6 Years!!

It was another great day of celebrating Timothy.  It was a very snowy start to the day and we were not sure how that would affect our plans, but really it only added one fun activity.

Timothy was up early and ready to open presents.  The first thing to open was long hoped for rainbow loom.  One bracelet was made before a breakfast of santa pancakes.  Then much to our surprise Timothy's friend Eagon showed up at our door.  The boys got in an hour of play time before we went to church.

Yeah!  The rainbow loom!

The snowy weather and mild temps made it a perfect day to try out a big sledding hill.  Troy and Timothy spent some time sledding together and had a lot of fun.  Next it was on the Jumpin' Janes for some inflatible fun.  And after that, Happy Joe's for Pizza and a surprise birthday song and ice cream sundae.  Wow what a full and fantastic day for our favorite boy!

Ready to sled

Loving the big slide

Silly faces with Daddy!

Waiting for our pizza dinner.

 

At 6 Timothy is really growing up.  He has learned so much in kindergarten and is even beginning to read.  He loves to be with his friends and could probably be happy to play with one of the many neighborhood friends all day.  He still has a cautious side and won't jump into knew things, but he is also full of energy and ready to run about for a long time.  He is a great hula hooper.  He loves the outdoors and exploring nature.  This year he has also taken a little interest in 'arts and crafts' as he calls them.  He is truly a terrific boy and Troy and I are blessed by all that he teaches us.  Happy Birthday Timothy!!

6th Birthday Party

It was party day at our house.  Timothy turns 6 tomorrow and we celebrated with his friends today.  I think this is the first year we actually had more kids who could attend the party than couldn't.  With a birthday this close to Christmas, it can be a bit of a challenge.
The theme this year was fishing. And Timothy insisted on lunch with his friends with a menu of mac and cheese and Cheetos (mom added apples, carrots and goldfish crackers.)  The mac and cheese was goldfish shaped to go with the theme too.

After lunch, the games began.  First up was shark, shark fish.

  Then Troy went "fishing" for kids using donuts as bait.  This was really fun to watch!

We had a few other fishing theme games and then it was time for parachute fun.  Timothy got a new parachute from Grandma Rebecca and it was a hit.  The kids loved making waves, running under it and bouncing stuff off of it.

Next was the fishing pond where Timothy's friends got a prize to take home...sea creatures that grow by 600 percent!  (We've got two growing on our kitchen counter!)

Then finally it was presents and cake time.  Teresa had been asking quite a few times about cake and one of Timothy's friends wondered if we had any.  I guess it was about time to get to the cake!

Timothy and all his friends smile for a quick picture before cake.

Timothy had a really fun day and his friends seemed to enjoy all the games too.  I was happy it all went off as planned and that I was able to keep 8 kids busy for 2.5 hours with no tears or melt downs!  And truly, Troy and I both had fun making it a special day for our soon to be 6 year old!

Christmas Program

Troy had the title of co-director of the Christmas program.  I tried to dissuade him from signing on, but he wanted to help.  And in the end it is good he did.  He helped keep it simple and short and spearheaded the costumes and child illustrated power point.  And yes, in the end the program was cute.

For the first half the kids sang a few songs without their costumes.  I managed to get Timothy in some sort of dressy clothes (not with out complaints) and Teresa in a dress (her christmasy clothes got wet when she had an accident during a tantrum after church--oh well!)  Teresa sang the songs well and Timothy sang occasionally.  The best was when Teresa kept telling me between songs that she was so sleepy and she wanted to go to sleep.

 For the second half of the program, the kids got to dress up.  Teresa was hoping to be a whale, but settled for the second choice of a sheep.  She was the cutest sheep there!

 Timothy went for the shepherd costume.  Right before going up, he decided to add a beard to match the other shepherd.  I think the beard was a nice touch!

 After all the hard work of singing and dressing up, Timothy and Teresa enjoyed some hard earned treats!  Probably the best part of the night.  Earlier in the day Timothy was truly excited for the program.  That made the co-director really happy!  We'll see if Troy bumps up to director next year!!

Santa Comes to Town

Santa's coming to town, ...on a fire truck! At least, here in Asbury that's how Santa comes to town. And he brings candy, and music, and all the kids in the surrounding neighborhood come out to see him. As the video shows, Timothy & Teresa were both eagerly awaiting this past Saturday (Dec 14). And they soon enough got more excited about the candy than Santa (kids will be kids). Altogether, a fun time with our next-door neighbors waiting for some neighborhood holiday fun.

Holiday fun!

