Red, White, and Blue (take two)

Tonight is a perfect example of why I am doing a "how I spent my summer vacation series". I have been grumpy all afternoon and am not feeling inspired to blog. Normally this creates a domino effect of me not posting and then feeling like I can't post the next thing until I get my act together and catch up on everything else.

So before I turn my brain off and watch a chick flick I will post the pictures from the Memorial Day festivities in our old town.

At the cemetery our good friend Ralph shared a shell casing....


At the parade a little girl shared her flags...


The kids spent most of the ceremony following the parade playing with their catapillars. Amazingly the catapillars survived a trip to Target and Home Depot as well. We brought them home and introduced them to their new home - a bug habitat. They were a hit as were the other bugs the kids caught throughout the afternoon. It was HOT out so we started the sprinkler and the kids splashed a little in the pool. I spent the remainder of the afternoon weeding our flower beds and then planting a dozen perrenials. Julia and Sam were big fans of using the gardening tools so I had lots of help during the project.

After a quick dinner of leftover mac and cheese for the kids and a bag of chicken alfredo for the adults I took the kids down to the lake to see if it were possible for all three of us to fit in the kayak. The answer? Yes and no. We fit just fine but it threw off my ability to steer. No matter how hard the wind was blowing or how hard I over compensated on one side we kept turning into the wind. We still had a good time but now we know that the kids will have to take turns until we can scrounge up another kayak. It was a BUSY BUSY day - mostly spent outdoors.....just the way I like it. The only thing missing was a photo of me with the kids in our red, white, and blue.


Unlike after the 2009 parade this is the only photo of me yesterday.












It's always fun to look back at previous year's pics so here's the posts from the 2007 parade
and the 2008 parade


Another comparison since I never got around to posting our traditional Memorial Day photos last year:


2009


2010
aaahhhh red, white, and blue - they sure look good on you two!

i heart smiles

especially the one my baby girl offers when she's posing for the camera.

Want to see more smiles entries? Click on the badge below to visit i heart faces contest for this week.

Wednesday's Walk

I love the opportunity that holiday photos provide for taking a walk down memory lane. Each Spring we find time to make a trip to the mall and visit the Easter Bunny. This post from last year is a good one to compare to because it provides links to posts from previous years. We've come a long long way from this.
For more Wednesday's Walk posts click on the badge below.

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments - Day 5

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in BearCountry! Sure we had to take all the lights off of one tree in order to have enough for the big tree, but who cares right? For the first time in as long as I can remember we purchased and completely decorated our live tree in the same day.

And what a tree it is! It was only 18 degrees yesterday when we picked it out so the branches were as flat as a pancake. Once they warmed up in our house.....think Griswold Christmas tree being untied in their living room. We actually have quite a bit of room for our tree next to the fireplace in the library and it's a good thing - the sucker's 6 feet across!

The ornament I'm sharing today is the one Sam was the most proud to put on the tree last night. It goes against my 'only durable' rule and that's probably why he likes it so much! Why does my son have a pink ornament? Those of you with October birthdays already know the answer, don't you? I took a few pictures of him holding it in front of the tree last night. Hey if it's going to break, we better have proof that it existed right? This is the very first ornament we bought for our baby boy and because of that, it will always be special to me.

I'm really enjoying hearing the stories behind your ornaments so keep 'em coming! Isn't it great to know that our kids will know why we bought them the ornaments we did?

****UPDATE*****
I just got the email from Brent about Monday's Blog Hop which will be the ornament blog hop I suggested - so get your favorite homemade ornament ready for Monday when I'll post the special MckLinky.

25 Days of Christmas Ornaments -Day 3

Same song, 3rd verse. A little bit shorter and a little bit worse sweeter. This is Sam's ornament from Christmas 2008. It was the first year we had used suckers to keep him quiet during church and his sweet tooth came in that year with a vengeance too.

You'll notice a trend in the ornaments I pick for the kids as we go through the remaining 25 days of Christmas ornaments.....they are for the most part, unbreakable. It is important to me that they survive for a LONG time. I don't think I have to worry about this one. A regular sucker? The kids crush those with their teeth in 5 minutes flat.

How to make a dinosaur cake

It should be no surprise that the kids both wanted a dinosaur cake for their birthdays this year. Sam wanted to put his {five} candles in the tail (closer to the chocolate - a boy after my own heart). Julia thought her {three} candles would look good stuck in the head.

I don't know about other families with kids who have birthdays eleven days apart like ours, but for us, it has not been an issue to combine their celebrations. They don't mind one bit. If a time comes when it does bother them, we'll make some changes to our routine, but for now we have either a small family gathering on their actual birthdays, or have a bonus meal with our
family who lives close by as close to the actual birthday as we can. A party with friends usually falls between their birthdays as {wedding photography} schedules allow.

But back to the cake:

Here's how I pieced the big guy together:

1 heart shaped cake cut in half and stuck together forms the head

1 round cake cut in half forms the body

1 crescent shape cut from a 2nd round cake forms the tale.

