One Wintery Evening

Monday evening the kids and I braved the cold and met Kris at the end of our street where he gets off the bus when he rides home from work.
It was so cold that Kris, in spite of having non-tread dress shoes on, picked Ellary up in his arms and jogged most of the way home. I, on the other hand, had to brave the cold again after getting home and realizing that Keegan had lost one of his shoes on our little adventure. Shoe was found, safe and sound.
Kris and I are trying to eat more healthy, so this week we have had two salads for dinner. The first was a grilled chicken salad with orange slices on the side (shown here on Monday night). The second was on Tuesday, a lean ground beef taco salad, no tortilla chips or shell (like I said, we're trying to eat healthy).

Here's our little guy chewing on an orange slice. Great combo with our grilled chicken salad (the orange slices and salad that is!)

After dinner, the girls had a sweet treat. Oma bought these advent calendars with chocolate in the windows for the girls in Frankenmuth, Michigan two years ago when she visited us for Christmas. We didn't use them last year, I think we just wanted to hold onto them a little longer. The girlies have enjoyed counting down the days until Christmas and remembering Oma.

Then for family home evening we got crafty. One of our Christmas traditions is making a gingerbread house. We started this tradition two years ago when Nana, Papa and Oma came to visit us. We actually went to the trouble of making our own gingerbread that time, and boy, it took a very long time. I'm not sure any of us knew just what the process was to make the stuff. It was a fun and memorable experience. Since then, we have wimped out and bought gingerbread house kits, with the gingerbread pre-made, icing and candy included. Yippee!

Kris shared his fantastic icing and decorating skills with us, compliments of his work experience making ice cream cakes at Dairy Queen during his youth.

Here is the end result. Doesn't it look yummy? Ellary sure thinks so. See the little gum drop window next to the door? Ellary stole 5 gum drops the very next morning and had them eaten before anyone could stop her. Oh well!

Daddy's Boy

Keegan has become a bit of a daddy's boy lately. He gets so excited when he sees Kris. They are great buddies, just the way fathers and sons aught to be.

We thought Keegan wanted to wrestle with Kris, the way he crawled toward him when Kris sat on the floor in our bedroom, but Keegan only wanted to snuggle.

Jingle Belle 5K

Kris volunteered to help out with a 5K race called "Jingle Belle" in Lansing on Saturday. Kourtney stood on the first corner of the race with Kris as they helped direct all the "Belles" down the race course. They huddled to keep warm and Kris tried to teach Koco how to whistle as they braved the cold. They make a great team. (The time on the clock has no reflection on our run time. That's just the time that lapsed from the start of the race to the time we left to go home.) Alyson and I actually ran the race. I've taken some time off from running, and Alyson didn't train at all either, but we had a great time. And guess what? Alyson did awesome! She ran the 5K in 31:04, that's a 10:01 average pace per mile. She beat her Grand Junction Gold's Gym 5K race time by more than a minute and she actually trained for that race. Good job girl! Her next goal is to shave a few minutes off her 5K time in a race this summer.
Koco on the corner watching all the girls go by.

Alyson and me at about .5 miles (the first turn and where Kris and Kourtney were standing).

Alyson and me on the last turn again where Kris and Kourtney were standing.

Sunsets and Snowfalls

We enjoyed a very beautiful sunset one evening last week...

And then...

It snowed!

Look closely. You can see the white stuff in the air. This was our first snowfall of the season. And although it came later than it did last fall, it's still difficult to believe that the cold is here to stay.

The Cat's Meow

If only it were Halloween, Ellary would be prepared. One morning last week, I went up to Kourtney's room and found that the dress-up clothes bin had been dumped and its contents strewn throughout the room. The leotard that you see Ellary wearing was new to me. Apparently Nana gave it to Kourtney when she last visited but it was too small for her. So, Ellary put it on, found these cat ears, and wore it for the rest of the day. Good thing we didn't have to get out of the house otherwise I don't think I would have been able to get it off her without making her upset. What a cutie. Better yet, Ellary does a very good cat impression. She hardly stopped meowing long enough to let me get this picture of her.

Thanksgiving Day at Our House

We spent a relaxing morning preparing our Thanksgiving feast this year. Then we sat down and enjoyed the yummy food, watched a little T.V. and joined some friends for dessert.
Kris was a little disappointed in the size of this year's bird. He loves turkey left overs...turkey sandwiches are his favorite! Don't worry. We saved almost all of it for him!

This is our delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffed eggs, candied yams, gravy...with all the great tasting food, we hardly missed the rolls!

We took turns telling each other about the things we are thankful for.

Kourtney was prepared with a list of things she is thankful for and she was sure to read them all to us.

