Christmas at Home.

A few months ago, my mom was diagnosed (again) with cancer. Her blood work had been off for a long time, and finally they were able to find something that they could actually point to and treat. She did a round of chemo for a month, but there was no change in her blood work, so she is now on week 3 of a different chemo drug. I'm thankful that she is taking the medication as well as expected, and that with the new medication her numbers are at least moving back towards normal again. She is always so strong and so positive. I'm sure she waivers like us all-I just haven't ever seen it.

One nice thing about being in Sioux Falls is seeing my family more often (though on the flip side, we do see Matt's family less frequently-boo!). And given my mom's treatments we decided to drive up Saturday after Thanksgiving and decorate for Christmas. Since we were working with 3 kids 5 and under and one tired Nana, the theme was definitely keep it simple. But, it was a fun and special time.

My favorite part is taking out all the old boxes that are still the same as when I was growing up. Verda was my grandma.

Here is Ella decorating the tree with a little help from Papa. Of course everyone wanted to put their ornament up high, but I think we got them fairly evenly dispersed.

Not too bad:)

Ella found some "snow" and immediately brought it to me to tie around her so she could be a snow princess. I love that she does this kind of stuff for the sheer joy of it-she's never seeking attention or anything else.

More decorating:

Don't worry-these came home with us.

Besides decorating the tree, we also put up Nana's snowman collection in the bay window-as few as some other odds and ends around the up stairs. Here the kids are prepping the window with some snowflakes.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any "after" shots.

That evening we were able to go out for dinner and catch up with a good friend of mine. It was a blessed day.

Also, notice Matt's not in any pictures? He spent most of the afternoon out hunting. Unfortunately it was very cold and windy and not many pheasants were flying around.

Notes.

A couple of weeks ago, as Matt and I went to get ready for bed we found these on our pillows:

We each got a post-it note from Nathan simply stating Love, Nate.

I don't know where he got the idea that notes go on pillows, but I hope it sticks.

Last week in the morning, he also wrote me these on some old Christmas cards he found, and placed them on my bed.

It reads "Happe Love" "From Nate to Mom"

Ella made me one as well, and even took her own photo of it. Her card says the only thing she currently knows how to write, "Ella":)

eesh, should've closed my closet door.

Thanks Giving.

Though I'm a little late, I'll still report on my favorite holiday-Thanksgiving. We took the week off of school to just focus on the history of Thanksgiving, making Thanksgiving crafts, baking, and of course, giving thanks.

These pictures are in reverse order, but whatever.

Since we can't see all of our family on Thanksgiving, the kids started by making these cards to send to their grandmas and grandpas they wouldn't see, as well as their cousin. The inside says "count your blessing, name them one by one...Count your many blessings see what the Lord has done. " Ella and Nathan both signed their own names. Ironically since Nathan has to write his name more frequently he has started going by Nate:)

They each made cards with their hand print. Nathan did all of his on his own, including the tracing and cutting. This is the one we had left to keep after the others were sent off. For whatever reason the face is a little Picasso-esque.

Throughout the month of November Nathan and Ella also had Thanks and Giving trees. On the thanks tree they recorded what they were thankful for on different colored leaves. On the giving tree they wrote down ways they had given to others. When this started Nathan said his Giving tree was just going to look like winter, but it was surprising how many different things they could come up with!
Here are some of Nathan's Thanks:
Family, Friends, Awana, Bibles, Ovens, RC car, etc.
Some of Ella's Thanks:
Pumpkins, Grandmas, Babies, Micah's smile, Swimming Pool, Mom & Dad, etc.
Their giving trees were similar, they included:
Helping Micah, giving Birthday gifts, Shoebox, Angel Tree, etc.


On Monday, after reading the history of the first Thanksgiving, we made hand print Mayflowers. Here are Ella and Addie's completed projects. Matt took Nathan's to work.

And of course, my little pilgrims.

Nathan actually took quite an interest in the history and may know more than most 5 year-olds. Well at least he did, I haven't asked him about it lately.

Ella because she's Ella refused to have a black Pilgrim hat, and decided instead that blue would be nicer.

We're working on the glue application process, but they still look good:)

For the actual day, we went to Aunt Amy and Uncle Jeremy's to meet with all the Garners. We had a wonderful feast with family followed by lots of cleaning, and talking around the table while looking at ads and planning our next days shopping trip. I'm happy to report that we did not go out at midnight, but rested up to go at 4 a.m., after the rush had passed, and we still got most of what we wanted.

Homes Cool.

School is in full swing and we've been making our way through a new book for Five in a Row each week. The best part is that it makes Mondays exciting. The kids always want to know what the new book will be, and it's way more fun reading it the 1st time then it is the 5th time:)

On a related note, last week Nathan finished his first "Explode the Code" book, (an 11 lesson phonics book; he did book 1), as well as his Saxon K Math book. This book was 112 math lessons for kindergarten, but he started it in pre-school. It wasn't planned, but he finished them both last Friday. So, I told him we could celebrate...Nathan chose Cherry Berry, which didn't disappoint me:) We both have our struggles with school, but I'm so proud of how well he is doing. He's starting Book 2 for Explode the Code (I believe book 1 and 2 are first grade level), and we're continuing with Five in a Row. I've decided that with the extra time we'll be focusing on Thanksgiving this month, and then doing a D-term, as I like to call it; focusing more on art, music, and of course Christmas! Next January will start doing our more traditional schedule again and I'll start 1st grade math.

