Lately my boys have been eating rice krispies treats almost daily. I made a batch for the superbowl party we had here and since then jacob has been requesting them quite frequently. Both of the boys love to help me in the kitchen so i figure it's a good bonding time for us. The other day we were making a batch and jacob's job was to count out 40 marshmallows for me. Well, in the process-and by process i mean jacob yelling that levi was messing up his counting piles-a few of them ended up on the floor. I was so involved in getting the treats done that I wasn't paying much attention to my daughter on the floor devouring the runaway marshmallows. When I saw her with marshmallow mush all over her face and clothes it was too cute...I had to take a picture.
here are a few pictures of the kids that i had on our camera. hannah's hair is so long that it is usually hanging in her face like it is here. (it's actually in a ponytail here!)
jacob asked if he could wash dishes for me. we pulled up a chair and were
having so much fun that levi decided he wanted to "help" too.
jacob and levi in their matching "camping jammies" that my mom made for them. they are so cute. they have little canoes, tents and matches for the buttons.
Each summer my family, my brother(when in the states) and sister's families head to northern Wisconsin for a week of vacation at a cabin on Bishop Lake near Crandon, WI. When I say cabin I mean a 600 sqft building with no running water, so it is the real deal. The week usually consist of a lot of swimming, grilling, fishing and in general a lot of nothing. I thought I should put together some video I took at Cousin Camp. Yes, we even have a name, competitions and chores for tickets in which the cousins can purchase candy and toys at the Candy Shack. Enjoy part one.
I edited this video earlier tonight and when I finished my last frame my program froze on me. YES! I lost all my work. Too bad the original was much better than this version. But, it is still very entertaining.
Jacob and Levi dancing is not an uncommon thing in our house.
well, it's been a while since i posted so i thought i'd share a few pictures of the kids. we are ready for spring. the kids and i have been bound up in the house since christmas. we are looking forward to next week when we'll be at the dells spending a couple of days with the Clairs at a waterpark. jacob is excited to spend some time with his friend lauren and i can't wait to see their cute little levi again. our family is doing well. levi turned 2 after christmas and hannah will turn 1 at the end of march. this last year seems to have gone by fast. my sister-in-law and their family were on vacation the last week and a half so we got to dog sit. the boys were kinda sad to see him leave. levi especially as the dog treats that he came to enjoy himself are now gone with the dog. aaron came downstairs to find levi sitting in front of the t.v. with a box of dog treats just munching away on them. he said he was caught between running to get the camera to take a quick picture or taking the treats away. i found him "snacking" a few times myself. the difference between aaron and i is that aaron lets him finish eating whatever he already has in his mouth...i make him spit them all out in the sink and then take my fingers and rake through his mouth for every last morsel. life is definitely not dull around here.
This last weekend I had the chance to go to Lambeau Field to the NFC Championship game between the Packers and the Giants. If you don't know this is quite a privilege. So I jumped at the opportunity. The last time I had the chance to attend a Packer game was when I was seventeen years old and a senior in High School.
Outside Lambeau Field ...0nly -15.
There is so much I could share about the weekend I will try to just point out a few interesting things. 1. NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 2. CHEAPEST TICKET ON EBAY - 1,500.00 3. -24 below winchill 4. Lambeau Field - AMAZING NFL HISTORY 5. Most people in the WI would have sold a kidney to attend.
The flag for the national anthem..pretty cool.
In the end the Packers lost in OT. But I do have to say I have never been to a more entertaining, suspense filled, and emotional...oh wait FREEZING... game in my life.
Question: How do I know when it is -24 below at a football game. 1. Most everyone is sober(abnormal for a packer game) because liquid freezes 2-3 minutes after opening it. 2. Frozen snot is the latest fashion. 3. Shopping carts every 10 yards in the concourse filled with free feet and hand warmers. 4. Everyone is wearing hunting clothes..even those who have heated box seats. 5. NO ONE LEAVES THE BATHROOMS DURING HALF TIME BECAUSE THE ARE HEATED! I am not kidding. 400 people in a 30x30 room and 2 people are actually using the urinal. (top right)Me and Joey standing next to V.L. Trophy's...wow. (bottom right) Joey and I just before the game started.
Here is a video of the end of the national anthem. A jet flew over right at the end and about made me fill my pants. I would have had more pics and video but my camera froze up after the game started. I could not take any more pictures. I tried putting the battery in a warm spot but that was to painfully cold.
