Ice Skating

Can you believe it's January in Wisconsin and all our ski areas are closed? The temps have been in the 40's and even reaching the 50's. We had planned a family ski week end for this week end but we had to cancel. Soooooo - we went ice skating. The Kaji's joined us and everyone had a great time. Ellie and Ethan stole the show with their laps around the ice hand in hand. Way too cute!! Unfortunately I did not get a photo of that. Watching the Zamboni was also a huge hit.

Christmas '06

Emme and Nono arrived (with no luggage) on Dec 20th to some very excited grandkids! Emme was wheeled out in a wheel chair as her computer bag exploded and there was no other way to carry everything off the plane. Emme and Lisa did some last minute shopping, the kids had dentist appts, Randy worked and Nono took care of Nita!! But, finally the big day came!! Christmas eve we were getting ready for Santa (cookies, milk and carrots) ... when all of a sudden we heard Santa (Dad) on the roof! Complete with bells, reindeer and hohohos!! Acacia FREAKED!! She bolted upstairs and under the covers! Chris freaked but more in the "out" kind of way. This went on for about 10 minutes before Acacia finally decided she should sleep with Chris to "keep him calm". We have the greatest video of this event below. Once you click the play button you will most likely have to wait a minute or two as this is a REALLY big file. The second video below is of opening day. Again, pretty big. Lastly is a link to the photos of opening day ... Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for all the great stuff!!

Peace!



Santa's on the roof ...



Opening day ...

Slide show for Christmas '06


Finally asleep!! Visions of sugar plums ....











Acacia took a tumble and hurt her ankle Christmas night so everyone but Nono spent over 3 hours at the immediate care clinic to get Acacia checked out. She got her ankle x-rayed but there was no one available to read it. They splinted her ankle and told us to call back in a couple days for the results. This puts a serious damper on our skating, skiing and water parking plans. Soooo - we went to see the movie Happy Feet and then to our Christmas Train Show. Below are some photos and you can also click the link to see all photos. Oh - we called back today and her ankle is just sprained. But, it is still swollen so we are not sure what we will be doing tomorrow.... :(

Christmas Train Show '06

















Lucky for us, Acacia's friend Rachel invited us all to join them at the museum for an exhibit on the History of Toys. It was pretty entertaining walking back in time to be reminded of the games and toys we all played with and how many are still around ... only better. The kids enjoyed this but I think the adults got more out of it. Acacia's ankle finally started to show signs of heeling, so what better way to celebrate then to spend the day at a water park?? Countless hours were spent climbing, sliding, playing and just relaxing in the hot tubs. Dad (my Dad) even went on the "big" rides with me after doing the smaller ones with the kids!! A grand time was had by all. The next day was spent shopping with Emme and Nono while Randy and I spent probably the first hours ever since our kids were born alone in our house. I cleaned, while Randy napped. What is wrong with us??? For New Years Eve we all went to the Monona Terrace here in Madison. They have great blow up jumpers, climbers and slides for the kids and even mini golf. We watched the Fabulous Rick Wilcox Magic Show staring, non other then .... Randy Learish. Randy was locked into a contraption that seconds earlier chopped a carrot in half. He was to be beheaded but I guess the trick did not work? Or, perhaps it did work?? Acacia was NOT happy to have her Dad up there having his head cut off but Chris thought it was pretty darn neat and wanted to go up next so he could disappear. A great show!! On to the live music and dancing and then another hour on the blow up jumpers. At 2 minutes before midnight I was sitting right here working on this very post, when Randy called to say it's nearly midnight. So, off I ran to sit next to my husband and watch the ball drop ... well, a rerun of the ball drop. What ever happened to the dancing and partying until 2a?? Luckily, neither one of us really miss it!! Hope everyone had a great New Years and you are all looking forward to 2007.

More stuff we did after Christmas









If you look closely, you can see the carrot that was simultaneously chopped dropping in front of the basket just under Randy's head.

Graham Cracker Houses

Who needs Gingerbread when you have Heather's orange juice top, graham cracker house?? The Flemmings invited us over for the third annual decorating of the graham cracker houses. How nice of them to offer to have us over around 6p and serve the kids frosting, M&M's, gum drops, red hots, life savers, jelly beans ... you get the idea. At one point, Acacia looked up from her house and just said "This is AWESOME!"




"This is AWESOME!!"

My Baptism

Well. I did it. I "took the plunge" and got baptized. What a truly amazing experience. Yes, I wept but it was no where near as bad as I thought. Once it was over I wanted to do it again. There were a total of 50 of us. This was the largest group they had ever done. My family and TONS of friends came to witness this event. I felt soooo much love and warmth it was just amazing. Randy had his hands full with the kids so we only have "after" shots. Click the play button below to see some footage that Randy created for Tracie and myself. Thanks to EVERYONE who was there physically and in spirit!

There was a comic relief moment. Probably about the 15th person to go (guy) comes up out of the water and is so moved he accidentally whacks the microphone they have set up so everyone can hear the Pastor that is in the tub. The microphone goes flying off the little stand and right into the tub. Good thing it was just a battery operated one!!



This is my baptism.



This is Tracie's baptism.

Here is as much of the group I could get at one time. From left to right, Kathy - my dearest friend and major support girlie, Rod and Heather - co-worker of Randy's, Steelers fans and fellow Blackhawk attendees, me, Alec - my Seeking the Truth leader and MAJOR player in me "finding" the truth, Karen and Dustin - from our life group, Ben, Nikki and Brenna - co-worker of Randy's and dear friends. And of course, Chris and Acacia are in on the action - trying to understand what the heck just happened to their mom.

This is the pastor that did the dunking. His name is Steve Musto. He did a great job and I am very thankful for the plugging the nose tip.

