Blogging in the Ohio 12th

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-12-19T20:08:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend started off, of course, with an insanely good meal at Gram's. Guess what we brought?

I took pie too, but I don't have a picture of that. I do have a picture of this pretty girl who LOVES to eat Thanksgiving. She talks about the food for DAYS leading up.

We started the day watching the parade. Mostly the girls watch it with PD while I sleep in, cook, and curl my hair. I yell in, "call me when Snoopy is on!" so I don't miss my favorite balloons.

With my mini-me at Thanksgiving dinner.

In addition to making an amazing meal, Gram gives the grandkids an ornament every Thanksgiving.

Then the day after Thanksgiving, the only Black Friday shopping we did was to go to our neighborhood Home Depot to buy 20 poinsettias for 20 dollars. I did give some away. Here we are loading them up!

We saw the Muppet Movie with the whole family:

And we got all the Christmas decorations up.

It was a such a blessed weekend.

November Wrap Up

2011-12-07T19:22:00.001-08:00

Here are a few miscellaneous things that happened in November.We shopped for our Operation Christmas Child boxes:

And sent them off.

We dressed as Native Americans for our nursing home ministry. Don't you love the papoose?

Here is a round up of some of the fall crafts we did. Had to take a picture before we took them down and started in on the Christmas crafts.

We went to Cincinnati for Cincinnati cousin's birthday. He is the whole package: cute, smart and FUNNY.

Speaking of smart, PK2 is very into puzzles. She can do a 100-500 piece puzzle all on her own.

This was actually a 1,000 piece puzzle and we helped her some with that, but still impressive. I actually really like puzzles too and may have let my chores go a little in order to work on this one.

Our good good friends went all the way to Uganda this month. They carried with them our favorite Bible story book, The Jesus Storybook Bible for our sponsored child and hand delivered it to her. Amazing. It was so special to pray each day with the girls over their trip, and that Patience would read her Bible and have faith in God. And special that they took a picture of her for us!

On a much more worldly note, I got PD to grow his hair out and wear it a bit longer. Oh my land...does he look good! Why do men age so much better than women?

Last but not least, the girls created a Lego Stonehenge.

Soli Deo Gloria

2011-11-19T19:26:00.001-08:00

I am becoming more and more passionate about teaching our kids theology through the practices of our lives. This is how young Jewish children were brought up in the faith. Daily, weekly and holiday practices re-enforced the stories and tenants of their faith. I believe our theology shapes our practice and if we don't know our theology, how can we live righteous lives? The girls and I have studied the Reformation and Reformation Day (which happens to fall on Halloween every year) the last few years. See our favorite book above. This year we invited the GEMS to have a Reformation Day celebration with us. To prepare, the girls and I made a giant Wittenberg Door

And what did we happen upon at the thrift store..but a Martin Luther costume for PD. He did a great job helping me teach the girls with a little skit we wrote.

We also had a craft time and learned the Five Solas. We made a little book. Each page had one Sola and a verse to explain it.

Everyone had a good time and learned something, which was the whole idea.

Special thanks to my best friend, who I did not take a picture of. She showed up with a lovely dessert for my guests and served it with grace and efficiency while I madly finished up the craft time. Everyone should have a best friend like that.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

I almost dropped the ball on Halloween this year. I knew it would be ok to take a few days to go to
Chicago, but when I came back, the girls and I got really sick with a cold. Then I hosted a Reformation party...all while doing my regular things like homeschool, help PD lead our small group, follow up with my IFI volunteers, nursing home ministry, take the girls to a Laura Ingalls play and help our friends get ready for a trip to Uganda! Really the only thing that made it difficult was being sick. Everything else was pretty much a regular week for me. The costumes were not coming together smoothly. I kept waiting for someone to come give me a medal for walking around JoAnn Fabrics in a Nyquil fog with Kleenex stuffed up my nose, but alas, no such luck.

We were going to dress up as a theme with our besties (as usual). But we had half super hero costumes and half Ancient Egypt costumes. It was crunch time and we ended up pulling together three ancient Egyptian princesses and the cutest mummy you ever saw.

Gram and Papa came over and helped me at the last minute. Gram brought me some blue eyeshadow from her archives and helped me finish up the food I was taking to the neighborhood party. Papa helped me carry it over. They also brought their usual bag of goodies for the girls. I will tell you, Gram's goodie bags are the best. She puts in all these individual sized snacks like Ritz and pretzels and graham crackers that I am too cheap to buy. They usually last us quite awhile and it is so nice to just grab one when we are headed out the door.

Of course we took a ton of pictures:

Little neighbor girl stopped by:

The whole neighbor gang. You will notice a lot of coats over the costumes. It was COLD this year.

Last minute trip to Chicago

2011-11-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago (before Halloween for reference) my sister called and asked if we could throw together a last minute visit. She home schools with another family and they were going on a trip, so she had a free week. The lure of the city and a fun week with cousins was too much to resist. I packed up and was out the door in 18 hours!

Our schedule was the same every day. The day would start with nummy french toast made by Chicago Aunt and Uncle, drink coffee and let the kids play until they start to bother us, then pack up for a day of adventures, then collapse on the couch after 8 and have Chicago Uncle bring us things to drink. Our first day there, we went to a cute little restaurant that delivers your food on a little model train that runs all around the lunch counter. It is called 2 Toots.

Sweet baby watching the train...don't get saliva on your computer screen trying to kiss this baby.

Don't the burgers look yummy? I wish I had one right now!

Then we walked around:

And stopped in the tiniest little candy store. Can you see who is posing for the picture, and who couldn't wait to pick out his candy? We told him to pick out ten and he could eat 3. He picked out 25 and ate them all.

We also took the train downtown:

...to American Girl. We saw all the displays but did not buy anything this time. The new AG girls this year are Cecile and her friend Marie-Grace.

The bigger hit this year anyway was the Lego Store. Their store window display is a giant Lego model of downtown Chicago. Those are all Legos, not a big picture!

Best of all was just hanging with the cousins.

Especially this funny little boo boo:

Ok, now go get a tissue and wipe off your computer screen. You know you couldn't resist kissing it.

GEMS at the Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

The girls' scout troupe went on a hay ride and to the pumpkin patch.

It was supposed to rain, but it held off and was a really fun time. We had cider and donuts and picked pumpkins.

Oh look at me and my bestie! Wow, I am sty'lin. I was afraid I would be cold and grabbed PD's fleece jacket at the last minute.

PK2 in the field:

Pretty girl...I have this one as my screen saver:

Apple Picking

2011-10-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

We went apple picking and discovered the best new kind of apple. Pixie Crunch. Normally I don't go for fancy new hybrids, but these were the perfect mix of tart and sweet. See that last picture taken from outside the tractor? When I was trying to get take that picture, I got left behind by the tractor driver. I had to run to catch up and jump on the back of the tractor. It was embarrassing. Everyone made a big deal about it like "oh are you ok? "you ran fast!" "why did he leave you?" But now my kids will tell that every year when we go apple picking.

Orange Leaf

2011-10-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

College sister manages an Orange Leaf back in my hometown. It might have been the night after her wedding, she took all the little cousins for a back stage tour of the place. Oh they LOVED it! They think she is the coolest. She IS! I had a couple of cool aunts too. My Colorado Aunt was in college when I was a kid and she would sun herself in my kiddie pool with cucumbers on her eyes. My San Antonio Aunt lived with us for awhile and she gave me gum for the first time. She also served me raw hot dogs on a fishing trip. (it wasn't half bad) Also my first fishing trip. But I digress. My girls have college sister and she is the BEST. She let them help make the big vats of ice cream. I think they made chocolate brownie and peanut butter.

