Christmas Piano Recital

I started teaching piano lessons again this fall and decided to have a recital on Saturday with my students. They all worked so hard and I was so proud of all of them. Here's a couple videos of my two kids for all to enjoy!

Shiner

It has been an interesting week around here.  We had sub-zero temperatures here yesterday which only reminded me that I am not tough and I really hate the cold.  But, we did still walk to and from school with the kids and Caleb even fell asleep in the stroller on the way home (I still can’t figure out how). 

Our car was completely frozen shut which made it hard to get anywhere yesterday too, but with a little man-power from my man, we at least got in.  The rest of the doors are now working today since it has warmed up to a whopping 21 degrees (but feels like 10).

Wally has been up late every night and up early every day preparing for his talk he is giving at his job interview next week.  I think he is going to crash hard tonight!

And, as a final note, you may have notice the shiner Brandon is sporting.  That is what happens when you run smack dab into the side of the table with your eye.  It was pretty swollen for the first couple of days and is finally starting to look better now, but I wouldn’t be a good mom if I didn’t document it with a picture now, would I?!

This Is What You Get

If you ask your kids to write the Christmas letter:

Dancing Queen

Kelsie has been having a lot of fun dressing her brothers up in her old dress up clothes.  Surprisingly, Brandon agreed to her little idea.  This is probably a once in a lifetime event, and I’m just glad he let me take his picture!

Silver or Gold?

We were watching a jewelry commercial on TV, and you know, since it’s getting close to Christmas, there’s a lot of them going on now.  Anyway, after watching the commercial, Kelsie said (with a totally straight face by the way):

“If I was watching that with my boyfriend, I’d make sure he knows that I like silver more than gold.”

I guess you can’t blame her. 

This girl knows what she wants!

Who Said Science Isn't Cool?!

The Friday before Halloween, we kept the kids home from school in the morning and took them over to the Northwestern Chemistry department for their annual Halloween show. This was a pretty serious thing. The NU marching band, cheerleaders, various dance groups and even a live band was there to help entertain. It was so cool and definitely worth going late to school!

The Sister’s

{I’ve realized how easy it is for me to move on with my life and forget about blogging for a few days and then not want to go back and catch up.  But, I promised a post about our sister’s weekend, so here you go.}

 

I had the honor and privilege to host our sister’s weekend here in Chicago at the beginning of September.  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to show everyone around where I live.  I figured since this would probably be the one and only time (unless we end up living here forever) that they were going to come out to visit, I had to make the most of our time here.  I tried to squeeze everything I could into our 2 1/2 days together and think I did a pretty good job keeping everyone entertained! 

 

After making 3 different trips to the airport to pick everyone up, we started the night off with a few little surprises.  Everyone was staying at our house, so with a lot of thought and preparation, we turned it into the Hotel Paxtonia complete with 24-hour service, transportation, and free entertainment.  We were able to give everyone a brochure about their hotel of choice listing all the detailed information they would need to know about the place, including the Paxton Pizzeria with their “shorter than average serving staff”.  We also opened our surprise package from our parents that was completely filled with snacks and treats for the weekend.  It’s one of the best things for us, since some of us (myself included) don’t function very well without food. 

We had a lot of fun going down into the city one day.  We did as much as we could while we were there (believe me, there really was no rest for the weary!) and enjoyed all the sights and sounds.  We went on an architecture tour, toured Millennium Park, The Chicago Cultural Center, and the John Hancock Building, and did a little shopping and eating as well.  There was so much that we didn’t get to, but I think we hit most of the big stuff.  We also spent some time at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, the beach on Lake Michigan, our own little downtown close to where I live, and more shopping. 

A trip to our house isn’t complete without pizza, so Wally made us some great pizza with the help of Kelsie as our waitress.  It was so fun having everyone come here.  The weekend went by way to fast and it was sad for me to see everyone go so quickly.  We really love seeing each other every year like this and are already looking forward to next year—where ever it may be!

and one more…

Sister's Weekend in Chicago

Yay for Sister's Weekend!

