Merry Christmas!

2006

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Ho Ho Ho

We happened to run into Santa at Walmart last weekend.  Yes, Walmart Santa.  Austin understands that not every Santa we see is the real one.  Of course real Santa can not possibly be at every mall and shopping center in the whole world at the same time, so he has special helpers that dress up like him to talk to the boys and girls.

When I saw the Walmart Santa I told John to feel free to tell Austin that it was not the real Santa.  I said this because Walmart Santa's beard kept sliding down his chin every time a child sat on his lap and he would have to pull it back up over his obviously dark, black chin stubble.  Well, after sitting on Walmart Santa's lap, Austin was sure it was the real Santa.  (to give Walmart Santa a break, he seemed very friendly and talkative with the kids which was really great).

Now, what do we do?  Do we go try to see the real Santa at the mall?  Or do we settle for Walmart Santa??

2005 Photo Book

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Halloween...

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great time Trick or Treating this year.  I think they ran from house to house for the first half hour. Oh, to be a kid again.  Other than it being a bit chilly, it was a great night.  Nana and Pop joined us for the night and were able to enjoy watching the kids get LOTS of candy.  (with the Halloween loot and the candy we just bought at the grocery store today because it was a dollar a bag AND I had coupons, I think we have more candy in our house than ever before!)

Yesterday we took the kids to a local farm for some Fall Fun.  Enjoy the pictures and video!

Go Bucks!

Recently, I experienced my first Buckeye tailgate.  As far as tailgates go, it was a relatively quiet family-oriented affair.  We joined several of John's college friends and their families in the RV lot on OSU campus.  The kids all got along great and had a great time playing cornhole, putting on temporary tattoos, catching grasshoppers and rolling down the grassy hill.  The adults had a great time watching the Bucks smear the Boilermakers 49 - 0.

Before the game we walked to the Skull Session at St. John's Arena.  The OSU Marching Band has a warm-up session and bit of a pep rally before each game here.  It was all very exciting!  While we had good seats and could see everything (the very top row!), I would love to go again sometime and get there early enough to sit down closer to the action.

Photo Book 2004

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A little of this and a little of that

First up:  Austin is taking a beginner's baseball class this Fall.  He really seems to like it!  Last week John took this video of him running.  He is the one closest to the camera.  He sure can run fast!

Next:  We had a fun time at the pumpkin farm on Saturday with Grandma.  The kids played on tractors, painted pumpkins, did a corn maze, crawled through the straw bales, and tried the big slide in the barn.  

Third: Ellie is loving her new school and her 1st grade teacher.  I am not loving the homework, though!  The homework hit pretty hard this week and it seems like it will continue like this for the rest of the year.  She has at least one assignment to do every night!  We are just not in the habit yet of making sure that homework is done each day.

Last but not least:  Austin picked one of my favorite books for bedtime last night.  "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".  This is a fun book to read.  

When the book was done, Austin said, "Alexander always has to go potty".  

I asked, "Why do you say that?"

Austin said, "Because he is always holding his pee pee".

Take a look for yourself.  I have to agree with Austin.  That is what it looks like :-)

I love this video - John Jacob Jingle who?

Camping and John Jacob Jingle....who?

We have returned from the annual cabin weekend.  While I am NOT a camper and my inability to keep that to myself, I must admit that this year was not that bad!  I am not a fan of the bugs, dirt, wet, and cold.  I have been after John to plan this event a bit earlier than mid-October so that we could avoid the 30 degree night temperatures.  Well, this year we succeeded in a mid-September campout and the weather was perfect (except for the showers we had overnight while we were sleeping).  Not one time was I cold!  I'm afraid to say it too loudly, but if each year could be so pleasant, I might start liking camping :-)

Other than my issue with bugs, dirt, wet and cold...I do actually love this annual trip.  There are fun things to do, great food to eat, and good times with family.  This year was no exception.  The event was complete with hay bale jumping, golf ball hitting over the river, swimming/wading in the river, the famous hayride in the dark (Steve did not make me fear for my life on our hayride this year - he must have felt bad about last year when I was sure we would tumble over down the hillside), trip up to the farmhouse to find cats and kittens,trips to the outhouse, buckeyes, etc. etc.

Here's a few pictures of the weekend.  I have an incredibly cute video of Austin singing for me, but I can't get it to load on the blog right now.  I'll try again tomorrow.

Looking forward to next year!

Nerf gun and the Tooth Fairy

Ellie has lost her first tooth!

As her tooth was getting loose, John suggested we watch some "funny" videos on Youtube to prepare Ellie for the event.  That is where the idea was born...

The plan was to tie a string to Ellie's loose tooth, tie the other end of the string to the foam Nerf gun bullet and I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

We attempted it a few times last week, but the tooth just wasn't ready.  Then with the anticipation of Nana and Pop coming for a visit, the plan was to attempt it again with a full audience.

Ellie is definitely brave.  She didn't seem scared at all.  We tied the string and she prepared to shoot.  It worked!  I had little faith that it would actually work.  I was completely surprised.  The only issue is, for those that might attempt this with their own children, it took us a while to find the tooth!  That bullet flew and hit the door and so did the tooth, but then it ricocheted off the door and after several minutes of folks picking through the carpet we spotted the lonely tooth on a cushion of the couch all of the way across the room.

Well, the Tooth Fairy was notified and she performed her "magic" and turned the tooth into a dollar.

The Tooth Fairy will probably be visiting us again before Christmas, so we'll need to scour the internet for another tooth pulling idea!

A GOOD Morning

Austin did something funny this morning.

