Merry Christmas!!

We hosted all of the Baird's and Kaufeld's at our house this year as I was working.

The kids scoping out their presents under the tree.

Looking at the Christmas carol book from Aunt Kim.

Stacy opening her game from David.

Amelia looking on as Samuel opened his Thomas remote train.

Samuel showing off some new clothes.

Amelia excited over her new remote control car... it later would not work and there would be tears.

Grandma got a new stock pot.

David got more CD's.

It was a wonderful weekend full of family, traditions, and good food.
Christmas #2 now complete.

The Christmas Puzzle

Both kids were part of the church Christmas program this year. It is always so cute to see the little ones sing.

Amelia got a bit of stage fright, but made it up there for the second song.

Samuel stood so nicely in the front row, ringing his jingle bells.

Sitting with friends before the show.

Family Christmas #1

This Thursday, we had our first of 3 Christmas celebrations. Since we can not be in Fergus at the same time as Jim and Cari, we had a dinner at our house to exchange presents and be together. These cousins always have a good and wild time together.

Grandpa doing his retelling of the Christmas story to the grandchildren. I love after the busyness of shopping, baking, cleaning, and preparing, the time when we can sit down, relax, and hear the wonderful story of Jesus birth.

Opening presents (a tractor set). As soon as it was handed too him, he had started.

Isaac showing off his glow dome.

Amelia with her strawberry shortcake doll (a present she "always wanted", even though it wasn't on her list. :))

A good time was had by all.
We were also blessed to have Aunt Kim (David's sister) here Thurs-Sat. and she watched all 4 kids while the adults (Jim, Cari, my parents, David and I ) went to see Away in the Basement: Church Basement Ladies play on Friday night. It was funny and another good night together.

Ah, Christmas Time

There is always so much going on this time of year. From Christmas parties, shopping, decorating, baking, and planning for family visits. We have been doing all of these things lately. There seems to be lots of extra events too. Today we went to a event at our local strip mall. It included face painting, balloon making, music, and of course visiting Santa. As you can see from the above pictures, Samuel was a bit timid, but did want to get a stuffed reindeer like Amelia got, so I held him and got my picture with Santa.

Amelia again stood patiently in line to get her face painted. I'm telling you this girl loves getting her face painted.

Samuel enjoyed the cookie decorating.

The formal pictures we got for FREE!!
Christmas time is so much fun!!

Is it the Camera or the Kids?

Last weekend we got our tree up. Overall, an artificial is so much easier. However David and I still have some "discussion" about positioning, lights, and fluffing. When it's all said and done it really does look nice though. I have thought with these pictures my point and shoot camera does not do it justice. I think my camera's abilities have declined... or maybe it's the operator.

Trying to get a nice pictures of the kids in front of the tree.

Some more tries after bath.

You'll have to wait till the Christmas cards to see which one I chose.

wintery fun

Last weekend we got our first snowstorm (on a Saturday). The kids hurried up to go outside and play in it. Mommy realized she had gotten hats, snowpants, and coats, but had yet to buy boots. We quickly fixed that problem.

Amelia loved being out in the blustery conditions for awhile.

I love this picture... Samuel waiting for David to clear a path for his car to drive.

Later in the day we saw this in our backyard... a wild turkey. If only David was a hunter we could have our Thanksgiving bird. I'm always amazed when we see wildlife in our backyard as we live in the heart of the city.
The first snowfall of the year is always so much fun!

Thanksgiving

Sorry no pictures with this post. I'm trying to figure out how to load pictures on my laptop. David said he had the hardware loaded, but it's not working so I'll have to wait for him to help. I'm loving having a laptop though as I can be anywhere in the house and check in on things, or do little projects while still watching the kids. What a wonderful Birthday gift!

I was almost going to change my background to a winter scene and then realized Thanksgiving is the missed holiday. It quickly get breezed over to get ready for Christmas. Is it just me or does the Christmas decorations in the store come out earlier each year? It is really starting to bug me, and don't get me wrong I LOVE CHRISTMAS. So at least till Dec. 1st I will keep my Happy Thanksgiving on the blog, and think of all I have to be thankful for.

