As We Wind Down the Year

Wally and I were talking about our blog and thinking of all the great posts on it (if I do say so myself). We thought it would be fun to list our top 10 favorite posts of 2008. So, here they are, in no particular order:

1. Day 1: Mr. Mom

Wally had the kids all to himself for four days early in the spring when I went on a short vacation to Seattle. He totally outdid himself with all he did, but we are always talking about the cool laser show he built with the kids out of tinker toys. Genius.

2. Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I had let my hair grow for a couple of years and desperately needed a cut. Since it was so long, I decided to donate it and came home with hair A LOT shorter than I thought it was going to be. It ended up being such a good thing for me, but I had a good cry about it the first day.

3. Life Moves On: Pictures

We don't think about 2008 without talking about our big move from Washington to Chicago. It was anything but uneventful and will always be one of those things we talk about later on down the road.

4. Happy Freakin' Spring

This one pretty much speaks for itself. After such a long, cold winter, we were so excited for warmer weather and the promise of spring. We jumped the gun, just a little bit.

5. I LOVE PEEPS!

Who could forget the great "peeps in the microwave" experiment? This was such a great video and Kelsie's narration is priceless!

6. La Poet

After a long, teary adjustment to her new school this year, Kelsie really expressed herself in her writing. She was able to be part of a special poetry unit and wrote this special poem for me. Again, priceless!

7. Ready, Set, Hike!

Our little quarterback in training! Just a cute picture of Caleb!

8. Jedi Training

If you know Brandon (or have spent longer than 10 minutes with him) his year has revolved around Star Wars. He is bound and determined to train to be a Jedi and be a Jedi Knight when he grows up, and then he'll meet his destiny with Darth Maul and Darth Vader.

9. A Leisurely? Saturday Ride

This was one of our fun bike rides that we went on over the summer that ended up a lot longer than we had anticipated. After resting on the grass and rejuvenating with a slurpee, we were back to normal again.

10. Creativity at it's Best

I love it when my kids are creative! One of the best times was when Kelsie decided to give her shadow a face made out of twigs and leaves. Brandon also got in the fun and they had so much fun making faces, so to speak!


We had a ton to choose from and lots more we wanted to post, but decided that we should limit it to 10. It is so fun to go back and look at what we did over the last year and remember. Do you have any favorites? We'd love to know what you think!

Wonderland Express

Just before Christmas, our family drove to The Botanic Gardens to see the Wonderland Express exhibit. It had snowed all day so it was truly a winter wonderland throughout the gardens. We had such a fun time looking at all the different trains and seeing all the different Chicago landmarks. Caleb, who is especially fond of trains right now, was completely beside himself as to what to look at first. He got so excited each time a train came running by he would shriek real loud, point, and run towards it as fast as he could! We had a really great time and will definitely go again next year!

Winter Sets In

Today marks the first official day of winter. Old Man Winter sure let us know it too. When we got home from church today it was -1 outside for the high, but felt like -25 with the windchill. I don't think it is going to warm up very much tomorrow either. We've been bundled up in blankets and drinking hot chocolate all day. I'm glad school is out for the next couple of weeks! Send us your warm thoughts and any good soup recipes our way. We're really going to need them!

Christmas Carriage Ride

We are always up for new adventures and giving things a try. This year, we heard about carriage rides a couple towns north of us, so we decided to check it out. It was so much fun! There was hot chocolate and cookies for us while we waited our turn, which only was about 10 minutes. Kelsie, Brandon, and Caleb were so excited to see the horse and get on with the ride. We learned that the horse, Windance, was 2,500 pounds and loves cold weather! The driver took us around the downtown shopping district while we sang jingle bells (how couldn't we?!) and listened to the cloppity-clop of the horse's hooves. It was cold, but the blankets and sitting close together kept us warm. At the end of our ride, we were able to pet Windance and get a few extra pictures. We really enjoyed our special ride and are already looking forward for next year when we can do it again!

Sitting in the carriage.

We love this!

Petting Windance

Santa Came to Town!

The Holiday Season is not complete without a visit to Santa! Kelsie and Brandon were very excited and couldn't wait to see him. Caleb was pretty nervous and didn't want to go near him, but did keep a very close eye on him. We were the first people in line to see Santa, and got a few extra minutes with him before other kids came. It was perfect! Brandon brought a toy to show Santa what he wanted, in case he didn't know what it was. Kelsie couldn't decide on the one thing she wanted to ask for this year but gave Santa lots of good ideas!

