ATE Kids

Birthday Ballerina

2012-01-21T09:27:00.000-05:00

Miss Elena had a birthday. The thing she wanted most was a pink tutu. Doesn't she look great? Grammy & Grandpa got that for her. :)

She chose a chocolate cake with multiple layers. The cake-maker (aka Mom) got a cold, so she used flavored cool whip instead of icing between the layers. The cool whip takes flavoring well (chocolate syrup for the brown, three drops of mint oil and 7 drops of red food coloring for the minty pink) but doesn't have any structural integrity! Hence the long bamboo skewers holding the cake layers together!

This is one of the few shots where all three kids are visible. We had a fun family party (even Aunt Marilyn came!).

Happy Birthday, little one!

Grandpa's Poncho

2012-01-06T20:16:00.001-05:00

Check out Grandpa's poncho! Some one hit it with a "sun gun" and plugged the neck hole! Now he'll never get it on!

Many thanks to Grammy & Grandpa M for the material for our new cuddle blanket!

Ringing in the New Year

2012-01-01T15:24:00.002-05:00

Three of us stayed up "late" working on our New Year's Eve puzzle. We started it around noon and everyone helped some. By 9:30 or so, the work was done. 1000 pieces, over 40 cats....imagine all those eyes staring at you from the box of pieces! :) Happy New Year!

Christmas Tree

2011-12-18T16:24:00.000-05:00

Alia helped prepare the tree. Each year when it comes out of the box it needs "fluffing". Alia eventually put on a pair of gloves because she didn't like being poked by the tree. Martin & Elena didn't mind the pokies.

A few artistic photos through the tree boughs:

Elena made a ton of ornaments for the tree this year. Some were perler bead creations, some were pictures from coloring books, and some were three-dimensional things she made from stiff paper. They are all on the tree now!

Another artistic shot. Tanner was excited to find his old ornaments in the box!

Lessons in the Rain

2011-11-07T08:33:00.001-05:00

Things I learned while walking my youngest to kindergarten in the rain:

1) "There are always puddles on the driveway when it rains."

2) Sometimes the raindrops make bubbles in the gutters. (They are pretty cool!)

3) Rain moving downhill in the gutters make "lines".

It is amazing the things you see when you are five, or when you walk with someone who is five!

2011-09-26T10:44:00.002-04:00

Elena's class has been studying bees. Last week or the week before they performed a skit for another class about the things that bees do. She is seated on the front row, second from the left. :)

Three little fishies

2011-09-18T14:13:00.000-04:00

One fish swimming laps.

One fish dripping wet.

One fish learning things.

2011-08-17T13:19:00.002-04:00

The time has come.
The time is now.
Elena, Alia, Tanner
you must go now.

...and off they went.

The crazy piece of the day was Martin, who was focused on another project, but grabbed Elena's hand and hurried her off to the bus when he heard it come. The two of them were halfway across our damp lawn when I saw them out the window and called to them. It took a moment or two for Martin to realize that our bus rider had already made it to the bus stop and he was trying to get our walker to catch the bus! Score one for crazy mornings!

They headed out again (on foot!) a few minutes later.

Alia's new bus stop is our driveway. I like that! It's easy to see her and make sure that she gets on ok. I think that she will be dropped off here at home too. We'll find out in a couple of hours.

Tanner looks so cool and calm in this picture. This is his second year at the same school. His bus stop is the same. He knows his routine. Life is great!

Here's to the new school year!

2011-08-13T15:42:00.002-04:00

School is getting ready to start. Tanner & Alia have grown enough that they needed new hats.

Alia's hat is a "Non-scratchy" acrylic--and it is yellow, her favorite color.

Tanner requested a turquoise hat and picked two balls of hand dyed, handspun wool for his hat. As I sketched various stripe options, he told me that the two yarns were to be used one after the other and woven together. It looks great! I love it when my children's artistic ideas work out!

Elena has requested a pink hat. She may or may not get it before snow flies. Unfortunately from her perspective, she is the youngest and smallest of the three kids and there may already be plenty of hats in her size!...But I may knit her one anyway!

2011-07-26T20:19:00.002-04:00

It's been hot. We've been playing in our little pool. Tanner loves wearing his goggles around the water. They are great splash protection!

I had a hankering for pot stickers the other night...so I looked up a recipe and made some. Yummmm! Pot stickers are a lot of work, but each bite makes the work worthwhile! :)

And, here's the birthday girl! Older, wiser, and more beautiful!