As I walked into his room, I could tell he was just starting to wake up. Then, he pushed the blanket off of himself, sat straight up, put his arms up in the air and proclaimed "Here I am!"


If only we could all wake up each morning like that!

A cute, funny start to our Friday!

First Grade

Ellie enjoyed her first day of First Grade today.  It sounds like everything went well for her.  She used her new Tinker Bell backpack, rode the school bus to school, found her classroom all by herself after the bus trip, made a new friend in her class, had pizza for lunch, did the monkey bars at recess, and played Barbies at her after-school care program.   I'm sure there was some learning thrown in there, too, but we didn't hear anything about that yet.

We love the beach!

We made it to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Tuesday of this week and the sky was threatening rain. We quickly hopped into our suits and headed to the beach. The kids LOVED it. They had a great time playing in the surf and digging in the sand. There were a few sprinkles here and there, but they didn't mind. The sky looked dark and gray to the west, though and before too long we were in the middle of a huge downpour. Everyone was scrambling to get out of the rain.

The rain stuck around for the rest of Tuesday and all day on Wednesday. :-( I think I was more sad about the rain than anyone else in the family. We did our best to have fun, though. The boardwalk at the beach had an awesome little amusement park area (some inside and out of the rain) for the kids. It was the perfect place to spend some fun time when we couldn't be in the sand.

Luckily, the skies cleared up on Thursday and we spent several hours enjoying the beach, sun, water, boardwalk, pizza, french fries, and dolphins! We were surprised by how many dolphins there were and they were relatively close to the beach.

We are back in Frederick, MD now visiting John's Aunt Carrie for a few days before heading home. I am already planning a week to Rehoboth Beach for next summer, hopefully at one of the hotels right on the beach!

State Fair 5K and Kids Fun Run

We had a busy day today. The kids ran in the State Fair Kid's Fun Run, John and I ran in the 5K, and then we all enjoyed a few hours at the Fair.

Austin ran his race and then it was Ellie's turn. The race started and our girl took off. Next thing I know as I am watching her through the video camera lens, she is skidding across the pavement on her knees. John helped her up and carried her to the finish line where she then hobbled across to get her medal.

I have to say that I could tell from first glance at her knees that she had probably the worst skinned knees I've ever seen. But then it was time for John and I to run our race. Thank goodness, Dylan and Heather were there to take care of everything for us while we ran. Dylan had Ellie all bandaged up when we returned.

This was John's first 5K. He has been running for several months now and is in great shape. He actually ran faster than I would have liked to run the race. Seems that we both motivated each other at certain points of the race. I am very proud of him for running regularly and for accomplishing the 5K with a pace UNDER a 9:00/mile!!

Sounds like he's planning to run another one already at the end of the summer!

Fountains and Sunshine

So, one of the best deals in town is the fountain park about 10 minutes from our house. The best deal is it is FREE! The kids also seem to like it more this year than they have in the past. They spend quite a bit more time playing in the fountains and quite a bit less time worrying about what kind of snacks I brought for them. It is also nice, now that they are older, that I can sit and relax and enjoy the sun, the breeze, and the sights of the children without worrying if the kids are okay.

Artistic

Ellie and Austin spent some time creating a piece of art for the playroom in the basement. They did a great job. Austin painted a camel - the black outline of an animal that you can see him working on. That camel makes me smile. Ellie painted the rainbow and she also painted a picture of me above the rainbow - with curly, blue hair.

Here we go

Our little girl left this sign outside her room the other day. Obviously, she wasn't very happy with us for sending her to her room for some quiet time. I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see a sign like this.

My favorite part of yesterday

I had Monday off with Ellie and Austin. We went to the park and we played outside. All that fun stuff. I needed to work on my schoolwork, so I talked Ellie and Austin into playing outside for awhile without me. I'm plugging away and Austin comes inside and says "I got something for you!" I was about to direct him back outside, when I looked down and saw what was in his hand. How great is this!

Last Day of Kindergarten

Ellie is officially a 1st grader! As a special ending to her Kindergarten year, we took her to get her ears pierced. We went to Sweet and Sassy, a fancy hair and nail salon for girls. They had a special throne for her to sit in, too. She was VERY brave.

Afterwards we went to a new pizza place called the Mellow Mushroom. This is a place that my sister would love. The pizza was great, too!

Check out my tattoo!

Austin picked a very large tattoo to put on. I told him that it had to be on his belly since it was so big. After I put it on he wanted to see it so I told him to go look in the mirror. I expected him to go look in the mirror by the front door, but a few minutes later I saw him in the bathroom STANDING IN THE SINK checking out his belly. Oh my. Boys.

God forgives

I had borrowed a children's Bible storybook from church last week and it sat by my chair for several days without being opened. I finally decided to look at it with the kids and Austin noticed one of his favorite stories, David and Goliath. After I read the story, I noticed that there were some questions for the kids to think about and answer. One of the questions in the series was "What did God give David?" Austin piped up and said "Sins! For God gives our sins!" Austin was so sure of himself and I was VERY confused. I knew that he knew something that I didn't know. So, I tried to quickly figure out what he meant because he was obviously looking for me to agree with him.

And then it hit me.

Austin has learned in Awana, Sunday School, and at Preschool that God forgives our sins...not for God gives our sins.

Gone Fishin'?

I would expect Ellie and Austin to spend more time in the creek out back now that they are getting older. We had a little creek time on Mother's Day. Austin had a chance to use his fishing net that he got for his birthday from Nana and Pop. Lucky for me, he didn't catch anything!