She is funny:

Look at all the nummy mix-ins they use. My favorite is cake batter.

Mesmerized:

Of course eating as much as you want for free is the best part:

Toppings:

Cousins:

Sisters:

Baby cousin:

Here I am wooing my baby niece with bites of my ice cream. It worked!

GEMS go to the County Fair

2011-10-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

The GEMS entered a quilt in the county fair this year. Believe me... this was not my idea! ~~Sewing those squares myself while watching sitcoms~~ Helping the girls sew their squares was fairly brutal and only reinforced my insecurities about not being able to cut, sew or draw straight. But the quilt turned out great and it was really fun to go see it on display. After we saw the quilt, we hit the fairway! We ate fair food and rode ride after ride. Look how big PK1 is compared to me! How did I get such a grown up kid?

I am sorry, but the big slide is the best ride.

We stood by this pig and made a ton of Charlotte's Web jokes. For instance, "That's SOME PIG" "He's TERRIFIC."

This was the PKs first ride on the bumper cars. They were TERRIBLE! They kept getting stuck and the carnie guy had to come over and help them. Finally he just rode around on the back of their car and steered for them. They get that honest though, I hated the bumper cars. Seriously? Here, let me give you $3 to drive slow and get in 20 car accidents.

Checking out the farm equipment:

Joni at Cedarville

2011-09-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

The girls and I have been using these wonderful books in our Bible time each morning. Each lesson features the history of a particular hymn and a devotional about it by Joni Eareckson Tada.

When I heard that she was going to be at my alma mater to speak in chapel, we decided to take a morning off from our regular schooling and drive down there. It was wonderful to be back on campus.

Joni's message was so good. I just re-read her biography this week. She is just amazing, but of course all the glory goes to God's work in her life.

There weren't too too many people waiting to talk to her after, so we just went up to tell her how much we like the hymn book and what a blessing her ministry is. Maybe we took a little picture.

My parents always really talked up college to us girls growing up. We all knew we wanted to go and that going was a huge privilege. They especially thought highly of Christian liberal arts college. So I am trying to do the same with my girls.

I hope they will want to go some day. Can't you just see them taking off together in an old Camry and coming home for weekend trips to see me! I always tell them they have to call me every night from college and PD always tells them that they most certainly do not!

We walked around a bit and ate lunch in the cafeteria. PK1 was such a big girl, getting her own tray and going back for lots of self serve ice cream. (I thought it was too soon to discuss the "freshman 15.") The cafeteria is called "Chucks" because the guy who runs it is named Chuck. And even though it is in a different building now, I did see Chuck!

Summer Leftovers

2011-09-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

The girls learned to ride their bikes this summer. PK2 learned very quickly. She was motivated, fearless and confident. A few weeks later, after a great deal of fussing and protesting... PK1 learned too. When she finally got it she said, "HOW am I doing this?" PD and I breathed a huge sigh of relief to have two girls on two wheels. We even ventured out to the bike paths a few times by the end of the summer.

We actually had a few days over 100 here. Pretty rare for Ohio.

Towards the very end of August, we realized we hadn't been to our favorite Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream even once all summer! Since it was raining, we decided to go to the North Market Jeni's. We each tried two flavors. Some of us even branched out and tried something new.

I promise they were happier about the ice cream than they were about this picture.

PD got a new car this summer! He finally got rid of his 1992 Camry and bought a 2006!

One weekend we had surprise house guests! Gram and Cincinnati cousin (and his parents) stayed with us because there was no AC at Gram's house. It was lots of fun to hang out, stay cool and enjoy family time. The cousins played and played:

We took the summer off from our nursing home ministry, but when we got back there was a special cowboy theme day. These were the four cutest cowboys.

A couple years ago we started grilling out almost every Saturday and Sunday. PD comes home too late to eat together during the week, but we have weekend grilling down to a science. We always have meat (pork loin, pork chops, chicken, steak or salmon) garden veggies (grilled or a big salad) and either potatoes cooked in foil with onion, rice or bread. You can come up with lots of options with those. These pictures are actually from last year, but you get the point:

We also like to have this:

And we even started grilling peaches with our pork. Here is the recipe and it is amazing. Pork and Peaches

Last grill out this year though, PD was caught in a complete downpour. He was really soaked even with the umbrella.

One night after a late party for PD's work, Gram and Papa had mercy on me and kept the girls over night. They have only stayed over at Gram's a couple of times, but every time they come home with bad bed head, MacDonald's breakfast on their face and very very happy! Thank you for the "sleep night over" Gram!

I will close out with a few fun pictures from the pool. The last weekend it was open was cold and I felt cheated of our "last swim". I can't believe another summer is gone.

Hiking

2011-09-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

PD is the one who usually takes the girls on hikes. Sometimes I join in and sometimes I don't. This was a beautiful Sunday afternoon so I went along.

The wildlife must have heard I was coming because they really pulled out all the stops for me. We went on this trail because we had heard that people have been spotting minks here occasionally. We had our hopes set pretty low. First we spotted this giant wasp nest. Maybe 18 inches across.

Then we found this HUGE fungus:

Best of all was this GIGANTIC OWL. It was very Harry Potteresque. Truthfully, I freaked out a bit when PD pointed it out and it flew from one tree to another. It was bigger and closer than it looks in the picture because we didn't take a picture until after I screamed and it flew higher.

I was the one that first saw these two deer. One was a young buck. The picture isn't that great because they camouflaged so well with the trees, but they are only a few yards away from us.

I told the kids that if I hadn't been there, I would not have believed that they saw all those things! The girls did great and PK2 only had to be carried just a little bit at the end.

We Went Up in the Arch

2011-09-10T13:33:00.000-07:00

After years of driving right by the arch on our way to and from my home town, we decided the girls were old enough to appreciate seeing it this year.

So we rode up in that crazy thing that looks like you got into an egg. I had to pretend that I wasn't freaking out. I hate enclosed spaces and I am not crazy about heights or national monuments that may or may not be something targeted by terrorists. I am a real danger junky basically. They said it would take 4 minutes to go up and 3.45 to get down. hmmmm...gravity?

But the day was clear and the view was great! The girls weren't scared and they did really enjoy it. One little girl was crying because her dad was trying to make her look out the window.

Then we walked around a museum they had where a talking statue of Lewis and Clarke told you stories and lessons. They were funny because they were life sized, but not quite. We studied Lewis and Clark last year and their story is even more amazing than I had remembered as a child. A really good documentary about it was Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West from National Geographic. It was one of the first things I ever watched on our big HD tv and it is also visually stunning. Highly recommend.

We even had lunch on a river boat right next to the arch.

I like this picture a lot, even though you can't see the arch.

Farmers Market

2011-08-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

About half way through the summer, the girls and I started a tradition of going to a farmers market to stock up on veggies every Monday morning after our morning lessons. My mom always had a garden growing up and I love eating zucchini fixed 100 ways and lots of garden tomatoes all summer, but I don't have my own garden. Years like this when people tell me they didn't get much anyway, I am kind of glad that I don't go to the trouble. My sister gets a CSA delivered every weel (box of locally grown veggies). It is great because it forces you to eat a LOT of veggies, but she is always googling recipes that call for two kohlrabi and an eggplant and a beet. There are pop up markets all over our area, mostly on Saturday, but I like this permanent one because I can go anytime and not fight the Saturday crowds. They have this big chair:

The best was in August when the peaches came in. Each and every peach was perfect. I must have eaten over a hundred peaches this summer.