And here's what was left of the cake on day two. We like the fish-look! (The cake is a milk chocolate box cake. The filling is a thin layer of vanilla icing topped with marshmallows. The icing on top was per request of the birthday girl--sort of drizzled all over. :)

2011-07-14T21:27:00.002-04:00

Here's a collection of photos from our recent vacation:

The girls at the little pond on MHC campus near the Japanese garden.

Rainy day in Kirtland, Ohio.

Playing games in the condo.

Beautiful flowers in Vermont. These grew all over. Someone commented that they may be lupines. I have yet to confirm that. I loved them!

The boys standing at the look-out point in Vermont. Tanner wasn't too excited about the location! :)

2011-06-16T19:50:00.003-04:00

I have a great video from my birthday of the kids & I opening my "meowing" birthday card. It was great fun! Unfortunately it is a long video and is taking forever to load, so you'll have to take my word for it. Grandpa finds fun cards!

Here is a photo of our latest acquisition: two basketball standards! A neighbor was getting rid of these (free at the curb) and offered to deliver them for me! It has been fun to watch Martin & Alia shoot hoops in the evening!

2011-06-09T19:27:00.001-04:00

Elena and Alia were outside playing this afternoon when Alia came running inside. "Elena is in the tree!" She got her camera and took a picture. What a monkey!

2011-06-03T14:41:00.002-04:00

"So is that a plastic snake or a real snake?", asked the neighbor boy pointing to Tanner's collection of sticks near the front door.

Hmm. I don't recall seeing any plastic snakes in our toy collection. Nope. It must be real.

And it was.

Identification (via various online id trees): a black king snake.

We think it came out of the field behind the house (the field was planted the night before).

It came. It sunned itself on our step. It went away.

I told the kids to just leave it alone if they came across it while they played. None of them mentioned seeing it again.

Here's as close-up of a shot as I was willing to get (~3 feet away). There are faint markings on the back.

Here's a head-shot while he was sunning himself. Note the light colored underbelly.

And then he left. Bye Mr. Snake. Did you eat any of my chipmunks while you were here?

2011-05-03T14:38:00.002-04:00

Tanner had swimming lessons with his elementary school class last week. He's on the end in the red & orange trunks.

Unfortunately, my photos are mostly of the back of his head.

Here he is working on his arm strokes.

Here he is paying attention to his teacher.

And, whew! A face! Here he is getting situated on the wall for the next activity.

His group worked on swimming like dolphins (face in the water) and various arm strokes. He did great!

Good work, handsome fish!

2011-04-15T21:27:00.001-04:00

Here's a handful of photos from Alia's music program and one shot of the kids playing in a park during spring break.

2011-03-17T09:13:00.002-04:00

Martin lay down on a bed of nails as part of the 2011 Physics Demo Show. It was a fun show!

Dr. Krause "flew". We saw non-newtonian fluids become aliens. The bowling ball pendulum didn't kill the student :). And more!

Congratulations Wabash Physics Students on a great show!

2011-03-09T11:46:00.002-05:00

Thanks to all who came for Tanner's baptism.

I am often amazed to watch my children grow. Sometimes it seems that they will always struggle with x, y, or z.

And then they grow. And x, y, or z are no longer challenges. Q, P, and T come and are difficult, but x, y, & z are done.

Tanner has grown this last year. His patience has increased. His sense of responsibility has increased. He is amazing!

2011-02-22T13:55:00.002-05:00

Elena is lucky. She gets to play with Aunt Marilyn all day during visits. Yesterday, they spent some time making "Indian Princesses" and decorating the new bear. They used the new little tripod and were very careful as they set things up for the photo shoot!

2011-02-22T13:12:00.003-05:00

We've had another birthday. Tanner chose a "sprinkles" cake (white cake with sprinkles) with chocolate frosting, with sprinkles. It was yummy!

The Sunday after the birthday we had a visitor who brought lots of "hand-me-over" gifts. Thank you, Aunt Marilyn!

2011-01-22T12:15:00.001-05:00

We had a birthday girl in our house this week!

She helped make and decorate her own cupcakes.

She danced in the pretend rain.

She got a new backpack for school.

And, she got an "Appletree" toy so she can play more with letters and words!

Happy Birthday Miss Elena!

2011-01-08T16:40:00.001-05:00

Big baby is going nakey because Elena let Toddler Bear wear her clothes! Poor Big Baby!

:)

2011-01-02T14:34:00.002-05:00

New Year celebrations at our house are low key. We stayed up late working on a puzzle (the kids were in bed around 9:30pm; the 'dults were in bed around 11pm). Then we got up and made rolls, worked on the puzzle, ate yummy buffet food, and relaxed.

Before the end of the day, the puzzle was done, the food was eaten, and the football game lost. Ahh. New Year's day!