This is our friend Judie from church. She joined us for Thanksgiving Day.

After eating our meal, we joined some friends for dessert at their house. Yummy pie and ice cream. We hope all of your Thanksgiving Days were delicious and enjoyable too!

Girl's Night Out

Alyson, Kourtney and I went to see a high school performance of "The Wizard of Oz" Saturday night, and we had such a fun time. The acting was pretty good, especially for a high school production. All the key characters kept us amused!

Although the play was the reason we went out, what I liked best was just being with the girlies. I learn something new about them each time it's just the three of us or when I get a chance to be with them one on one.

Something I would like to share from Sautrday night happened as we were walking through the parking lot to the high school. The sun had gone down and the stars were just beginning to emerge when Alyson spotted the first star, and told Kourtney she could be the one to wish on it.

Kourtney's reply, "I don't care about that. I just care about the things I already have."

What a great response...If only I could think as she did at that moment, count my blessings and realize that I should really just appreciate what I already have.

Alyson shared her star, and Kourtney shared such a great lesson!

Keegan's First Steps!

Keegan took his first steps on Monday. We were ecstatic that our little expert crawler decided to finally give walking a try. Good job, Keegan. Keep it up!

Reading's for the Dogs For the 4th Time

Saturday marked the 4th time we have read to the dogs at the public library. The girls enjoy it every time, especially now that Alyson and Kourtney are both reading well. Ellary brought a book a long too and did her version of reading. It was difficult to pull her away from the dogs, so we stayed until the end when all the dogs had to say goodbye to us because they were leaving. What fun!

Our 2010 Halloween Trunk-or-Treat Party

We hosted a Halloween Trunk-or-Treat for our neighbors and friends the Saturday before Halloween. Wow, was it fun! We had a great turn out-our best guestimations was about 75 people-and because so many people put in helping hands by providing trunks and candy, it was a great success!

After trunk-or-treating was complete, we all went to our back yard and warmed up around the campfire and drank hot chocolate or apple cider and some people decorated their own cupcakes. Thank you, everyone, who made this activity such a fun time. We may even do it again next year!

Trunk-or-Treating

Fishing for candy

Warming up around the campfire

Keegan's 1st Birthday!

Keegan turned 1 year old on the 29th! What a big guy he has become. It's always an amazing time to reflect on how quickly a year goes by when your little baby hits that mile stone. It's like they were always with you, as if you can't imagine a life without them in yours. Still, you know just a little over a year ago that your child was still finding refuge in your belly and a few months before that still just a twinkle in your eye.

Keegan's first birthday started out with pictures in the morning. He sported a cute little suit that Nana and Papa bought him. We took it pretty easy until that night when Kris got home, then we had a BBQ. Keegan had some bits of hamburger and beans. Then we opened presents, and when I say "we", that is precisely what "we" did. You have to love first birthdays, how the birthday child is seldom interested in unwrapping anything, and of course, they can't read so the on-lookers become involved and do all of that.

Alyson read a card she made to Keegan, then helped him unwrap his first "Hot Wheels" car. He loves it, as you can tell. It's a toy he gets to play with when we are watching him.


Then Kourtney presented Keegan with her card. Notice the picture she drew of her and Keegan. He is nearly as big as her. It was a sweet reminder that some day he really will be bigger than her. Kourtney also bought him a Little Einstein Book. Keegan got a new car seat from Kris and I (see the first picture in this post). Whoo-Hoo! He can sit facing the front now!

This is the cake I made for Keegan. I always make our kids' first cakes. I began to ice the cake with yard line numbers and switched the "50" to "29" in honor of the day he was born. Keegan's portion of the cake was the football (see below).

At first Keegan stuck his finger in it and took a lick.

Then he did it again.

And then Keegan dug in!

And dug in some more. It's pretty safe to say that Keegan loves himself some cake!

Happy birthday little guy! Your family loves you so much. You make us so happy when you flash your big smile and exude your cheerful disposition. We are very blessed to have you in our family. We are so grateful for you!

Halloween 2010 Prelims

Here is our 2010 Halloween ensemble. Alyson, our witch, vampire wannabe; Kourtney our turtle, which is also her favorite animal; Ellary, our little fairy who lost her wings five minutes into the night and; Keegan, our little sock monkey who amazingly enough kept his hat on.

We began a week long celebration by going to Lansing Washington Square on Wednesday. There were a lot of sweet treats, slime making, a hay maze and an opossum to pet. We had such a fun time.

The girls had a great time sporting their costumes and playing with their friends at their school parties Thursday. Ironically, Kourtney was a turtle and so was her teacher...and Alyson was a witch and so was HER teacher. Pretty neat!