"The Essentials" as Dictated by Kyra

Q: What would you have taken with you on the Mayflower if you had been a Pilgrim?

A: pizza, games, marbles, colors, rug. I would also like to bring my care bear.

Trick Or Treat 2009

Just a few pics from this year's festivities.
The Blue Man
The Butterfly
"50 Cent"
The Hot Dog
Gasp! Everyone looking at the camera!

Photo of the Week - April 12, 2009

I had forgotten how difficult it is to get a picture of these two where both of them are smiling and looking at the camera! Anyhow, this week's photo is Ian and Kyra in their Easter finery. Kyra had been looking forward to wearing this dress since it came out of the shopping bag. Apparently I chose well because I was told it was "so princessy!" Ian, on the other hand, just wore what was given to him (I guess I'm lucky he's too young to complain about having to wear pink stripes!)

Santa Claus Came To Town

Merry Christmas, everyone! This house has been filled with excitement since turning the last day of the Advent calendar yesterday morning. Actually, Kyra was quite distraught that it was the last day to receive a piece of chocolate every morning and a new Littlest Pet Shop accessory.

We spent a quiet evening last night having a family movie night in anticipation of bedtime. Sadly, we were unable to make it to Christmas Eve service at our church because we got another snow storm yesterday and the roads were not ideal for driving. I'd say we have approximately three feet of snow in the back yard from all of the snowstorms we've had already this December.


Here are the kids last night in their traditional "Santa Jammies". I honestly don't know how much longer I'll be able to carry on the "matching" tradition because Ian is growing like a weed. In fact, I was lucky he didn't outgrow these before he wore them. Next year I may have to crack out the sewing machine.



Rich and I were amazingly up before the kids this morning but they weren't too far behind. They were so excited to glance down and see the presents beneath the tree! We "tried" to alternate opening presents, but it ended up being futile and in the end, it was pretty much a flurry of wrapping paper. It never ceases to amaze me how much time I spend wrapping compared to how little time it takes to come off.


After everything was open, it was time to play. Of course, there is always "some assembly required!" Thank goodness for handy husbands who patiently read through instructions all the while dealing with impatient children!



At last, everyone is happy and able to play until their hearts' content! In the meantime, Rich and I spent the day enjoying each other's company and watching our annual movie marathon.

We wish you all a blessed holiday!

In an effort to assist in the concept that giving of ourselves is better than receiving, we spent this morning at the local grocery store ringing bells for the Salvation Army. It's so easy to volunteer for and this location was great for us because it was indoors and the store offers babysitting so when Kyra had gotten her fill of ringing, I could check her in at the "Tot Spot" so we could finish our two-hour shift.

The Salvation Army volunteers were so excited to see Ian and Kyra participating. We each got a bell to ring and it was overwhelming to see how many people stopped to put a little something in the kettle. It's a little late this year, but if you and your family get the chance to take a shift next year, it's a worthwhile and fun time!

We Do Clean Up Nicely

Last night was Rich's holiday party for his office. In these difficult economic times for many, we are thankful for the blessing of an employer that values each and every employee and treats them very well. We had a fun time and we even won a gift certificate for another night out. But, my feet are done with heels for the year!

Christmas Getting to Know Your Friends

My friend, Margie, posted this on her blog, so I thought it would be fun to pass along here so if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? warpping paper (unless it's something really huge)
2. Real tree or Artificial? real
3. When do you put up the tree? day after thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years
5. Do you like eggnog? NO!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? dancing ballerina doll
7. Hardest person to buy for? my father, Rich
8. Easiest person to buy for? Kyra
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
10. Mail or email Christmas Cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? used potholders with crusted gravy
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Story
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? depneds when I see something
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas cookies
16. Lights on the tree? multi-colored
17. Favorite Christmas song? Little St. Nick by the Muppets
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? always in our house on Crhistmas but we travel afterward
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? this year our tree is too tall
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Seeing "X"-mas. CHRIST is the reason for the season, people!!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? our ornaments are an eclectic mix
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? wireless iPod headphones

We Are Thankful

Be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - Thess 5:16-18

This morning over our Thanks giving breakfast of pumpkin pancakes (a shout out to Ms. M for the recipe!), Rich, Ian, Kyra and I went around the table and listed 51 (we had a sheet with 50 lines but everyone needed equal turns) things we can be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Some were serious, some were silly - see if you can identify who said what!

1. Bear
2. Food
3. Wonderful family
4. My Children
5. Windown
6. Shelter
7. Community
8. Carrot cake
9. Bacon
10. Apple juice
11. Good job
12. God's abundant love
13. Butter
14. Insects (except for mosquitos)
15. Geocaching
16. Shirts
17. Exercise
18. Napkins keep us clean
19. Good books
20. Family time
21. Noses
22. Family games
23. Football
24. Cars
25. Ground
26. Light
27. Grandmas and Grandpas
28. My husband
29. Beanbag
30. Thanksgiving
31. Cub Scouts
32. Good friends
33. Pens and pencils
34. Easter
35. Schools
36. Scrapbooking
37. Curly hair
38. Animals
39. Fishing
40. Running
41. Paper
42. Cooking supplies
43. Disney movies
44. Coffee & Diet Coke
45. Hands
46. Rootbeer
47. Nappy time and sleeping
48. Music
49. Bread
50. Four seasons
51. Fruit

From our family to yours, may you have a blessed Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and faith!