May this New Year be one of Joy for you and yours!

:)

2010-12-26T13:57:00.002-05:00

Christmas eve we opened our presents. Here are a few photos from the day:

Tanner with his new Ben 10/lego figures. He was really excited to discover that with the two new additions to his collection he could make "the alien"!

Elena got a new babydoll. She unwrapped the package and squeeled--It's just the one I had been wanting! Good job, Grammy & Grandpa! Here she is carrying "Big Baby" in a sling.

Aside from a basketball, Alia got books. In case you didn't know, Alia loves books! This one was the CS Lewis "Narnia" series all in one cover. (Hmm. I wonder if I'll be able to get my hands on that book any time soon?!)

And, we had snow. Not just any snow, real thick, heavy, wet, snowball snow. Martin made 3' diameter snowballs. This Minas Tirith fort (entrance to the cave is on the other side) had a base of 3 or 4 huge snowballs--rolling snowballs helped clear off the driveway!--with extra snow piled on top. Something about the way we piled the snow led Martin to think of the white city and he and the kids did a great job!

2010-12-19T20:15:00.002-05:00

It's Christmas time! The kids all helped decorate the tree. We parents did the traditional, "You have too many balls in that one spot...spread them out!" comments, but only once or twice. The kids enjoy rediscovering the ornaments they have made over the years and putting them on the tree.

Another Christmas tradition: frosted cookies--YUMM! This year none of the kids needed direct parental supervision. Granted, Elena's cookies had more sugary sprinkles than anyone else's, but she enjoyed the art/process!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-10T11:24:00.021-05:00

December is a time for activities at school! Alia performed as an Oompa-Loompa in her 5th grade class' version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory! She practiced so much at home that her little 4 year old sister knows the beginning of her lines too! :)

The 5th grade band performed last night. Alia trumpeted great! By the last song (of about twenty short pieces!), she looked relaxed and was enjoying herself!

Way to go, Alia!!! :)

2010-11-10T15:11:00.002-05:00

It used to be that we lived in a condo where all the leaves were vacuumed up by the lawn care company. Back then, we would pack the kids and rakes in the car and drive to a local park to rake leaves into a pile so it felt like fall.

Now, the leaves fall and we rake them at home. One tree's leaves fall much earlier than the others and the kids have already spent a handful of hours raking the leaves into play spaces. Now the big maples are starting to loose their leaves. Dad went out and helped make this big pile. Later on, the kids and Dad all put their hoods up and crawled into the pile. :)

2010-11-02T18:21:00.001-04:00

Look who won the pumpkin jar!!!

There was a "guess the number of pumpkin candies in the jar" game at the Halloween party we went to on Friday. We got a call on Saturday to let us know that Elena was the winner (she guessed 200 pumpkins)! Congratulations, Elena! She loves these candy pumpkins!

Alia's class is swimming this week. Elena & Mom got to watch her on Monday. She is growing more fish-like every year! Hooray for swimmer Alia! (She's on the far left in the photo.)

2010-10-31T18:56:00.003-04:00

Halloween came early at our house. Pumpkins were carved on Monday. Costumes were donned on Friday. Alia was a medival princess, Tanner was Harry Potter, and Elena was Ginny Weasley. We had a party where Alia got to tell one of the "spooky stories". Saturday was our local trick or treating night and I went out with the kids while Martin manned the door at home.

2010-10-19T11:06:00.002-04:00

Alia has been growing. All of the fleece jackets and sweaters that she had been wearing are too small!

So, it was time to sew! She requested the color and I did the work. The good news is that it makes her smile! It's soft and fuzzy and warm. It got worn to school today!

:)

2010-09-29T20:04:00.002-04:00

Random events from a weekend with Aunt Marilyn:

Martin put on his gambeson, maile coif and hauberk (in progress), and gloves and took up his sword. :)

I got some new-to-me clothes thanks to the generosity of my great aunts (they had fun choosing things to send my way! :)

Elena play with a piece of sample fabric from the loom and with some ceramic and wax cats.

And, now that we're back to a "normal" week, here's Alia practicing the trumpet.

2010-09-19T19:21:00.002-04:00

Random garden pepper post: I cut the end off this pepper and it just looked cool! I showed it to the kids and Alia commented, "Take a picture of it!", so I did. :)

We've been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes comics lately. I've slipped once or twice while reading and accidentally said "Tanner" instead of Calvin.

To each his own: we have at least three Calvin and Hobbes comic books in the house right now. This was Alia's reading perch after school one day.

This is what Elena played with one afternoon while her siblings read comics.

2010-09-12T14:23:00.003-04:00

On Monday, Mom said, "Change your game so there are no more ows". Tanner didn't believe me.

