Holiday Afterglow

What a couple of weeks. Things have been a little nuts, as I am sure they may have been at your house. We were on the road for six days and then came home and got sick. So we are just finding our way back to normal.

While we were gone, we had a great time. The kids had a blast with all their grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. The have not quite figured out that they get to open many presents. They get a little distracted as they go. So we tried to space it out.

Tea party time

Grace having her own personal tea party

Caroline helping Grandma Lisa make cookies

Caroline and Grace 2007 (looking way too grown up)

Here is our attempt at a nice family picture. It cracks me up.

Then a couple of days after Christmas, we got a knock on the door at 8:30 at night. Here is was my sister Ruth. She stopped by with great news. She and Carl are getting married. We are super excited. It was a great way to end the holiday.

But we had a great time with everyone. Thanks for making our Christmas so much fun.

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take some time out of the holiday to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas. Enjoy your family and all your blessings for God had given us so much.

As Caroline would say, it is almost Baby Jesus's Birthday. That means we need to have a party.

Merry Christmas!!!

Daddy's Girls

I have snapped a few pictures lately illustrating how much the girls love their Daddy. Both girls love to play with him, especially when he chses them. He could read them books all day long and they would be happy.

But I think the thing that they love the most is when he is sitting still and will hold them. Caroline and Grace love to cuddle and Daddy is a willing recipient.

They sure do love their Daddy (and Mom echoes that sentiment)!!

Gracie Too

You might be wondering who this super cute kid is. I have just noticed that I have been a little Caroline heavy lately. So I thought I would talk about Grace today.

My little baby is now talking like crazy and full of fun. She is all over the place. She laughs a lot and likes to cause a little mischief. She adores her sister and they really get along well.

Here are a couple of pictures so you can see her killer smile and beautiful blue eyes.

Icky Friday

Unfortunately, this relaxing Friday turned into a sick day for Caroline. The poor thing got the flu today.




I could tell she was really sick when she fell asleep while watching a movie 2 different times. But even when she is sick, she is really cute. Plus, it made her whole day to wake up to the cat on her legs.

It seems that we may be over the hump at this time (I hope). She took a shower at it seemed to have perked her up a great deal.

Winter Wonderlad

Caroline is loving the snow this year. As soon as it starts falling, she starts asking when she can go out. Tell me, how could your refuse someone who looks like they are enjoying something so much. I obviously do not know how ;-)

Late Thanksgiving Thoughts

I know it has been a while now since Thanksgiving, but I have had sick kids this week.

We had a great time over Thanksgiving again this year. We stayed at Anne and Brad's and the kids were so happy to be together again. They made a great meal for us and the fellowship was well worth the trip.

My mom, My Grandmother and Grace (3 generations)

Friday, we just spent time together. It is really nice just to hang out with the people you love but cannot always spend time with. We have also made a tradition out of making lefse. Mom and Dad are trying to teach us the tricks. The dough Mom made on her own was great. The batches we helped with needed some work. ;-) Not to mention the fact that she did not make as many mistakes rolling as we did. Dad was giving grilling and eating advice (mistakes are good).

Anne, Kris and Carl making lefse.

Saturday we had an early Christmas with some of my Dad's siblings and their families. It was a good time with more food and cards. They are so great to my kids. It is fun to be with family.

Caroline and her Great-Aunt Tammy

Hope all of your blessings were as evident to you on Thanksgiving as mine were to me.

Conferences

We had our first Parent/Teacher conferences today. It was really fun.

I was so excited to hear what they had to say and to learn more about what she does when she is not with me. Plus we got to hear about how well she is doing.

I love how the things that we struggle with at home almost never are exhibited at school. She does not cry with she gets frustrated (all the time at home), she follows all the directions (mostly does this at home, and gets along well with everyone (could get along better with her sister).

They do a few things to check development. They draw a self-portrait. This is a picture of Caroline's (the dark black face is her). I was pretty impressed. Plus, she added a picture of Mom (the blob above Caroline) and Grace (she is small because Grace is small). Sorry, no Dad.

It was a good day. Mommy is proud.

Thanks Kris

I just had to write about how cool my husband is.

This weekend he is taking the kids to his mother's house and leaving me home alone. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have not had this much time to myself since Caroline was born. I am not sure I know how to do it anymore.

So Kris, thanks for . . .

• being the kind of husband who would do this for me
• thinking I deserve it
• being excited to spend time alone with the girls
• trying to make it as easy as possible for me
• saying you will miss me while you are gone
• LOVING ME .

I love you too.

Proud

I am really proud of Caroline. She made this for us in preschool this week. It was so fun to watch her bring it to me. She was so proud of herself and she felt great that we were so excited to have it.

I love watching her accomplish things. It is really neat to see her take such stock in what she does. I look forward to more.

Early Christmas Spirit

I know it iw areally early. But, one of my friends was going to the Mall of America today to see Santa and we decided to go along. The original idea was to hang out while they went and we would not see Santa. But the girls really wanted to see him once they noticed him.