I love holidays and all the fun things that go with them.  This week we had some holiday fun at our house.  Timothy had a school delay due to fog this week.  We spent the extra time making some snowman cookies.  The cookies spread a ton and looked funny, but with a bit of frosting and decorations they turned out cute!

Eating two little cookies for morning snack.  You gotta try out your product!

Later in the afternoon we did the decorating.  Teresa works very hard at placing the sprinkles and decorations.

And yesterday for lunch we needed to spice up the usual pb sandwich.  So I made a Rudolph toast instead!  This morning it was snowman bagels and tomorrow is Santa pancakes.  Cooking and holidays equals lots of fun!

Family Time!

We were happy to have the chance to see both of our families at Thanksgiving.  We were also happy that the weather was good in our area.  Driving was smooth sailing--just long! We can add DVD players to our list of things to be thankful for!

We had a nice Thanksgiving day with my parents and two brothers and their families.  It wasn't quite warm enough to have the football game of two years ago, but the kids big and old did get out for a bit of running around.  And my mom gave us an assignment to jot down something we are thankful for each day until Christmas.  Timothy is really into it and is using all his new kindergarten skills to write and spell on his own!  Teresa is mostly thankful for sea creatures, but at least it is a new one each day.

On Friday we sort of had Thanksgiving again with Troy's sister and mom and some extended family.  Susan puts on a great spread and this year with grand kids and great grand kids there was even a kids table!  We had a relaxing day, playing, chatting, and enjoying being together.

Grandma Judy and all the little ones...and one bigger one!  A very blessed Grandma!

This was the first year we did not have to head back on Saturday to be home for church.  We spent the day helping Grandma Rebecca decorate her Christmas tree.  Timothy had wanted to do this within 5 minutes of arriving at Grandma's!  Both kids had a delightful time choosing and hanging the ornaments.

We were lucky enough to get to be a part of our nephew's baptism on Sunday before making the trek back.  The kids were very good in the car, but the last twenty minutes we were all ready to be done.  Upon arriving home, I quick heated up leftovers (thanks mom!) and Troy dug out the tree.  After a quick dinner it was finally time to decorate our tree!  Fun!  The kids could hardly get to the ornaments fast enough!  We ended the night with the lighting of our first advent candle.  It was beautiful.

First Communion

Today was Teresa's first communion.  She has been wanting to join the rest of the family in this meal for quite a few weeks.  Initially Last weekend we did a first communion lesson for Teresa teaching her about what it means.  And today she walked around the house saying she was ready to remember Jesus and have Jesus with her.  She was so excited!

Troy had the chance to fill in as a server, so he had the honor of serving Teresa's first communion.  It took her awhile to chew her bread so we held up the line a little as she waited to drink the grape juice.  As we went back to our seats she had a huge smile on her face.  She immediately gave me a big hug exclaiming "I had communion!"

We attempted a family picture afterwards, but the effects of time change set in and our girl was a little tired.  The picture turned out pretty well for the girl who did not want her photo taken!

Halloween!

We did our pumpkin carving on Monday night and both Timothy and Teresa were very excited!  This was the first year that Teresa had a little bit of interest in the whole event.  She even helped scoop out some seeds.

One of our pumpkins got smashed a few weeks ago, but we had an extra from our garden.  Teresa did not seem to mind the little one.  She wanted a happy face on her pumpkin and Timothy requested a scary face.  They were both happy with what mommy and daddy produced.

The pumpkins all lit up with mini flashlights.

On Halloween, Wartburg had a little party for kids.  We stopped in for a little while after Timothy's school day.  Teresa's favorite game by far was the donut game.  She worked really hard to try and bite the donut off of the string.

Timothy loved all of the games and the prizes that went with them.  He had lots of skull rings by the end of the afternoon.  He also gave a try at being wrapped up as a mummy.

And as often happens, time to trick or treat comes so fast that picture sessions get a bit rushed.  The kids were ready to go and taking pictures was not a major priority for them.  I would have loved to get a better shot at Teresa's dolphin fin and tail.  And Timothy the ninja turtle did not want to wear the mask part of his costume.  Oh well!  Teresa made it to quite a few houses and then helped pass out treats.  And of course they both enjoyed eating a few treats at the end of the night.  Another Happy Halloween!

 

Fall leaves

At our new home, we are lacking in one fall fun activity...leaves!  (Well I don't miss raking, but I do miss jumping!)  Our few small trees don't over much as far as a leaf pile.  So this past weekend on a visit to my Aunt Mary's we took advantage of some leaves at a playground for some fall fun! The pictures capture a bit of the joy!