He got an ow.

Nine x-rays later he has a splint he is to wear for the next 10 days. It's a break/bend in the forearm bone near the elbow. Mom doesn't like "ows".

Alia went to 5th grade camp this week. She tie-dyed this cool shirt (it has a diamond shape in the center) to take to camp. We missed her while she was gone. It was really nice to have her home!

And, just because she needs blog time too, here is a photo of Elena from a week or two ago. She was playing with legos while wearing her latest hand-me-down (hand-me-over?) dress.

2010-08-27T15:25:00.002-04:00

Martin's birthday coincided with the first day of school at Wabash College. Here he is getting ready for the day:

When he got home we ate "Ann's Chicken" for dinner, had cake and ice cream for dessert, then opened presents.

This one is from the kids:
It's a moving blanket to be used as a padded gambeson for Martin to wear under his chain mail. He was pretty excited!

And then, the second "used" gift:

Hockey gloves from Michigan. He was thrilled!!! On went the gloves, out came the waster (wooden sword), and away he went!

Thanks everyone for making his birthday a special day!

2010-08-18T20:20:00.002-04:00

First Day of the 2010-2011 School Year.

Here's the traditional pose in front of the door. We took some other, more silly shots, of them walking out the door and in the garden, but this is the best one to see their faces!

The whole family joined the kids at the bus stop today. Martin will be the one regularly on bus stop duty for our family (we ran into some minor trouble last year and discovered that the presence of an adult helped significantly). This year we were pleased to note there were three new kids at the bus stop! It was fun to see all five kids start talking with each other and making friends.

2010-08-18T20:13:00.003-04:00

Tanner went to a birthday party with a Star Wars theme. In fact all the kids were invited to bring their own light sabers.

Tanner went a step further. He requested that we make "battle lightsabers" that you can use to duel as his gift for his friend.

We priced the materials and discovered, "why make two for two dollars when you can make four for two-forty".

So, now we own a pair of dueling light sabers. The photo with the boys is staged. The photo with Alia is live.

2010-08-14T20:25:00.001-04:00

Happy Home Haircuts

One needed his cut.
One wanted hers cut for school.
One wanted hers cut like her big sister's (not to mention her friend just got a trim too!).

Any guesses as to who is who?

2010-08-08T22:07:00.002-04:00

Photos by Alia:

Little maid costume (hat and apron designed and sewn by Alia)

Ducky visits the bathroom

Hugs from our favorite babysitter

2010-07-23T10:51:00.001-04:00

These pictures are from a few days ago. It was hot and humid and we had just mowed the lawn. Out came the kiddie pool and on went the swim suits.

Alia discovered a little frog hopping in the grass and caught it. But guess who wanted to hold it, and hold it, and hold it!

Yup! Elena!

She let it go and recaputred it multiple times. She even let it go in the pool. Eventually, she let it go free!

2010-07-23T10:47:00.002-04:00

We celebrated Alia's 10th birthday with a trip to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. One of her best friends went with us and we each had a buddy to stay close to while we explored.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful!

:)

2010-07-01T18:54:00.001-04:00

This green part of dinner was brought to you courtesy of our garden (and a friend who provided the seeds)! I'm not a big fan of fresh green beans--I'm still learning how to cook them. Usually, I under cook them....I think they got a bit over done this night...But they were yummy! -Jessica

2010-06-28T17:22:00.001-04:00

Ah, summer! Elena is pretending to be sick--pretending her arm is broken and she needs to stay at the doctor's.

Tanner is taking a break from studying bionicle building instructions (online) and is playing some lego star wars on the wii.

:) We like summer!

2010-06-15T15:36:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I don't have to ask what my children have been doing to occupy their time. Sometimes the answer is as plain as the nose on their face.

2010-06-10T16:15:00.002-04:00

We played a game from Highlights Magazine today.

Cut a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper in half to make two long, thin strips. Cut one thin strip per person playing.

Start by drawing a head and neck. Fold the paper so that only the neck shows. Pass the papers clockwise. Next draw a torso on the paper. Fold it over so only the waist shows. Pass the papers clockwise again. Draw the thighs & knees. Fold the paper so only the knees show. Pass the papers clockwise. Then draw the calves and feet.

Open the papers and see what you've created!

Tanner was extra creative. He made an alien. If you folded each of the drawings so that only his additions showed, they made his alien! Too Cool!

I'm particularly fond of my chicken feet! :)

2010-06-08T13:30:00.003-04:00

Here are some photos from our recent visit to Michigan.

Tanner & Grammy and green monkey. These two were being very silly at this moment!

