Cousins at Christmas

Over the past few days, my kids have had lots of opportunities to play with all their cousins! They were thankful for good health, mild weather, and cousins who are also good friends!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

A thoughtful hand-drawn purse from my precious daughters.

My favorite people in their new Christmas pjs.

Christmas fun in Chicago

We took the kids to Chicago and saw the musical “Hansel and Gretel,” visited Santa, ate at Mity Nice, walked through the Lego Store, and enjoyed all the window displays and holiday decorations.  Oh what fun!

Teeth, Teeth and more Teeth!

Audrey has had quite a lot going on with teeth lately!  Back in November, she lost her first tooth.  She swallowed it while eating a cupcake at school, so she wrote a note to the tooth fairy and wanted the paper to be shaped like a tooth.

The next day I found this entry in the journal she bought at the school book fair.  I love how she loves to write and sounds out the words she can’t spell.

“In Kindergarten I lost my tooth when I was eating a cupcake.  It was good.  My lost tooth fell out.  It was fun.”

Then, less than 3 weeks later, she lost 3 more teeth in a playground accident!  I received a call from school that Audrey had been in an accident on the slide and that she had a very bloody mouth -- not a phone call any parent wants to receive!

I was in the middle of holiday baking at a friends house, so I left Emily there and raced over to school.  Audrey was waiting in the office.  When she opened her mouth, I could see one bottom tooth and one top tooth had been knocked out.

Thankfully, Luke is a dentist, so I immediately drove with Audrey over to his office.  Luke decided the other top tooth had to come out too, so he pulled that tooth out as well.  Luke was happy that only baby teeth were involved in this accident, and I guess she’ll just have a few years to sing “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”

Afterward Audrey requested a cherry milkshake for lunch, and we were happy to oblige.

Her new smile!

 

Piano Recital

Tis the season for a Christmas piano recital.  Logan played “Gentle Mary Laid her Child” and “Frozen Heart.”  He really does a great job and doesn’t seem to get nervous at all when playing in front of a formal audience (an informal audience, though, is another story!).

Logan and his piano teacher, Miss Ann.

A Frozen Halloween

When we looked at the forecast for today and saw little snowflakes on my phone, Audrey exclaimed, “That’s perfect!  Because I’m going go be Elsa, the snow queen!”  Perfectly thematic, right?

The forecast was correct.  All day we have had rain, hail, sleet, high winds, and snow.  The snow queen would feel right at home.

Amidst 35-degree weather and 20-30 mph winds (and plenty of layers under the costumes), Luke and my dad took the kids out trick-or-treating.  They went to about 20 neighbors before returning home to warm up their little cheeks and start eating their candy.

Happy Halloween from Anna, Elsa, and Rocky!

Hello, Yellow!

Logan earned his first belt in Karate – his yellow belt!  It was a proud day.  In front of a small audience, he had to demonstrate to his sensei (teacher) that he knows the moves and has good form, balance, and focus.  Every aspect is graded.  The test took about 30 minutes. 

Logan passed with flying colors!  We are so proud of him.  He has worked hard to earn that yellow belt!

Pumpkin patch

Our fall break included Monday this year, so Luke’s parents came out to spend a morning at a local pumpkin patch with us.  My brother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece, Riley, joined us too.

Audrey and Riley loved feeding the goats.

Everyone loved the baby chicks and bunnies.

The kids rode a barrel train pulled by a tractor…

… and loved getting lost in the corn maze.

I love this time of year and all the fall traditions!

Fall Break

Hello, hello!  Aren’t fall breaks the best?  I feel rejuvenated after a few days away at this cozy log cabin all weekend. 

We discovered a fabulous nearby park,

enjoyed an outdoor lunch,

spent time with family (my brother and sister-in-law and their four girls came out to the cabin Friday evening),

hosted a cousin sleepover in the loft,

swam in my brother’s pool (it was a warm weekend!),

and played in the leaves after church.

Other highlights: the fire-breathing dragon in Vandalia, shopping in historic St. Charles, Audrey’s hula program on the cabin deck, viewing Disney pictures, Meredith’s soccer game, and eating at Chuck E. Cheeses (although Emily was terrified of the big mouse).

It’s almost November…

…but I still need to blog about September birthdays.  Life keeps getting in the way of blogging, but I want to reflect on our milestones and memories through this blog.  Better late than never is my motto.

Emily’s birthday was first in September.  She turned four this year.

She requested a fairy birthday party, so we ate fairy cupcakes, set up a fairy scavenger hunt for little treasures, and celebrated fairy style!

 

I can hardly believe Emily is four already.  Shouldn’t she still be in a crib, wearing diapers and onesies?  She’s still our tow-headed baby girl, no matter how old she turns or how much she objects (“I’m not your baby!”). 

Then Luke and I celebrated our birthdays.  We both turned… well, another year older.  :)

To round out the month of September, we celebrated Luke’s mom’s 60th birthday.  We enjoyed a meal together in a reserved room at Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant (attached to Bass Pro Shop) while watching the fish swim in the fish tank adjoining our room.

Luke and his brothers made her a scrapbook of memories from family vacations they took through the years. 

A month of celebrations!  I think birthdays are wonderful because they provide an opportunity to reflect on the blessings of life. 

“Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created ...”  Psalm 148:5

Back to School

We now have a 3rd grader and a Kindergartener. The kids both love their teachers and Audrey wishes we would have put her in the 5-day class instead of the 3-day, so I think that’s a good sign.  Here are the kids on their first day of school.

Summer Happenings

Summer is winding down around here.  I always have good intentions of updating this blog throughout the summer, but it just doesn’t seem to happen.  We’re too occupied with swimming, camping, playing, biking, dancing, and taking little trips to sit down and spend time posting pictures.

Tonight I went through the pictures we’ve taken since our Disney trip and pulled out a few of my favorites.  I limited myself to one picture per event to give you a just a sneak peak. 

MAY

Logan played Terry the Turtle in his second grade play.

Planting flowers and strawberries with Nanny

Logan’s piano recital

JUNE

Audrey had her first ballet recital.

Emily had her first dentist appointment (with Daddy, of course).

Logan started karate.

Our church picnic

Logan and Audrey learned how to ride bikes without training wheels this summer…

… and they both learned how to swim.

We carpooled with my parents out to Iowa for my niece’s baptism, guys in one car and ladies in the other.  But the car with the ladies (embarrassingly, I was driving) took a wrong turn and ended up in…. Wisconsin!  It’s a long story and an even longer detour!

My family at Charlotte’s baptism.

JULY

Happy Fourth of July!

Playing at Lemon Lake Park

I directed a week-long theater camp for middle school kids at our school this summer. 

We took the kids to see the play Charlotte’s Web in Chicago.

And another day we went to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play!

AUGUST

We rented a fifth wheel for a camping trip to Michigan with Luke’s parents and aunts.

Luke and I took a night away to celebrate 11 years of marriage.

One last hurrah for the summer.  We joined some friends at the beach on Lake Michigan.

I hope your summers have been happy.  I loved ours, but to be completely honest, this is the time of year when I start craving a routine.  I’m sure in a few weeks I’ll be daydreaming about the pool again… isn’t that the way it always goes?