The extra pieces form the legs and fill in the neck area.

I used Hershey's kisses for the spikes and red candies for the eyes.




I can't wait to see what they request next year! The good news is that there is a certain member of the family that is an expert cake maker that I can turn to for advice. See?












Thanks Rena for making the perfect cake {complete with a lighted fire} for our favorite cubs!

The Great Pumpkin Disaster

Here in BearCountry September confused itself with July so the job of producing crisp, cool, colorful Fall days fell on October's shoulders.

Poor October didn't stand a chance.

It was so rainy (8th rainiest in BearCountry history) that Fall sank into the mud with all the farm equipment that attempted to harvest corn and soybeans. Why did I think that we wouldn't get stuck in the mud then when we finally made it out to the pumpkin patch?

The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever even as their parents were wishing we'd just stayed home.

Turns out it was worth all the mud in the fields (and parking lots)

Alphabitty Moments - The letter G

Welcome back to Alphabitty Moments! I have been hosting this carnival since the end of February without a week off, until I took a break last week. I've finished 3 books week so we could go on vacation after the campground closed on the 18th, but bronchitis took up residence in our home and we had to stay home. We're on the mend now and I'm getting a little more caught up with my blogging. I was able to publish my first Alphabitty Moments book in time to enter the Best Blurb Book contest that I'll post more about tomorrow when the voting begins. It felt so good to finish a book that I'd been working on for so long! Wanna sneak peak? Click here to see it online in my bookstore (You can now see the WHOLE thing thanks to Blurb.com's upgrade)

Now back to the new book and the new software from mixbook.com... I chose gingerbread house for the letter G. It's a fun family project that we look forward to every year. I try not to make sure it's perfect, but that the kids have fun. (It's hard though!) I love that they like to help - they may not always be up for it since it's a long process. We keep ours up until the snow melts so we have months and months to look at it up on the bookcase. Do you make a gingerbread house at your house?




OH! I have one more question before I go back to counting pages for three new blog book projects....Does anyone know how to make pictures bigger in blogger? I know how to do it using photobucket, but I can't take the time to do an outside hosting site and it makes turning my blog into a book a HUGE pain. Huge. I would have to go into photobucket and get each picture for the posts rather than have them embedded when I import my blog to booksmart. I am hoping that someone knows what to change the numbers in the code after I've uploaded the pictures to blogger. Thanks in advance!

What a difference a year makes!

My observations when I look at these photos compared to the ones in the previous post:

And I thought Julia's hair was curly then!

Sam wore this same shirt this year under his sweatshirt. (Last year it was HOT, this year? Not so much. Today we're struggling to make it to 60.)

Hmmm...where are those blue shorts hiding? They'd probably fit him this year. Last year they were practically falling off of him.

I wish I could find the Memorial Day photo from two years ago - I'm sure there was a flag in the back pocket one that year too.

Sam looked like a toddler last year. At some point he turned into a preschooler. A year really does make a big difference!

Red White & Blue

Our 3rd annual trip to the Moravian Cemetery for the Memorial Day service was almost a bust. We arrived after the axillary members who travel around to multiple cemeteries in our county. We dashed up the road just in time to hear former Chaplin, Warren E. deliver the prayer. We stood solemnly during the playing of taps and then covered our ears for the 21 gun salute. No tears were shed despite the very loud noise. I grew up attending Memorial Day parades and services. I either marched in the band or rode my horse with my fellow 4-Hers.
It's important for Sam and Julia to understand the sacrifice that has been made for their freedom. My measly attempt at prepping Sam on where we were going last night showed that he's still a ways off on truly understanding the concept. Our conversation last night went something like this:
Me: Sam, tomorrow we are going to the cemetery and the parade to honor the people who keep our country safe.
Sam: You mean from bears and alligators?

Sam wasn't worried about bears and alligators when it came time for the 21 gun salute that was part of the festivities downtown after the parade. He hid behind me for twenty minutes before he recovered

Julia's favorite part this year was the flags, the music, and the picnic we brought along. We missed having Daddy along, but he had to hold down the fort at the campground. It's been non-stop action around here with 55 families camping in our backyard. Don't feel too bad for him though. He's at a graduation party with Sam enjoying the yummy food, good company, and elaborate storytelling.

They crack me up

As we pass down family traditions to Sam and Julia we always seem to comment amongst ourselves that the joy we find is in seeing the kids get so excited for whatever the activity might be more so than the activity itself. Tonight it was dying Easter Eggs.















Grandpa was busy dying eggs too, but that didn't stop Sam from shouting out after removing each egg from the dye to say. "LOOK!!! LOOK GRANDPA!!!! SEE THIS ONE!!!??"



Julia was impressed and did her best to get involved in the action.

a Saturday matinee

Now Showing: A Charlie Brown Christmas


ticket price: a bath and pj's.