I caught this photo of Tanner while he rested from chasing the cat, Chase. He really wanted to set a cat trap, but we didn't get the furniture moved out of the front room to free it up!

Tanner & Elena were trying to keep Chase, the cat, in the picture...it didn't work too well!

Grammy played games with Tanner & Elena while work progressed on the kitchen floor.

And, here they are, hard at work! The new floor is a laminate that looks like stone. It's beautiful!

2010-05-30T14:23:00.002-04:00

The weather has gotten warm. The van has gotten dirty. What a perfect excuse for a car wash!

After the washing, Dad got out the baby pool and Tanner and Elena got in.

While Dad was gone, they added some rocks, and some dirt, and some mud.

When they were done their faces looked like this:

2010-05-30T14:13:00.002-04:00

This year is the year of the kid exchange. Alia has gone to the farm and Da & Schau (goat kids) have come to our field. Grandma & Grandpa also brought us five chickens and a bunch of reusable field fence.

Here are Da & Schau in their paddock with the chicken tractor. After I found Schau inside the coop/tractor this morning, it got moved to the outside of the goat paddock!

Prized possessions: the hens laid eggs within 24 hours of being in their new home! The eggs are light brown and lighter brown.

We're seeing signs of hens pecking the eggs and have added some straw bedding to their coop.

2010-05-22T15:59:00.002-04:00

Things to fix:

1) We need to rig a better bathroom at the field. We spent an hour and a half or more at the field today and Elena had an accident. After I got her cleaned up and washed her boots (on the inside) I hung them up to dry. They looked pretty fun hanging upsidedown on our tomato supports in the front yard!

2) A riding mower. It's been sitting idle for a year, but the price (free) and location (our field neighbor's) were perfect! We'll look into fixing it and see if it can help us mow more efficiently.

2010-05-16T19:44:00.000-04:00

Check this out! Martin got out his trumpet for Alia to explore today! It was neat to hear him play, and fun to see how excited Alia was about using it for 5th grade band.

2010-05-09T20:15:00.001-04:00

Now you see her.

Now you don't!

Alia and Elena were having some fun with a pile of blankets.

:)

2010-04-25T13:28:00.002-04:00

Elena's preschool class went on a field trip to the local fire station this week. Can you see her in the middle of the bunch? She is sitting on the dog statue!

It was fun to see the trucks and the living quarters for the firefighters!

2010-04-06T20:22:00.002-04:00

Here are some photos from Alia's "Fine Arts Night" production. She played the recorder and the xylophone. She did interpretive dance and rhythm. It was a good program. :)

2010-04-06T20:16:00.001-04:00

This was the view out the window as I did dishes the other night. Martin has been practicing Western Martial Arts with a group of students at the college. His "waster" is a big step up from the broom handle he used to use to practice!

2010-03-16T10:21:00.000-04:00

Warm weather takes us out to our field and the kids come with us. Here is miss Elena all decked out with her new boots, her field pants (a huge pair of jeans, cut off at the knees, with the waist taken in), and a short sleeve shirt. We still need coats or jackets, depending on the time of day, but winter is on its way out! Hooray for spring!

2010-03-08T08:32:00.001-05:00

The boys had a special project this weekend: film Tanner's lego spaceship creation.

They borrowed one of the movies cameras from school and one or two of Tanner's green bedsheets (it was Tanner's idea to use them as his green-screen!)...and went around the house filming!

The editing is still in process, but the filming made for a great afternoon for both boys!

2010-03-02T21:34:00.001-05:00

Little fish love to swim...and so does Tanner! His elementary school class had two days of "dry" instruction and three days of "wet" instruction. He did great!

2010-02-15T08:24:00.003-05:00

Here is our birthday boy with some of his gifts! The containers on the couch are bionicles, he's wearing a cape that his big sister made him, and his "ice gun" is on the back of the couch.

It was a good morning! Especially with no school!

2010-02-10T14:57:00.003-05:00

There was a snow day yesterday and the older kids were home. They played well together. They did all the things on their to-do-lists. They watched both discs of the Two Towers. They played in the snow.

After the second disc of the Two Towers there were three orcs rolling around on the basement floor. At the same time, there was a mom fighting with a computer program. Pretty soon, the orcs were ordered to clean up the messy basement (which they did) and to go upstairs and play quietly (which they also did).

They made a whole bunch of perler bead creations--pictured here are three that got made during this morning's two hour delay.

2010-02-06T21:45:00.002-05:00

We had a moment of extra craziness the other day:

stair sledding with pillows!

The kids used to do this frequently...back when they were younger than Elena is now. Funny how it doesn't work quite as well now that they are all bigger!

