they even got to try them out right away!

Hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours.  It is always fun to get together with family and enjoy our time together.

Holiday Lights Parade 2011

The Holiday Lights Parade was tonight.  The weather was great.  After standing outside for almost an hour, we were more than ready to go though.  It was still cold, but not too bad.  We kept thinking about how awful last year was, and this year wasn't nearly that bad.  We were on the Moorhead side again this year, and I think we may have our game plan for this event figured out finally, after only 6 years now LOL!

Here is the Sell family traditional Holiday Lights Parade picture:

To Pick Up Where I Left Off...

Ok, so the pumpkins have been carved, and then we're off to trick-or-treat.  This year wasn't too bad.  Doesn't matter how nice it starts out, it is just the time of year that it cools off after the sun goes down.  The kids did great in just sweats under their costumes though!  So nice!

So, if you can't tell, Jacob is Batman, and Emily is a mermaid.    

Can I just say, it took FOREVER to find a costume that Emily wanted, and THEN we couldn't find her size...  ugh.  Then she finally settled for this one.  After lots and lots and lots of searching.  

On another note, this year at work we got to dress up if we wanted to.  I thought, what the heck, that sounds like fun.  Then I promptly forgot about it until Oct 30th.  Good luck finding what you want then!  Needless to say, I didn't find the costume that I had envisioned.  So, I went with the old "conehead" for backup :)  My family will understand, everyone else will just have to make their own guesses LOL

On Veteran's Day, the Fargo Force hockey team was selling tickets for only $1!  We had to jump on that deal, and since Mike had taken the day off because the kids didn't have school, he was able to get us those nice, cheap tickets.  We didn't get to stay for the whole game because we had hockey and ice skating bright and early the next morning, but we stayed for most of it.  It was a pretty good time!  Jacob enjoyed it more than Emily, but she dislikes hockey right now because Jacob loves it so much.  

Here is Jacob at a Termite Wild hockey game.  This is the first or second game of the year, so he wasn't too steady on his skates.  He gets better every day though!  And, like I said, he really loves it :)

Here he is playing one of his favorite positions, goalie.  Mike made the comment that of course he would like to play the most expensive position in the most expensive sport LOL!  We don't really care what position he plays, just as long as he is having fun, that is what it is all about.

Here is Emily skating away at her first or second week of skating lessons.  She is pretty good already!  She passed Basic 1, and is now on to Basic 2.  She loves it so much, and is so proud of what she can do out there on the ice.  She works hard (when she isn't trying to keep tabs on who is watching her, i.e. Me, Mike, Grammy, Grandma, Grandad, or Great Grandma), and you can really tell that she is enjoying herself.

I had the opportunity through work to go to a Disney Live event at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.  I probably could have gotten enough tickets for the whole family, but I was pretty sure that Mike wouldn't want to go, and I don't know that Jacob would like it too much either.  So, it was just a girls' afternoon, and that was great fun.  Emily did like it even though she's not really into Disney princesses too much.  She new all of the stories at least, and it was fun to do something we knew the boys wouldn't feel too left out on.  Here is a picture of Emily at the end of the show:

And me and her together right before we left.  I should have done this earlier, because she has a purple mouth from the sno-cone.  Oh well :)

That is it for this update.  Will have more to come soon, the Holiday Lights Parade is coming up soon!

Carving Pumpkins...

Emily and Jacob, ready to start!

Jacob and his finished Jack-o-lantern

Emily and her finished Jack-o-lantern

Spooky, yes?  We're all ready for Halloweenie!

Love...

I can not express how much I love the people in this picture with me :)

Jacob, Emily, Sara and Mike - Sioux hockey game @ Ralph Engelstad Arena 10/7/11.