(more to come soon, I promise!)

Nothing But Smiles

 

These goofy kids started school yesterday.  Well, at least two of them.  The other one is happy to be have free reign of the house for the bulk of the day again.  We had a very successful day which made us all happy, especially me!  Teachers were good, friends were good, Fred is still good, and even the desks are good.  Life really couldn’t be any better than it is right now.  Here’s to hoping this euphoria sticks for a little while longer!

The Dunk Tank

This was our last week of summer vacation. It rained for most of the week. And it's only 60 degrees outside. Which, I guess for August, isn't so bad, except I'm not quite ready for fall yet. Anyway, we tried to do some fun things this week like go to the beach on the one day it was dry and warm, play with friends and stay out of the wet weather. We were invited to our friends annual Back to School Carnival one afternoon and had a great time playing games and earning prizes.

The best part of the carnival, though, is the dunk tank. Especially since each kid gets a turn to dunk the hostess' dad. It's great fun had by all. Last year, by the end of the day (and maybe because he was tired of getting wet), he decided to let some of the kids who wanted to cool off give it a try. Kelsie got the courage and was dunked, clothes and all. This year, she came prepared. With her swimming suit under her clothes and a towel in her bag, she confidently (or at least was persuaded) climbed the ladder and sat on the little seat to wait out her fate. Brandon stepped up to the plate to have his sweet revenge, but unfortunately was unsuccessful in his objective. In the end, a much older boy (and one with better aim, I might add) did her in.

And I remembered to bring the camera.

Happy End of Summer and Back to School!

Want Ads

Wally has started the long, grueling task of applying for a job. 

It’s.About.Time.

(That’s all I have to say).

Anyway, since we’ve been looking at listings and potential areas of the country we could live in, we’ve been talking a lot more about “Dad’s new job” (that he doesn’t have yet, remember?).  Tonight, it was decided between the kids that Dad should work at Target. 

Or Great America. 

We tried to explain that neither of those places needs a scientist among their ranks of employees.  They had their own solution.  He could be a Roll Cart Scientist and go around doing experiments for all the shoppers or people standing in line.

Now, that’s something to think about.

Life is a Driveway

Caleb has been practicing a lot the last few days and has finally mastered pedaling! He loves to ride his bike up and down the street. We're lucky to have a neighbor with a long driveway and that he can *almost* steer! At 2 1/2, we think he's pretty coordinated, but then again, it may just run in the family!

"I love my bike!"

We’re alive, I promise!

Does anyone else feel like this summer if flying by?  I am feeling so overwhelmed right now with all the blogging that I have to catch up on!  We have definitely been busy out here and trying to cram as much fun in before school starts and the real cramming begins!  Hopefully over the next few days, I’ll be able to get all caught up and let all 10 of you who read this blog know what’s going on in our lives!  Until then, we’re going to be out enjoying some great weather and spending as much time as we can at the beach!

Cooking, yet again!

 

I really like to experiment and try  new foods at our house with the hopes that one day, (soon?), my kids will actually appreciate all the delicious food out there.  I recently found a recipe for some lettuce wraps (which I love) and they turned out so good, I just have to pass it on.  Check it out here and if you try it, let me know how you like it!

(If you’re into crafty things like me, check out the rest of her blog for some other great ideas too!)

A little teaser

{Door County}

{July 2009}

Through the eyes of an almost 6 year old:

Our Family

c.2009

Our Backyard Campout

Last night, we slept outside in the tent in the backyard.  All of us.  Usually when the kids want to do this, I let their dad be the fun one and am just fine sleeping in my own bed.  But I caved in and slept out under the stars (or at least airplanes).  This was our practice run for when we go camping this weekend up in Wisconsin.  We usually go camping at least once a year, but with Caleb being the ripe old age of 2 1/2, we decided that it might be a good idea to see what we’re getting ourselves into.

