December 20, 2008 ~ Ivan's New Bed

Ivan finally noticed that his bed was different. He said "Mommy, when I am four can I have a big boy bed?" With his birthday being only a week away we decided to set it up now. He is really excited to officially be a big boy:)

December 18, 2008 ~ Snow Storm

We have finally had our first snow storm in Oregon. It has been freezing and school was cancelled for the week. That almost NEVER happens here. Unfortunately for my children I am a terrible mother. I didn't let them out in the snow until it was almost melted. I didn't plan it that way but by the time I was ready every day it was dark:( I felt so bad for them so we bundled up and got the sleds and went sledding on the little bit of snow that was left. Lucky for me they are still young enough to forgive me, and not really notice that almost all of the snow was gone.

We Elfed Ourselves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Decorating The Christmas Tree

Charlie Brown would love this little tree...

Every year Great Grandma Glora sends us a beautiful ornament. This year it is especially big and fancy. As you will see in the video this ornament is fabulous. The kids love it and it will be a wonderful addition to our tree every year!

December 12, 2008 ~ Gingerbread House

I cheated this year with our gingerbread house. Every year I run out of frosting, so this year I busted out the hot glue gun and glued the house down and together. Then we had plenty of frosting to decorate:) We had a great time as you can see from the pictures and video below...

November 30, 2008 ~ The Redwood Forest

On our way home from Eureka we also stopped at the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in the Redwoods. It was beautiful. We hadn't been since Ivan was born and thought the kids would love it. They had a good time going through, under and around the enormous trees. The forest was even more amazing than I remembered. We got some beautiful shots and fun memories.

November 30, 2008 ~ Trees of Mystery California

On our way home from Thanksgiving in Eureka California we stopped at the Trees of Mystery. I wanted to show the kids the huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe. I have some fun memories of these statues as a kid and I wanted to show Mila and Ivan. Mila thought they were great but I had to bribe Ivan just to get out of the car. He didn't care for them and thought they were going to start moving. He just wanted us to get in the car a go. It was great.

December 4, 2008 ~ Christmas Cookies & Zoo Lights!

Thank you Joyce and Clara for the great day! The kids had a great time making Christmas cookies. After every cookie was decorated we headed over to Zoo Lights. They love to ride the zoo train and watch the giraffe put the heart on top of the tree. They remember it every year. This year they had fun spending time with their cousins Clara and Lodun. It was cold but luckily not too crowded.

Verboort Sausage Festival ~ November 2008

For the past 4 years we have gone with my parents to the Verboort Sausage Festival. It is really fun and the food is amazing! We are a big sausage and kraut family:) This year while we waited for our dinner number to be called we played a couple games of BINGO. The kids were old enough to have their own cards and Mila ended up winning a $2 jackpot. She was VERY excited!

Halloween 2008

Luckily the weather cooperated and we had a great Halloween. We didn't even need jackets (and that's a first)! Mila has been a black cat for two parties, Cinderella for one, and tonight she chose to be a Tinkerbell fairy. Ivan stuck with a Hot Wheels race car driver, but he did add a cool car to drive. We had kids from 5:45 to after 9:45! We went through almost 8 bags of candy! It was great:)

Trunk-or-Treat ~ October 2008

Mila and Ivan had fun "trunk-or-treating" this year. We went to a party at my parents church and also at our own. Clara and Mila were able to be twin black cats. It was great! Ivan LOVES race cars so he wears his costume as often as possible. It is always nice to get more than one use out of a halloween costume:)

Kindergarten Class Halloween Party ~ October 31, 2008

Mila had a great time in her class today. She even listened during carpet time as Mrs. Goodman wrote to them about their day. They had a guest musical performance that was really fun. Then she got to dress up, play games, decorate cookies, and decorate pictures of pumpkins. It was a great first class party!

High School Musical on Ice!!!

Thank you to Deyla for calling and inviting us to High School Musical on ice! Mila had SO much fun with her "half sister" Tianna. She LOVES HSM and loved the show!

Ivan can spell!

Ivan has started to sound out and write words so I had to post a new picture:) He is one smart cookie!!

Ivan the GENIUS!!

Ivan has been drawing pictures for a little while now but lately he loves to write the alphabet and his name. It is soooo cute!!!! What a smart boy:)

October 11, 2008 ~ Family fun at the pumpkin patch!

We had a great 3 hours at the pumpkin patch. Mila and Ivan always love riding the barrel ride behind the tractor. We enjoyed the petting zoo, rode the train, the boat, and had a great race through the 12 acre corn maze. It was really a family event: Nonni, Pappa, Jen, Brian, Mila, Ivan, Uncle Eric, JB, and Solly all joined in on the FUN. We can't wait to do it again next year:)