The bounty:

Justin Bieber Hair

2011-08-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

The other night PK2 came into our room pretty late at night with some hang-nail related problem. She was half asleep. PD and I started laughing and making fun of her because her hair was so funny. I think I had put her to bed with wet hair and we decided she had Justin Bieber Hair. I made PD go get the camera. She did not want her picture taken... but it was happening.

For the record, I am not the type to let my kids create their own bedtime. 8 or 8:30 rolls around and they are lights-out, door-closed in bed. But on the occasion that they pop back up with a question, complaint or cry of outrage, here is what we say. PD might get home at 9 and say, "I thought they were in bed!" My response, "It didn't take." Lately the main reason it "doesn't take" is that the girls are very into having ice water. You have to get as much ice as you can physically cram into a little plastic princess cup and then fill in the crevices with water. Never mind the insane amounts of condensation that oozes all over their IKEA nightstands and onto my childhood copy of Caddie Woodlawn. They have been known to emerge from bed saying "but my ice all melted." Ridiculous...but I find myself softening as a mother. When they were toddlers, I was hard core. But now, they are just such good kids that if having nine ice cubes makes them happy, I am happy to have PD run downstairs and fill those cups right back up.

Theater Camp

2011-08-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

The girls attended a theater camp this summer. The week got off to a rocky start when PK1 threw up in the back of our friend's van on the way to camp on the first day. Because she missed the first day, she was only assigned the tiniest part, but she rebounded quickly and was back the second day, glad to be able to still take part.

One of her best friends, the girl on the right, was the lead and she was excellent!

Here are the PKs. They played bratty sisters in the play!

The whole cast:

Gram and Papa came to see their debut:

And here they are afterwards with a big treat:

Which, I have to tell you, PK1 threw back up a few hours later. JUST in time to ruin my anniversary date. That child has impeccable timing.

The Governor's Mansion

2011-08-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

We were invited to a little senior staff picnic at the Governor's Residence this summer. When we arrived PD got immediately taken into a private room for a meeting, but we still had a very nice time.

They had fun stuff for the kids. Like a bounce house:

And snow cones:

Eventually PD joined us again and PK1 took this picture of us:

And PD took one of me with the girls:

A Midsummer Night's Dream

2011-08-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

We were back in Schiller Park in late July for another theater experience. This time in the evening and this time it was Shakespeare! PK1 likes Shakespeare quite a bit and this time the play was A Midsummer Nights Dream. I never loved that play until studying it last year with PK1. She really sold me on it and she brought her favorite book about it.

They used puppets for the fairies instead of actors. It sounded weird at first, but the puppets were pretty cool. And a friend of ours played Peas Blossom (the green one), one of the puppet/fairies.

The best part, besides the insanely good weather and all the snacks PD kept buying us, was listening to PK1 laugh at all the right parts. I LOVE that kid. She almost wet her pants because she didn't want to miss a second of the show to go to the bathroom.

The whole family. Of course, I am in that same shirt again. It is a really great shirt because it is light and summery, but keeps you a little covered up on a cool night.

PD has a birthday...

2011-08-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

Gram and Papa kindly hosted us for PD's birthday this year. We went to a great little restaurant called The Liberty Tavern:

PD ordered this:

Restaurant buddies:

About a month ago, I went out and bought PD a TON of ties and shirts and dress socks. Then I made both Gigi and Gram reimburse me for some of it for PD's birthday. He goes through so many ties and shirts these days. So PD got a lot of these:

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting = PD's favorite. It was a really fun night. I have the best family ever!

July 4th

2011-08-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July we did not walk in any parades...and for that we are truely thankful. We did meet up with our usual political friends for a big cook out. Here are the kids, many wet from water fights:

Here is a picture of just the girls. They were cooperating for the picture a little bit better. The oldest girl babysits for the girls sometimes when the grandparents are not available. She is homeschooled as well, so sometimes she helps me out if I need a sitter during the day. She is great and the girls love her.

Patriotic PKs:

Waiting for the fireworks:

When you have ten year old boys, you have smoke bombs:

And the rockets red glare:

Signing the Budget

2011-08-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

The first of July was a huge deadline at work for PD and his team. They have been working tirelessly on a two year budget. It was finally done and passed both houses. Here they are the day of the signing. They all have their suit coats off for a joke...something about "rolling up your sleeves and getting to work." I think it ruins the picture, but whatever.

Here is the whole team. PD's mancretary is the one on the far left.

PD texted me this picture earlier that day. The legal team had to go over the whole budget before it could be signed. That is a lot of papers! That is insane!

I met PD at the statehouse to watch the signing, but I missed it because I had to get the babysitter and they kept changing the time. I was running through the corridors with my high heals in my hands. I did take this picture of PD in the Cabinet Room.

And here is a picture from a newspaper of the signing:

And here is when the governor called PD up to help sign:

After the signing someone hosted a Rockin Fiscal New Year party...everyone was congratulating PD. Funny story from the party... I never know what to wear to these parties. Some people had gone home to change, some had on work clothes. I wore a dress because I thought I was going to the signing at the statehouse. This state senator thought I looked over-dressed and asked me if I had just come from work. Not wanting to over-explain the wardrobe conundrums of a home school mom, I just said, "um... yes."
PD ushered me away from him quickly before my web of lies got any more complicated. But I HAD just come from work!

Here is a video of the signing. PD appears at minute 2:15:

My Cousin Got Married in South Bend

2011-08-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend we had in South Bend, Indiana to see my cousin get married. He is probably my closest cousin, sandwiched right between me and Chicago Sister in age. Chicago Sister and I did a funny little toast for him. We love his new wife...she is nice, down to earth and really fun!

We arrived at the hotel where the girls were given a hot cookie by a bellhop that looked and acted exactly like Pee Wee Herman.

My dad's entire side of the family was there and it was a great family reunion. My girls played and swam with their cousins a lot between the festivities.

Grandad's specialty: throwing the kids around in the pool.

Sitting in their own booth and eating their weight in pancakes:

BIG comfy bed:

All dressed up:

Our family:

The sisters:

Us with the groom:

Grandad's other specialty:

They will be the next bride and groom!

PD and PK1:

Unbelievable, look who caught the bouquet!

The Triumvirate is complete, the tribe has spoken. We covered all the bases.
One Big Politics, One Big Finance and One Big Computers.
All nice guys we don't really deserve.

Late night visit from Grandad:

First Day at the Pool

2011-08-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

I like to take this picture every year:

2010:

2009:

2008:

How long before they won't let me buy them the same swim suit every year?

Theater in the Park

2011-08-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

After church one Sunday, we went out to lunch and then downtown to see The Scarlet Pimpernel. PK1 had read it this year and really enjoyed it. She really liked the play too. It was such a beautiful day.

I realize now, that I wore this shirt to everything this summer. I must really like it!

I leave you with PD, eating Reeses Pieces and checking his Blackberry:

Father's Day

2011-08-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely little grill-out at our place for Father's Day. The girls made this for Papa:

And we enjoyed some time with our favorite guys:

We went to the zoo with Gram...back in June

2011-08-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

When it is a nice cool day and you catch mom and Gram in just the right mood at the beginning of the summer, you get to ride the boat AND the train all in the same day. I had a fist full of zoo dollars and they were burning a hole in my pocket!