Caleb and I laid in the tent looking out the window at the fireflies (while Kelsie and Brandon tried to catch them) until he fell asleep.  It was so peaceful to just lay there and enjoy our backyard.  The fireflies are always something we look forward too each year and always try to catch as  many as we can.  Eventually the older two joined us in the tent and while Brandon held the flashlight, Kelsie read us a story. 

We all slept pretty good (at least as good as you can in a tent) and woke up to a little surprise.  Remember our friendly neighborhood cat?  Well, he was all curled up in a ball at the end of Brandon’s sleeping bag, snoozing with the rest of us.  Apparently we didn’t close the tent door all the way and he found his way in.  I’m just glad it wasn’t a racoon or a skunk.

So, the moral of my story is:

1)  If you’ve never camped out in the backyard, you must try it at least once.

2)  Remember to close your tent door all the way unless you want some unwelcome visitors to spend the night with you.

MIA

Whew!  These last few weeks have gone by so fast here that I have barely had enough time to catch my breath, let alone blog.  Here’s a quick report of what has been going on here in our little corner of the world.

We officially have a “tween” living with us now.  We celebrated Kelsie’s birthday with a small family party this year.  And it rained most of the day.  Bummer.  She loves being another year older and got (almost) everything she wanted.

Wally spent a week away from us in Europe and had a fabulous time.  He enjoyed the time he had to play tourist in Amsterdam and Maastricht, but in the end decided that there really is no place like home.

The day after Wally got home from Europe, his brother and his family came for a visit from Iowa.  We had so much fun hanging out and playing with them.  It’s always fun to have cousins around and Caleb couldn’t get enough of his new favorite cousin, Caroline.  I also just have to mention how much more fun Chicago is in the summertime.  So.much.fun.

Since strawberry picking is on our list of things to do this summer, and since it is such a short season, we decided to drive up to Wisconsin just before the 4th of July and picked 12 quarts of strawberries.  Caleb ate the berries faster than we could pick them and everyone ended up with juice stains all over their shorts, but we had a great time and had lots of fun together.  We were even excited to get a $0.49 ice cream cone at McDonald’s before we headed home.

 

Then came the 4th of July.  It is one of my most favorite holidays, so we went to just about everything we could.  The parade was fun, even in the rain, and the fireworks on the beach were great (it stopped raining by then).  The kids had fun with sparklers, glow sticks, friends, and fireworks at the end of the day. 

 

A few days later, Wally’s parents came out to visit and watch our kids while we went down into Chicago for a couple of nights to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  We had a great time together, without any kids and they had tons of fun without the parents.  They were able to eat as much chocolate, donuts, and chips as they wanted and play as much video and computer games to their hearts content.  Just the way it should be when Grandma and Grandpa are in charge!  I have tons of pictures from our little jaunt into the city—I’ll have to post those later.

In between all of this we have also been doing a little bit of:

reading:

crafting:

taking care of bumps, bruises, and boils:

and getting as much play time in as we can!

Live Moves On

I just wanted to say thanks to all the nice comments, emails, and phone calls from everyone.  I am alive and doing much, MUCH better.  I read online that you can use soft contact solution to clean your eyes to help with the pinkeye, and it really worked!  I feel like I am starting to get back to normal now, and am just dealing with the lingering effects of a cold (cough and runny nose).  I had to go to Target to stock up on kleenex again, so now I’m good through the end of this.  None of the kids have gotten sick either, which is a huge thing for me.  I don’t know if I would have been able to make it with sick kids too.

We’ve been trying to stay busy here at home.  We spent the afternoon at the beach yesterday and it was so fun.  Caleb had fun in the sand, but didn’t like the water too much.  Brandon and Kelsie had fun building sand castles and then wading in and out of the lake.  It was nice and relaxing for me to just sit and watch the kids play and have fun.  Caleb did fall asleep for the last hour or so we were there.  I love living so close to the beach!