So we went. And I am so glad. The Santa at the Mall is really great. I watched the kids in front me and he got a great picture with everyone. He would get people giggling and comfortable. And the make waiting in line not so bad. The set up a room full of activities and decorations to keep people occupied. (Picture: it looks like they are fighting, but they are really playing.)

He spent most of his time with Caroline because she was into talking to him. It was fun to listen. Santa had to remind Mom to take some pictures of her own.

Grace was into the rocking reindeer and he just let her do her thing. When it was picture time, they just brought Grace rocking reindeer and all over by him. It was a great picture.

If you are in the area, it is worth the wait to get into see him. He may even be the "real" Santa.

Sometimes they do the coolest things

Caroline has started to take some pictures here and there. They generally are what you would expect from a 3 year old. But she took these the other day and they were really pretty interesting.

This is her new Snow White doll. And she is very proud of her sparkly dress.

She gets a little particular about her food. She likes to line up her cookies before she eats them (no comments please ;-). I really like this picture. She lined it up right and had some great light.

Halloween is Fun

We had such a great time on Halloween. The girls were very proud of their costumes. Grace knew how to put just the right face on when thought she was cute. And Caroline walked around like a real princess in her's.

We enjoyed time with friends. The girls and their friends were so happy that they even behaved well.

Caroline finally figured out what trick-or-treating is and got into it. Grace learned really quickly what happened when you hold out a bucket to an open door.

Then we went home and studied our loot.

Count to Ten

Today my patience was tried to the breaking point and it had nothing to do with my kids.

It was project day at Mom's Group so we worked on whatever we needed to do. I brought my knitting so that I could get organized and plan a few things. All is good at this point.

I am in charge of a few things, including bringing the creamer for the coffee. I have always put it in my tote bags and have never had a problem. All is still good.

We had a great morning and all the kids dressed in their costumes and did a parade. The only problem here was that I forgot my camera. It was really fun.

Once we got home though, my blood pressure skyrocketed WAY up.

The creamer spilt all over my knitting bag. Almost the whole jar was left. It was on my pattern and instruction books. And 4 balls of yarn were soaked. It was about $30 in yarn.

I tried counting to 10 (did not work well) and figuring out a plan. I decided that I would tape the ends of the balls down the bset I could and put them in one of the tote bags in the washer.

After I got it started I called to vent to my friend Danelle. I told her about it and she suggested a nylon stocking. I agreed that would be a good idea and went to get one.



By the time I got there, this was twisted around the 2 bags that were in the washer too. Again, I tried counting to ten (it worked a little better this time). I now know what 1/2 of 4 different balls of yarn look like tangled together. I tried to untangle it and then decided it was not worth it.



So I put the rest in the nylon and finished washing. And in case you ever have this problem, it worked.



I have already found the humor in this and have trick or treating to look forward to later. Pics of the girls tomorrow.

Great Weekend Ahead

We are so excited for this weekend. The whole family is going to be around for a Confirmation.

I love when we all get together. We eat too much and talk way too loudly. But the kids love it and so do I.

Have a great weekend, I am sure we will too.

It sure was a Happy Birthday

It was my birthday this past Saturday. I am proud to say I a now 31. (Did that sound convincing??)

It was such a good day. My husband is an amazing man!!! He made everything fun and about me. He helped the girls give me a great day.

It started at Pahl's Market looking for pumpkins. It was a lot of fun.

We tried for a nice picture for Mom.

We tried the maze but Caroline was not so sure of the monsters in the maze.

While mom was out getting some pampering with her friend, Daddy and the girls made a cake.

It turned out great, I ate too much.

Then my husband took me on a date of dinner and a play. It was such a relaxing day. It was exactly what I needed.

I have great friends too. I felt so blessed to hear from so many of them. I am having a hard time finding the right words to express how much it meant to me to hear from so many.

Thank you for making my day so special.

It is not about winning

I have had a few talks with friends recently regarding the politics in America. It seems that among my friends we are all a bit wary of the choice ahead.

How has the choice for President become such a popularity contest?

Remember in High School when we had these contests for all sorts of things. And many people with talent were overlooked because charm and appeal eclipsed them. Now it seems that our most important choice as adults has fallen into this easy vice.

Why is it that so many voters feel the need to be on that winning team? Why do we feel the need to align ourselves with the winners as though we are close friends?

This is a choice that we should make based on what we believe in. That includes times when we will not be the winners. Doing what is right for yourself is not always the easy or the popular choice but it is what is right by you.

And in elections and political parties, if you do not vote for the person who represents your beliefs, your voice is not being heard. And you may say, how is it being heard if you do not win? The more people vote for what they believe, the more the major parities need to listen. If they want to continue to exist, they will need to listen.

Please keep that in mind as things get into full swing.

Oh how they are different

I consider myself to be able to catch on to most things rather quickly. But I am being a bit of a dunce with the girls. But my guess here is that it is more about what is easier than what is my new reality.