I also desperately needed a hair cut.

These pictures from the Lorikeet exhibit are taken through a chain link fence because I am sure I could not handle a bird landing on me. Now I feel a little bad for not going in with them because these pictures could have been so much better. Look at PK2!

and Gram!

Petting zoo:

And a train ride:

more GEMS

2011-07-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

These GEMS activities are too cute. Have to share a couple of our recent outings. The first, back in May, was a Father/Daughter pottery painting night:

Then in June we learned all about raising chickens! One of the families in GEMS raises their own chickens.

We even went home with a half dozen gorgeous eggs.

I would love to have fresh eggs like that, but I don't touch animals, so I guess that is out for us.

Hometown Saturday Night

2011-07-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, when I was in my hometown, the sisters + one future BIL went out on the town. Could my sisters and I look any more different? We actually do have some similarities. (notice the chins) My mom says we all look so different because we were all born in different decades.

Feel free to play this song for your listening pleasure while reading this.

Best line "Lucy's got her lipstick on a little too bright. Bobby's gettin drunk and lookin for a fight."

Second best line "Lucy you know the world must be flat. Cause people leave town and never some back."

The weather was great and after 24 kid free hours and a nice glass of wine, I do believe I felt 18 23 again! Here we are at The Pumphouse.

Later a little dancing:

Stopped here on the way home...

...for some crazy donuts. They have one with bacon on the top!

The next day we went to see THE dress:

While College Sister got into her dress, Chicago Sister and I may have messed around a little with the bride stuff:

She looks inocent here, but she was trying stuff on too.

We also ate a lot of "complimentary" ice cream at the ice cream store that College Sister manages:

College BIL is just awesome. He is the perfect third for our husband trifecta! He is always saying things like, "I'll get that." and "What's next ladies?" Sunday afternoon before we had to leave, he was sleeping on the couch at my parent's house. College Sister says, "you can go home babe!" and he said, "NO...I'm not going home until your sisters leave." He is also pretty funny though and takes all the teasing we dish out. There was one little incident with a bouncer at one of the clubs that he may never live down. I won't go into it all here, but suffice it to say, if he needs to, he can go to the ATM.

After a loooong day of canceled flights etc....I was so glad to see my babies at the airport at 2 in the morning. Because of course now, my real home is this medium sized town where I am a home school mom and political wife who only dances at weddings and can't eat donuts because of the carbs.

Bridal Shower for College Sister

2011-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Back in June I went by myself for 48 hours to my hometown. My reasons for going were twofold. First, to go to a bridal shower for College Sister. And second, to meet my soon to be College-BIL! Caveat, he is not in college anymore, but what am I supposed to call these two now? I absolutely cannot say how much Chicago Sister and I love the new BIL! He fits in perfectly with our family and is TONS of fun. He even took us out for a night on the town, but you will have to wait to see those pictures.

The shower was given by my mom's two best friends. Chicago Sister and I were supposed to help, but they didn't really give us that much to do. We provided some pastries and mimosas. I think because they remember us as squirrely teenagers, they were afraid to give us too much responsibilty. This was fine by us though because back home we throw plenty of big parties and have to do ALL the work (shhhh..don't tell anyone back home about this). There are some advantages to working with people who knew you as kids! We had such a nice time at the beautiful shower. Check out some of this lovely food and decor.

Look at these gorgeous sugar cookies! I got to bring home a few of these for the PKs.

Opening TONS of gifts:

Look Baby Cousin showed up halfway through. Grandad got her up from a nap, put on her dress and bloomers and dropped her off to join the grown up ladies.

The Sisters. In one month we will all be old married ladies...one considerably older than the other two!

GEMS at the Fire Station

2011-06-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

The girls' scout group went to the fire station a couple of weeks ago. It was a pretty fancy suburban fire station (not in my ~~ghetto~~ neighborhood). The firemen gave us a really nice tour.

All the mommies asked a lot of questions. Is that normal? I thought later, maybe we were a little too interested in talking to the fire guys. Can you imagine it..a bunch of home school moms, "sooooo..do you get a LOT of fires out here?"

They did have a lot of good stories though. One said that his former station burned their kitchen down when they left on a run and left the stove on! They also said that they don't use fire poles anymore because the fire guys would horse around and get hurt too much. Some fire stations have slides, but this one had neither.

It was a lot of fun. All the girls were so well behaved and we had a Christian fire man come and talk to them before the tour. He gave a really neat devotional on bravery. Our little club has been so much fun. We also made quilt squares at a nursing home and next week one of the moms is hosting us to talk about her backyard chicken coop.

Wrapping it up

2011-06-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Of course May means wrapping up some of our activities. We had the last day of our homeschool co-op:

PK1 participated in a science fair, her project was about birds of course:

And Zoo School ended with a bang:

The kids got to touch a hedge-hog or as Lola says, "a hedgey hoggy."

And they learned a lot about lions and other African animals. I didn't get any good pictures of the animals, but I thought these pictures of the kids were pretty cute.

The girls won some awards at Awana for Bible memory. They both have some special friendships at Awana and they look forward to going each week.

While all those activities are fun and meaningful, it is nice to be on the cusp of our summer schedule.

Vote on My New Rug

2011-06-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

PD just got a new (used) car...pictures to follow. But in the meantime, here is the scoop. We saved our pennies for 3 years thinking we would need a certain amount for his car. Surprise though! We got it for a bit less, so I am redoing our living room with the leftover funds, plus whatever I can get on Craigslist for our current living room furniture. I am going bleary eyed looking at all these Persian rugs. If anyone wants to help me choose, I would be grateful. I am hoping to buy ivory sofas if that helps with the decision.

Rug 1

Rug 2

Rug 3

Rug 4

Here is my current living room. The purple velvet sofas seemed like a good idea 12 years ago in 1999. I actually did really like them for the first 10 years. Now when I walk through the living room, I want to put my eye out with a stick.

Some days I am so excited to get to have the room redone, some days I feel like it will just be a royal hassle. But, my one and only kid free week of the year is coming up in June. I will have the girls in VBS every morning for a week. I am thinking I can maybe spend some time on it then..maybe even paint. Or maybe I should go to the dentist, get my hair cut and buy undergarments...you know all those luxurious things you can't do when you home school and your husband works 80 hours a week. We shall see.

Hocking Hills: Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

GEMS

2011-05-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

The PKS are involved in a new little club for girls. It is like girl scouts...but BETTER! OK, that is just what the moms who put it together think. But we assembled the nicest families of homeschool girls and started this little club. GEMS stands for Growing in Excellence, Mastering Skills. The girls will learn skills, have fun, be discipled by their moms and earn patches. We had a kick-off bonfire for all the families, hosted by the best hostess in the world and my best friend:

There they received their sashes that will hold all the badges:

And their first badge:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

2011-05-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

PK2 wanted a Rainbow Birthday party to celebrate turning 6 this year. We had two balloon rainbows, a rainbow cake and a bounce house!

The kids played on the slip and slide:

Made a fairy garden...or for the boys it was a dinosaur garden:

Cousin made her this rainbow card:

And PK1's best friend made her this Richard Scary mobile for her room! Precious! PK2 LOVES Richard Scary.