Gingerbread House

Thanks to Wally's sister's recipe, we were able to make and amazingly easy gingerbread house from scratch this year. We had lots of fun putting it together and eating all the candy. Caleb thought all the candy was for him, and only him. Once we showed him how to put it on the house, though, he decided that was alright too. Kelsie and Brandon enjoyed decorating it and piping the frosting all over the place for the candy. We've been able to have it out for all of us to enjoy, some a little more than others, but it sure was lots of fun making it! I love all these fun traditions this time of year!

They are so proud of their work!

Caleb's favorite part of our gingerbread fun!

No house is complete without a candy cane shooter on top of it, compliments of Brandon!

Christmas Tunes 2008

Here are a couple Christmas songs that made it onto our CD this year that we thought would put you in the holiday spirit. Enjoy!

Riding in Style

It was a really beautiful day here today, despite the freezing cold temperatures outside. It was nice to see the sun again after a few days without it. Yesterday, we had a big winter storm that dropped about 6 inches of snow on the ground. We were outside with our neighbors last night shoveling our sidewalks and driveways before it all froze overnight. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to shovel their walks which means that walking to and from school can sometimes be difficult. Last year, I quickly realized that strollers were out of the question with the amount of snow and ice on the sidewalk that NEVER went away. Lucky for me, Caleb was still small and light enough to put in my baby backpack, so I would carry him on my back every day. This year, he's not so small anymore so we came up with a better idea. He really likes his new ride (so do his brother and sister) but really doesn't like any kind of hill. He just hangs on as tight as he can and enjoys the ride!

By the way, Brandon was pretty tired today after school (which explains why he is so grumpy in our video). He came home and fell asleep for an hour. I think he's ready for Winter Break just about as much as I am!

Brrr!

It was 7 degrees when the kids walked to school this morning. With the wind chill factor, it felt like -13 degrees outside. We were going to go to the post office and mail some things, but our car doors are frozen shut. I don't think I'll be going anywhere today. It's going to take me all day to talk myself into picking up the kids from school this afternoon. Wish me luck. I'll need it!

Holiday Movie Night

We always watch Miracle on 34th Street after Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season around here. This year, however, Kelsie had something to say about the man playing Santa Clause in the movie:

"He doesn't look like the real Santa. He doesn't have a mullet."

Now, for anyone who knows us, one of our favorite Christmas songs is Santa's Got a Mullet sung by Nerf Herder (an edited version, of course). I guess this song really spoke to her.

Literally.

Happy Holidays!

That Holiday Feelin'

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we drove out to Larson's Farm to choose and cut down our Christmas tree. Our front room has pretty high ceilings, so Wally was especially excited to get a tall tree. We looked, looked, and looked some more until we found the perfect tree. It was tall, it was beautiful, it was all we wanted. So, we cut down the tree, put it on top of the car, drove home and decorated. We didn't think about a tall tree being very (very) full at the bottom, so now it takes up about a quarter of our front room, but it sure is beautiful! We are revved up and ready for the holiday season!

Thanksgiving: Part 1

Our Thanksgiving was perfect! There really is no other word to describe it. We had a total of 17 people (including us) stay at our house with only one bathroom, that's right, ONE. I wasn't sure how it was all going to work with so many people, and that our plumbing would hold out for the duration of the week, but we couldn't have been more pleased with how things turned out. We were also really excited to use our kitchen table to its full potential. We bought our table from an Amish carpenter before we left Pennsylvania and when it is open as big as it can get it fits 10 people around it. Probably not that exciting for you, but it sure was for us!

We spent a couple of our days down in the city. The first time down, we did a little sight seeing. We went to Millennium Park and saw the Cloud Gate sculpture, which Brandon affectionately calls the big jelly bean. The kids and I had a great time ice skating on the outside rink near the park. We got some hot chocolate to warm up and then walked by the animated holiday windows at Macy's (which were very cool). Then we headed over to the Lego Store where we saw a gigantic Darth Vader and R2D2 made out of legos. We walked along Michigan Avenue and saw some beautiful buildings, had a little dinner and then called it a day. Our second trip down, we saw the jelly bean again, and also went to The American Girl store where we all ooh'd and ahhh'd at all there was to see! We also went to the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building to see the city from a bird's eye view and had a fun audio tour, complete with our own touch screen games! We were also able to sneak a train ride or two in which thrilled some of our younger crowd.

When we weren't down in the city, we were playing together, shopping, had a backyard soccer game, went to the park, and played video games to our hearts content (at least the kids content!). We were so happy that everyone was here and that we had such a good time!

Brandon and I having fun on the ice rink.

Our family portrait next to the jelly bean.

Kelsie, Kristen, and The Bean.

Darth Vader and Darth Brandon

The Macy's windows are so cool!

This is what the little guys looked like while we were walking around the city.

