A Small Town Memorial Day Celebration

Of the four years that we've lived in our little town, this was the first year that we were actually in town to celebrate Memorial Day. It was a page out of the typical small-town Memorial Day celebration that captures the imagination. I was charmed by the whole weekend, and I hope to be in town every Memorial Day after this.

Sunday evening was a concert in the bandshell. It was a throw-back to the music and dance of the 1920's, complete with phrases like "bee's knees, cat's pajamas, and hotsy totsy".

Chloe loved the concert. She made her way through our bag of popcorn in record time, giving away sweaty handfuls of popcorn to all the people sitting close by.
The next day, Memorial Day, shone bright and clear. The parade was the highlight of the morning. The lady on the right of me in this picture did not stop talking the entire time. I finally switched seats with Paul because I couldn't take it any longer!
I love this picture because of the beautiful sky and the red balloon in the foreground. Our church handed out these balloons, which have these words printed on them "Lest We Forget".
Here are some parade participants - the dog dressed as a butterfly...
...the old jalopy...

... the (very loud) racecar...
...the float from the college football hall of fame. Driving home we passed this site, which speaks for itself.
Once home, we brought out the pool for the first time this summer. Chloe was waiting with great anticipation.

Filling up the pool.

My handsome husband soaking in the rays.
I had to take this picture - Chloe ended up getting wetter than she liked - especially in the freezing water!
This is Paul doing a cannonball into the pool. If you look closely on the side of the pool, you will see a picture with the words "No Jumping". Hmmm...
Noah and Olivia's friend Carmen was over too. I love this picture of childhood fun - not a care in the world, going through life with a good friend and a bag of Doritos.

Grandparent's Day

Last Friday was Grandparent's Day at school. We were so excited that both sets of grandparents could come again this year. Grammy and Grandpa Peterson won the plaque the second year in a row for coming the furthest! And I think Grandma and Papa Ice were in second place! So we are very blessed to have had them all come.





We all met for lunch at our usual celebration restaurant, Logans! It was a fun day.

Grammy's Visit

We always enjoy Grammy's (my mom's) visits so much. This time she came for a week and we all got thoroughly spoiled. These are some highlights from her visit.

Livi helped Grammy cook

Chloe improving her eyesight
Livi's new dress, umbrella and flowers -

she was in dress-up heaven.

Noah's new marble run -

great fun for a kid who likes constructing things

We played soooo much Settlers - and had soooo much fun!
This is the "one-more-picture-before-you-go" picture

Notice Chloe has her shoe in her hand, all set and ready to go with Grammy!

Happy New Year!

It feels good to put up a new post finally. The month of December has been so busy for us with lots of Christmas programs and piano recitals, etc. And we've been tossing some viruses back and forth in the family, so I haven't felt like blogging much. But I think we're back to normal now!

Noah was a wise man in the school Christmas program and Olivia was an angel. The sleeves on Olivia's costume provided her with constant entertainment throughout the whole program. :)

Olivia helped me make Christmas cookies this year, while Noah was home from school, sick on the couch. So that day was divided between making cookies and cleaning up Noah's sickness. NOT a pleasant day. I didn't eat too many of those cookies!

An area church has an annual "Bethlehem Walk". They give you Jewish names and you walk through the woods on the way to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. Every so often scenes are depicted - the angels singing "Gloria", the wise men on the way to see the baby King, the shepherds. Then you finally come to Bethlehem and the bustling town activities. Later you go to the inn looking for a place to stay, but of course there is none. But the innkeeper does let you go into the stable to see the baby born to Mary and Joseph. The whole evening was a wonderful experience for all of us.

The Friday before Christmas we just wanted to have fun, so we drove to the Navy Pier in Chicago for "Winter Wonderfest". It was a wonderful inside carnival with great activities for the kids. This was a roller coaster Noah and Olivia rode on.

This picture was taken near the indoor skating rink, which we want to try next time!

These are some of the kids' favorite gifts:

MP3 player for Chloe - just a play one, of course!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I look forward to catching up with all of you soon!

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!

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!

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. :)