I think everyone had a good time:

Especially the birthday girl:

She got so many wonderful gifts:

Including these grass skirts from Gram:

And a stomp rocket from Gigi. As soon as she opened the stomp rocket, it was like holding back wild horses. The boys wanted to play with it SO BAD. PD set it up right after the gifts were opened and everyone had a lot of fun with it. PD is actually outside right now trying to get a couple rockets out of the tree!

And of course, the cake, around which the whole birthday was based.

Then, after everyone went home, the yard was picked up, and the girls had a shower, believe it or not, there was a real rainbow in the sky. Our phone started ringing, everyone was calling to tell us. PK2 had said a few days ago, "Maybe there will be a real rainbow on my birthday." I assured her that there would not be. What a beautiful surprise!

Rollin Right Along

2011-05-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to a kiddie skate time last week to work on our skating skills. It was so much fun and PK2 really got the hang of it. Watching her skate (she looks so much like me at that age) is like looking back in time to my roller rink days.

Untitled from Political family on Vimeo.

PK1 is still getting the hang of it:

Untitled from Political family on Vimeo.

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Once again, I find that this year's Easter post looks a lot like last year's. But that is fine with me. I love this stage of life and our family's traditions. We did our Lenten Lights every day leading up to Easter. We did them at breakfast this year because PD's schedule for dinner is so wacky. Then Easter day we celebrated with Gram and Papa and Papa's brother and cousin. The girls each received THREE Easter baskets again.

Gram got them these darling buckets filled with great snacks and a monogrammed stationary set:

Cousin K found these darling egg shaped baskets. They are so cute and will now become a permanent part of my easter decorations.

K also got them a glow in the dark Etch a Sketch. Those were a huge hit.

Since the girls receive so many goodies from relatives, we don't do an Easter basket at home. But this year I got them these dolls made in Uganda by Ugandan women. I hope the dolls will remind them of our time with the kids choir and of the little girl we support in Uganda.

College Sister sent them an Easter package in the mail. It was full of cool stuff, but the best thing was these glowing gummy worms. I am going to start getting those for birthday gifts. They were awesome.

One new thing this year was roller skating with the Easter bunny. Not your most holy of Easter week activities, but it was fun.

Our church hosted a Seder dinner that was just fantastic. The Rabbi was so good at teaching us what it all means in an understandable and entertaining way.

The girls and I study the passover every year during holy week and have found these two books very helpful.

Every year we talk about Passover and add layers of understanding. I didn't even know what Seder meant until this year. It just means "order." In other words it walks you through the story of Passover telling you the order of things using foods and symbols and rituals to help you remember. That really resonates with me. I do think that is how we learn best and remember and incorporate ideas and rituals into our lives.

Waiting for..Michelle Rhee

2011-04-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

PD and I got to go to a special screening of Waiting for Superman last week. I had read so much about it and seen so many clips, I wasn't sure I needed to see it, but I was glad I did. It is excellent. Everyone should see it. I could have watched in my jammies at home anytime, but the real draw was a question and answer time afterwards with the Governor and Michelle Rhee. Michelle Rhee is the awesome, brave, school reformer featured in the film and I did get to meet her really briefly afterwards! Here is a picture of me with her and with my friend who owns and runs a Montessorie school here in town.

Actually, here is a commercial for her school that PK1 was in almost 5 years ago! See if you can spot little PK1:

Mwangaza Children's Choir

2011-04-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago our family hosted some girls from the Mwangaza Children's Choir. Our church partners with a church in Uganda and one way they raise funds and awareness is to send out these traveling choirs of kids from Uganda.

They are the most amazing children. Every night before bed, they lead your family in a devotion time. They pray with such fervor. They have such a real relationship with God. I can't even put it into words. When they are singing though, you know that the Holy Spirit is there in that room. They pray that God will bless your family. One of my friends whose husband was out of work, hosted a group too. The day after the girls prayed for them, the husband got a job! We went to several of the concerts they were doing in the area and really got close to them.

We took them to the water park.

Played games...especially Uno:

Played outside:

Looked through a telescope:

It was a crazy exhausting weekend, but I hope we will never forget it. I also hope we can do it again sometime.

They really loved just doing puzzles. It made me want to send a huge package of puzzles to Uganda. When the littlest girl saw our American Dolls, she said, "Oooooo I have dressed these girls before." After a meal, they carry their plate in and say "thank you for cooking." And they call you auntie and uncle. And they put a ton of salt on everything. They also have an amazing ability to remember names.

When we had to take them to the church to leave on Monday morning...it was really hard. I started crying and PK1 did too.

In fact, PK1 and I cried off and on for a few days.

PD kept asking me to explain why we were crying. It wasn't just that we were sad to say goodbye. It is just that they were such a blessing. I wish that we lived like that all the time. I don't mean to be down on our family, because our family is awesome...but I wish we were more like that. Well, I shouldn't even try to explain it, because I can't.

Here is a little video clip of them performing one of their songs:

Camp Grandad hits the road

2011-03-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, my parents left Kansas and hit the road to visit all the grandkids. Our house was the first stop. Since all the grandkids (minus one late addition produced by my sister) are now out of diapers, my dad has really come alive as a Grandad. He always has fun stuff for the kids to do at his house. A trailer to pull them behind his riding mower, a zip line, and a pool. He was frustrated though..when he would come to our house that he can't bring those things. So last year he bought a croquet set and a snow cone machine before he came to visit. Then this year because they were here in the winter, he brought this microscope to hook up to the computer. OH MY GOODNESS..was it a hit!

They looked at all kinds of things with it... but had hoped for a bug. It being winter, that was a little hard to come by. Then one night around 11, I trapped a spider in PK1's bug catcher. Gigi, Grandad, PD and I were up past midnight trying to chloroform this spider so we could kill it, but not squish it. (We were eventually successful with a Raid soaked Kleenex in the bug catcher and some tape over the air holes. PETA fans cover your ears.)

He also brought the snow-cone machine. This is more of a summer thing and not my favorite because of the mess, but of course the kids love eating the sugary ice and feeding the cubes into the machine.

OK, here is the big one...I have wanted to take the girls roller skating for quite some time, but I have been reluctant to take them by myself until they got the hang of it. I could just picture myself being pulled to the floor by two struggling daughters and skated over to the tune of some terrible 80's song. I mentioned this to my dad and he jumped right on it! He said, "Well..lets do THAT!"

Background story is that he used to take me skating when I was a kid. He even bought his own skates with indoor wheels and outdoor wheels. I know that is a lot to take in. But he and I love skating!

Gigi was uber-grandma and comforted tired girls when they needed a break. Although it was really me that needed a break because dragging them around the rink was exhausting. But they made a TON of progress by the end of the night. They even said that they loved it which really surprised me because if I skated like they skated..I would hate it! Gigi bought an Icee for everyone...

And look who showed up right at the end looking just like Rob Lowe from Parks and Rec:

By the way, you can tell where I am in life when I wear a cardigan to the roller rink. I didn't give it one thought until I saw these pictures!

Gigi brought the girls each a set of Calico Critters. They are so cute and have been played with constantly since their arrival.

And PK2 read to Gigi and vice versa:

We took them with us to Awana, our nursing home ministry, and the home school co-op. They were also here for our Spanish tutor and piano lesson, so I think they got a bit of a taste of our real life. I bought Gigi some sunglasses for her birthday. Grandad took us and Gram and Papa out to dinner. We also watched the governor give his first State of the State address. It was a great time!

In February...

