Where are the Christmas Cards?

Once again I have neglected to send Christmas cards.  That was not my intention last year when I purchased hundreds of cards I was planning to send, but alas I have failed. 

You will not be getting a card from us this year....but then again I'm four weeks late posting pictures on the blog.  So, this is what you get for now....old pictures on the blog.

Enjoy!

Grace turned six years old.  She's all girl.  Jewelry, belts, boots, accessories, nail polish and stick on ear rings are a few of her simple delights.  She loved her sleeping bag and we enjoy family campouts in the living room on the occassional Friday night now that everyone has their own bag.

For Thanksgiving we drove to Colorado (a 13 hour drive) for the weekend.  Anne enjoyed snuggling the baby.

James occassionally played nicely with the his cousins.  Katelyn was mildly terrified of him by the end of our trip.

Edwin and his brothers, Daniel and Ben, took the kids geo-caching.  They found lots of loot.

One of the treasures we brought home was a Startrek ship.  We drove to Riverside, IA (which is officially declared the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk) and buried the treasure in another geo-cache nearby.  What an adventure. 

So now it's a week away from Christmas and we are busy preparing for the festivities and the arrival of our family.  You probably won't hear from us for a while.

Have a Merry Christmas! 



Bloomsbury Farms

I love small town activities that are both entertaining and eccentric.  Here is one we look forward to visiting next year with Edwin.

The train ride was the ideal activity for James.....we arrived early and got numerous rides around and around the track.

This is a corn box.  We found it's much easier to clean up from the corn box than a sand box.

Only in Iowa, right?

Our neighbors were with us and that just added to the fun.

Anne, Gavin, Loie, Grace, and James stood still for a brief moment.

 

These are corn cob guns.  We shot corn on the cob in the pasture that was still filled with cows. 

Sorry for any pain we may have unintentionally inflicted on the poor animals across the ditch.

This is the pumpkin cannon.  They moved all the cows for this activity, but really the cows were safe.  The cannon shot the pumpkins across the pasture and into the neighbors farm. If I was good at distances I'd guess how are far the pumpkins flew, but alas, that's Edwin's area of expertise and you'll have to wait until next year when he is there to gauge the area.

The kids found this 45 pound pumpkin. 

 What a beast!

Blueberries

Earlier this summer we found a great price on local blueberries.  We made syrup and froze several pounds for blueberry pancakes, muffins, tarts, or whatever other tasty goodies we can think of this winter.

Ironically, once the blueberries were stored away Edwin and I realize we brewed a little more than syrup.

 So we are now introducing... Baby Blueberry! 

 Each or our kids had a unique in-utero name.  Baby Blueberry was named because morning sickness hit hard and fast and we explained to the kids why mom was so sick.  They asked how big baby was, and well.....baby was the size of a blueberry according to one website. With all those blueberries in the house the kids understood just how big Baby Bluebery was at the time.  The name stuck and we are happy to have Baby Blueberry arriving this spring. 

So there you have it....

We are expecting a healthy baby boy in April.

Curlers

We finally found some sponge rollers and we all think they are fabulous. 

James likes to curl his hair too. 

 He's having such a difficult time being a boy in this house full of girls.

Missing

Look What Grace is Missing

It's been about 8 weeks of "loose tooth" syndrome at our house.

Today was the final day.  It's Grace's first tooth and we are excited to try to catch the toothfairy tonight while she is sleeping!

Ah, the joys of childhood!

Halloween Festivities

It all started with two little girls who knew last year they wanted to be witches. 

We bought a few witch hats and embellished them.

James needed a wizard hat to go along with his big sisters.

We spent an afternoon painting pumpkins and gourds.  For Family Home Evening one night we painted Styrofoam balls to look like eyeballs (I neglected to take any pictures of Grace's wonderful idea so you'll have to wait until next year.)

We dressed up for the church Trunk or Treat

Anne wanted to be a scary witch for Halloween night

Grace was a pretty witch

James wanted face paint too and refused to wear any sort of costume.  However, he helped himself to the neighbors' candy troves and gave lots of hugs to the elderly couples.  We had a successful Halloween.

Edwin did a great job carving the spider pumpkin too.

Messy, Messy

James was the sweetest little baby.

He accepted his sisters' love and adoration.

James was willing to do whatever the girls wanted.

I should have known trouble was on the way when he learned to stand up in a moving wagon at the playground.

Nothing seemed to deter him from his destination.

He's always been fond of sweet treats, cold things, and anything that contains a straw.

There was a time James took four baths a day in the kitchen sink.

We thought it was funny that he couldn't walk, but he could roll watermelons around all over grandma's floor.  Who needs a ball when you've got a melon anyway?