Most of us on top of the John Hancock Building.
A view from the ground.

I want to figure out how to get my face on one of these!

Thanksgiving: Part 2

We started Thanksgiving morning with our annual Turkey Trot. We didn't feel like paying $20 per person to run in a sponsored race, so instead, made our own. We made our own t-shirts, a la fabric markers, mapped out a 1-mile fun run around our neighborhood and each received a homemade medal. Danelle made her infamous cinnamon rolls for breakfast after the run and we all warmed up again with some steamin' hot chocolate. The t-shirts were a huge hit with the kids and they were all so proud of them that they wore them the rest of the day!

After our fun run, we got down and dirty with the turkey and started all the preparations for the big meal. All of the food was delicious it was hard to not stop eating! I guess that's what so fun about Thanksgiving, right?! My sister-in-law, Karen, made the best sweet potatoes I have EVER had along with homemade stuffing and cranberry sauce. Danelle made her yummy rolls and mandarin salad, and I threw in the mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy. Karen and Danelle also made some award-winning pies. We were all so happy at the end of the day! Food will do that to you....among other things. ; )

We did a little shopping on Black Friday, but not a whole lot. Wally took everyone over to Northwestern and gave them a tour of the lab and campus. While there, they shot this fun little video of Wally and his brother and sister dancing (I wasn't there so I'm not exactly sure why they were dancing):

We had to say good-bye to everyone that afternoon and we all shed a few tears. We had so much fun together and the week went by way too fast. We really are thankful for all of our blessings, especially as we are reminded of them more frequently this time of year.

Brandon is working really hard on his fun run shirt.

Our cute pint-sized buddies.

Those cinnamon rolls were so yummy!

The under-10 trio.

Caleb is very proud of his medal.

The whole group, just before the race.

And just after.

Quarantined

Brandon stayed home from school today because he isn't feeling well. Caleb and I got it on Monday so I figured it was only a matter of time before it would spread through the rest of the family. Of all the days for him to be sick, though, he missed his field trip to the "Evanston Republic Library". (He was so excited about it yesterday when he came home from school and I thought it was so cute that he said republic instead of public.)

Kelsie, on the other hand, was very upset that she would have to walk home by herself at the end of the day. She told Wally before he dropped her off this morning that she saw him standing over the heater so his head would get warm so he would have a temperature so she would have to walk home by herself today. Does that make anyone else think of Shel Silverstein's poem, Sick?

We tried to make it a fun day despite the situation we were in. Caleb was thrilled that Brandon built a big train track for him and played trains together for a while. Then we made some paper snowflakes, Christmas cards, ate macaroni and cheese for lunch, and finally played a computer game.

Kelsie didn't have to walk home alone, for those of you who were worried. I met her halfway and all is well. Who knows, she may be staying home tomorrow.

ONLY if she stands in front of the heater for a really

long

time.

The Best Ever Turkey Recipe

I have had a lot of people ask me for this recipe this year, so I thought I'd just post it and share with everyone. This is, by far, the best turkey recipe I have ever had. Just remember, if it doesn't turn out for you, it's not my fault. Blame the cook. : )

Put your turkey in a 5 gallon bucket, or something about that size, and cover it with water. For every 1 gallon of water, add 1 cup salt and 1/2 c. brown sugar. Let your turkey soak in that overnight.

In the morning, stuff the turkey with a cut up pears, apples, limes, oranges, garlic and onions. i just quarter them and stuff them like that (you won't be eating these, they are just there to give flavor to the bird). Spread butter or oil the skin on top, and make a tin foil hat for the breast of the bird.

Put it in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes at the hottest temperature your oven will go, about 550 degrees. After 30 minutes, put the tinfoil hat on and turn the heat down to 350 degrees. **Don't forget to turn the heat down, you don't want a burnt turkey. Cook it for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or longer depending on how big your turkey is, until your meat thermometer reads 180 degrees. (The bones get hotter than the meat, so make sure you have the thermometer deep into just the mea.) Let your turkey rest for about 15-20 minutes before cutting it up and serving for the best flavor.

Gravy:
I just pour the drippings into a pan under high heat and thicken it with a mixture of corn starch and water to the desired consistency.

Happy Thanksgiving! Let me know if you have any questions!

Wait For It...

We spent more hours than I care to say, lots of sweat, and only a few tears to get our piano repainted and now we're done! This was definitely a much bigger project than anticipated, but we're really glad that we did it. It looks so much better than it did before! So here it is in all it's glory (fully-covered this time).

Go ahead, admire.