2011-03-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Presidents Day at our nursing home ministry. The girls reminded me with about an hour to spare, the morning of, that the teacher said they "could" dress up as something if they wanted to. PK2 had her outfit..she was Martha Washington. For PK2, I threw together a George Washington with staples and cotton balls after a quick google search.

Of course, after visiting at the nursing home, we stopped by to visit Papa and Gram at work so we could be admired a bit more.

We had one really nice day (maybe 50) and the PKs played outside all day.

I even dug out from the nether regions of the freezer, these Trader Joe's popsicles. They are pretty amazing.

Our zoo school included a special docent-led lesson from the touch pond at the aquarium. PK1 especially was in heaven.

Ladies...start your engines.

2011-02-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

"Auto racing, bull fighting and mountain climbing are the only real sports...all others are games." Ernest Hemingway

The girls enterered the Awana Grand Prix at our church again this year. It was actually the first year for PK2...she was too young last year. Last year PK1 won first place for speed. You can win for design or speed. This year they both wanted to try to win for design. PK1 designed her car as a polka dot dress and PK2 designed hers as a snowman. Here are all the cars in their division. They are #4 and #5.

PD did such a good job letting them design the car and choose everything when they made it. But on race day we had to drive separately and PD only stayed for a few minutes to make sure the cars passed the inspections...then he had to go downtown for the day. Something about Ohio having an 8 billion dollar budget shortfall...blah blah blah. Here they are at the top of the track.

Here they are at the finish line watching to see who wins:

There were two sets of eight heats and I am not going to lie...PK2 did not lose a single race! We had warned the girls that it was the exception that PK1 won last year and just building the car and racing it is the fun part. Also, once you cut the car for the design contest, you lose aerodynamics and it might be slow. But sure enough...PK2 won SECOND PLACE for design:

Then she won FIRST PLACE for Speed:

Celebration:

PK2 was a wonderful big sister and was very happy for her little sister to win. It was very sweet:

Anyway, its all about the hot dog lunch:

It was actually a little embarrassing to win last year and this year. PD says we might have to be like Oprah with the Emmys and take ourselves out of the competition next year..just to give other a chance.

Mom Translator

2011-02-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

So you remember college sister right...

She likes these slippers....

Like Snooki from Jersey Shore:

She has a lot of them:

So I was talking to my mom after Christmas and I asked her what College Sister got for Christmas. And she said, "Oh you know...some of those slippers like Pookie." It took me a minute to realize that she meant Snooki and then I laughed and thought of this skit from SNL:

And mom...don't feel bad...it would actually be more upsetting if you did know who Snooki was.

College Sister is Getting Married!

2011-02-17T06:38:00.000-08:00

We are so happy for her! Around New Years she got engaged to a great guy who makes her very happy. She even got this bit of jewelry to mark the occasion :)

She has already chosen a venue:

These really cool felt bouquets instead of fresh flowers:

She is doing cupcakes instead of a cake:

These awesome original shoes! They are going to have her name on them!

And she used this Fortune Cookie in a Chinese take out box to ask me to be her Matron of Honor. Well... Co-Matron of Honor with Chicago Sister!

She also sent the PKs a poem and gift asking them to be flower girls.

Congrats College Sister..we are so happy for you and we can't wait until August!

We had Valentine toast.... and cabbage rolls

2011-02-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

On Valentines Day I made this heart shaped jelly toast for the PKs. I also bought and wrapped a few books and CDs for them. It was all stuff I probably would have bought anyway, but it was fun to wrap it up and have a little Valentines Day celebration. This is what I look like every morning at 7:30 AM.

PK2 loves Richard Scary right now.

We also went to the Political Grandparents for my family birthday celebration.

Can I just tell you...they really know how to make a person feel special on their birthday.

They had my favorite cabbage rolls, my favorite wine, my favorite cake, gifts, cards...and Political Gram even made homemade candy mints that said "Happy Birthday". Unbelievable! It was like it was my wedding shower or something!

It was a really GREAT great night.

We ate cake...again.

2011-02-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday we had our third annual Valentines Day trip to Mozarts. Or as the girls call it "The Cake Store."

Here are some of our treats:

This picture is a blurry mess and I am sporting my 5 pound winter weight gain (why are two of the pounds in my face!), but PK1 took the picture and it is the only one that proves I was there, so I included it.

PK2 and PD are restaurant buddies. They always sit together and I always sit with PK1. We are a family of "we always." We love routines and traditions.

In fact, PK2 always gets the Mozart Torte:

The owner gave the PKs a cookie on the way out the door this time. That was a first. PK1 is wearing my scarf. It was a balmy 38 degrees so they left their coats in the car.

To see us eating cake in 2009 click here CAKE09 To see us eating cake in 2010 click here CAKE10

Chicago Sister was Here and I turned 36

2011-02-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

My sister and her family came to visit for a three day weekend! It was so fun to see all the cousins playing together. They played non-stop. There was dress up:

And games:

There was even a jam session in the basement (yes there is video of this, will try to post it sometime):

Then we got all bundled up:

And went to a little water park:

It was my *gasp* 36th birthday! So Chicago-Brother-in-Law bought all the grown ups a GIANT feast of sushi take out! Funny thing that happened with CBIL. He thought that since it was my birthday, it would be a real "party" atmosphere. We put the kids to bed and we were all getting out plates and wine and stuff and he came down ALL DRESSED UP! The rest of us were in jeans and sweats, but he dressed up for my birthday. DARLING! LOVE HIM!

Of course, we also cuddled a lot with this little chubby chub (the baby, not PD):

What a fun weekend. One morning the guys even took over with the kids and let the two homeschool moms relax and drink coffee and talk. I really needed it too. Whew.. with homeschooling and all this snow and absolutely no back up help with the kids when PD is at work all the time, I really needed some fun. And some grown up time. Next up...we will have to go see them in Chicago.

My Second Favorite Governor

2011-02-06T17:45:00.001-08:00

LOVE this guy!

Ms. Frizzle at the Golden Globes

2011-01-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

Sunday night I was watching the Golden Globes Red Carpet Preview show. (PD calls it the pre-game) PK1 came in and watched it with me for a bit and said which dresses she liked and didn't. So funny. When Helena Bonham Carter came on wearing this:

PK1 said, "That lady looks just like Ms. Frizzle":

You know...from the Magic School Bus:

I thought she was right on.

Mov'in on Up

2011-01-14T20:06:00.000-08:00

We went last week to check out PD's new office space. I don't want to come across as bragging about this... blech...that would be so tacky. But I do try to get excited for PD when he gets rewarded in some way for all his hard work. I am so glad he is getting to do what he is so good at, but it equals many many hours away from home and not many perks. So I was excited, (as were the girls) to see his great new downtown office. Of course, we would all trade it in a minute if he could eat dinner with us, but lets celebrate what we have right?

Since the first time, 14 years ago, that PD brought me to Columbus, I have loved the Leveque tower. They light it up at night, sometimes with different colors. Now the PKs love it too. So they were pretty happy to spot it right outside PD's new office window. Below is a view from another floor, but you can see that the statehouse is right across the street.

Here we are in a conference room with the great seal of Ohio.

If you are local, and you also love downtown Columbus...here is a great children's book my friend told me about. The bird, a Peregrine Falcon, flies around Columbus looking at all the great Columbus attractions and landmarks. Kids LOVE seeing all the places they have been. Also, you know, a family of Peregrine Falcons lives atop the Rhodes tower downtown Columbus. You can check in on them via a live nest box video-cam.

