Thank You

I would just like to say thank you to Brent and Danika for showing Isaac this video during our visit. This is all he sings and LOVES to watch it.

Thanksgiving

This was the first Thanksgiving in 8 years that we didn't celebrate the holiday with my parents and only the 2nd time in 8 years that I didn't make the dinner at my house. This year we spent the holiday with Jim's brother, Brent, and his family in Iowa City, Iowa. The kids had a great time spending the 4 nights and 4 days together. The weather was "warm" on Thanksgiving so we took advantage of that opportunity and winterized the yards. Jim had fun on the riding lawn mower and was happy to give the kids rides around the yard. Isaac loved helping dump all the leaves into the bags and putting the bins back on the mower.

Dinner turned out fantastic and I think William enjoyed wearing most of it while playing outside later.

Elizabeth took a wooden swing to the face but was a trooper. All three girls loved taking baths together. Isaac just didn't understand why he couldn't join them or even be in the bathroom with them.

I brought brown butcher paper and cut out the silhouettes of turkeys and let the kids glue feathers on them. They all enjoyed making the turkey hats but I don't think any of them enjoyed it as much as Ireland. With every feather that she glued on, she would smile and raise her shoulders up and down. When her hat was finished, she proudly wore it around the house staring at herself in admiration of it every chance she had. It was really cute.

Here we are, the whole gang minus the newest addition, 3 month old Brigitta. I think she was sleeping. The kids keep talking about how much fun they had together. I look forward to the next time we venture down to Iowa or they venture up our way.

Birthdays!

November is a month of birthdays in our family. William kicked it off on the 10th with him turning 1. I can't believe how fast his first year flew by! We kept his birthday low key and got both my parents and Jim's parents on skype on our 2 laptops so they could be a part of singing William Happy Birthday and watching him eat his pumpkin coconut cupcakes. He was unsure of the cupcakes at first, but with a little help, he soon started to enjoy them. He is just becoming the sweetest little boy. I look forward to seeing how much more he changes in this next year.

Isaac turned 6 on the 14th. Poor kid was so confused because we had his birthday party at the beginning of the month. He thought he was going to get another party. He was excited to celebrate his birthday party at school and bring his treat of choice to share, Girl Scout cookies. He was also thrilled that he chose Culver's for his birthday dinner. Nothing says birthday better than a butter burger and fried cheese curds! That made it real easy for me. He also enjoyed receiving cards and packages in t he mail.

On the 18th, Jim turned the big 32. After days of asking what he would like for his birthday dinner with no response, we ate frozen pizzas. The kids and I made him some chocolate chip cookies for dessert and he enjoyed his present, Samoas/caramel delights Girl Scout cookies. Those are Jim's absolute favorite Girl Scout cookie. He was thrilled to get 6 boxes.

Isaac's Birthday Party

I was feeling lazy this year and decided to pay to have Isaac's birthday party somewhere that was not my home. We decided to have his party at Keva Sports Center. He was able to pick 3 sports to play out of a long list of choices and he chose wiffleball, field hockey and tag games. This party was AWESOME! He had a "coach" that led all the games, passed out the pizza, fruit and drinks, ran the present opening and served up the cake. They even cleaned up and the supervised on the play structure at the end until the parents came. No mess for me to clean up and plenty of expended energy for Isaac and his friends.

I was not prepared for the amount of high energy from all the boys. There was a lot yelling, running, fart noises, wrestling and potty humor. I was totally out of my element. I am sure Jim will feel the same in in a few years as Elizabeth grows older.

Even though his birthday is still a week and a half away, I am glad his party is done and over with.

Cousins and Halloween!

Over the weekend we went to Chicago to meet up with Jim's parents and Brent and his family. The kids were SOOOO excited to see their cousins Liesel, Ireland and Brigitta. The purpose of the get together was for Brigitta's baby blessing on Sunday but we made an entire weekend of it. On Friday, everyone came to our hotel to go swimming. Jeanne, Danika and I decided to let Brent, Jim and BJ rein in all the kids in the pool while we chatted. Liesel was having so much fun the we decided that she should just have a sleep over with our kids. That was an adventure in itself. 

We had a 2 room suite at the Residence Inn so the kids had one room while Jim, William and I had the other. At about 10pm Jim and I finally put our foot down and made the kids go to bed. Liesel and Elizabeth took the bed while Isaac decided to make a bed in the closet which I think was a smart move on his part. Liesel and Elizabeth were two Chatty Kathys and would NOT stop talking despite Isaac's pleas. Isaac decided to come out of the room and visit with me in hopes that the girls would fall asleep. Poor guy. They were still talking. When he couldn't stay awake much longer, he went back to the closet, shifted around in his bed for a bit and then with a big, loud sigh, closed the closet door and fell asleep. The girls fell asleep shortly after.

On Saturday night, Brent and Danika's ward had a Halloween party so we dressed up the kids and they went trick or treating in the church. The cousins thought it was so cool that they could do this together.

My sexy husband.

On Halloween, Isaac wore his costume to school for the morning Halloween Parade. Elizabeth, William and I went to watch and Isaac was super excited that we were there. Elizabeth enjoyed watching all  the kids in costumes too.

Here in Cross Plains, our designated trick or treating time was 5:30-7:30pm. So after a dinner of mummy hot dogs, bones, ant pasta and blood drink, we headed up and down our street for some yummy treats. I think the highlight of the night was always adjusting Elizabeth's hair. She would take it off and say, "Mom, can you hold my hair please?" I would hold it and then when we would get to the next home, I would put it back on her.

William was real thrilled to be trick or treating in his bear costume.

Enjoying their spoils

William is enjoying his too.

Last Day with Papa

After visiting for a little over a week, we decided to end my Dad's last full day with a bang. We took the kid's to Culver's for lunch and then we were off to the Madison Children's Museum. We have never been there and having always wanted to take the kids, I thought it would be a perfect thing to do.

We spent about 3 hours there and the kids were not ready to leave when we said it was time. The loved that they could touch and explore and make a mess of things with out getting into trouble. Isaac especially loved being able to play make believe at the fake Pie Diner and make pies for everyone. Even though William was too young to enjoy most of the exhibits, he still had fun crawling around, playing with toys and watching all the kids play.

Elizabeth loved the craft area. She loved painting on paper and painting on the window.

On the rooftop there are animals and garden. The kids loved exploring with the binoculars.

When we got home we thought the fun should still continue so we carved pumpkins. The kids enjoyed doing it with my Dad and he is a lot better at designing pumpkins than I am. Elizabeth carved Minnie Mouse and Isaac carved Frankenstein. William sat by in his highchair for moral support.