Halloween Happenings

I realize that I'm a little late on getting this up here, but better late than never, right? We had a really fun Halloween this year! We started the morning off with pumpkin pancakes and a beautiful fall day! Kelsie and Brandon had a lot of fun celebrating at school with parties and their school-wide parade. They both came home pumped full of sugar and ready to head out for more! We had a great time trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and came home with bags full of candy! We let the kids eat as many sweets as they could for dinner while Wally and I ate our traditional chili and watched Halloween movies like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the Disney version). Since Halloween was on a Friday this year, we let gave our kids free reign on the candy until Sunday night. We left their bags out all weekend and they just couldn't believe we didn't take them away. They did pretty good eating as much as they could all weekend long, and now we have a nice stash of candy for game nights and movie nights! We had a great time celebrating Halloween and are looking forward for the next holidays!

The Witch

Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi

Ahoy, matey!

A Jedi Knight takes his job very seriously.

I'll put a spell on you!

An Historic Election

Did you?

First Haircuts

I finally gave in and cut Caleb's hair. His hair was getting pretty long--into his eyes and curling in the back. The top is as straight as can be, and I thought he looked so cute with longer hair. I really didn't want to do it, but when he started looking like he was sporting a mullet, it was time to go. I think he turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Happy Halloween!

It took a few tries, but I think we got it....sort of.

A Fun New Tag

This is a tag from my friend, Rosalyn. I am supposed to post the fourth picture in the fourth folder from my pictures folder on the computer and briefly explain what is going on and then tag someone else.

There's really not a whole lot to say about this picture, but a ton I could say about the subject! Wally was working on his bike one afternoon. This is what he does to relieve stress or get out of the "honey-do" list that he often gets on the weekends. Since this is his primary mode of transportation, he rides year round to work in the sun, snow, sleet, hail, subzero temperatures and sometimes even in the rain, this is a big deal. I think he is cleaning the chain in this picture. I just love that he's wearing his t-shirt from the Tour de Tykes, his first mountain bike race in which I believe he placed 4th in (just bragging a little bit) while we were living in Pennsylvania.

Ever since I have known Wally, he has ridden his bike everywhere. He had his mission bike for a long time after we were married and he even tracked it down after it was stolen (another story for another time). That shows some dedication, right? He had a hard time saying good-bye to that bike when the time came, but felt it was OK since he was getting a really nice one in its place. Thanks to another good friend, he took his riding to a whole new level. He started racing in mountain bike races a few years ago and only wishes that it wasn't so flat here in the midwest! His bike loving fever has trickled down to Brandon and it has been such a fun activity for us to do together as a family!


Oh, and did I mention, he's got some really nice looking legs?!




I am going to tag anyone who reads this blog. It should be interesting to see what is hiding in the depths of the picture folders on those computers of yours!

How Was Your Sunday?

It was my turn to play the organ this morning at church. Brandon likes to sit with me on the bench, which is usually fine as long as he doesn't push any buttons or any keys--the organ can be loud! He must have gotten a little bored during the second song because he turned towards the congregation and started leading the music with both hands in the air and a goofy grin on his face. I tried to stop him, but it's kind of hard to play the music, pay attention to the bass pedals with my feet, and pay attention to what Brandon was doing. I can multi-task, but I'm not that good. Wally, who was sitting in the back of the chapel, tried to use sign language to get him to fold his arms, but Brandon was to busy leading away. Finally, one of the speakers, a nice lady who thought everyone was laughing at her, turned around and told him to fold his arms. I guess being in front of big crowds of people doesn't bother him.


Not.


At.


All.

Whew!

Bike Ride at Harms Woods

We have had a really busy day today (I really can't believe that I'm sitting her blogging about it!). Brandon started soccer today and had a great time. He was so excited and couldn't wait, you should have seen how quickly he got his jobs done this morning! Once he was out on the field, he was such a ham! He almost scored a goal and when he was done, he announced as loudly as he could that he is the world's best soccer player. How's that for being humble?!

We also had a bike ride today with my cub scouts that I am in charge of at church. We met at a forest preserve not too far from our house and biked around for about an hour. It was so beautiful outside with all the colorful leaves and perfect weather. The boys (and girls) did a great job on the trails, and no one went home hurt. That is what I call a successful activity, folks.

After our bike ride, we came home, made pizza and then a few of Kelsie's friends from school came over for a High School Musical movie marathon in anticipation for the new movie coming out next week. We are almost through the first movie, getting ready to start the second and all the kids are on a sugar high and having a great time--I just heart rumors of a pillow fight, should I be worried?

These girls (and boy) are so cute!

All in all, I think it's been a pretty successful day, hopefully I'll be able to get everyone up and ready tomorrow morning in time for church!

A rare photo of the two of us together.