Is anybody else still watching Christmas movies?

some firsts, some sledding, and a snowbear

At our house we make snow bears, not snowmen because of this book. (It also is easier when we don't have any carrots in the house.) Daddy helped the kids make the first snowbear of the season the other day, Julia took her first solo trip down a little hill, and Sam made his first ever snow angel. He just fell right over backwards and started moving his arms and legs. It was priceless. It is very handy with little kids to be able to go sledding right out our front door.
It's also very fun!

Merry, meaningful, and memorable...

That pretty much sums up our Christmas this year, but you know I can't leave it at that, so here's the rundown:

Our holiday gatherings began on Sunday afternoon (23rd), but first we spent the morning at Church. Next year I'm bound and determined that we'll get our behinds to church for either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We continue the long-standing tradition in Brian's family of reading the Christmas story and singing carols before we open gifts on Christmas Eve, but it feels like something is missing when we aren't worshiping with our church family as well.


The source of Sam and Julia's three day sugar high. (and mine too for that matter!)

Sunday afternoon we visited with family, ate, played Taboo, ate, watched the kids being silly, ate, and then braved the blizzard like conditions to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house for gift opening. The wind rattled windows, swirled into drifts, and made the snow fall sideways. That blessed wind kept Brian from having to work - no point in plowing snow that is going to blow right back where it was! Thank you Lord!


Sam helped Sharon hand out gifts. There were so many! Brian's family is very generous and gives us wonderful presents.

























Apparently, being spoiled is hard work, but before we could go home for the night the kids had one more gift to "open".



Without further ado, I'd like to introduce the two newest members of our family - Mary and Joseph.
















That was a looooong car ride home trying to keep the fish from being evicted from their home.

What I think I'll remember most from the morning of Christmas Eve this year is the fact that Sam didn't want to come downstairs to open gifts because Curious George wasn't over yet. Then when he did come downstairs, he wanted to eat first. I guess my attempt at making Christmas about more than gifts worked. Now I just need to work on his love of TV. :) Both kids loved ripping the wrapping paper and discovering the treasure inside, though the tool set and stroller from the night before were more interesting than the plate I made for Julia and Sam's new markers. Sam did get pretty excited about giving Daddy the ornaments he and Julia made
for him.


See what Brian got me? I finally have a grown-up coat! No more Columbia jacket on Sunday mornings! I asked for something sentimental this year and he didn't disappoint. It was eight years ago that he gave me a jacket for Christmas ( a white Columbia jacket that I returned cuz really, who can keep a white coat white?) Each time I slip into the satiny sweetness of my new jacket I'll be reminded of our first Christmas together.


















After a good nap we packed up the puppy, the kids, and the rest of the gear and headed to Grandpa and Grandpa's house again.
This time the house would be full of cousins for Sam and Julia to play
with. Can you tell how excited Julia was about that?


Brian's parent's have the perfect sledding hill right out their front door and Gene kept everyone warm with a fire at the top of the hill. Inside things were heating up between the youngest of the cousins.




















Jacob and Julia,
sitting in a chair,












K-I-S-S-I-N-G



Both kids shared their musical talents with our extended family - sometimes with clothes on, sometimes without. It was so sweet to hear Sam singing Silent Night, Away in the Manger, Joy to the World, Frosty the Snowman, and Up on the Housetop. He's knew Silent Night last year, but all the other's he learned this year. Julia's performance during Brian's reading of the Christmas story will be relived for years to come. She plopped herself down in the middle of the living room so her dress poofed up behind her. Then she fell over and grabbed her toes saying, "tooties, tooties" over and over again - all the while displaying zero modesty as her bum and belly were exposed for all to see.




It was 10:30 before we went downstairs to crawl into our sleeping bags and after 11:30 before Sam fell asleep. There were about 20 tense minutes where we didn't know if anyone in the house was going to get any sleep, but then Julia fell asleep in my arms and turned into a limp noodle so I could transfer her to the pack-n-play. Sam watched Rudolf on our mini DVD player twice and then gave up and went to sleep (tucked warmly in his new sleeping bag). In the morning we enjoyed watching the kids discover their toys from Santa. Sam had asked for a toy train earlier in December and then sent him a second letter when his helicopter broke. Simple, handmade toys will bring hours of fun for years to come. I still have my wooden trucks my Uncle Mark made me when I was a kid. There were stockings to look in upstairs as well before gorging
ourselves on cinnamon rolls, tangerines, and juice. It took Brian at least ten trips to get things loaded in the van before we could leave. All Brian and I wanted for Christmas Day were long winter naps and eventually our overtired children gave in. We woke to the most beautiful snow I've ever seen. It looked like we were in the center of a snow globe the way the flakes floated to the ground. The wind from Sunday was long gone and for the first time in 55 years the Twin Cities saw 4+ inches of Christmas snow. Sam caught his first flakes on his tongue.
A quiet sled ride through the woods on Christmas Day and warm hot chocolate when we came inside was the perfect end to a merry, meaningful, and very memorable Christmas.













We didn't have much money to put towards Christmas this year, but the important things don't come from a store anyway. I pray that Sam and Julia will look back someday at all these pictures (and the 240 I didn't post) and see that too. Do you think the grin on my face can get any bigger?