For those of you who saw our christmas card this year...this is an
example of the kind of pitures we had to choose from. it took us several
days and numerous trips outside only to end up with no "one" picture with
all three of our children looking normal. levi had his own picture because 1. he is anti-people and
2. he decides when he wants to be compliant or not. (i just happened to have the
camera in my hand when he was actually being cute. statistically speaking, the chances
are really quite low. a part of me actually wanted to use this picture for our cards
just to show how really rotten he is. not to mention to embarrass him later in life.
the colonel has inspired me (by reminding me what a slacker i have become) to post something new. our annual outing to go cut down our christmas tree was enhanced this year as we decided to put up two trees in our house. the one upstairs i get to decorate with all my favorite ornaments and the one downstairs has all of the kids homemade decorations and all the "plastic canvas" ornaments that aaron and i made when we were just wee ones. my husband has been busting his broberg sized bottom to get our basement done in time for the holidays. we put a fireplace in, expanded my laundry room, gutted the old bathroom in the basement and added a shower and retexturized all of the walls. needless to say, he has been busy. aaron & i both have always wanted a fireplace in our house so we are both giddy about it. i am embarrassingly excited about my mantel and hanging the kids' stockings on it. well, tonight is going to be a late night painting the basement walls, so that's all the post you get!
Yesterday was a beautiful fall day. It was chilly enough to wear jeans and a sweater which is my favorite thing to wear. The sun seemed to light up the leaves and our backyard was calling to me... and so was my son. He wanted to rake up a big pile of leaves and jump in them. It seemed like a great idea to me. Gone were the thoughts that I should be baking for the company coming the next day, gone were the thoughts that I should quick throw in another load of laundry or finish tidying up the kitchen mess from lunch. Nature and my son were calling to me. We raked up a big pile of leaves, took several steps back and then locked hands as we ran as fast as we could into the leaf pile. Being a kid is great. Acting like a kid once in a while is the next best thing!
October 9th my little boy turned four. In many ways I cannot remember a time when he was not in my life. It seems like he's been around for as long as I can remember. Then in other ways it seems like just yesterday that I was holding him in the hospital for the first time. He has such a great imagination lately. Not the least of which is the fact that he seriously believes that he is a superhero. On any given day he may be spiderman, superman or batman. My favorite is when he fights off the "bad guys" (usually played by levi) and then yells that he is coming to save "lois" (usually played by me.) So, for his birthday we had a superhero theme. We had superman cake, played kryptonite toss, pin the eyes on spiderman, blasted villians with their sticky webs and had a spiderman pinata. Dad helped out by painting the kids' faces which was a hit with the kids. The birthday party was especially fun because jacob got to celebrate with his cousins and jonah and silas came all the way from Russia to be with him.:)
Recently my family and I traveled to Dallas, Texas to go to my sister-in-law's wedding. Most of the time we hung out in the pool or were running around getting ready for the wedding.
We did find a couple minutes to sneak away to downtown Texas and went to the 6th floor museum. The 6th floor Depository Building was where JFK was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. I have been fascinated with the JFK assignation since I did a report on it in 9th grade. I vowed to not leave Texas until we visited the museum. We as very great. To be able to visit a place that is cemented in US history was a great experience.
Probably my favorite display at the museum was in the corner where Oswald shot JFK. The corner was all glassed off and inside was re-created from pictures to look exactly the way Oswald left it. The museum as a whole gave you a feel for the events of the day.
As you walk through the museum you will notice no where will you see the couple frames of the Zapruder Film that shows JFK actually being shot in the head. No where do they say why they left these frames out of the film. I believe it is out of respect for the President. I thought that was unique.
As far as one shooter or two? I think I am going to go with one. I have read several books and now have visited the grassy knoll. I am going to stick with my instincts. One shooter.
We were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum so I snapped a couple outside.
This is shot is of the Book Depository Building. Notice the far upper right window is where Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK.
This picture was taken where the second shooter would have stood. If you look at the road you will see an X that marks the spot where JFK received the wound to the head that killed him.
This is the famous grassy knoll. To the left is the orignial picket fence where the second shooter hid. At the grassy knoll there were a few conspiracy theory people informing others of the truth and selling books, etc...
This weekend we flew down to Texas for my sister's wedding. We ended up taking 2 out of the 3 kids with us. Originally we planned to leave them all. (We thougt maybe we could make a little mini vacation out of it. silly us.) Then my sister asked jacob to be the ring bearer. So, we thought we'd leave the baby and levi. Well, hannah decided she wanted nothing to do with the bottle so we had to bring her along too. So, we left levi with auntie sarah (god bless you sarah) and took the other two. Some people may think it wierd that we left only one of our children behind. Why not take them all? you may say to yourself. Well, if you really want to know...just ask sarah. :)
We got some great pics so I thought I'd share a few. Jacob was pretty stinking cute in his tux. Auntie Meredith was absolutely beautiful!
