Since she never has had this before she was a bit lost to start the year. Now she's settled into a routine that includes lots of games and playing with Mom. She just seems so big to me. She might be my baby but she's definitely not a baby anymore. Here she's showing off her smile while we played memory and her name which she's working on writing usually on paper but here in blocks.
Here we are on a sunny afternoon last weekend.1. Nathan and the kids with a rather large reproduction of Chief Red Bird of the Winnebago tribe overlooking the lake.
2. While seeking a geocache we had to climb a tree. The kids weren't quite tall enough to reach the hiding spot, but they enjoyed the climb.
3. Lydia climbed up to this point and announced it was where she was going to hibernate. Hmm?
4. This was the mother of all leaf piles. The entire picnic area had been cleared of the leaves and the pile was along the edge of the woods. The kids were waist deep in leaves and having so much fun that Nathan and I joined them. While the van was a little messier on the way home the joy of playing in the leaves with three happy kids was worth it.
, and then drizzled melted chocolate almond bark and vanilla almond bark to glue the mess together. After it hardened we broke it into cookie size pieces. Just so you know we're not complete gluttons here we did send most of the finished project with Nathan to school to share with his classmates (One of which said, "Wow. This candy beat up your candy, spits on it, and walks away". Which I'm taking to mean he liked it.) We are looking forward to making Christmas bark sometime in December.
a) Laying on the cushion of leaves.
b) Evan givng the leaves a toss.
c) Hans hiding behind the leaves he was picking for a project at school.
in Kindergarten, Hans came up with being a gnome after hearing tales of them from Grandpa Davis, and Lydia latched onto being a skunk while we looked for costume ideas on the Family Fun website. 1. The whole gang.
2. A gnome hiding in the garden.
3. Walking with Dad down our street.
4. "Trick-or-treat!"
them along with my sister-in-law Kristi and my sweet niece Naomi. The kids filled their days with time playing outside in the yard, "helping" Grandpa in the barn, "helping" ship pigs, and giving lots and lots of love to Naomi. She's the only cousin on this side of the family so far so she gets all the attention she can handle. Not that I can blame them for loving her. She's as sweet as can be and cuter than cute! I appreciated the time chatting with my dearest friend and spending time with my generous in-laws. All around the trip went to quickly but left us all happier than when we started.
1. Loving by Lydia.
2. Evan sharing toys with Naomi.
3. Hans getting his share of cuddles.
4. One proud mom with her smiley babe.
there was no on there but simply a bowl of Halloween goodies and a note. The note told us we'd been "ghosted" by someone who wanted to spread some Halloween fun around the neighborhood. Now, to keep the fun moving, we had to choose three people to "ghost." Tuesday we headed out to find some goodies-candy, toys, pencils, straws, and cups-to use in our ghosting adventure. The boys each chose a classmate to ghost and Lydia the neighbors. Then we took turns sneaking to front doors, leaving cups of goodies with notes, knocking really loudly, and running away before being detected. It was a HOOT! The kids loved the whole things from shopping for treats for our friends to whispering the whole way to their houses to running away. We'll certainly try this again next Halloween and maybe even a modified version on May Day.
some time with us. After arriving Thursday evening he spent Friday at school helping me cook hot lunch, playing with Lydia, having lunch with Evan and Hans, and generally impressing the lunch ladies with his willingness to pitch in and help. Saturday, after helping Nathan get the garage ready for the van to live inside again, we wandered around the EAA
museum for the afternoon and ended the day with wine and a movie. Sunday we started our day with church and moved on to High Cliff State Park and more hiking and geocaching. With Jordan living 16 hours away it was nice to have a chunk of time to visit, catch up, and just enjoy being together. The kids certainly poured out attention on Uncle Jordan and soaked up what he gave back. Hopefully what we lack in house size we made up in heart size for our guest. 1. Taking time to climb a fallen tree along the trail.
2. Rest stop.
3. Walking on.
4. Last stop: bedtime stories the night before Jordan hit the road.
2. My sister-in-law Katy and Hannah were checking each other out and liking what they saw.
My Grandma had gotten a pinata a few years ago and the kids loved it so they were thrilled with the opportunity to whack one again. The kids all had several turns before the chick finally burst and the treasures inside were collected.1. Hans taking a few swings.
2. Evan with his treasure bag ready to collect whatever the pinata my give.
3. Joey trying to find the pinata after his dad turned him around and around and around.
4. Lydia wasn't so sure about the blindfold but once she could see she eagerly helped out with the demolition.
What a blessed bunch!1. Lydia and her buddy Nathan picking pumpkins. The rule was that the pumpkin was supposed to be about the size of your head. They look to have gotten it right.
2. Our tour guide explaining how the apples are sorted.
3. Lydia taking a leap on the giant hay bale playground.
4. Hans and Sammy atop the mound of hay. 
