Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

There is so much to talk about from the past 2 weeks... lots of family and friends, parties, visits, CHRISTMAS and of course the PACKERS GAME!

Here are some pictures to recap...

Here my students are working on their own Gingerbread houses...

Our Beautiful Christmas Tree

K running through her new tunnel/tent from Santa

Uncle Gary and Aunt Erica's kids working on their Gingerbread houses! "One piece for the house, three for me..."

K mingling with guests at the "L" family Christmas party

"Lemme' check out this camera of yours Ms. Diane!"

Cute coin purse Uncle Roy! I could work this comb in that hair of yours...just hold still!

What could be in here? I'll have this open in 2 seconds!

GO PACK GO! PACKERS WIN!!! 34-13 over the Detroit Lions!

Here we are all bundled up! Not too bad for a self-snap shot of us at the game!

We had an awesome time there! It was incredible and the team played great!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Three WISE Men

The story of the Three Wise Men, Magi, is so inspirational. They heard the good news that Christ, the King of Jews, was born and followed the Star of Bethlehem. They came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They came bearing gifts because unto us a child was born and this child would be the King of Jews. The gifts were fitting for a king: myrrh being commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable.
This weekend we will be gathering and exchanging gifts with family and friends near and far. We may not have gifts fit for a king, but all were selected with love. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and will anxiously await watching them open their individual gifts. For our little family, giving gifts means so much! To have everyone at our house makes it that much more special. THIS IS CHRISTMAS! Nothing is better. We pray for safe travels and a good time!
The Three WISE men came bearing gifts for a very special reason- celebrate the season!

HOW SAD

I had a wonderful job in high school as a waitress at Schoop's in M'ville. My assistant manager, who was the most amazing, caring and thoughtful co-worker, was murdered yesterday morning. So sad. Her grandson is in one of my classes and until this tragic event, we didn't know of eachother's connection to her. I pray that her family and friends find peace and that the killer be rightfully tried and held accountable for this brutal crime.

Bah Humbug!

Purdue’s football team “earned” the chance to play at a bowl this season. However, don’t get too excited. Location: DETROIT! Seriously. Sad.
Just about every other bowl game is in a warm destination, with the exception of Boise, ID and the International Bowl, which takes place in Toronto. There’s San Diego, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Charlotte, etc…not to mention that these incredible vacation destinations are NO WHERE to be found on the most dangerous cities in America list whereas Detroit always represents at the TOP! Although this bowl game is close (if you call a four hour drive close) we’ve already seen Purdue play Central Michigan – nothing new to be seen. And the $45 ticket price isn’t enticing enough to take our family into a crime-ridden area. Instead we will watch it in the comfort of our home, warm and cozy. Hot cocoa and bon bons. Why expose K to a society that lives in fear, has police stationed around and little respect for authority and others? Besides, even sporting events in Detroit aren't known for nice family gatherings either- need I remind you the the wicked brawl at the NBA game Pistons vs. the Pacers...us Indiana folks aren't favorites up in that area! No thank you, I would much rather stay at home.
IU have fun in AZ! WI rock it in Tampa! MI- Orlando is calling your name! U of I represent at the Rose Bowl! OHIO STATE bring the big one home to the BIG TEN!!! And Purdue- do whatever it is you plan to do in the beautiful City of Crime! Buckle up and lock up!

Pearly Whites...

G and I have been working with K on brushing her teeth. Well the other day she just took charge...SHE BRUSHED HER OWN TEETH! Like literally put the toothbrush in and scrubbed those little "toofers"! I was impressed as she did just about as good as we could have done ourselves! The fun and adoration came to a screaming halt when she then tried to brush our teeth! YUCK!

OOPS!

I forgot to mention my beautiful sister's anniversary on Saturday! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HEIDI AND BRYAN!!! I love you! But remember Heidi, my purpose was to play and entertain you as a child...not to be a calendar keeper :) I played hard and entertained willfully too I must say!

Happy Happy Day!!

Happy Anniversary Aunt Erica and Uncle Gary!
AND
Happy Birthday Aunt Erica!

We hope your day was special for both of you!

We love you LOTS!

HaPpY TUrKeY DaY!!!

Caught WHITE Handed...

K was home from daycare on Tuesday because on Monday she was sent home with a 103 fever (she's fine now, just has FOUR teeth coming in all at once!)