We spent this morning looking for flip flops and sandals for the kids and am happy to say we found a great deal.  I love it when we find a good deal.  It makes me feel so good!

Since I’m starting to feel better, I am getting the itch to start creating something again.  I have a few projects in mind, so I’ll post pictures when I get them done.  I really like not being tied down to any schedules.  It’s so nice to do what we want when we want. 

View Full Album

Happy Father’s Day!

We miss you!

just another one to make you smile!

Perfect Timing

My goodness, this has been a long week here.  The summer weather has finally decided to come which is good, but I’ve been sick all week, which is bad.  I woke up Monday morning with a fever and sore throat.  This is very unusual for me, since I never get fevers.  Wally was starting to think there was something wrong with me since I was sick all winter and not once had a fever.  Since I was feeling pretty bad, and had a fever to prove it, I stayed in bed all day while my three kiddos ran around the house, watched TV, played computer games, and pretty much did whatever they wanted to.  And I didn’t care. 

By Wednesday, I was feeling so yucky that I went to the doctor, another big deal for me if you know me.  I was convinced that I had the flu or something worse and came out with “it’s just a really bad cold”.  The remedy?  Take a couple of advil for the discomfort and mucinex to clear it all out.  Great.  Except that mucinex doesn’t work for me.  Or Wally.  But I tried it anyway and it still didn’t work.

It’s Saturday night, and although I’m feeling a little better, I’m still going through 3 boxes of kleenex a day with no end in sight.  And speaking of sight, now I have some form of pink eye.  I’ve been putting the drops in my eye all day and looking up home remedies online (if you know any, send them my way).  Hopefully I’ll wake up tomorrow and this will all be in the past.  Except that probably isn’t going to happen.  Sigh.

To add to all my drama, Wally left yesterday afternoon for a work conference in the Netherlands and will be gone all week.  Great timing, huh?

I bet those bacteria bugs are laughing their little heads off right now. 

Summer Survival

It’s official.  The last day of school has come and gone—the whole 1 hour of it.  Summer has begun.  Since both Kelsie and Brandon did so well and actually graduated to the next grade level this year, I wanted to start the summer off right.

I am a strong believer in long, lazy, summer days—after jobs are done, of course.  Summertime is a magical time for kids to be outside, explore, get dirty, be creative, and have lots of fun.  I’ve found that with lots of other distractions (t.v., video games, computer games, etc.) I sometimes feel like I am pushing, almost bribing them (I’ll let you have another popsicle) to play outside. 

So, on the last day of school, just when the asking about said computer games started, I presented them with their very own

SUMMER SURVIVAL KITS

The kits included all the summer essentials:

• shove and pail, beach towel, and goggles (for when we go to the beach)
• a flashlight for those late nights playing in the backyard and for when we go camping
• sidewalk chalk, mini clipboard, and a florescent pad of paper for any inspiration that may come to their minds
• first-aid kits complete with antibacterial cream and colorful band-aids for all the scrapes and falls they’ll get
• The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls
• bubbles, because you always have to have bubbles
• walkie-talkies because they’re just fun
• bug kits for catching and examining those little tiny creatures
• sparklers and poppers for the 4th of July (which have been saved for that day—don’t worry!)

And finally, homemade cards from Wally and I telling them how proud we are of all their accomplishments this year.  We really are going to have a great summer and while there is time for the t.v. and video games, I was just really happy that they spent the majority of the afternoon talking in code through the walkie-talkies and looking for bugs.

Yes, my friends.  Summer has begun.

Promised Pictures

Remember when we had Easter like 2 months ago?  Well, I am finally getting around to posting these pictures of my kids.  Here they are sporting the coordinating ties and skirt I made for them. 

 I think these pictures might actually make it up on the wall—if I ever get over the love/hate relationship I have with the hammer.