It was still a fun event!

2010-01-21T08:51:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, little one!

Here's Elena with some of her presents and her cake.

She enjoyed her special day! :)

2010-01-14T18:35:00.002-05:00

This is the scene that met me when I walked back into the house after changing a light bulb in the garage:

The kitchen table, while strew with homework, was surprisingly empty--no kids.

Apparently, the first of Tanners two loose upper teeth had just "fallen out" while he and Alia were giving each other spelling tests. Alia, who has some experience in these matters, deemed the second tooth"ready".

They were working on getting the second tooth out when Martin arrived home. The second tooth did indeed come out ...and there was much exuberance and rejoicing!

:)

2010-01-10T13:17:00.003-05:00

Are we ready yet? It snowed this week and we took some time on Saturday to go sledding. We took this one photo at home before we went, and the smiles stayed big like this all afternoon!

Tanner loved our friend's dish sled....he would go down spinning!

Elena took turns going downhill with Mom & Dad, as did Alia. But Alia also went by herself and with a friend.

A good time was had by all!
Happy Sledding!

2010-01-02T22:03:00.003-05:00

You should have heard the laughter as Dad made his way through Elena's tunnel tonight! He even "wore" it to call Tanner out of the tub....and the laughter continued!

Just thought you might like to share our crazy moment! :)

2009-12-31T20:42:00.003-05:00

This was our New Year's Eve project. It's a 500 piece puzzle. Alia took the photo of the finished piece and she was our helper. Tanner & Elena each did their own, smaller puzzles.

We paused mid-puzzle to celebrate with ice cream and/or root beer floats. It was a fun evening!

Happy 2010!

2009-12-30T12:08:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the farm:

Tanner at the tree. He decorated the branch with the little wooden people. He was very pleased. The branch was very glad the wooden people aren't heavy!

Christmas morning. Everyone in the family was up at a reasonable, if early, time! (I don't remember what everyone is gesturing at! :)

Back at home, Alia loved her new bookcase. It has been stocked with her "library"!

And, wouldn't you know! Santa gave the youngest child the reddest chapstick! We wiped red chapstick off her face for days!

Happy Holidays to you all, and best wishes for the new year!

2009-12-09T21:18:00.003-05:00

We started a new tradition with Christmas cards this year.

Everyone signs their name (mostly by themselves!). We add stickers and address labels (stamps came the next day) and lick the envelopes.

Ta-da! Christmas cards ready to mail. And, it was fun!

:)

2009-12-06T20:09:00.002-05:00

The creches were all placed,
With great handfuls of care,
By children who knew
Who went here,
Which went there.

(Sorry for the poetic liberties!)

Here are two of the helpers. By this point in the program the third had escaped to her book on her bed!

2009-11-30T17:03:00.003-05:00

My "little artist" was given an easel and spent some time coloring with Dad. He drew the outline of the cat and she colored it in....very, very carefully!

:)

2009-11-30T16:51:00.002-05:00

Three post-Thanksgiving pictures:

Two "helpers" at the ladder.

One amazing helper with the lamp post she wrapped!

Two monkeys at the field (that's dry goldenrod surrounding them). We all went out to mark our little trees now that they have grown a bit. It was great to see how comfortable the kids were at the field this year! They were pointing out deer tracks and scat, among other things!

2009-11-14T15:02:00.002-05:00

I know how the leopard changed his spots.

He played on the asphalt heap with his little sister. She threw asphalt in his hair. Mom didn't notice until the next day.

Guess what stains skin brown? Yup. Asphalt!

(Sorry for the lack of a good photo....I tried, but was unsuccessful at focusing on the lovely brown spots on my boy's head!)

Come to think about it, they look a bit like liver spots....Maybe he's just getting old! ;)

2009-10-31T19:39:00.003-04:00

Halloween is here! We have (from left to right) one "Luke Skywalker, jedi knight", one "red kitty cat", and one "Lady Galadriel"

Each of the kids designed their own pumpkin. Mom and Dad wielded the knives.

2009-10-27T18:21:00.003-04:00

We made a quick trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend Great-Grandpa Madsen's funeral. We were able to make a side trip (while our camera's batteries were still working!) to see Great-Grandma & Grandpa Harris. Great-Grandma took the kids down to the "fruit room" aka. the candy room and gave them an early Halloween sweet treat! We had lunch sandwiches on Great-Grandma's homemade bread...yum!

:)

2009-10-16T17:02:00.002-04:00

Alia tried her hand at a Japanese braid making method called kumihimo today.

She also lost a tooth--the second to come out in less than a week!
I wonder what the tooth fairy will bring?

