October Fun

10.04.14  One of the coldest days of the month and one of the most miserable days to be playing soccer.  We were bundled as much as we could but the grass was wet and as we walked across the lawn our feet got wet and that made us more miserable.  I took Peter home to warm him up for his game which was after Kirsten's.  I bundled Esther up in her snowsuit, got a couple of extra layers on for me and Peter and went back to drop Peter off and pick up Kirsten and Dave suggested I take Kirsten and Esther back home.  I didn't complain about it at all.  We went home and had hot chocolate, turned the fireplace on and warmed up the house for Peter and Dad.  They had got worse when the sleet continued to pour on Peter's team and the not only had to deal with the cold but the miserable rain/sleet that continued the entire game.  We were all very glad to be home and warm after such a miserable day.

 10.08.14  We woke up early to see the blood moon or the lunar eclipse.  I was quite surprised that the kids would get up so early.  Kirsten was up at 5:30 am and then we got  Peter up around 6 am.  Both kids thought it was so cool to be out looking at the moon.  We had to walk over to the school to be able to see it.  It had almost set in the west.

10.11.14  We spent the morning at soccer games and then we headed into Downer's Grove to the Farmer's Market to buy pumpkins.  The kids loved finding different shaped pumpkins and gourds.  It was such a beautiful day.  I think Peter's favorite part was when the train came through Downer's Grove.

10.12.14  We took a Sunday walk to gather leaves.  Fall is the best time of the year around here.  There were many different leaves with so many that were full of color.  So many of the leaves looked like they had been painted on just the tips or down the veins.  I love the beauty that is all around us.

10.15.14  Esther had show and tell today.  She could bring 5 items to show her friends about her.  She decided that she wanted to bring her Elsa snow queen wand,  her littlest pet shop frog, a little mirror, her purple carriage, and our I am a Child of God book.  She thought it was so cool to be the one being talked about.  Her teacher even read the book to the class.  

10.17.14  After many days of rain, the sun finally broke through the clouds and shone brightly.  I was ready to have the sun shining again after so many grey days.  I even started to sing, "the sun'll come out tomorrow."

10.18.14  For the last couple of weeks I have been working on getting things ready for the Helping Hallie Bazaar.  I chose to help the Munro's again with the Bazaar.  We started getting ready on Friday and we set everything up.  This year I spent more time making things like wood signs and sewing other items to sell.  We had a good time and I felt we did okay but not as good as last year.  Our day was good and many things sold.

10.18.14  Because we had spent the day at the Bazaar and then helping the Cerezo's move, we were super tired and didn't have the energy to make dinner and so we took everyone to Red Robin and celebrated Esther's upcoming birthday.  She loved her ice cream sundae.

10.19.14  Jason and Becca (our home teacher and wife) dropped off a bucket of fun things for the kids to play withand Halloween treats.  Every time I see these pictures I want to say "I mustache you a question."

10.24.14  Kirsten given the opportunity by her coach to be on the All-Star Intermediate Soccer Team.  It was not really a fair game.  They lost 0-8.  The Darien team was 5th and 6th graders and our Woodridge team was 4th and 5th graders.  The kids were fighting hard and tried to get the ball away.  It was hard to watch.  Kirsten had fun anyway.

10.25.14  Our ward Trunk or Treat was today.  The weather was beautiful, almost 80 degrees.  The kids were dressed as Elsa, Anna and Olaf.  They had a great time.  As was expected there were many little Elsa's running around.  Also one Princess bride and two little Anna's.  I had to laugh when the other mom of Elsa and Anna said, that she was glad that another little sister had to be Anna too.

10.25.14  With the end of the soccer season comes the fall soccer banquets.  It was interesting that in the Intermediate league they had pizza instead of donuts.

10.27.14  A beautiful sunrise.

10.29.14  Esther's birthday was today.  We started in the morning with opening presents.  Her favorite one was the Olaf from Grandma.  Our day continued with dance class and a date together at McDonald's before school.  She took sprinkled covered doughnut holes for her friends at Preschool.
Then after dinner we celebrated with strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting.

10.30.14 Pumpkin carving.  I think this year was the first year I didn't have to do all the emptying of the seeds.  Both kids helped out.  We carved three little pumpkins and one big one.  We had some cool tools to make different designs.

10.30.14  Our ward had a fun Relief Society Meeting where it was all decked out in spooky and Halloween themed decorations.  I volunteered to do a table, and thanks to Liberty and some of her leftover decorations I was able to pull of a pretty cute table.  Because of the theme many of us were dressed as witches.  They also spoke of how many of us come from different walks of life and have many different views but we are all sisters and our love and bonds can go on forever.  I am grateful for all of my friends in this ward and their many talents and gifts they share with me.  I am grateful for RS leaders who put together fun events.