Caroline is a quiet kid. She is happy to sit and read or do other quiet things on her own. Now Grace is doing the independent play pretty well, but she is a bit more labor intensive. I HAVE to learn that if it is quiet for too long there is something up.

Last night, I was making dinner and all seemed well. But Grace had discovered crayons earlier in the day. Everything was quiet . . . I was about to call all to the table . . . and I finally realized what the small noise I was hearing was . . .

It was Grace's new mural on the dining room and hallway walls.

At least she wanted to help clean too. Thank goodness for Mr Clean Magic Erasers.

Oh Poor Amos

My life is so hard. I used to have it so good. I had Linda's attention all to myself.

Now, I have to share her.

I have to put up with little people laying on me.

I have to deal with people not sitting still long enough to get a good nap in.

I have to take the attention from whomever will give it to me.

Oh poor me!!

-Amos

Lunch Rut

I am pretty good about putting variety into our dinner menu. But I can get into such a rut with lunch. I seem to make the same few things.

What do you make for your kids for lunch? I could use some ideas.

I did a craft

Now, I am not a crafty person but I am impressed with myself today. I had to plan a craft for my Mom's Group and found this on the Internet. I found it on the Micheal's website but when I went to find it today to link it, it must be gone already.






Regardless, it is pretty self explanatory by looking at the picture. Plus it was inexpensive. The whole craft planned for 10 people cost around $15 and I will be able to return a few things.

I am excited with how well it turned out. The difficulty level is pretty low and I think that some elementary school students (maybe even as young as 4 or 5 year olds) could do this. Regardless, if you are looking for something fall-like to do, this could be fun.



Happy Fall!!

Learning the Quiet Joys

Grace is learning how to do things more quietly. It has some to do with Caroline being gone some, I think.

She will lounge around and have her snacks. It is a little funny how obvious it is that she does not need to defend them with Caroline at school.

She has discovered books. She will read on her own or with her sister a lot more. It is so fun to watch her read. She studies the books and sometimes reads them out loud. It is so cute.

I was worried that she would not be able to entertain herself very well but she seems to like to have complete control over the toy room. I am not sure where she gets enjoyment from having complete control ;-).

It is fun to be a Little Girl

In the last few days, the girls have had a good time doing a few different things.

Last Friday, my Uncle Don had a party at his house celebrating the history (150 years) of the house. He had a horse drawn carriage available for people to ride on. We rode on it right away when we got there. They were both pretty taken by it. And they even got to pet the horse, Emma, after.

The girls (especially Caroline) have gotten their Dad's video game gene. Kris had gotten a Wii for Father's Day. The girls have always enjoyed watching us play. They even pretend to play when we are playing. But now Caroline can play by herself. It is really a hoot. And now Grace is pretending to play with her. I just love watching them.

Getting organized

I have recently found a need to get more organized. I was not a complete slob before but there was definite room for improvement.

The picture is a sample not my calendar ;-)

With Caroline involved in more things, I needed to have a better handle on my schedule. As it turns out, Google has a great calendar (Yahoo and others have similar functions). I really like it. Every member of the family has a color plus a color for all of us. It sends me reminders of things 2 days in advance to my email. And it gives me a pop up reminder 30 mins before it starts.

Not only can I manage the calendar but Kris can see it and manage it as well. It has helped a lot with any miscommunications regarding what we have going on. Plus, he now has a better idea of what we do during the day. It helps him talk to Caroline at dinner (she is not always forthright with information or may be a little inaccurate).

I has not only helped me keep everything straight, it helps me utilize my time better. I am able to plan my afternoons more so that I am more efficient. Instead of walking around figuring out what to do, I already have a plan.

It has also helped with meal planning. I am able to post it on the calendar so that Kris knows what we are having and can plan accordingly.

So, if you are looking for a way to get out from under your busy life, this may help. It helped me.

First Day of Preschool

What a big day!! Caroline had her first day of preschool today. It was really fun. She was so excited before we went. She was really looking forward to it. After the visits, things really started to click that this was a real place. Plus Daddy stayed home to take her too.

She got some new clothes. She looks so grown up.

Of course, she got a backpack. She picked out Tinkerbell (seems to be a favorite, there were 3 others though not exactly the same as hers).

Caroline put up with Mommy taking pictures. I did not get too carried away, but I had to mark the occasion, even right outside the church where she has school.

She has her own spaces for things. She likes being able to have her own spaces for things that she has control over.

The last picture is of Caroline going with her teachers. The first thing they do is go outside to the playground. Smart!!

She never cried. She was nervous but I think that I am the only one who really saw it. Mommy did OK until she walked away. I am not sad that she is going to school or that she is growing up. It is that she will not need me in the same way any more. I love my relationship with her and worry about the change will affect it.

But when she came out, she was the same girl. And later she was crying over dropped cookies. But it was really about that Mom did not stay at school too. She loves it but thinks that I should come too.

The first lesson of preschool sure is a big one. We are learning but it is a little hard.