Stuff – Oma’s Older – Snow!

Our friends Martha and Tracy invited us to join them for church, celebrating Advent. So there was a lovely church service followed by a potluck, lots of crafts to partake in, and socializing. The kids strung a holiday necklace, decorated graham cracker houses, rolled candles and Jo made a cinnamon roll wreath with Tracy! (yes, to eat)Socializing? Well Mom knew a couple folks other than Tracy and Martha but Oma knew quite a few more! More than once someone walked up to Tracy or Martha (while I was standing next to them) and asked “I hear Jill Smith is here? And where are her children?” Tracy or Martha would point to the kids, a comment would be made and then off they went to say hello to Jill. College and Track folks.

Asked the kids if they enjoyed church (their first time attending) They both said “I LOVED it!” Especially decorating the houses. We explained that the service was the church part; the rest was just a bonus. (condensed version here) They then said “Oh, that was nice too”.

Oma Starts New Chapter
Jo was able to give Oma her birthday gift before work so she was able to wear her new dragonfly earrings.

That night we enjoyed a new Sushi restaurant indulging in all sorts of new versions of one of our favorite foods. We didn’t over eat, however, because we still had to drive across town to Sweet Life to pick out our own birthday desert and sing Happy Birthday to Oma.

Our Tree

We were to head south for part of our weekend but with the weather folks saying “snow” we grudgingly stayed home. Instead we picked out our Christmas tree and decorated it. The holiday feeling is complete now with the smell of pine in the air! Whoohoo!

FIRST SNOW!I think Oma is more excited about snow than the kids. Her pattern for years now has been to wake up, run out and take a photo or two of the snow on the ground before it’s disturbed and then back in to wake up the kids with “IT SNOWED!”. She actually let the kids sleep until they woke on their own this year.

They wasted no time getting outside to play and ate some breakfast next door instead of coming back into our house. HaHa

SNOW DAY for ALL!
(Sorry Connie and all those who have to work knowing we are out playing)

Jo Teeth and Cole Hoops

All I want for Christmas …Cole’s first basketball trading card.

Our Holiday Weekend

Spent the weekend with the S side of this BS Family. Great trip with lots of visiting and if you’re a kid, a ton of playing, wait…the adults played too!

Started off Thanksgiving morning with a 3.5 mile
Turkey Trot around Lake Sacajawea Park.IT WAS COLD!

Most of us trotted and walked around about half the lake but Oma and Cole trotted / walked the whole thing! Carol said that Cole deserved a
Turkey Trot t-shirt for his effort!

Here our future Chef Lanna was helping Nanny with the turkey and stuffing. I’m sure Lanna was telling Nans to not miss a crumb of stuffing inside, no wasting stuffing when it tastes so good!Dinner Time!

Still a kids table or breakfast bar in this case.Adult table. YUMMY!
(Just put a turkey in our freezer for this weekend,
need some leftovers)

The kids were up early, awake late and played hard every day.Jo tried to stay awake for a movie but just couldn’t keep the eyelids open even though chatter and movement were all around her.

Geocaching!
What is this you ask? Well let me just copy and paste what the Geocaching site says. “Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.”

FIRST
We have to learn how to type in the coordinates into Nanny’s gps.

Jill gave it a try….I think you click...no...


Then Dan gave
it a shot…Maybe this?...no...

Carol…helped?

Tina gave it a try…

Damn thing…

Directions?

DIRECTIONS
PLEASE…

This is suppose to be fun!

(a little reading goes a long way some times)

Whewh…We did it! And off we go hunting!And our FIRST FIND!We searched out five this day with a lunch stop in the middle which was easy to get lunch seeing how one of the cache’s were in the middle of town.

This is our last find of trinkets and trash. We wrote our names on the paper inside the cache’s and the kids swapped out some of their own stuff for other stuff they thought was better.

What a GREAT family activity. And for most of us I’m sure it’s the closest we will ever come to finding real treasure. In the meantime we will continue finding our own….Off to buy our own gps and more treasures!

Thanksgiving Caption?

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Thanksgiving dinner with family.

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Letters – TOGA – Swim

The kids write letters at school for practice. They are told to write the letters of each word that they hear and so they don’t get help with spelling. The letters have been a blast to read, and also fun to hear to whom they have written, like the principal and friends at school.

This is Jo’s most recent letter.(translation if you need it)
Dear Mom
I miss you and I love Oma, Mom and Cole and can we make gingerbread men. One for Cole and Mom and Oma and me and we can put decorations on.
Sincerely, Jo

Cole’s Weekend News(translation if you need it)
My Mom and Oma went to a party. Lori came over to baby sit us. I played Guitar Hero, it was fun. My sister played a rock game with Lori. Next day I had to go to my basketball game. Then I got grounded from on and off stuff because I was talking in bed.

TOGA

Jenjen and Julie wanted to have a party and they put a toga theme to it. What fun! This would be my first toga party and I was a little nervous about attending. Wearing a toga was nothing, it was the fact I put a theme to our togas and didn’t know if others would think I was too goofy or silly. (I do have those sensitive moments once in a while)

No Worries. We fit right in! In fact I think there were only three white togas in attendance. Most put their own spin on their outfits, which made the evening totally fun!

I did break out my ancestor’s jewelry for this occasion; the pearls have been in my family since the stone ages. I don’t think I have ever attended a party where my outfit needed this touch of class. Going to the opera soon? I can loan them to you but your going to have to leave your credit card for collateral.

Some toga highlights…

Caroline & Liz (top left) wore Roman togas complete with light up swords. Funny! Martha (top right) went with the 80’s flannel while Tracy became another self with toga-cat; including an attached tail. She also made sure she brought her own glass for the keg, just in case they charged by the glass. Swish Swish, or was it chug chug. Dune and Karen wore home improvement togas, drop cloth with duck tape and a plastic drop. (I've only seen a plastic toga one other time and I shouldn’t repeat it here) Julie was Mooo-toga holding a plate of cheese pops that I’m sure she acquired the milk from some place close to her heart. And good old Jenjen wore one of the most famous togas of them all. Otter’s toga from Animal House!

SWIM!
Jo is back swimming and is doing awesome! She is like a motorboat with her backstroke, swimming all over the pool without stopping.The one stroke she has needed to work on is the crawl (she would call it her side breathing). The best we have seen her do is about three strokes and three breaths before she would run out of air. She now has swam the length of the pool doing her crawl! Not once but we have seen it twice! Yippy! She is very proud and excited, as are we.
KUDO’S KIDO!