10.31.14  Where last weekend it was beautiful and balmy, today was much the opposite, it hovered around the 40's with a vicious wind that blew all day long.  The kids had to bundle up with 2 or 3 layers under or over their costumes.  I was glad we had the week before to see how cute the costumes were and not to just cover them up.  Dad took the day off and we headed up to the Lizzadro Lapidary Museum after lunch.  We spent some time wandering around the museum and admiring the cool skulls that someone had created out of stone.  We also spent the couple of dollars they had made that morning cleaning the house up before we left.  Then we headed back home to meet up with the Behmes and the Jonatis families to go trick or treating.  Esther only did half of the route.  She was too cold and miserable to go much further.  Dad kept her home and they handed treats out to the friends that came to the door.  (We handed them out by the handfuls so we wouldn't have so much candy left over - in the end we had more then half the bucket leftover and we still had an unopened bag.)

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Februray and March

 02.05.14  Finally weather the kids can go out in.  There has been so many super freezing days that the kids have not been able to play in all the snow we have been getting.  They were super excited that they could dig tunnels.  It was fun all around.

 02.06.14  For the last couple of weeks or it seems likes months we have been under the Polar Vortex which seems to repeat itself over and over again. Because of that the dogs have been sleeping in the house.  I found Homer on the couch.  I had suspected that he had been doing it the last couple of days but hadn't caught him.  He looked pretty guilty when I found him.  He has always had an affinity for soft blankets or pillows left on the floor.  But now he has figured out that the couch is much softer.  We will just pray for warmer weather.

02.07.14 Dave's new work truck.  It looks an awful lot like the last truck we had.  I think he likes it, he has a smile pasted on his face.

02.14.14  Happy Valentine's Day.  This year we decided to go no candy.  We found this idea on Pinterest and made glow stick valentines.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  Love my Silhouette machine and the print and cut feature.

 02.15.14  Just an ordinary day and an adorable girl.

02.19.14  Snow men and snow balls.  Peter was having a heyday throwing snowballs at the front window.  They were able to build a snowman too.  Again it is great when the weather cooperates and the kids can play outside.  We have had one too many days inside.  UGH!

02.20.14  Today we said goodbye to one of our friends.  She slipped peacefully into the next life this morning at the vet's office. We love her and will miss her. She now can run and play like she used to. 15 years is a long time to know someone, it is the end of a wonderful era. We will miss you.

 02.21.14 Anyone want a tea party.  Esther wanted me to spend some time with her having a tea party.  She was all dressed up and gave me a crown and a necklace.  The hot cocoa was delicious and the cookies were divine.  Esther was a gracious host.  It was fun to spend time with just Esther for a change.  I think she liked it.

02.28.14 Peter and I went to our Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.  I had spent most of the morning setting it up.  The night was all about being Mad Scientists.  The boys were having a great time.  I think at this point they were catching bubbles that had been made with soap and dry ice.  It was fascinating and entertaining.

03.08.14  The kids had their last basketball games today.  It was fun to watch them play and cheer them on.  My favorite thing was the bag the Esther brought to play with at the game.  It included her boots, a Hello Kitty stuffed animal, a plastic small whale and a carpet guide from Home Depot.  I am sure the last one will help her out a bunch when she decides to get new carpet.

03.12.14  Dave was in Colorado and had jokingly said that he wanted us to have all the snow removed by the time he got back.  On Monday it looked like we may be succeeding by Friday.  Today we woke up to this.  More snow and no hope of getting it all cleaned up by Friday.  But it did make for some cool pictures with the tree and the blue sky.  Esther thought it would be a good idea to shovel.

03.17.14  Happy St. Patty's day.  There was a lot of green going around.  After FHE we made covered pretzels.

03.29.14  After shoveling over 2 buckets full of dog poop and getting a $1 per pound of poop, Dave put the trampoline they got for Christmas up in the backyard.  Then they got to bounce around for awhile.  It was the first nice day that we have had in a long time and we had promised the kids that we would put it up sometime at the end of March or first part of April, depending on the weather.  Dave had also told them that they needed to clean up the poop before he would start putting it up.  Although there is still much dog poop left in the yard.  I was quite proud of their initiative and hard work as they cleaned up the yard.

January 11- 31

January 11th
Kirsten turned 9 a couple of weeks ago and we decided to have her party after the kids got back into school.  She designed the invitation with a little of my help.  I think she is pretty artistic and did a pretty good job.  We decided to do a craft and pizza party.  Kirsten was a big help as we decided what to do.

I made 7 of these aprons for Kirsten and all her friends.  They turned out super cute and the kids loved them.  It was two fold.  To keep their clothes clean and to have a great take home item.

We started by making individual pizzas.  The girls had fun creating their own pizzas, but once they were cooked it was a little hard to determine which pizza belonged to which girl.  But they were very similar and so the girls just ate the ones in front of them.