Fall Fun

It's October - time for some Fall fun! ...and we've been doing some Fall fun the past couple of weekends. The first weekend of October we made a family outing to a Pumpkin/Fall fest in a little town north of Dubuque (Sherrill). Although a bit overcast, the kids had a great time.

 Teresa & Timothy posing next to the Pumpkin-o-meter!

 There was a playground on which we were able to go around and around a bit! ...The "bike-a-round" is something Maria had at her workplace in New Jersey, which brought back good memories.

 The kids also got to have a train ride, pulling some barrel cars. Here are the kids excited for their ride!

 The kids also had the chance to have their faces painted with icons of their choosing. For Teresa, it was nothing else than sea creatures (see: the whale below). For Timothy, it was modeled after a superhero. Do you recognize him?

 The second weekend of October we made a Sunday afternoon visit to an apple orchard (Czipar's Orchard, just south of Dubuque). In Grand Forks, we had apples a plenty from an abundantly-producing apple tree in our background. Here in Iowa we have to buy our own. :o) ...Still, the outing was fun, and we bought some lovely apples. (above: Troy posing with the kiddos)

 The third weekend of October we went for a Fall hike at Swiss Valley park, just south of Dubuque. Although cooler than previous weekends (it was near freezing Saturday morning), the sun warmed things up a good deal, making it pleasant for a family hike. The Fall colors are between peak and passing peak, so there are trees both bare and empty by now and others peaking in full color.

 Pausing along our hike for a rest. Smile, Timothy and Teresa!

 Teresa was more distractable on the hike than Timothy, and more prone to say "Pick me up!" But still, both of the kids enjoyed rustling their feet through the leaves, finding leaves and twigs and bugs (Timothy), and noticing interesting new things of nature: a bubbling stream, birds chirping, and strange things on the ground.

We are grateful for Fall fun, outside activities, and the colors of the Fall season. It's been a great October here in Dubuque!

Oceans and Scooters

I felt it was time for an update on Timothy and Teresa...

Teresa is the ocean part of the title.  She loves the ocean.  I wish I could snap my fingers and make us travel to the coast and take a whale watching trip with her.  Shea reads books about whales, sharks, dolphins and the ocean non-stop.  She gets excited to go to the library to get new ocean books.  She loves the song "To you oh Lord" because the lyrics mention the sea and the ocean.  We draw ocean animals with sidewalk chalk and pretend to be them.  She plays with her toy whales and would prefer it if she could leave her whales in the sink at all times.  She is planning a trip to the Arctic so she can see Belugas and orcas and seals. (I told her to take her daddy on that trip...to cold for me!)  She can tell you all about baleen and toothed whales.  She knows how whales breech and spy hop and tail lob.  It is pretty fun to see such great interest in a topic.  She is indeed our ocean lover!

Scooter is Timothy's word.  I scored a two wheeled scooter for a dollar at a garage sale.  Timothy has been longing for one for many months.  He rides it to the bus stop in the morning.  Today he went to the bus stop 40 minutes early (he seems to be liking school and is always happy to go!).  He rides his scooter to friends' houses after school.  He rides his scooter with friends after dinner.  He goes sailing down hills is learning to bend down and scoot.  He rides on his bottom.  He tries to go backwards.  The other day he even insisted we go the long way to a friend's house so he could ride his scooter, rather than the short cut through the backyard.  He loves his scooter and he loves his friends.  It is a blessing to see him so happy and enjoying some simple things in life!

Cheesecake time again...

...which can only mean it is Troy's birthday!  The only time I pull out the springform pan is in September.

With his change of careers, Troy had the day off for his birthday, which he rather enjoyed.  Although he did try his hand at teaching Sunday school as he subbed in a fourth grade class.  After church we went out for  as a family.  That usually brings us to remember why we don't usually go out as a family.  (Not that the kids were bad, but they aren't very patient, they want to eat lots of chips and climb all over the seats!)

After nap time, we journeyed down near the riverfront for a scooter ride/ trike ride/ walk.  The weather was beautiful and it was so much fun just being outside.  We stopped in the aquarium to say 'hi' to the sharks before heading home to presents and dinner.  The kids each drew a special card.  Timothy drew a picture of a coffee cup--he knows his dad!  Teresa drew a whale because everyone should love whales!  Dinner was Troy's pick, so we had salmon (which I noticed from reading last year's blog was what he picked a year ago too!).

It was a good day for a good husband and father.  We love you Troy!

A beautiful day to celebrate life and stroll along the river.

Showing off their birthday cards with daddy.

Clearly we have a Cubs fan in the house.  Gifts from Troy's mom.