Well I went to the bathroom and I heard her little voice repeatedly saying "uh oh! uh oh! uh oh!"... that can never be a good thing...I quickly wash my hands and go into the kitchen to find this...
K was rolling around in it, "it" being powdered sugar!!


This would be K saying "uh oh!" and giggling!
And this is the mess Mommy was left cleaning.
I have to admit this is one of the funniest things! You see, Aunt Michelle and Uncle Pat got caught doing something VERY similar right before Easter one year. The only difference- they were a little older and they were using baby powder. Baby powder all over themselves, the room, EVERYTHING! Needless to say the Easter Bunny didn't hop in that year! So now here, 30 some odd years later, my sweet, innocent, little K pulls the same thing. I have to believe she was much cuter caught in the act!

Last Weekend...

Cousins Patrick, Courtney and Michael stayed the night Saturday and we made a delicious dinner...

Happy Campers!

Another Article on Coins for California

We're offically done now! I'm so proud of them!


http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/16/community/porter_county/doc4ab5b45beda8b76f86257393007bed94.txt

Official Coin Count

The Credit Union called me today after they ran all the change and counted the bills and the official amount collected for the victims of the California Fires is....drum roll...$1622!
I'm so overwhelmed! I know in my heart that this will help so many families!

Note from Miss K

The parental units caught me looking up their Christmas lists! I tried to play it off like I was looking at the Packers website, like daddy always does- don't think they bought it! I wanted to show you that my mommy was in the paper again! She collected over $1550! I'm not quite sure what that means...but I know she is VERY excited about it! I'm sure there are some really nice people in CA that will benefit from it. Article below- couldn't find the link to the online article.

This week was a little crazy for me, but I'm feeling much better now thanks to lots of hugs and kisses from my mommy and daddy. Yesterday we went out to grandma and grandpa W's. Mommy and grandma went to a huge craft show and daddy and grandpa watched football all afternoon. I slept for nearly 4 hours, so yeah, that's basically all I did. Then today we cheered on the Packers- we totally smoked those purple people eaters! FUN!

Mommy and daddy keeps talking about this thing called Christmas...they are really excited about it, so I'm excited about it! Sounds like fun- lots of family and friends come by and we eat lots and give even more! Lights, ornaments, trees- lots for me to get into :)

Ahh...much better now!

Yes folks, she is doing much better now. Thank you for all the phone calls and emails to check up on her :) I have to wonder if it was the fact that she had more dirty little stinkies in her diapers yesterday, or if the antibiotic kicked in. Either way, our little chipper-roo is back in action! She didn't disappoint this morning- up early, played with Molly, ate cereal- for over an HOUR I might add, watched a little Elmo show on sharing, read LOTS of books, vacuumed with her little vacuum, picked up HER kitchen- from grandma and grandpa W, gave lots of hugs and wet, really, really wet kisses. All by 10 am this morning when she very distinctfully told be she was ready for a nap. How you might ask?- She grabbed blankie and Elmo and headed to the stairs then put her head on blankie and grunted. Nice! Up we went and down she goes! No fuss!
I am getting ready to read my daily blogs, calculate the Coins for California spreadsheet so that I can let the whole school know that we have now collected OVER $1,000 (See previous posts on CFC) and possibly get a shower in! I'm VERY optimistic on this!

Icky...

Well that is how K is feeling. She was sent home today from daycare with a 102 temp. Like good parents we took her to the doc and it turns out that she has a double ear infection and a respiratory bug. All that plus she has about 2-3 teeth trying to push their way through her delicate gums :( She's on some meds now and sleeping the day away. Looks like one of us will be home tomorrow with her as well. We'll update you...

She blinded me with Science!

This past weekend we went up to the Museum of Science and Industry with Uncle Gary, Aunt Erica, cousins Clayton, Olivia and Isaac and M's niece Courtney (obviously also a cousin to K, but I'm just trying to simplify any confusion!)

The museum was impressive as ever, however it is quite special right now- there was an incredible STAR WARS exhibit!!! Needless to say the kids were VERY excited about this! They rode on a air cushion, to simulate the Hovercrafts in the movie, built a hovercraft using magnets, programmed a robot and saw several of the props used in the Star War movies and actual costumes worn throughout the series.

We also saw most of the other exhibits in the museum- all that we could in the 7 hours we were there! :)

For dinner we went out to Giordano's Pizzeria (thanks again Gary and Erica!)...oh was it good! No, delicious! By the time we got home we were all exhausted!

Today we are going to get caught up on rest, laundry and most importantly, FOOTBALL!

