Despite all of the sadness of losing my brother so suddenly, we have managed to find some joy. Over the last few weeks, we've realized how truly wonderful it is to have kids running around and reminding us to laugh and be silly. Such amazing blessings. Thank you, once again, for your continued prayers and keeping us close to your hearts.

Just a few pictures, and not many words, from the last few weeks.

Peace and blessings in the new year.

3 on 3

 8:15 -- finding Barney

 9:15 -- not sure how long this nativity will stay where it is;  baby Jesus gets carried around a whole lot

12:20 -- finger painting on a cold, cold Saturday

New Traditions

One of the best things about Miss Eva growing up is all of the fun things we can do that she now understands them a little more. So this year we're starting a couple of new traditions.

Today was the first day she got to put a sticker and her Advent/Christmas calendar. We'll put one sticker for each of the next 23 days as we countdown; today's sticker was the big star just right of center.

The other tradition we're starting is The Elf on the Shelf. We had a little elf like this when I was growing up --always makes me think of my dad and maybe there's a story there that I don't quite remember--but we didn't do this Elf on the Shelf story, instead we'd usually put it on our Christmas tree. Anyway, as part of the book, we also got to name our Elf. At first Eva wanted to just name him "Elf" but then we asked (suggested?) if she'd like to name him something else--she chose Barney. So the story goes that the Elf keeps an eye on the little kids to make sure no one is being naughty and then flies back to report to Santa each night; and then in the morning he's hiding in a new place. The tricky part is that you can't touch him or else his magic will go away. So we read the story last night and Eva got to give him hugs and kisses and then this morning he was hiding!! (guess what daddy gets to do every morning  for the next 23 days?!)

 Looking for Barney

He was up a little higher

 Wonder where he'll be tomorrow?...

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was really nice. Of course, we ate lots of yummy food and spent lots of good time with family. Due to technical difficulties, we only have a few pictures from our second walk to the park and a couple from later in the day. Even though we don't have a lot of pictures, we have a lot of memories of a great day and know how much we have to be thankful for.

We played games (some more successfully than others)

We played at the park (it was almost 70 degrees!!)

And apparently our little turkey provided some good laughs at the other table with comments like this: "It's a bald one" Eva G said as she picked up a piece of broccoli that was mostly just the stem and not much on top! 

Yep, that's our girl!

Walking and Wishes

A little wacky angle, but spur of the moment cell phone pics seem to be what we're getting these days. Anyway, here's what we found on our walk today--a handful of sticks (of course) and a lovely dandelion ready for blowing and making a wish!

World Prematurity Day

Today is World Prematurity Day. Take a minute to say a prayer for those all of those little babies and their families in the NICU today and for the journey they have ahead of them.

Giddy Up

Guess who realized there's more to do in the grocery store than just shop? Can you believe it only cost a penny!!

(sorry for the poor quality--cell phone pic)

And nowadays we always have to ride in the "kids car" when one is available. We've been doing this for a little while now, and it took us a few tries to figure out how to behave in the kids cart. The first couple of times Miss Eva thought it was great fun to hop out and start walking around if picking out the produce seemed to be taking too long or if there was any lull in the action. It took a couple of times to the grocery store WITHOUT riding in the kids cart to remember how to behave and we haven't had any problems since. (probably just jinxed it, right?!)

11/11/11

11 random pictures from our day--what we did, where we went, who we saw

 

Pots n Pans

Wonder if this fascination and love will still be around 10-12 years from now?! We can only hope!

When she realized we had filled up the sink, Eva G hauled her little stool over and dug right in and ended up with a sopping wet shirt. Lately she gets so excited when we wash the pots and pans or odd and ends that don't go in the dishwasher. Of course, she especially loves the bubbles.

3 on 3

 

11:00--craft after storytime at the library

 

 

12:15--avocado and quesadilla for lunch

1:00--building before naptime

Happy Halloween!

 Our little Dorothy had a great time. She especially loved her "ruby, red slippers." She was sure to tell anyone who asked what her footwear was going to be. We went trick or treat-ing at just a few places and then hit a trunk or treat, which was a lot of fun. It was a really  nice evening and no jacket required while we were out. 

 Uh, sorry for the unfortunate placement of the fingers, but this is the only one that we managed to get showing her sweet little goodie bag.

Having her ONE piece of candy at the end of the night. She thoroughly enjoyed it.

The funniest part of the day was earlier in the afternoon. We got a phone call and this is what showed up on caller ID. NO KIDDING!:

How funny is that? I thought someone had found some service or something that would show whatever you wanted on caller ID and they thought it would be funny to prank us this way, since we didn't have a Toto for our little Dorothy to carry. Well, as it turns out, it was a service for lost dogs and someone a few streets over lost her little dog, Toto, and this was the APB for the dog. We just thought it was too much of a coincidence and got a good laugh out of it.

Triple C Weekend

Our weekend included:

 a Carnival at one of "the cousins'" schools. Each classroom had a different theme. It was fun to see all of the other kids in costume.

a Corn maze that was fun, but not as much fun as in years past. The recent snow wreaked havoc on the maze and broke off the tops of the stalks, so we could pretty much see right across the whole maze. It was a beautiful day, though and a lot of fun to spend part of the afternoon outside soaking up some sun.

and

Carving pumpkins. Eva G was pretty much exhausted by this point in the day and wasn't too interested in actually helping, but she did enjoy the pumpkins after they were finished and we put candles in them and turned off the lights.

Wintry Wednesday, part 2

Yes, this is Thursday, but here's a little more of what we did yesterday afternoon...

Wintry Wednesday

What else is a girl to do on a snowy day, but play dress up and dance around the beans we were playing with earlier?! Ah, life is good and the snow beautiful!

Nebraska

We spent this past weekend in Nebraska where we met up with some of Calvin's family. We had fun and couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. We took in a couple of museums, had a cookout and s'mores, played cards and just enjoyed the time. 

Of course, we saw lots and lots of farms as we drove. But the most interesting ones were the wind farms. There were so many of these as we got nearer to the state line on our way back. It was really quite beautiful to see these huge things spinning so smoothly--they looked like gymnasts. Eva G insisted on calling them weather vanes, even though we kept telling her they were wind turbines. She really liked seeing them off in the distance and then got so excited when we got close to them.

There's more to Nebraska than corn...they've got Carhenge too!! It was actually kinda neat, despite the cheesiness of it. 

Big Pumpkins

We got out and enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend and got to see some really big pumpkins. These were humongous, with the winning pumpkin weighing 751 pounds! There were also some huge zucchinis and a cucumber (we think) that just looked unnatural. It was fun to get up close and touch--and sit on--these pumpkins.