This is Tracie and I. Tracie and I are in life group together and she got to go FIRST!! I was right behind her! It was soooo cool to have her there the second I got out of the tub.

One Groovy Chick

Acacia got invited to a "groovy" birthday party and here is what she looked like! Pretty groovy if I must say so myself. Chris got to play with his friend Alex. He was not required to wear anything groovy! Oh ... and Acacia got about 6+ inches cut off her hair.

Fun in the Truck

Who knew how much fun one could have in the back of a pick up truck!?? Click play for video or just check out the photos ....

Trick or Treat '06

This year Acacia wanted to wear every costume she has, so depending on the event, she wore her Fiona dress or her Snow White dress. Trick or Treating it was Snow White. Chris could not decide on what he wanted to be and went from wanting to be a spider, to a fox, to a zebra and then Superman (any super hero really). I found a totally cheesy cheap Superman costume AND and super cool, quilted, snuggle warm DRAGON costume! I let Chris pick. He went with the cheesy Superman. So, Chris was Superman. But, Chris' Superman says - "To infinity and beyond ...!!" And, since we do live in Wisconsin and the sun is pretty much out of site by 5p by the time we got out for Trick or Treating it was about 45 degrees and windy. So, coats over costumes - off we go looking like every other bundled up kid. We went to a few house in our neighbor hood (people we know) first. At each house Chris would ring the door bell, say trick or treat, get some candy and then walk into their house. We had to keep calling him out and convince him we needed to on to another house. He never really got that concept. After 5-10 houses in our neighborhood we were off to Chris' friend's Alex's house and went around their neighborhood. Alex was also Superman! After about another 10 houses we were done and went back to Alex's for a super dinner and a great visit with Alex's parents and his baby sister, Kate. Acacia and Kate are great pals. Since we were not home to give out candy we not only have the tons of stuff the kids collected over the past couple weeks and trick or treating, we also have 4 bags we never got to give out. Something tells me, it will get eaten ... and it will not help me to drop the 6+ pounds I've been trying to discard. Oh well. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!

Trick or Treat '06

Chris is HOME!!

October 30th Chris' unit was bussed from GA to FL back to their loving families and friends after a year in Iraq!! Yoli did a most excellent job of having friends and family make signs to line the streets all the way home to their house! Once at home there were a few more signs and a sparkling clean car!! We are all soooo excited to have him home! Thanks Chris for protecting our freedoms!! You are our hero and we love you very much!!

Chris is HOME!!!

Train Ride to Pumpkins

Today we went on a REAL train ride. The total distance was 8+ miles. It took about an hour with a couple stops along the way. We got the word ahead of time that we should go to the caboose as that has some seats that you have to climb up into and then you can see out over top of the train. The trains originally were steam but due to some boiler work needed we had to have the diesel engine. It was very cool and educational. At the end of the line you got to buy pumpkins and other seasonal items if you wanted. It was a very cool day. Thanks for the tip Karen!! Check out the link for more photos.

The Great Train Ride '06

Fall Festival '06

Saturday Mom had an all day wedding to attend so she left Dad with the kids and a huge list of possible things to do with them. They went to an indoor trick or treat festival and got some candy (go figure). There were jumpers, jugglers and other fun activities for all. Acacia had saved up enough allowance to purchase her very own juggling balls. Now all she has to do is learn to juggle ... Saturday evening they were going to go to the Enchanted Forest but it SNOWED!! So, they went to the Christian music roller skating night at our local roller rink. I guess the only thing Christian about the event was the music. But, the kids had a nice time and played lots of games in addition to some roller skating. Sorry, no photos of the skating ... :(

Getting Ready for Trick or Treating!

No need to really explain anything here. The camera was on the tripod and the kids took pictures of themselves ... I especially like the one of Acacia with the pumpkin on her head. Look in the back ground. It looks like Chris is hanging - stuck in the door!! heehee!!

Acacia's Open House at Kindergarten

We all got to go to Acacia's kindergarten open house last week. We got ice cream and then Acacia gave us the grand tour of her room. They are studying apples and the calendar right now. She can count to 100 and she knows the numbers by site (not just in order). She is also learning to read - although this is coming more from Dad then school. Acacia made some good friends from the classroom she was in first and she still is friends with them. A new Rachel and a girl names Claire. We hope they stay friends forever!! :) She also gave us the grand tour of the school. The gym seemed to be everyone's favorite but we got to see the art room, the library, computer room and music room.

More Pumpkin Activities

This week end we went to Schuster Pumpkin Patch. Pretty much the same stuff as the prior week's pumpkin patch but this place had a corn cob gun! Chris loved this thing. You shove a corn cob into the tube and take aim. When you push the little button you are launching the cob a good 500 feet or so. Pretty cool. We visited this farm with a friend of Chris' - Raven and her family. They also had a corn box (like sand box but with corn). The kids decided they could launch themselves off little crates over top of each other - Evil Kinevil style. At least this time there is proof that mom was there and not off eating donuts!

More Pumpkin Activities

Another GREAT Game!

The soccer games just get better and better. This particular game Acacia and two "girl" friends from Woods Hollow were just ON FIRE!! We honestly do not know what got into them ... well, we don't know what got into Rachel or Acacia as they both decided it was time to play soccer. The third girl, Maya has always known when it was time to play!! It does not hurt that Maya's dad is the coach (coach Russ). But anyway, Acacia stole the ball from the other team and took it all the way down for a goal!! The local TV station got all the action on film and Rachel's family will tape it for us since we don't have cable anymore. Anyone that visits will be required to view the tape!! I guess I should take more photos during the game instead of just the end. But, I am too busy screaming my head off!! It is very exciting stuff!!

Another GREAT Game