Christmas 2010

~Merry Christmas from our family to yours~
This year Christmas fell on a weekend which made for a few changes in our usual plans. Our family of five celebrated here on the 23 exchanging gifts and having our traditional Christmas brunch (s'mores pancakes) and Christmas dinner(surf n' turf). Since there aren't Christmas church services on the 23rd we didn't get a family picture taken where we're all prettied up in front of the tree. I figured we'd take one over the weekend at my parents or over New Year's weekend at Nate's parents but that didn't happen either. So, here is our official Christmas 2010 picture. (I know I'm not in it but the four people I love most are and they're all pretty happy. Note: Nathan got a kayak for Christmas which made them all very happy.)

Singing

December brought the opportunity for lots of singing. Evan went caroling with a small group of Sunday school students to the homes of elderly members. Both Evan and Hans caroled at nursing homes with their school classes.  Lydia along with the PreK, K, and 7&8th graders caroled at retirement apartments. Lydia participated in the PreK&K Christmas service. The boys were both part of the 1st-8th grade Christmas service.  We also got to hear some beautiful singing as we attend the WLA (Winnebago Lutheran Academy) Christmas Concert with friends. There's just something about Christmas that puts a song in our hearts.


As much as we did I only have pictures and video from Lydia's caroling and the WLA concert. Enjoy.

JOY: An Early Christmas Gift

Merry Christmas!

Close up after our 12 inches of snow

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I went out to dinner with friends on Saturday evening and came home to find this in the front yard. Nathan had made my Christmas gift and set it up early to surprise me. When we lived in Rapid, a house in our neighborhood had this yard decoration that I really thought was beautiful. I told Nathan that someday I'd like to have one similar for our yard. He decided that this year was someday. He'd tracked down plans and started putting it together at work back in October. The evening I left offered the perfect opportunity for him to pop it up in our yard and surprise me. Needless to say, I am thrilled!

November in a Nutshell

Awesome October: Halloween

Since moving to WI the kids have chosen their own costumes and we've put together their versions of them. A few thrift store purchases, some things we already own, a little imagination, and some sewing skills and this is what you get. Hans as a knight, Lydia as a green princess, Evan as a bat. While out trick-or-treating they noticed many other kids costumes and remarked, "Mom, some kids don't even get to make their costumes. They just have to buy them." Made me smile.
Also, while trick-or-treating we saw the coolest decorated house in Oshkosh. Nathan has a coworker who goes a bit over the top for Halloween. This is actually the front of their house completely made over to look like a castle. It does help that he owns a sound and light/DJ business.

Awesome October: G&G Smiths' house with two aunts & a cousin

Rub-a-dub-dub! Girl cousins in the tub!

You've gotta dance like nobody's watching.

A little cousin bonding time.

We also visited the Smiths for a little bit of silliness and fun. The kids and I played with Kristi and Naomi who also were visiting. Nathan joined us for the weekend. He and Kevin spent some time taking apart their recently kaput van and putting various pieces of it onto ours. I had no formal pictures of the entire trip but just random snapshots of silly kids.

Awesome October: Science Musuem of Minnesota

The kids had a week off in October so we took advantage and hit the road. Our first stop was my parents house.  While there we went exploring at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) with my parents, sister-in-law Holly, and cousins Ethan and Hannah.  As a child the SMM was a favorite field trip destination of mine.  It was a trip down memory lane to get to take the kids.  It was funny though, that the location had moved some eleven years ago and I didn't know it.  We spent the day playing and learning with some serious hands on exploration.  We look forward to visiting again sometime.

Awesome October: Meeting Jacob

Naomi playing in the kiddie pool at the hotel.

Evan says hi.

Hans takes a ride.

Three tired kids.

Evan was excited to have his turn with Jacob.

Safe in Hans' arms.

Getting some loving from Lydia.

Uncle Nathan getting a little snuggle time. 

All of us.