Next we created bracelets with beads and elastic string.  The girls made very beautiful bracelets.  Some were very simple and others were more detailed.  All turned out pretty and the girls really had a great time.

Next thanks to the generosity of Meagan Johnson, we were able to make fun cards to give each other or to others.  The girls glued and pasted and put together some pretty fun cards.  Some with lots of flowers some with just a couple flowers.  Kirsten made the cute Thank you card and then gave it to me.  It said  "Dear Mom, Thank you for doing my birthday party. Love, Kirsten."  It made all the hard work and effort worth it.  What a sweet girl and everything was so fun.

Last we decorated the cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.  As I suspected the cupcakes were almost more sprinkles then frosting.  The girls were enjoying sprinkling the cupcakes and eating their creations.  As they were finishing up the parents were coming.  We hadn't opened presents and so we quickly opened presents and then sent everyone home.  I didn't get any pictures because I was running around trying to make sure everyone had all the things they had made.  I think it was a pretty fun and Kirsten enjoyed her party.

 January 16th,
The Big Chill 3rd and 4th grade concert.  Kirsten's class sang all about having a snow day, after they had 4 cold/snow days that had canceled the original concert date.  It was fun to watch and listen to them sing songs about cold and snow.  Outside the weather was snowy and everywhere you looked there were snow piles from the snow that had been going on for the last couple of weeks.  Kind of ironic they were singing about getting more snow when we had more then enough already.

January 27th,

Usually I get up earlier then the kids and do my exercises, but this morning I knew the kids were not going to school and I slept in a little bit and so when I decided to do my exercises I had three kids doing it along with me.  I think they are pretty good at it.

January 2nd to 7th

January 2nd - We had a pretty intense storm today that produce a ton of snow.  Everything we had planned for the morning was being cancelled and so we decided to brave the snow and pull out our sleds and go sledding.  The roads were not plowed, the snow was continuing to fall in a rapid pace but we endured.  When we got to Ebersold Park there were a handful of brave souls that came out to sled.  The snow was a little fluffy and hard to slide down.  We found the best way to get down the hill was on our large purple sled with all 4 of us.  Of course Kirsten and Esther found it best to ride backwards, especially if they were at the front since the powder just flew up in our faces.  We didn't last too long the snow was not only flying up in our face but the snow was almost snowing sideways and when you were going down hill you were getting a  bunch of snow in your face too.  Back to home for hot cocoa and marshmallows.  YUM!

January 5th - After getting ourselves ready and out the door for church, the bishopric decided that there were so many people missing that there might not be enough teachers to run the rest of the meetings at church and so they sent us home.  We as a primary presidency (and most especially the Primary President) were so glad.  She had been sitting in the back formulating a plan to cover classes and teachers.  She said that many of the kids were there but a lot of teachers were not.  She was greatly relieved and so were we.  We trudged back to our cars and went home.
We decided we needed to see how much snow we had accumulated in the last couple of days and so we went out back and took our ruler out to measure the snow on the dog house.  It was about 14 1/2 inches.  I am amazed at how much snow that has fallen.  There are predictions that tomorrow will be super cold.  The school district has cancelled school for tomorrow.  The kids get an extended winter break.

 January 6th
BRRRR!  It is super cold outside.  I guess it is good that the kids don't have school.  Problem is we still had to go out in it and go to an appointment for me.  With all 3 kids in tow.  Good thing they are super good kids.

January 7th - a second cold day.  Boo hoo for mom!  I officially deem today Pajama day! Everything we had to do today has been canceled. My van is in the shop. So we have no transportation, no desire to go out and the temperature is -11 degrees with -30 windchill. Let the fun begin. Now I need to go out and grab the water balloons I put outside last night and see what they look like.
If you follow me on Facebook, then this will be a repeat of what we did, but I want to keep a record of it here on the blog.

Experiment #1 fill water balloons with a little bit of food coloring and water. Then place outside overnight. Glassy water marbles. Cool.

Experiment #2 hot air balloon flying. 

Experiment #3 freezing bubbles. The key way to catch it on the wand, then wait and watch it change.

Experiment #4 boiling water to steam. This would have worked better yesterday. But who wanted to be outside?

Take 2

Experiment #5 stained glass with sharpies. We took some drawing paper and drew designs with sharpies. Of course we found it on Pinterest. Sorry for filling up your news feed. I am taking the advice of my neighbor and friend Lori Spisak that said, we should take advantage of the time our kids still want to do something with us and they think we are cool. I was NOT happy they had one more day home, but then I realized that I could complain about it or make it fun for all of us. Hope you have enjoyed our adventures.

Then the kids took my tablet and ran around the house taking random pictures in different modes.  I guess it could be experiment #6, but I was too exhausted and was just glad they could entertain themselves.