A great family
Fun loving healthy kids
A supportive, caring, and very helpful husband
A warm home, good jobs
A fun church with good friends
Good friends (beyond those at our church:) )
The list could go on and on...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My silly Samuel

This is a cute picture of the kids last weekend when we were visiting my parents and got to go to "Papa's Church."

Samuel loves riding Grandpa's toy tractor

This is the silly Samuel I see most mornings. He is an early riser (sometimes by 4:30). People have been saying it's daylight savings time, I tell them he was doing it long before then. He'll cry out and we'll go in and he keeps saying "get up, play." He has his whole little routine, eat, play, do his medication, get dressed, and then at 7:30 or 8 Amelia gets up. He jabbers on, and on, plays and is a bundle of energy. Maybe it's his way of getting some alone time with mommy (and daddy). It's almost too cute to be frustrated at.... at least now it's moved to 6 (after daylight savings time.) I keep telling myself I'm going to remember this when he's a teenager and I can't wake him up!!

Some Halloween Pictures

Here are my cute little Princess and my Lion all ready to go out Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.

We headed to Mall of America to participate in this crowded crazy trick or treating ritual.

Early in the weekend we carved pumpkins at home (well okay mostly David.)

We also attended a fall party at Amelia's school on Friday night. The kids enjoyed games, prizes and seeing school friends.
Overall it was a good weekend, filled with lots of Halloween events.

Samuel's Room

This weekend we go the mattress and bunkbed together in Samuel's room. It was so much fun to see it come together. I love how the colors and stripe worked out.

Everything fit in nicely and allows him to still have a play area/train table up.

We are still looking/getting pictures and accessories for the room.

Samuel has been sleeping very nicely in the bed. I love that he has a double bed like Amelia now. The top bunk allows for Amelia to stay in there when we have lots of company, or down the road sleepovers with friends. There is a ladder with it, but for safety reasons we have not put it up. No more nursery in this house!!

The school Bus

This is the story of a girl and a school bus.

Earlier this year when Amelia started preschool, she became upset one day when other kids got to get on the school bus and she could not. We nearly had a meltdown as I tried to explain why some kids could ride the bus and others couldn't. I really didn't have any good ideas, other than to say maybe their mommies could not bring them to school. She settled for that but was still terribly disappointed every time she would see the buses.
Amelia was a late talker and while she has made great strides she is still having difficulty with her articulation. After several screenings she finally (barely) qualifies for services. We found this out about the 2nd week of preschool. In my mind I was reeling as to how I was going to fit another activity in my week with working part time. I had already been feeling overwhelmed shuttling her to school, swimming, and ballet ( I know, I know, all things I signed her up for.) Then the lady looked at me and said, "You know we do have buses available." While I was maybe a bit disappointed that she needed speech and how she would respond, it was if God had said... I have it all figured out. Amelia is ecstatic. To her it's another day at school, meeting new kids, and GETTING TO RIDE A BUS! On the way over to the daycare (it has to pick her up there as she will be there 2 Wed. a month) we talked through how to be polite, listen to the teacher, and how it would be a different school with different lessons. She piped up from the back. "But my favorite thing will be the bus ride... I'm so 'cited (excited)." That's my girl.

As the bus drove away, I got a bit teary eyed. I hardly cried when she went to preschool. All of the sudden she seemed so big and old. She was riding a bus by herself!

Here what could have been overwhelming was going to be okay. It reminded me of the lessons we are studying on Tues. morning of the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness. Sometimes we want to complain about the season of life we are in, instead of enjoying all that God has for us now. Our God is kind and good and loves us. The same God who worked on our behalf yesterday is the same God who can work on our behalf today. (Priscilla Shrier).
Another great quote from her is "Motherhood is a journey out of selfishness."
Hopefully you are enjoying your journey today.

A fun day at the apple orchard

We enjoyed a grand day with our friends at a local orchard. Amelia and Calissa had such a fun time seeing each other again. It's amazing that we have weather in the 80's in October.

A view of the corn maze from the observation deck.

Yum... Apples!

What a fun time!