Top Tooth

Look who just lost her first top tooth! She giggled deliriously when she looked in the mirror!

Christmas Top Ten

Before we get too far in to January, I'd better get a post up about Christmas! Here are our top ten things loved about Christmas -

10. New pajamas!
9. Getting Mario Party 9 from Santa (Luke)
8.  Eleven days straight of not working! (Katie)
7. Having a co-worker offer to work Christmas Day for Ben.
6. Getting the Barbie Dream House (this is Audrey's. okay and Katie, too).
5. Eating cookies and cinnamon rolls and egg casserole Christmas morning.
4. The adults playing Apples to Apples on Christmas Eve.
3. An impromptu photo shoot with 4 of the kids.
2. Finding out we will have another niece in May!
1. Spending time with family!

(remember, you can click the photos to view larger versions)

2nd Art Exhibit

Audrey's art teacher chose a piece of her artwork for the Candace Carmichael Elementary Art Exhibit! It's being displayed on the university's campus in the engineering building from January 3-13! This is actually the second time her artwork has been selected for an exhibit; the first was at the school district's administration building.

This blue section is artwork from our school. The five drawings made from the number 1 are all first graders. 

Here is Audrey's blue bird made from the number 1!

The title of the first grade project is "Which 1 Are You" and is a crayon resist transformation. Here is the description from her teacher: First Graders transformed the number one into fantastic crayon resist watercolor paintings.

From Audrey - Mrs. S drew a one and we traced it with Sharpie and I drew the wings, feet, beak, and eyes and then painted it. Then the next time we had art we could color over the paint with crayon.

So that is what a crayon resist watercolor painting is. :-) We are attending a reception on Sunday for the artists and their friends and families and we're very excited about it!

First Snow Fall

The kids are enjoying some hot cocoa and warm banana bread right now because they played outside in the blizzard for about 20 minutes. It was 28 degrees, 30 mph wind and 12 degree wind chill. Audrey asked all day to play outside, she could not wait! But we convinced her to wait until it had stopped snowing.

Santa Knows

This year only Audrey wanted to talk to Santa; I'm not sure why Luke didn't want to but that's okay, we didn't push him. I think we're going to see if we can email him. :-) Audrey and Santa had a lengthy conversation. I didn't hear any of it because I was hiding behind a Christmas tree to snap a few pictures. In 2009 when we visited Santa they allowed pictures; this year they did not because they want you to pay a ridiculous amount for their photo. Ben gave me the recap when Audrey was finished. She was shy at first so Santa started by asking if she liked Barbies (she nodded her head yes) and then he asked if she had been keeping her room clean. I'm not sure she answered so Santa told her she needs to do a better job and pick up her toys so that Mom & Dad don't have to do it. It was as if Santa has seen into her room! We told her maybe there has been an elf visiting our house and that if there was one in her room she wouldn't even know it because it's so messy!

Then we hurried home to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. And for fun, let's visit a Christmas past, 2009.

'Tis the Season

It's hard to believe Christmas is one week from tomorrow! We started getting our tree up and decorations out the first day of December, also the same day the kids and I saw The Nutcracker ballet for the 2nd year in a row. They still love it and this year Audrey didn't fall asleep! Last year she was so overwhelmed by the awesome performances that she was worn out about two-thirds of the way through, but she did wake up for the end.

Outside our restored theater.

They each got ornaments; Audrey a ballerina and Luke a nutcracker.

This same weekend I also worked on two projects that I got the inspiration for on Pinterest; a birch tree painting and a pine cone wreath.

Hanging their new ornaments.

Audrey got the star on!

We already had one Christmas with Ben's side of the family and we'll be with my side of the family on Christmas Eve/Day.

And tonight it was cold enough that we wanted the fireplace on so I asked the kids if I could get a picture of them. Luckily they obliged.

(If you want to view a larger version of the pictures, just click on them.)

Start of the Holiday Season

We are pretty excited about the holidays. It's hard not to be when the stores have trees and lights up and even lights are being turned on in the neighborhoods. The kids have started their wish lists, I have actually been shopping for a few months now, and we're having Christmas with Ben's side in a few weeks! And I only have to work two days this week - that's definitely something to be excited about.

Yesterday the kids and I went to The Festival of Trees with Grandma and Grandpa T. We all enjoyed the trees and the gingerbread houses. Audrey, Grandma and I then went to the Teddy Bear Tea for the second year in a row. Audrey loved it. Luke and Grandpa hung out at the festival and Luke was a model train conductor for a while. He said he had a lot of fun.

I really liked this gingerbread house.

Snoopy on his dog house, made out of gingerbread!

Twirling

As we were driving away from Grandma and Grandpa's house Audrey said, "This was an awesome day." Then she fell asleep. :-)

Year in Review - Part II

Did you all enjoy Luke's first blog entry?! I did...and I learned that he got in trouble that day by doing origami instead of his language arts! He is pretty good at origami so it's good to see him taking an interest in something other than video games and reading. No, it's not a bad thing that he reads a lot, but it causes problems when he reads at the wrong time - like while eating breakfast and getting dressed in the morning. Everything takes twice as long to do when you're reading! We're working on encouraging him to read at appropriate times. :-)

So, where did I leave off on the year in review? Oh yes, our 10th anniversary on July 13th. Now we'll start back up with August-November's events...

We spent Ben's birthday at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. Love that place.
(Audrey took a good picture, didn't she?)

Buffalo at NSNWR.

Lego exhibit at Reiman Gardens.

Reiman Gardens

First day of 1st and 4th Grades!

Luke's 9th Birthday.

Audrey, Nicole, and I ran/walked The Color Run! It was Audrey and Nicole's first 5K!

We started finishing the basement in September and in October we started priming the walls!

Pretty tress in NE IA.

Visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa.

 

Dorothy and Sonic the Hedgehog trick or treating.

Their scary faces, obviously.

Most of November has been spent priming and painting the basement. We're nearly finished, just need to do some touch-ups. We're very happy with the color; it's called silvery moon.

Family room; the utility room is the door on the left, the middle door is a
walk-in closet that will be used for toys and games.

Family room looking toward the hallway; walk-in closet on the left, the bathroom door
is just showing behind the column, the other doorway leads to the main storage area. The hallway
leads back to the bedroom.

Bathroom; that's our tile piled in the shower. Tiling the floor is our next project.

Guest bedroom/sewing room. The bigger opening is the closet, the other opening is a nook
that I think will hold a dresser I am in the process of refinishing.

 We're hoping we will have the basement completely finished next spring. We're doing the rest of the work ourselves with help from friends and family (we hired a contractor to get us to the point of being ready to paint). Now that the painting is mostly done we're looking forward to the holidays!