Trick Or Treat

Here's my trick-or-treaters on Friday. Thankfully, the weather wasn't all too bad for late October in Wisconsin. I was so proud of Ian. He came up with the idea for his robot costume all by himself and just needed a little help in putting it together. He got a lot of compliments for having a homemade costume. As for Ms. Kyra, she really understood the concept of trick-or-treating this year and really got into it! She stayed energized throughout the neighborhood and had a great time sorting through all of the candy!



And, since I was oh-so-greatful my hubby didn't have to travel, I made Halloween themed cakeballs (from a picture posted at Lifetime Moments) for his office party. They were pretty fun to make and the inside was red velvet cake. Wrong on many levels, but fun nonetheless!

Some pictures from the long weekend

Well, it was a very busy weekend and I can't say that I ever want to be in a car for that long again for a good while. Now that Kyra is fully potty trained, there's even more stops in between making for close to a 6-hour trip one way. We are home now - physically and mentally exhausted. Here are some pictures from the weekend though:

Kyra enjoying the 4th of July cookout at Grandma Pokey & Grandpa Tiger's house

Ian and my nephews chilling out after playing "running bases" most of the day

Swimming at the hotel after a long day was a great way for the kids to unwind before bedtime. I just love Kyra's expression in this one

Cannonball!!!!

On our last night, Kyra got "brave" and attempted to swim all by herself. I swear she is smiling while she is partially submerged as she was so proud of herself.

And, to appease Ms. Arlyn, here is a picture of me. No visit "home" would be complete without a visit with my two best friends from high school.

Memorial Day 2008

For once, we actually are having a beautiful Memorial Day. I'm so used to it being cold or rainy around here, I don't know how to respond. Ian and Rich marched in the Memorial Day parade this morning. Here's a picture of Ian with his new Webelo scarf:


How did I get to old enough to be a mom of a Webelo anyway? After we dropped of the boys at the parade starting point, Kyra and I came home and packed up the stroller and walked to the end of the parade route. At the end of the parade, we had some ice cream and then walked home. Kyra discovered the joy of blowing dandilions:


I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Though I am in no way, shape or form Irish, who can resist a $5 T-shirt from . (Besides, it will make a good workout shirt after the day has long since past!)

Kyra just thinks it's neat that we have matching shirts today and finds no significance to the day!

On another note, depressingly, it is snowing again! UGH! Fortunately, I think it is melting as it drops, but I so thought we were over this stuff!

Tonight is also Pinewood Derby night! We set up the track last night and Ian's car was pretty fast compared to the other cars there. We'll see what happens when the other cars enter the field!

Mission Accomplished!

Today is Valentine's Day and it's always difficult to find something for Rich given that he is not an easy person to shop for by any means. So, about a month ago, I saw a blurb in the local paper about a local a cappella group doing a fundraiser for Valentine's Day. For what was, in my opinion a very reasonable price, a barbershop quartet would show up at the appointed place and timeframe to sing a love song and give the recipient a card and a rose. For a jokester such as Rich, it could not have been a more perfect plan! Even better - I didn't even give a hint as to what was in store for him today. Luckily, one of his co-workers had her camera and snapped a few pictures. He called me at 9:20 to let me know I had officially embarrassed him (but we all know he LOVED every minute of it!).

Happy Holidays

This past Saturday, we went to Rich's company Christmas party. It's a fun evening but this year was even more meaningful to me because I have changed so much n my appearance. Last year at this time, I was praying that I had something in my closet that not only fit me, but would actually look half-way decent. This year, the only thing I had to worry about was whether my strapless bra would stay up the entire evening (which it did!)

Funny things happen though when you lose a lot of weight. People don't recognize you. Rich called me this morning to let me know that several people at the party didn't come up to us because they thought Rich was there with "another woman". While I am almost "half the woman" I used to be, I can assure them that it is still me.

Apparently bigger is NOT better

Last night, we had our Ladies' Christmas Candlelight Tea at church. I volunteered to hostess a table this year. After much thought, I went with a Gingerbread Candyland theme. As a "take-home" gift, I baked and decorated individual gingerbread men for my table guests. Of course, when you are trying to make 10 "perfect" men, you are bound to have some failures in between. Thus, I had a few with misshapen body parts or missing limbs. Still, even the leftovers are fair game for my family. Ian was extremely excited to see the gingerbread men last night when he came home from school and wanted one for his dessert. Since I was at the tea last night, I did not see him before he went to bed so this morning he informed me that the next time I make gingerbread cookies, I need to make them smaller as the current cookies were just "too big" and made his tummy ache (even though the size didn't stop him from eating the whole thing).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

at least at our house! Over the long weekend, we got out the stockings, went and chopped down a tree and today Kyra and I set up our Little People Nativity set.

I have to say, preparing for Christmas without having to think about unpacking boxes sure does change one's perspective!