2009-10-09T15:46:00.003-04:00

The Professor had a bit of fun with his MythBusters class today:

An egg-drop build-off.

The goal? Drop an egg from 4 stories up and have it survive the fall with no cracks or other damage.

The results? Out of the nine original drops, 3 eggs cracked and 6 survived.

(This egg did not survive. It had a small crack in the side.)

The Professor and the high speed camera.

2009-10-06T10:12:00.002-04:00

Here's cool cat Elena (who is practicing to say "Yell-ow" right now instead of "lell-ow") sitting with her bottom on the new yellow rug and her feet on the new green rug.

Mom has been busy trying new techniques at the loom. Elena has watched two "Buzz Lightyear" movies. "Becasuse", she says, "Buzz Lightyear is on my sunglasses."....And it turns out she is absolutely right!

2009-10-03T20:04:00.003-04:00

We had an unusual day this week. Elena was in school (preschool), but Tanner & Alia were home. Here's Tanner working on the wii--he's pretty good at some of the swordplay!

Here's Alia hard at work on a new project--beaded bracelets. I love how her creative mind works!

And not to be left out, here's Mom's pile. Five yards of handwoven fabric being transformed into a period skirt for the 1700's. Feast of the Hunter's Moon, here I come!

2009-09-24T20:35:00.003-04:00

Much creativity has visited our home. Alia made "clothes" for Elena from old nylons. Check out the hat, the shirt, the 'gloves'...and not pictured, socks!

She also made two bags from some handwoven fabric from the Wabash Weaver's guild. Creativity is good!

2009-09-14T15:00:00.002-04:00

Check out Tanner in the cool bow tie!

Grandpa blew lots of bubbles over the Labor Day weekend!

Grandpa was also a great addition to the play structures at the park!

And, we went to our first airshow! It was awesome!

2009-09-02T15:40:00.003-04:00

There was no "Hi, Mom" when Tanner came through the door. "Mom, get the camera and hide!", were the words he said. Something was up....

Moments later, Alia appeared. Her backpack was on her back; Tanner's pack was on her front. It turned out that Alia offered to carry Tanner's pack in exchange for his silence--he was singing some sort of nonsense song that was driving her crazy!

2009-08-22T13:14:00.003-04:00

It turned out to be canning day today. The sauerkraut from our cabbages was ready (it only took 7 or 8 days to "sour"). There were enough tomatoes to sauce.

Eight pints of kraut and 6 pints of sauce later, the kitchen is a mess, but our tummies will be happy!

2009-08-12T08:37:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we dug potatoes. What a miracle! We had two 10' long rows of potatoes and harvested enough for a few meals--not enough for a winter, but more than the number of potatoes that we put in the ground!

First day of school--1st grade. We met the teacher last night, played with new classmates yesterday at noon, and today Tanner announced, "I think this will be fun."

First day of school--4th grade.
The bus comes earlier this year than it did last year. Guess who was up and ready long before time! :)

2009-08-09T14:08:00.004-04:00

Here's the "silly" family photo. We did these "come as you are" style....no nice clothes, no fancy hair, etc.

Three headed over the river and through the woods in search of the "stone table", the "witches fingers", and a few other odds and ends.

Tanner with one of his cousins. Boy, did he have fun! Three boy cousins, and only one girl! They played with legos, they caught grasshoppers after dinner... It was fun!

2009-08-09T14:06:00.002-04:00

Here's a collection of photos from the farm. The one with pretties (not people) on the table are things Grandma & Grandpa brought back from China.

2009-07-31T15:33:00.003-04:00

Pictures of Monkeys playing on our trip to Grandma & Grandpa's in Michigan.

Lots of parks, lots of water, lots of playing at Grandma's!

2009-07-31T15:29:00.003-04:00

We had a birthday girl in our house last week! Here she is with her "cake" of fudge (Thank you, Grandma!) and two old friends.

Among her gifts were a new backpack and umbrella for school, new Little House on the Prairie books, and the Tales of Beetle the Bard (aka. Harry Potter Fairy tales). It was a good birthday!

2009-07-17T21:06:00.003-04:00

Alia orchestrated a pretend picnic while we visited some old friends on Monday. Tanner (in the dark blue socks) was the destroyer and Elena one of two pretty princesses. We love impromptu visits with old friends!

Isn't this a pretty picture! I can just imagine how strange it is to see a drawer of eating utensils in my blog! Imagine my surprise then, when I noticed a box in the clean garage (Thank you, Martin!), opened it and found stainless steel utensils!!!!

Do you know how long Martin has been trying to get us to purchase new utensils?!? And there they were! Thank you to Grandma or to Joannie--however they came to be at our house--we are grateful for them!

