Chris graduates to white with yellow stripe '09

After a short 3 months of karate lessons Chris got to show us what he's learned. It was unbelievable for me to sit there and watch my 6 year old son that can NOT sit still to save his life do exactly what he was told for an hour and a half long ceremony. He sat upright and paid attention while the others were performing. When it was there turn to perform he stood at attention and was completely focused and in control. He paid attention, raised his hand and was completely respectful. Something we do not usually see in Chris. I honestly could not tell you who was prouder - him or me.

Roller Derby??? '09

Soooo - a coworker of mine does Roller Derby and invited us out to the Christmas "bout". We were in charge of some friends kids too and it was certainly a treat! Unfortunately they started about an hour late due to the EMT's not showing up. No way can you start a bout without the EMT's there! "Fake" Santa was there to keep the kids happy and my friend Cannonball Z was an awesome "jammer"! It was truly something everyone should see live in their life span!!

First snow fall of the season

Normally we get a little snow, it melts ... we get a little snow, it melts ... etc and then we start getting a little more and it sticks around a while. This year we got it all at once. The entire city completely shut down. No bus service, no health clinics, UW Madison shut down completely, the MALLS closed!! EVERYTHING. It started Tuesday evening and did not stop until Wed late morning. It was a wet snow with lots of winds so it stuck to everything. When I woke up I could not see out any windows in the house as the snow had stuck to all the screens. The wind caused tons of drift. Total snow fall for our area was 18.5 inches but with the winds and drifting it was more like 2+ feet. Sadly, this much snow is not conducive to sledding but it is fun to just play in. Our first ski trip is planned for the 21st!!



The snow plow leaves a pretty good sized snow pile in our cul du sac and the kids go crazy on it.


This is one of my little wind chimes. The snow is like frozen side ways off the top of it.







This is our back yard looking out onto the golf course.


This is one of my trees in my garden.


This is Chris - buried in the snow!

Acacia made the swim team! 11-09

After a week of swimming every day for try outs, Acacia found out she had made the swim team! She worked VERY hard and is very excited about this. She started practices right away 3 days a week and her first meet is in January.



This individual photo of her looks like she has injured her neck ... it's just a tattoo ...

All the kids in white t-shirts are the newest team members. Acacia is in the second row from the bottom - the first white shirt coming into the row from the left. Remember you can click on any photos to see them bigger.

Chris lost his first tooth! FINALLY!

Finally!! Chris lost his first tooth in math class on December 1st, 2009! He is VERY excited! The tooth fairies had about .07 between the two of them but luckily one tooth fairy remembered she had some misc gifts for emergencies and this qualified. Chris woke up with a Star Wars action figure under his pillow and later that morning came and said to me:

"Mom. I have a great idea. I think we should make some fake teeth and keep putting them under our pillows. Then the tooth fairy will just keep on coming!"

Nice try.

Getting and Decorating the Tree '09

So, my first year to take the day after Thanksgiving off ... well it was a state mandated furlough day off but a day off non the less. First I thought maybe I'd do the black Friday shopping thing. But, then I thought "why would I want to do that to myself?" Instead I stayed home with the kids and their friends and did laundry. Much more relaxing. So, with the laundry out of the way what to do come Sat. Off we go to get our tree. The kids were great helpers and we got the perfect tree on the farm. Chris and Acacia cut it down and then Randy helped drag it to the truck.

And what Christmas tree farm is complete without the traditional dudes making wolves and eagles out of tree stumps with chain saws?? I suppose none - so that explains why these guys were there. It was pretty impressive to watch them work!

Thanksgiving with the Internationals '09

We did this once before. Set a table at our church for 8 and hosted 6 internationals to an American tradition of Thanksgiving. It's actually weird to think that as I was serving them I asked each of them if they liked stuffing, potatoes, turkey or whatever ... non of them had ever had it! I guess I just assumed everyone had had those items in some form or another. I knew I was in trouble when I could only try to explain what gravy was by comparing it to sweet and sour sauce "... only it's not sweet or sour ...". Of course language is always a bit of a barrier but the fact that both Randy and I had our new Droid phones that somehow eased the conversation tension as all talk was around technology. I tried to explain that I had done some international travel in my day. When they asked when I was last over seas (Asia) and I told them it was 1983 - they all explained that they were not even born yet.

OK - back to talking about the phone.

Halloween '09

Our first Halloween in our new home! A bit different then what we've experienced in the past. 1st - we did not have to drive anywhere. 2nd - there were "adult" treats at many of the houses. 3rd - TONS of kids in great costumes. 4th - we spent half the night chilling on our couch with some neighbors and their spider dog while the kids continued their shenanigans until after 10p.

We probably had at least 100 kids come to the door. Our kids went out around 5p, filled their buckets and got cold within the hour. We went home to warm up and have hot chocolate and then they were going to go out again but ended up staying in and helped give out the candy. It was really a great night!

Randy and I were invited to a couple costume parties too. So we went out to find costumes and ended up with Scooby Doo and Daphne. Both costumes were one size fits all. For Randy this proved to be not true in the fact that his tail was riding up his tail each time he wore it. And for me it proved I am not a size 16 as the costume said it would fit. I was swimming in the dress. Luckily the orange wig was freakishly distracting enough that most people never even noticed the dress. (Mom - can you alter this so it fits?)




Chris decided to be Blue Power Ranger (again). And Acacia went as Pocahontas.






We have about 5 gallons of candy now. Not really sure what to do with it all. The kids get a piece a day ..... so basically this candy will last through Halloween .... 2012.




Swine Flu!! One of my favorite costumes!



Mario and the Bee. Chris loved this one being the HUGE Mario Brothers fan he is!!



This is the "soup Natzie" and his wife, Mrs. Cleaver.