As I mentioned before he bathed after every meal time.

Oh, then he discovered rocks, gravel, and sand.  Delicious, no?

One day he helped himself to the raising roll dough.  Sneaky little guy opened the back door so I thought he was outside for a few minutes, but then I heard the clatter.  James washed his hair in the dough as well as my entire stove and floor.

He's enjoys painting.  It doesn't matter the canvas.

And now he's big enough to really be a help in the kitchen.

One day I believe he'll be a bit neater, but for now, my house is chaos, and I'm really doing my best.

While visiting family this summer a relative asked, "Is James always messy, or do you just like taking pictures when he's messy?"  After two days she concluded, "James is always messy."

One of our little friends from summer daycare would constantly say, "James is a messy boy."  And I would certainly have to agree with that wise little man.  Some of the things I regret not having pictures of include the day he had a rootbeer can explode in the kitchen, the day he painted the table, chairs, all his clothes, and the carpet pumpkin orange (residual stains still remain) and the day he bleached the bathroom by himself. 

Oh, lovely little James, you are a messy boy. And we love you!

There and Back Again

Four weeks away from family is a long time.  Edwin had a four week training meeting in Washington, DC and he survived. Thanks to our good medical school friends, John and Andrea, he had a bed to sleep on, friends to eat dinner with, and people to talk to at night. He lost his luggage but it was returned to him after a week of borrowing John's clothes and things.

The kids missed him, but I think they adapted to the new lifestyle easier than the rest of us.  However, this morning Grace asked, "Is dad going to leave us again for another long conference?"  I was happy to say NO! Since dad is home the kids are outside lots more while I'm in the kitchen making dinner.  There's more laughing, more tickling, more teasing, and more love.  It is truly a welcome home.

September Birthdays

I love celebrating my birthday with the kids. 

Delicious cupcakes with a plethera of sprinkles.

James turned two and we had a great afternoon as family decorating his cake. 

Here's the happy birthday boy.

A Week to Remember

This is my friend, Gabby.  She was with me during the car trouble post, and thankfully everyone is alright.

So here's a rundown of the past 10 days.

Tuesday, October 4th I picked up Gabby's girls for a playdate while Gabby packed up the house.

When I returned the girls in the evening, Gabby still had tons of work ahead of her so we helped pack a few things before leaving. 

Wednesday we drove back across town to have the girls again for the day.  Thursday was a repeat of the previous days with the added luxery of having the family over for dinner and hosting them for the night before they moved out of state.  However, there was kink in our plans when the hospital called for Gabby's husband, Aaron.  After waiting three years for a transplant, he received the great news that there were kidneys for him today.  Aaron spent the day in the hospital only to be turned away in the late afternoon because of "hospital protocol."  Gabby and Aaron went to their house, loaded the moving truck, cleaned the apartment and were at my house by 9pm.  I spent the evening calling and emailing all of their friends that I knew and asking them to pray for Aaron to receive the kidneys.  The hospital called at 8:45pm and Aaron was scheduled for pre-op at 1pm on Friday. 

Friday morning, I kept the girls at my house while Gabby went with the truck to their new house (5 hours away.)  There she unloaded the truck, unpacked the bedrooms and directed her local RS to unpack the kitchen.  She came home at 12:30am just as Aaron came out of surgery.  I didn't see her until late Saturday night.

The rest of the week was spent between my house and the hospital.

While we were at home I purchased a dehydrator.  James helped me with the apples.

We dried apples and made applesauce.

The weather warmed up so we got the slip n' slide out for one last run before winter.

Then the leaves fell off the trees so we've been busy outside with the leaves.

Even the missionaries joined us one afternoon for fun.

After Aaron was released from the hospital, they stayed a final night with us.  By lunch time on Thursday they were on the road to their new home and new job.   Aaron's been alright, but was back in the ER Friday morning around 5am.  The transplant is good, he's having difficulty with some of the medications and they are working to resolves those problems this next week.  I am excited to see them in a week when they are back in town for some follow-up appointments.

On Saturday, I rented an aerator and got to work in the yard. My good friend, Merrie-Anne, helped me aerate the lawn and plant grass seed.

She's currently taking a gardening course and is loving it.  It's been a great benefit to me too!

We also picked a friend's tomato patch clean so we will be canning tomatoes this week and also making applesauce.  It will be a busy week in the kitchen.

I was pleased to see all the kids outside working in the leaves. The bigger the piles the more they get to jump around. 

I pretty much observed all the activities, directed the overall plan, and connected the hose. 

Good thing I have great friends or I might never get anything done!