2009-07-11T22:16:00.003-04:00

Tonight marked the beginning our local County Fair. Alia was asked to step in at the last minute and serve as a "page" for one of the Queen contestants.

Here she is making her curtsy and presenting the contestant a flower.

Alia did a great job--both with her part on stage and with sitting patiently through the long evening. The contestants all did a great job and it was a fascinating experience to participate in the "show".

Alia has completed three projects for the fair this year--two posters and one sewing project. Good job, Alia!

2009-07-07T15:45:00.002-04:00

These are the good moments: one 4H sewing project completed!

Alia has learned to used the sewing machine. She can thread the machine, do straight stitching, do zig-zag stitching, cut out fabric, etc.

Congratulations, Alia!

2009-07-05T19:07:00.002-04:00

It's Sunday night and we needed something calm to do. Out came "Guess Who". The boys are a team and the girls are a team. The boys are doing a great job of working together. The littlest girl is making teamwork a challenge for the bigger girl. Ahh, the joys of being three!

2009-06-26T09:36:00.003-04:00

After a successful garage sale morning (Alia got some new fabric scraps & Mom got new yarn), three pairs of slippers came into being.

The maker: Alia
The slipper wearers:
Elena (small), Tanner (medium), and Alia (large)

Creation is a wonderful thing! Now, to see how well they can skate on the wood floor!

2009-06-15T15:58:00.003-04:00

Strawberry season is ending. This is the last 4 lb. batch from the patch. We LOVE strawberries.

The kids helped wash the car on Saturday. I tried and tried to get a picture of all three of them at the car (didn't work!), and ended up making them stand in the puddle at the end of the driveway for a posed picture!

Welcome, summer!

2009-06-08T20:21:00.003-04:00

Alia had her piano recital the last week of May. She played a piece by Grieg "Morning" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". She did a good job! We captured both pieces on videos (I love the video feature on our camera!)...but uploading the video to blogspot failed miserably last night!

Come visit us soon and we'll let you watch them here at home!

2009-05-28T18:27:00.003-04:00

We had two family reunions over the Memorial Day weekend. Both were in Ohio. I have pictures of the kids in the pool from the first reunion...there were so many cameras that we didn't use ours much until the end!
All three of our fishes loved the pool.

Here are the three monkeys posing with the family at the other reunion. After playing and playing and playing they were just about ready for bed!

Us grown up folks had a great time playing and talking and eating and talking and exploring! Thanks to all who made these reunions possible! :)

2009-05-09T17:01:00.003-04:00

Just a few pictures to wish you "Happy Mother's Day"

Elena in a new dress. "Take a picture of me with the real camera, Mom!"

Alia, in her latest black cat outfit. I swear she comes by it genetically!

Tanner is playing the role of handler or owner (I forget which size cat she was this day).

Check out the tail, too!

2009-04-29T16:35:00.004-04:00

Here's an eclectic collection of photos from the last few days:

The advanced physics lab (students and professor!) used our backyard as a launch pad for their air-canon. The canon balls were old potatoes spray-painted bright orange.

The pholx at the road have grown by leaps and bounds.

We purchased some new camping equipment. Since no one has really used the luggable loo yet, it was a great place to play!

Swim class for my blue and green stripped girl was great fun. She qualified to go off the diving board!

2009-04-14T08:48:00.002-04:00

We had a fun, whirlwind trip for the Easter/Passover holiday. Grammy & Grandpa invited us to come play. Aunt Marilyn and her cute puppy were home for us to come visit. We even snapped a cute?funny? family photo!

2009-04-09T16:58:00.003-04:00

It's spring break for the school kids. The weather has been mostly cool and rainy, but today it was nice! Tanner found a worm in the sand box and was creating and "busting" all sorts of myths (we've been watching lots of 'Myth Busters' around here!).

Alia & Elena were on the "scream swings". I'll spare you the video...it was pretty screamy! But, at least we were all outside and having fun!

2009-04-05T10:59:00.004-04:00

Tanner's perler bead creations were out today. Here they are in all their glory! (The pile in the bottom right corner are the bits and pieces that were deemed "trash" today.)

2009-03-29T14:05:00.003-04:00

We had some beautiful weather this week. While Dad & Mom walked the fence line, the kids went off collecting 'wands' (insect galls on one of the weeds...they look pretty cool!). They had fun, and we had fun!

All three of the kids are in the photo...Elena and Alia are standing one in front of the other!

2009-03-17T20:13:00.003-04:00

Alia's 3rd grade music presentation was tonight. She sang her heart out, played the bells, and did a great job!