Midnight Swearing -In

2011-01-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Gram's

2011-01-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

This is my last Christmas post...we are already in full Inaugural preparations around here. Here are just a few pictures from our wonderful Christmas at Gram and Papa's. She put on a fantastic buffet and we just ate all day.

We opened what seemed like an obscene amount of gifts.

More Playmobil:

Fun times with our Cincinnati Cousin:

And Great Grandma Ye Ye:

What a great family!

Christmas Morning at our house

2011-01-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

We were home for a few hours on Christmas morning by ourselves. It was so fun to slowly open our family gifts. The girls get so many presents from their grandparents, that I am always tempted not to buy them anything. But I can't help it! PK1 got lots of playmobile and PK2 has been wanting a remote control car for a year. When anyone asks her what she wants for Christmas she says "reMOTE conTROL," in a sort of sing-song voice. She may or may not have said this to the governor-elect recently. We were only a little embarrassed.

PD picked out a great car for her. It is perfect for her age. Not too babyish, but not too difficult to maneuver. It has even been out on the icy sidewalks already. It also gives rides for baby koalas.

And sometimes PD has to "test" it a bit too.

PK2 also got some legos. She is a genius at following the directions and putting these together. She wanted pirates this year. (Remember, when you homeschool, they don't know what stuff is for boys and what stuff is for girls.)

I got this awesome head scarf thingy that my sister told me was in style. I love it to cover up my hair on a day when I don't want to shampoo! (second year in a row to be photographed in my Tina Fey glasses on Christmas morning)

PD got mostly work clothes this year. We spend more $$ on his work clothes than the three of us girls combined. But we call these ties the Nard Dog ties after the guy on the office who wears super preppy clothes. Not all PD's ties are so "polo club" but these were.

The girls also got a ton of Zhu Zhu stuff for Christmas. These Zhu Zhu pets have taken a bit of heat for being too much of a fad, but my girls really love playing with these.

Here is PDs car. I wanted to show that we got a bit of snow on Christmas. I should have taken a picture of the house, but then I thought I would put this on because PD's car is already 18 years old and if I look back on this blog post someday..it is going to look really old and funny.

I also thrifted a couple dress up outfits for the girls. PK2 really needed a medieval outfit so we can be super dorky and go in costume to the Ren Faire next year. And I couldn't resist the hat for PK1. Everyone does come to us for the "perfect costume" when they need to dress up as something these days.

Then we had an awesome breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs and bacon. PK1 made the eggs for me this year. The cans of soda were not part of the breakfast, they were left out from the company the night before. My BFF and my mom can groan now that I left out the mess and didn't clean it all up the night before. We headed to the Political Grandparents around noon...will post about that tomorrow.

Christmas Eve... and I talk about some stuff

2011-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve, PD was home from work and the girls begged to be pulled in the sled. There was only a little snow, but he did his best.

I love this picture because it is cute, but also it just makes me think of all the times the girls say "can you zip my coat...I have to go potty...can you tie my shoe...I need a snack." I love it when PD is around and he is the one who has to shake the snow out of the dropped mitten.

Sidebar on how hard it is to be a full time mom to little kids. When PK1 was two and I was pregnant with PK2 I was complaining to a group of moms about how hard it is to be pregnant and deal with a two year old. Another mom told me that she hates it when there are dirty fingerprints and smudges all over her glass door, but when she is wiping it down, she tries to pray and thank God for those little fingers that make the mess. That has really stuck with me. Who can argue with that? Chubby little fingers? What's not to love? And God gave me these little ones to live at my house! Another one I came up with on my own was that I used to hate giving the girls a bath. At the end of a long day, after dinner I just want to punch my time clock and be done. The faucet in their tub is hard to regulate and hard to reach. One day though, I realized I only have a really short amount of time left to be giving these girls a bath..soon they would be showering themselves! After I realized that, I decided to pretend each bath was the last one I was going to give them. It really changed my attitude. Only problem with that is I would start to tear up every time I gave them a bath!

Here they are with our house in the background. I love our house. Whenever we pull in the drive I always tell the girls, "Oooooo here we are at the prettiest house in the neighborhood!" It is partly for them, but it really helps me to be content when all my friends are building their mansion/houses. And I do think our house looks pretty sharp with the black shutters I painted last spring and all the work PD has put into it over the years.

Christmas Eve, the Ohio side of our family came to our house. I didn't have time for pictures because I was playing hostess, but I had to show this great cake the PKs and I made. It looks pretty normal until you cut it open. Wait for it.....

Oooooo....Aahhhhhh.... Isn't that fantastic? We had fun making it and I only swore a little ..to myself...in my head. It took five cake pans, two cake mixes, one and a half days and a pound of butter!

I got the idea for the cake here. And to see my sister's version go here.

Little Blessings

2010-12-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

I am really starting to notice and appreciate the little blessings that God gives us here and there. Remember this...where the PKs got to make ceramic ornaments at the high school with Gram and Papa?

Well, the art teacher asked us to come in this week to paint the ornaments and glaze and fire them! I thought that the room would be empty, but there were lots of high schoolers finishing up projects. Imagine how cool the PKs felt working along with the big kids.

One nice girl in particular helped us a little. The teacher was so nice saying how beautiful the girls' work was.

She even invited us back and offered to teach PK1 to knit!

I just can't tell you what a blessing this morning was. The kids loved it. To watch them get to work in a high school art studio was such fun!

And speaking of little blessings, my best friend at church had #4 baby last week. She was only 5 pounds, but perfect in every way. I had only held one baby smaller than that. She was just incredibly tiny.

Here she is with her big brother. He and PK1 get along famously.

So tired right now, from all my Christmas preparations, but really looking forward to Christmas Eve tomorrow! And hoping to continue to look for and enjoy those little blessings during this holiday week. For starters PD was home early enough to read with the girls tonight. We are working through our stack of Christmas books and they read Gift of the Magi. PK1 really loved it this year. And I am glad PD was the reader because it is a loooong one!

Christmas on the Farm

2010-12-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

We were involved in a Christmas program for our Nursing Home Ministry this year. The theme was "Christmas on the Farm" and it was a collaboration between the residents of the nursing home and the kids. It was such a blessing to be involved in. There are a few things that I know we have given up by homeschooling and the opportunity to be in a school program is one of them. PD and I decided that the pay offs are greater than the sum of these little things we give up. But it has been so great to see how God has placed little replacement opportunities for us here and there. This is a great example. The PKs and I had a lot of fun learning all the songs, gathering costumes and performing. This is our wonderful and talented leader Miss Connie.

Even the daddies were able to sneak out of work for a couple hours to come support us.

For one scene all the kids dressed as characters from the nativity. PK2 was an angle (haha) and her little BF was a camel.

Here is the whole group.

Family Birthday for PK1

2010-12-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

Saturday night Papa and Gram came over to celebrate the birth of PK1. Sorry I look a little peeked in the picture. I think I did have some make-up on, but I have been fighting a bronchitis thing. PK1 requested burgers on the grill, which is a summer food, but easy, so I agreed. PD had to put his snow boots on to get to the grill.

It is the year of Playmobil at our house. Gram got PK1 the pet clinic and she and her sister have not stopped playing with it for a second. Little does she know she is getting three more pieces for Christmas! This is such a great toy and I know it will bring hours of joy in the long winter months.

Gigi got her this American Girl outfit and bird watching kit. It is the cutest thing. The binoculars work and the book is really a tiny book about birds. So glad Gigi sprung for this because I was having a hard time stomaching the price tag. But PK1 has had that page of the catalogue bookmarked for a year now. Thank you Gigi!