Dear Summer

57 degrees in June is not acceptable. 

This is a mean trick to play on those of us who only made it through the winter with the promise of sun and warmth to come. 

I have been waiting, patiently. 

Until now.

I need you. 

My garden needs you. 

My kids need you. 

Please come and stay.

Thank you,

RP

p.s. we could do without the humidity for a little longer, if you would be so kind.

A Great Memorial Day

This past Memorial Day just happened to be my Grandfather’s 89th birthday.  A few months ago, our family was planning a big surprise party for him.  Our plans were put on hold, however, after he was hit by a car eight weeks ago.  From the outside, his body is healing.  The inside is a whole different story.  These last few weeks he has gone through some pretty rough patches sprinkled with a few good times.  We decided to go ahead and celebrate his birthday, even if it meant we were going to all cram all of us into his small hospital room to sing to him.  And there are a lot of us.

I flew out the Saturday before Memorial Day.  It was a long flight and after having to switch planes due to some electrical problems, I finally made it a little over an hour later than planned.  I was able to see most of my sisters and their families who came for the special occasion, and my parents.  It was so good to see everyone, especially since I don’t get to see them very often.

When I went in to see my grandpa for the first time, it was hard.  Before his accident, he was totally independent and healthy.  I have never seen him like this before.  I brought in pictures that my family drew for him and told him that I loved him.  He was pretty nonresponsive that first day.  I did get a little smile and a small squeeze while I was holding his hand to let me know that he heard me and knew who I was. 

My sisters and I came in to decorate his hospital room with a birthday banner and flag (he is a veteran who fought in WWII) the morning of Memorial Day.  He was in another room having some treatment done, so we each took our turn to wish him a happy birthday and told him we would be back later in the day. 

We all (19 of us, I think) came back, as promised later that afternoon and sang Happy Birthday.  He was so happy we were all there and was the most responsive he had been in a while.  He opened his eyes and gave us some priceless smiles.  He was even able to mutter an “I love you” to all of us before drifting off to sleep again.

I don’t think I am going to see my grandpa again in this life, but I do know that I will see him again in the next life.  Families have a very powerful  impact in our lives.  Living far away from both of our families has helped us to understand and appreciate this better.  As unfortunate as this was for my grandpa, it has given me hope and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Plan of Salvation.

In honor of him, we’re going to head out to the golf course (one his favorite things to do).  It’ll have to be miniature golf for us though, since we can’t hit the ball near the hole no matter how hard we try! 

 

I love you, Grandpa.

All in the Nose

I just love the funny things my kids say. This one was from breakfast this morning:

Brandon: “Dad, you have the longest, pointiest nose I’ve ever seen!”

Dad: “Well, you have the flattest nose I’ve ever seen!”

(Unfortunately for Brandon, this is true.)

We then spent the next 5 minutes comparing our noses.

Mr. Mom: Days 2 - 4

Mr. Mom: Day 1

Well, RP is out of town for a few days and our kids, their hygiene, and my sanity all hang in the balance. I'm pretty sure I can handle it. By "it" I mean of course survival. Maybe that's just being dramatic. I mean, we've played this game before, and I think it turned out pretty well!

We started off the Mom-Free weekend with Pizza Night (the best night of the week). Since RP wasn't around, I could finally make that Thai Chicken Pizza I've been craving . And since the kids won't eat anything but Cheese and Pepperoni, I had the whole thing to myself. Having the whole thing to myself turned out to be a bad idea. But I wouldn't learn that lesson until 24 hours later. Think I'll use a little less red pepper flakes next time.

Sunday morning was great. By assuming parental responsibilities, I was able to skip early morning Sunday meetings. This was probably one of the best trade-offs ever. I would much rather be a Mom on Sunday morning than a Dad in the bishopric. At least at our house. At least until 8:30 AM. That's when I woke up to the one of the kids laughing mischievously, and another one screaming. This is NEVER a good sign. The same pattern repeated all morning, so I concluded that it probably comes out about even between Mom's and Dad's on Sunday morning at our house. By "even", I mean I really don't have anything to complain about, do I?