The Smith family all gathered together the end of October to meet the newest member, Jacob. This was exciting for more the the usual reasons. First, Michael and Tammy had been told the previous year that it'd be nearly impossible for them to have children naturally. God showed he had other plans for them and blessed them with their son. Second, it was the first time ALL of the Smiths (2 parents, 6 original kids, 3 spouses, and 5 grandkids) had been together since Michael and Tammy's wedding. Blessings abound!

What a precious Child of God.

Spirit Day

Blue and White Day during Spirit Week

Evan won "KING" of the day. Here he is tired, faded, hair stiff, but oh, so happy.

Awesome October: Door County Camping

The setting sun just above the horizon.

October was just as activity filled as September. We decided to try our hand at fall camping this year. Although we don't live far from the popular Door County we hadn't visited since moving to WI two years ago. After some research we decided to try Peninsula State Park for our first destination. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend as far as weather, upper 60s in mid October, and the leaves were at perfect peak color. The park, actually the entire peninsula, was busier than we'd prefer but we just hiked the difficult trails to avoid the crowds. Another exciting feature on this trip was that Joanna joined us What she lacks in camping experience she makes up for in enthusiasm. After just two days of camping with us she's willing to give more camping a try Success! Next summer we'll have to do some more Door County exploring.

Sinking below the horizon as the gulls gather.

My version of a post card. I played with a new photo editing program.

We watched the sun set on Green Bay. What a masterpiece God painted for us!

Busy September: Preschool Field Trip

The 3 year old and 4 year old PreK classes.

Learning about how bees help make apples.

Finding the queen bee in the hive.

Waiting our turn to pick an apple off the tree.

Lydia and her fresh picked, beautiful apple.

Learning how the apples are sorted.

On the hay ride to the pumpkin patch.

Busy September: Wild Goose State Trail

Hans caught a frog.

Tree climbing!

Now Evan caught a frog.

Evan, Nathan, Lydia, and Hans all still happy after biking 12 miles.

Check out my new bike!

This year for my birthday Nathan bought me a new* bike.  (*new to me, it was bought at a bike swap for about half price!)  It's wonderful.  Seriously, I never knew biking could be so great. What a difference a good, high quality bike makes.  After a few brief rides around the neighborhood we decided to hit the trail.  There are several bike trail heads within a 30 minute drive from here so we did some online research, chose a trail, packed up the bikes, and gave trail riding a shot. It was awesome!  The first time out we biked 12 miles!  We went six miles from one town to the next, geocached along the way, turned back, geocached some more, and made it 12 miles.  It certainly didn't hurt that it was a spectacular fall afternoon.  We enjoyed it so much we went out again a few weeks later.  I see more trail rides in our future, unfortunately I think they won't be until next spring.

Busy September: Ladies Night

During ABC premiere week these three fabulous ladies joined me for an evening of appetizers and laughter. We had planned to meet at Kari's house but due to some vehicle issues I wasn't going to be able to make it. Bekah tracked me down at school to let me know that since I couldn't make the party they'd bring the party to me. It was an awesome surprise. We all enjoyed the evening and should really do it again soon!

Busy September: Our Piano

Something I've always wanted to have is a piano. We had a not-so-impressive keyboard when we lived in SD that didn't make the move. This summer we started watching craigslist and after a few months of keeping our eyes peeled we found this spinet piano for $100. After using the mini van like a truck and with some heavy lifting help from some two hulky high school boys we now have a piano in our dining room. It could use a tune up and has some preexisting dings but it plays well and is perfect for us. I've really enjoyed plunking away on it as I refresh my rusty piano skills. It's fun to play with the kids around and have them recognize the songs I play. Hopefully piano lessons will become a reality for them in the future.

Busy September: A Day on the Farm

In the corn maze.

Look out! Lydia is at the wheel!

Farmer Evan and Farmer Lyd

Farmer Hans and Farmer Lyd