Aunt T's 100th Birthday

My grandpa's sister "T" turned 100 and there was a big party for her this past Saturday at Timmerman's Restaurant in Dubuque, IA. She's an amazing lady who still lives alone and it was a happy reason to reunite with my extended family.

In the center is my dad's mom, Helen Pins, and she is surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The only ones missing were my uncle Jack's family and my sister Stephanie's family.

My mom, brother, sister-in-law, and dad looked pretty sharp.

Aunt T blew out all her candles in 1 breath.

Thanksgiving 2009

This morning the kids and I watched the Thanksgiving parade with Deb. Brian got home early from work and was able to relax a little, too. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house for Thanksgiving dinner. Betty prepared a delicious meal, but Leah was still warming up to everyone and was too anxious to eat. She was pretty fussy at dinner, but the rest of day was fun and relaxing. This year I have read lots of Thanksgiving books to Jadon and it has caused me to reflect more than usual on the pilgrims and how thankful they were for survival and God's provision. Thank you God for life and the many blessings we enjoy daily.

Keith and Brian had fun playing with their IPod/IPhones and the kids became interested too.

Festival of Trees in the QC

I haven't blogged in a while because I haven't been taking many pictures. In the last few weeks I spent a day shopping with my mom at Geneva Commons, I spent a day learning how to make biscotti and fudge with my dad, and Brian spent a week in Joliet working at the Walmart.com warehouse. This past weekend we kicked off the holiday season at the Festival of Trees in the Quad Cities. Our family, Brant's family, Dale's family, and Deb all went to the parade on Saturday morning. It was comfortable and sunny and we all enjoyed it. That evening we had a turkey dinner and decorated gingerbread houses. On Sunday, I took the kids to Middle Park and we cheered my friend Anita in her cyclocross race, a mountain bike race. Then we went back to Brant and Amie's house and helped make Christmas cookies. It was a fun weekend with family and got us all in the Christmas spirit.

Here we are in front of the Figgi Museum waiting for the parade to start.

Here come the girls! Kylie gave cousins Avery and Leah rides in her jeep.

Deb put a lot of time and energy into planning a fun weekend for all of us. She fed us well and coordinated all of the baking. Thanks Deb!

Halloween 2009

We had a full day of Halloween activities yesterday. In the morning we hosted a kids' Halloween party. There were 4 families altogether: ours, the Petersons, the Attigs, and the Austins. We danced to Halloween songs, made a craft, played games, and ate snacks. It was a lot of fun and worth all the preparation. In the afternoon, after the kids had naps, we stopped by Grandma Sels house and then went to our church's Trunk-or-Treat party. In addition to trick-or-treating at the decorated cars, they had a bounce house and a petting zoo. We could also go into the gym and warm up with hot cocoa and play indoors. After this we went trick-or treating around our block and then went to a church party at a farm in Lanark. It was a very full and fun day. Leah learned how to say "Trick-or-treat!" and "Happy Halloween!" She also really enjoyed seeing the animals at the Kronkite farm. Jadon loved playing with his friends and getting lots of candy.

Jadon and Luke trying to eat donuts with no hands.

Jadon bobbing for apples. The kids and adults got more into this than I expected.

We had spider crackers, witch's hat cookies, and apples with caramel for a snack.

Jadon dressed up as Spiderman in the morning, but switched over to Batman in the afternoon. Leah was his sidekick, Robin, and we saw Batgirl, his friend Regan, at the Trunk-or-Treat.

Here's me and Leah posing with Jonah and a Ninevite. Pretty clever, huh?