Getting Decorated

The other night we finally got in the Christmas spirit - we put the Christmas music on and put up the Christmas tree. It's interesting to decorate with lots of little hands that are just dying to touch all the pretty things coming out of boxes that have been stored all year long. Eventually Olivia was given the assignment of official photographer. These are the pictures she took:



And I could continue. Lots of pictures of the lights! So Olivia was reassigned to helping with the lights. Noah also helped with lights.Noah also likes to make his own ornaments. This is a matchbox car on the end of a loop of paper.

The next day we decorated the kids' little trees for their bedrooms. Barbie helped decorate this tree.

We are now officially in the Christmas spirit at our house! Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful time in MN celebrating Thanksgiving. We were able to see some relatives, and the kids had lots of time to play with their cousins. On Friday we went to the Mall of America - crazy! Actually, it wasn't so bad - we played at Lego Land and went on some of the rides. Saturday was my mom's 60th birthday, and we celebrated at a fancy restaurant. We were brave and took the kiddos too - they loved all the "extras" - the sorbet to cleanse the palate, the juice for toasting the birthday girl, the warm washcloths and the chocolate-covered strawberries at the end of the meal. Mmmm....yummy!

Fish and Giraffes Beware!

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Weekend Trip

We went last weekend to Sarah's (my sister-in-law) wedding shower. What a fun time to be with my sisters in law and my mother in law. We thought it was funny that we all ended up wearing brown to the shower.

Sarah's beautiful engagement ring says "For My Glory" in the Cambodian language, where she and her hubby will be missionaries.
Papa Ice has it all figured out - he had the kids helping him rake the leaves while we were at the shower!

Costumes and Candy

Last night we went to church for Family Fun Night. The AWANA directors offer this carnival every year on the Wednesday that is closest to Halloween, so this year it fell on Halloween. The kids get to play carnival-like games and win candy and prizes. They also have a contest for costumes, which have to be Bible-based.

Chloe was a frog - one of the Egyptian plagues.

A pretty good frog pose!
Olivia is into everything princess, so she was disappointed when she found out she was going to be a queen...Queen Esther. Then she started liking it and told everyone she was "Queen Esto".

Noah's costume was made about 30 minutes before we had to leave for the carnival. He is Paul in prison (see the ball and chain?), and he won third place for his outfit! (in his age bracket)

Noah was pretty good at this game.

Olivia just LOVED her butterfly hand.

Olivia and her friend Michael

Is she peeking?

By the end of the night my camera was sticky from all the little fingers touching it, so this picture is a little fuzzy. But I thought these costumes were pretty good - salt and light is on the left, Moses is in the middle and another Queen Esther on the right.

Carving Pumpkins

Continuing the Barn Theme...

We found a park this weekend that has a huge playground in the shape of a barn. It used to be an agricultural farm for a nearby college, but now it's a park with lots of picnic areas, hiking trails, an amphitheater, a sledding hill, a place to put canoes into the river, etc. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we enjoyed our time outdoors!

Someone needs to put a barrette in her hair!

Mommy and Daddy had fun too. :)

Were You Born in a Barn?

Any blogging mom knows you take the picture first, then pursue the discipline. :)

Tea Is Served

Olivia was thrilled to receive this teacup, saucer and spoon from a teenager at church yesterday. She insists on eating breakfast, lunch and dinner on the "little plate" and sipping her water from the teacup.

I was thrilled to pick up our refinished dining room table and new chairs this past weekend. The table had been my grandmother's, and was in good condition, but needed to be refinished. So we had that done and bought new chairs with matching finish. We only had four chairs before, but now with six chairs Chloe can sit up to the table with the big kids! She loves it.

The View from a Cow Wagon

I joined Noah and Olivia today for a field trip to the pumpkin patch. We were able to see lots of animals (even feed some), walk through a corn maze, ride on a cow wagon, and pick a pumpkin from the patch.

This is what they call the "cow wagon", which is hooked up to a tractor. They give you a little ride around the patch. During our little ride, the heavens opened up and dumped buckets of rain on us.

Noah and Olivia getting ready to pet a few animals.
A bunny!
Livi had to get her feather in this picture, which is one she found after chasing a rooster around. Not the most sanitary of souvenirs, I know.

Weekend at the Ice's

This is my new favorite picture. Just wish Chloe had been in there too!

This weekend Paul's brother Ben and and his wife Dayna and kids came to stay with us. We had fun on Saturday going to a pumpkin patch. This is Noah with Uncle Ben and an unspecified greeter.
Olivia and Chloe are learning how to make apple butter, which is in the big cauldron over the fire. You can see Chloe is very excited, as she is clapping enthusiastically.
Here's the loot!

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

Love you!

Too much energy? This'll slow her down...

Paul is so sweet to watch the kids while I teach piano on Wednesday afternoons. This is what I saw yesterday when I went downstairs when I was done teaching piano.
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NYC with the Girls

I'm back from a whirlwind trip to New York City. I left Friday morning at 6:30 am and arrived in NYC around 10:30 am after a brief layover in Detroit. My cousin lives in NYC, so my mom, my aunt and I took advantage of free lodging and planned a girls' weekend. We had so much fun!


On Friday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was amazing and huge. Then we took a taxi down to Times Square where we had New York-style pizza and saw a show on Broadway. How fun it was to do some shopping along Times Square!

Saturday we started our day in the Financial District, visiting the NY Stock Exchange. Then we went to Battery Park where we had a good view of the Statue of Liberty (reminded me of choir tour G-Knee!). Then a short walk provided us with a surreal view of Ground Zero. There were lots of flowers and memorials there since it had only been a few days since the anniversary of 9/11.

After another dizzying taxi ride we got off in Chinatown and fought our way through the crowds to look at pashmina scarves and purses. Little Italy is a short ways away, so we walked there to get in on their festival they had going on in the streets. We had a yummy Italian dinner. Then we went back to Times Square to get two huge slices of melt-in-your-mouth cheesecake (which we almost didn't get after offending the deli workers by asking for the toppings on the side...). :)

Sunday was a visit to the Rockefeller Center (where they ice skate in the winter). We walked past the NBC studios, the ABC studios, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, etc. It was a beautiful fall day, so we went to Central Park and went for a carousel ride and ambled along the paths.

My flight took off at 7:45 p.m., so we had to cut a beautiful day short. After almost missing my connecting flight in Detroit (after a 20-minute run through the airport!), I was picked up by my wonderful husband who had a less-than-memorable weekend (but that's another story...). Now I'm trying to recover from the whiplash I experienced in the cabs.

The Abominable Bubble-Kids

Nothing could be better than being up to your neck in bubbles!

This worked well the other night when we couldn't think of anything else to do until bedtime. :)