On the "Don't Forget" list I got from RP, there was ONE thing I needed to remember to do today (besides give B his medicine. I'm only batting 0.500 on that one). Just ONE thing! I had to bring the snack for the kids in Nursery at Church today. To help me remember this, I strategically placed the oversized snack bucket filled with Graham Crackers RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOOR. My plan was foolproof. When we tried to walk out the front door, at least ONE of us would trip over it. Right?

My plan didn't work. There's actually a good chance that I DID trip over it. But in the chaos of ushering 3 reluctant kids out the door, I probably just muttered a bad word under my breath (like "oh crud!") at the inconvenience and hurried out the door without giving it a second thought. Of course, it wasn't until we got all the way to Church (a 15 minute ride) and started unloading the kids when I realized what I had (not) done. And we would have actually been there ON TIME! I loaded the kids BACK into the car for the 30 minute round trip home - to pick up the snack - and back. The lull of the moving car was too much for C and he fell asleep about halfway back to Church. That actually turned out to be a GREAT thing though, because a sleeping 2 year old is WAY easier to handle than a tired-and-awake 2 year old!

After Church, I managed to enlist the kids to help make dinner. Since Sunday is a special day, we kept up the tradition of having a "nice" dinner. To avoid the inevitable "this is disgusting!" theatrics at our house, I settled on Grilled Cheese Sandwiches ("on the stove" grilled) and Chicken Noodle Soup (code for Ramen Noodles). To give our meal a fancy flair, we pulled out the nice dishes and a table cloth. Here are the pictures. Are you oo-ing and aah-ing now or what?

You'll notice B doing one of his favorite things: Pretending his brother is a Pillow. When C is old enough to sock him in the nose for doing things like this, I'll secretly be so proud.

We ended the night talking to RP and playing a nice game of Life. To really get a feel for how relaxing this actually was, remember that the original Game of Life has lots of little game pieces and some of them are shaped like cars. C, (1)has NO IDEA how to play this game, (2) is two years old (3)LOVES cars, and (4)screams when he doesn't get his way. Believe it or not, we actaully finished the game. K won by a landslide. By that time EVERYONE was ready for bed. What a great day :) But we ALL miss Mom!

Happiness

Want to know what has been making me so happy this week?

1. The leaves on the tree outside my front window are finally starting to grow!

2. Wearing my flip flops everyday!

3. Watching my garden grow.

4. Running outside in beautiful weather pushing an almost 30-pound kid!

5. Talking to Fred, our friendly neighborhood crossing guard.

6. Finishing a Mother's Day project at school.

7. Finally soakin up some sun on my don't-look-without-sunglasses legs!

8. Playing basketball outside with my kids.

9. Watching Caleb master his scooter.

10. Having lunch with Wally outside one day and not being cold.


and


11. Not cleaning my house because it was too nice to be stuck inside!



*Is there anything in your life that is making you happy right now?
Please share!


Have a happy weekend--especially to all those special mom's out there!

Spring

Here is my latest quilting project. I've actually been done with it for about a week, and am just getting around to posting a picture of it. It's my spring quilt for my front entryway. I have always done simple patterns with squares, but was feeling a little daring this time. I really like how it turned out and I love the pinwheel for spring. Remember all the pinwheels you used to make in school? So fun.

Curious?

Have you ever been curious enough to know what Wally does for a living? Check out this video:



This is a lot of the work that he did while at Penn State. It's a lot easier to understand it this way if you're confused by anything past neutron and electron-talk like I am.

Meet Oscar

He's a neighborhood cat.

My kids adore him.

He comes and goes as he pleases.

And I don't have to feed him.

Or take care of him.

And the kids get their fill.

Now we don't need that pet they keep asking for.

*sigh* of relief!