But anyway, here are some highlights from previous weeks.

One book we read was Madeline. It had great illustrations and was a great intro to Paris and France. On Friday we had "French cousine"day. For lunch we had Croque Mossiures (aka baked ham and cheese sandwiches).

It's not like it was a bold food choice, but all the kids liked it!

oh yeah...and for dessert we made crepes, with chocolate of course. Addie partook moreso in the chocolate than in the crepe.

Yummy...crepes!

Another book we recently read was Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel. A classic we've read before so it wasn't new, but it's a favorite so they enjoyed reading through it again. Friday, Matt and Nathan did an experiment to demonstrate the power of steam using a homemade pinwheel and a tea pot. It wasn't perfect-but it worked...the steam coming out of the tea pot spun the pinwheel!

Tent TIme.

These were taken about a month ago-notice Nathan is wearing shorts and a t-shirt...wait he still wears that now, and I have to tell him to change so that we can actually go out some days. Nonetheless, we've had many beautiful fall days. In the empty lot next to use there are some weeds that are about 6 1/2 feet tall. In the spring and summer they were green, but once fall came they turned very stick like. All of the kids, especially Nathan, loved to "harvest" the sticks and make different things with them (one day we even painted them). Nathan had the idea that we should build a house.

Daddy stepped in and made it a little more doable, and together they made this:

Their own little teepee made from the sticks, an old blanket, and the rope that one of them made at the Ingalls Homestead.

Everyone loved playing in it-but it was a one-night wonder. The next morining we woke up to find all the sticks laying on the ground and the blanket in the neighbor's yard. Should've known it couldn't handle the SD wind!

Halloween Festivities.

I can't say that Halloween is on my top 10 faves. I always feel like I'm ignorant about it, and just go along with it because everyone else is doing it and the kids think it's fun (besides spiritual reason, I also don't like having mounds of candy in the house:). Maybe one year I'll be convicted to develop more of a stance on the issue-but for now, here are some highlights from Halloween 2011.

One thing I do enjoy is pumpkin carving. It's fun to have the kids scoop out the insides. Matt is gracious enough to do all the carving, meeting all the requirements given him by Nathan and Ella (round eyes, big smiles, etc.)

And my personal fave: pumpkin seeds. This year we did traditional salty ones, and then for something new tried somem cinnamon sugar seeds. I prefer the salty, but the kids preferred the sweet ones.

The final product:

Of course, Nahtan's is the bigger one...I'm also glad I took a picture that night, because the next morning Ella's was gone. We told her somone thought it was a really great pumpkin and must have needed one. (it sounded better than someone probably took it and smashed it on the road).

These are pictures I took in the afternoon on October 31. It was a beautiful, calm 60 degrees. It of course got a little colder once it was dark, but all and all great weather for Halloween!

(Nathan is flying his homemade kite)

(Ella wore her costume all day!)

This year we had a giraffe, Buzz Lightyear, and Princess Belle.

This is the 4th time the giraffe costume has been worn. 2x by Nathan, once by Ella, and now Addie. Nathan was Buzz last year and did do some complaining about having to wear it again, but then declared "it worked out after all". Ella is wearing Mayah's costume from last year (which is a running theme with her). If the tradition continues, next year Ella will be Tangled:)

I also of course forgot to take pictures in their costumes...so this is after they went trick-or-treating and had taken their stuff off. I made them put it all back on and stand together...I'm so one of those moms:)

2.

So cliche, but I can't believe my baby is 2!

(sorry Addie, usually the cake is a big deal to me...but this year, I just put on a 2:)

Now, more about Addie:

Though you tell strangers you are "thee", October 26th has passed and you are finally 2! As your name implies, you are full of sweetness, and always ready to laugh. You love being included in anything big brother and sister are doing, yet you are definitely your own. I always say you are our firecracker-always on the go, always getting into something. You have to be different (you're even left handed) and often times difficult.

And you love cake! We could have taken all the presents away and just left you with cake and you would have been as happy as a clam. You are often ruled by your sweet tooth, but thanks to your mom, you rarely get to indulge.

But today is Your Day!

Blow out the candles...you're 2!

I joke that this will be our new family picture...too bad it's missing Nathan (though you can see part of his head). But again, 3 cheers for cake:)

You are definitely a "Daddy's girl".

You have been talking, talking, and talking for a long time now...but we rarely understand what you are saying. Now there are words we can make out well enough to know what you want. However, a few days ago when upset, you loudly and unmistakably declared "I...need..Daddy!)"

You also are a big Papa's girl, and even at the church your best friend is Mr. Kooi, a 60-ish year-old man who works in the nursery.

If there is something else you love besides candy, it's babies! This baby doll from great-Aunt Margie was a big hit.

For better or worse, Papa and Nana have decided to make singing cards a birthday tradition. You loved it!

Addie's piggy bank.

Papa is also making each grand kid a piggy bank for his or her birthday. Ella was the first to receive hers, so now we have all 3 banks (which also came with some coins of course). I hope Papa has some spare time coming up since there are lots of cousins with November and December birthdays!

Another gift from Papa and Nana, Adeline's rocking chair. She loves it, and Nathan and Ella like that we have another one in the house. I love that it's Amish made and something hopefully her grandchildren will use some day.

You are beautiful; You are sweet; You are a little crazy...and we love you!

Happy Birthday Adeline!