Sorry to put a gratuitous cake picture on here, but I just thought this cake was so cute and we got it very spur of the moment. It was so perfect for PK1.

Had to end the evening with cards. PD and I had the kitchen spic and span by the time they were done playing. What a great evening. Now I have a couple days to breath before Christmas is here!

Birthday Party #1 for PK1

2010-12-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

PK1 turned eight years old last week. I know every mom says this, but it is unbelievable that I have an eight year old. In lieu of a party this year she wanted to take her best friend and her sister to Build a Bear. I had hoped PD could join us, but he had to work. I was a little nervous about balancing all three girls at Build a Bear, but since they were such sweet young ladies, it all went beautifully. When we picked up PK1's best friend, she was gifted with sea monkeys! Our first pet(s)! I silently cursed my friend a little, but the care of the little darling sea monkeys was quickly turned over to PD. I just have to look at them every day on the kitchen counter. blech. But of course PK1 is delighted.

We headed right to Build-a-Bear. They gave PK1 a birthday necklace.

Then we got lunch at Five Guys:

And came back to our house for cookie cake:

The girls played and played and played and when it was over PK1 said it was the best birthday she ever had. High praise indeed.

Zoo School in December = brrrrrr

2010-12-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

I swear. I do so many things that I don't want to do these days. And I hardly bat an eye. OK, PD and my friends might say I fuss a bit. But it was FREEZING at Zoo School this month, but it was also a really good one!

I am not an animal person, but I have a couple favorite animals and one of my favorites made a personal appearance. Check out the sloth! His name was Sid. It is so funny when they bring in the animal visitor each month. They always arrive in a big cooler or crate with their name on it. The sloth expert was really animated and funny.

The topic was rainforests and they studied the layers of the rainforest and the animals that reside there. After meeting our animal visitor, they were to use a big array of craft supplies to create their own tropical bird. They came up with some pretty cute stuff.

The PKs go to High School

2010-12-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

PD and I had a little adult evening at a fund raiser the other night. It was really fun and I enjoyed talking to grown ups and wearing something besides my uniform of crocs, yoga pants and a rotating array of cardigans. Anyway, while we were there, Gram and Papa took the PKs to an arts evening at their school. They had a great time and Papa took these pictures for me:

Christmas at the Zoo

2010-12-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

We went to the Zoo Lights on the most beautiful 60 degree night! PD was unable to join this year, but Gram and Papa, the girls and I enjoyed light crowds and gorgeous weather. Some years we have really frozen our toes off!

The lights were beautiful as always, but the highlight this year was the Animal Show we saw. It was the cutest thing. All these trained animals ran around on stage. There were dogs, cats and birds..but also kangaroos, lamas and porcupines. The kids were mesmerized and we had great seats too.

The girls rode the Carousel without me..which was a plus because I always get a bit of nausea. Another mommy had to help PK2 get off her horse..but that was ok.

Thanks Gram and Papa...for such a special night!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was so wonderful and relaxing this year. It is fun the years we go to the big city of Chicago, but having four luxurious days at home is pretty nice too and just what we needed this year. We slept late and watched the parade:

Packed up and headed to Gram's around noon:

I made pie:

Gram and Papa get all stocked up with our favorites. Vino for me:

Chex mix for PD..do you think Gram made enough? (This is PK1 dipping into it before the meal.)

PD is the potato masher:

The incredible meal. I am not kidding, every dish was perfect.

After the dishes, PK2 and I kicked back and watched a marathon of Cake Boss. The PKs ask me "Why don't we have these shows at our house?" Me, "Ask your father." Between you and me I think he is half too cheap to buy cable and half afraid the girls and I would stop studying Latin and start watching TLC all day! He may have a point..but whatever.

Then they played a bunch of games:

And Gram gave the girls their ornament for the year. A bird for PK1 and Curious George for PK2..perfect!

And the day after Thanksgiving, PD and the girls went to Home Depot for light bulbs and came home with TEN poinsettias for me! They were a dollar a piece.I should have been generous and given half away to the neighbors, but the house looks so great with all the red..that I just stink'in kept them!

We Won!

2010-11-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

Warning: I did not get a lot of cool pictures from election night. For my husband's sake I just couldn't be that dork with the camera all night. But election night was pretty exciting and a little surreal. Around 5 I dropped the girls off at Gram and Papa's and met PD downtown. Even though we were were kind of giddy and nervous and didn't feel like eating, we went to one of our favorite restaurants just because we could. There were a bunch of people there that kept coming up to PD and slapping him on the back and saying "good luck" and "heck of a campaign" and other stuff. I had no idea who all these people were but I am pretty sure PD is getting to be too good for me. It is a total Don Draper scenario. After dinner we went to a hotel where all the Republican parties were being held. It was just in time for results to start coming in. We stopped in at a few parties, but I wanted to watch the results and PD kind of needed to work so we were mostly in this war room full of ~~dorks~~ people at computers. Here I am with my credentials.

Here is PD working...I know, these pictures are really wowing you aren't they?

Here I am texting my mom with updates. The room is empty because every time someone would give an acceptance speech in one of the ballrooms, everyone would clear out and go watch it. I sometimes couldn't be bothered to go watch.

We were watching a lot of races because our best political friends are fundraisers and really needed some wins. It is crazy when a lot of your friends' jobs hang in the balance with these elections. Also, the more "Rs" that won, the better climate to effect some change. Anyway...here are the results with 40% in...it was closer at times than we had hoped, but PD was cool as a cucumber.

And here is the new first family!

PD was already in Cleveland today for policy work. I am so proud of him!

Election Day

2010-11-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

The girls with PD before their class this morning.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! There are so many reasons I love this holiday. I love that it means we are less than a week away from the election. I love that it reminds me how great all my neighbors are. I love that although there is some last minute scramble, there isn't as much stress for the mom as some other holidays. I love that our best friends come into "the city" to trick or treat with us because the houses in their neighborhood are too far apart. I love the weather, the leaves, the decorations. As you know, this year I had the dog/knight Sir Bernard and a Medieval lady. One thing I don't love is that I don't get to decide what the girls dress up as anymore. Oh it is painful to yield that to them...but I do it because I don't want them fussing about it to their therapist some day. And they did look pretty cute anyway. Here they are with our friends. Little Neighbor Girl was Bindy (the crocodile hunter's daughter) PK2's friend was a dog in knight training and PK1's friend was also a medieval lady. Can you believe the beautiful costume her grandma sewed for her?

Here they are getting their hair and make up done. I let PK1 help draw the dog nose.

I was in charge of making 8 boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese for the hot dog roast that our neighbors do before trick or treat. So in addition to dressing the kids and taking the pictures, I had to have 8 boxes of mac and cheese steaming hot and ready to go at 5 PM. I took a picture of the boxes because it looked so funny all lined up.

I was going a little nuts, getting it all together when my BF showed up at just the right moment to help me stir the big pots! She is great. Oh...and I did change out of the sweats and t-shirt.

Here is a sneak peak of my kitchen, which has been torn up for 6 months. But I AM loving it so far! It is not done, but it is getting there. I think maybe by the holidays.

Cook-out potluck at my friend's house:

And all the neighbor kids:

And the day after Halloween, when you are a home-school kid, after breakfast and devotions, but before school lessons, you do get to sort and admire your candy for awhile!