Coins for California

My senior class is taking on a service learning project to help the victims from the CA fires. I'm so proud of them! (just click on the link or copy and paste it into your address bar)

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/02/community/porter_county/doc576b4de54b5ebdcf862573860051a5e6.txt

We will be donating all the money collected to the Red Cross in Southern California! Thank you for being an inspiration Bill, Michele and Kiersten as well as our friends out in CA! I hope that it helps!
I just wanted to share what my class is doing...sometimes I defend my career as more than babysitting...and I know other teachers do as well.

Our little BuZzEr!

Seriously, can she bee any cuter than this???

Happy Belated Birthday and Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was Uncle Bryan's and Great Aunt Judy's Birthday!!

Happy Halloween! We hope you get more Treats than Tricks!

(Thanks for the cute cards grandma and grandpa W, Kiersten and Aunt Heidi and Uncle Bryan!)

Weekend in Pictures...

After spending nearly 2 hours in traffic in downtown Chicago- ugh!-we stopped at Aunt Janet's and Uncle Pat's Wednesday night. K loved playing with a pink telephone, all their stuffed toys (especially Bucky!) and all the wonderful little trinkets. Thursday morning we went to Perkins for breakfast (thanks again Aunt Janet!) and G found his new favorite- gingerbread pancakes. On the way out of Madison, we saw only what could be found in a place like WI- no you don't need to adjust the color on your screens- it's a Pink Elephant!

Between Wisconsin Dells and Eau Claire, we found a scenic nature trail with an outlook at the end. It was so nice to get out of the car and take in some fresh WI air! We were able to see the magnificent fall colors at their prime!

Friday morning we headed out to Mall of America! Little did we know it would take between 8-9 hours to get through the whole thing! K was such a wonderful little shopper! She either was pushing her own stroller or she rode/slept in it. We knew it had been a long day when she took 2 naps! :)

We visited an Aquarium that has been awarded "Best Shark Encounter" by Discovery Travel Channel. It was really neat, but it has a lot more to do to catch up to the awe of the Chicago Shedd Aquarium. At the end of the shark exhibit, there was a play area that K just loved! She was all over the pirate's ship and found the treasure (even though we already found our little treasure a long time ago! )

After a long day at the Mall and Aquarium, we met up with G's cousin Amy and Nick and their new little bundle of joy- Jack! K wasn't too sure about her mommy holding another baby, although she really was enamored by all of Jack's dark hair. We had some delicious pizza and yummy brownies for dinner(thanks again Amy and Nick). It was great to catch up and visit since we don't get to see each other much. They are doing great adjusting to parenthood and Jack is the happiest baby! *He must be getting some quality sleep!

Saturday morning we packed up and started to head back south. But first we stopped in St. Paul at the Children's Museum. Sesame Street had an amazing exhibit there and K was just beside herself. We haven't seen her get so excited in a long time!

We made a short stop at Chippewa Falls, WI to tour the Leinenkugel's Brewery. It is a beautiful setting and the buildings and backdrops were impressive!

We also stopped in Wisconsin Dells for dinner that night and then stayed for the night. Sunday morning we visited with G's grandma who was hospitalized for a bad fall she suffered a couple of weeks ago- she was in good spirits and we had a very nice visit with her. She filled us in on some of the others in the facility. She's really funny with her impressions! On the way to visit great grandma, K brushed her hair in the car. She really seems to like the feeling of the brush on her not-so-full head of hair! :) We also got to see grandpa and Ms. Diane for a short visit and lunch. (Thanks again for lunch! ) Grandpa did very well this year with his produce stand and is looking forward to a wonderful winter as well. All is good. K really likes going to the farm and seeing all the pumpkins and she made a new friend with grandpa's kitten Brownie! Brownie took a liking to K as well and followed her around the farm! Too cute!

What's a trip to WI without stopping at the Mars Cheese Castle??? Just that- a trip to WI. Don't waste your time next time you are in WI to stop at this tourist trap! We thought that there might actually be something to it considering it made it on the Food Network as a Great Place to Visit- Not so much people!

After the disappointing Mars Castle, we headed to M's parents to pick up Mollers. K was so excited to see her grandma and the baa's (sheep). Although extremely exhausted and so far from anything that resembled a sleep schedule, she still had a great time there and ate up all of grandma's strawberries!

It was a great vacation and we were able to do a lot! Definitely one of the best vacations. Now it's unpacking time, catch up with housework, laundry and all that fun!