tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46891412732661702192024-03-13T13:15:14.223-05:00The Life and Times of N2Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger540125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-87370830838137117092017-08-01T10:46:00.000-05:002018-01-10T00:16:52.006-06:00EasterThe Easter bunny had to hide eggs inside the house because it rained the night before and outside could have been a little damp and muddy. For some reason the adults kept the kids waiting from discovering their Easter baskets and then hunting eggs. Marcie and I looked back fondly (?) on our holidays as kids when our present/stocking opening at Christmas was delayed because all of Dad's siblings would call right as we started and we would have to wait patiently (?) for their conversation to be done. Marcie and I apparently love to torture our children so Marcie secretly called Mom and Dad and asked them to call her house in a few minutes just as the kids were about to start diving into their Easter baskets. Here are the looks we got as the phone rang:<br />
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We then passed the phone around to all the kids to talk to Grandma and Grandpa on the phone. Let me tell you how extensive their conversations were! Ha ha!<br />
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Finally it was time to find out what the Easter bunny left them! All the kids ended up with similar items (way to go Easter bunny making sure that presents were coordinated between families!). Favorites of my kids were mini beanie boos and mystery Harry Potter figures.<br />
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Then it was time to hunt eggs. The Easter bunny assigned each kid a color to look for. Some hiding spots were tricky!<br />
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Mom and Dad had sent Marcie packages of presents for the kids which they all loved! Thanks!</div>
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Then it was time to get the picture of all the cousins together. I only had to photoshop one face on this picture! We always let kids take silly pictures at the end which they have fun with.<br />
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Thanks for hosting us Marcie. We had a great time!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-6216415805818935232017-07-31T10:14:00.004-05:002017-07-31T10:14:55.528-05:00Dying EggsBefore I get to the dying eggs photo I wanted to share this picture of Natalie and Nathaniel. Natalie apparently wanted to play with the store at Marcie's house but the other older kids were doing other things. Natalie found a great shopper to play with her! They were so cute playing together.<br />
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After we got back from the coloring robot party, we ate lunch and then went to the zoo. I don't have any pictures of the zoo. After that we dyed eggs (at least I think that's what we did). Nathaniel was napping while the older kids were dying eggs but we saved some for him to dye.<br />
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I don't have any pictures of the finished eggs but we did have some interesting ones. Brian ended up taking most of the eggs home as he is the only one who eats hard boiled eggs!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-19939646833613147172017-07-30T18:59:00.000-05:002017-07-30T18:59:20.784-05:00A Visit to MadisonI decided that I really should sort through pictures and start blogging again so that I remember what we did! I have a ways to go and many pictures to sort though. I randomly decide to start with the April 2017 folder so our first post is going to be about Easter weekend. We decided to spend Easter with Marcie and her family in Madison. On Saturday we attended a free program that was sponsored by some department at the University of Wisconsin. Apparently these classes are offered regularly! This class was making a coloring robot. The kids got the following supplies (I took this picture at the end of the project).<br />
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They were tasked with making a robot that would color on the page. The first step was to tape the markers on the cup so that the cup would balance. Most of the kids taped their markers on the outside but Natalie taped hers on the inside. Then you had to tape the battery and the motor to the top of the cup. Then it was time to connect the wires. There was a rod that you had to put the mini clothespin on so that the cup would move. The kids thought this was great fun and loved watching the cup rotate. Some rotated in small circles and some in large circles. Others would skip a little and others moved smoothly. Some moved faster than others. It was neat to see how they were all different and how little changes could impact the movements!<br />
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Here are what the robots looked like as they moved.<br />
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They certainly had a lot of fun! There was a small space museum right next door that was open so we went inside to see what they had. There was a large Morse code lever that the kids enjoyed. They would type their names in and do various letters for us to guess.<br />
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More to come later!<br />
<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-79876014992685278052017-01-26T13:00:00.000-06:002017-01-26T13:00:11.674-06:00Natalie's 7th birthday partyBefore N2 turn 8, I figured I should blog about their 7th birthday parties which were almost a year ago! Oops! Sorry long post and lots of pictures!<br />
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Natalie had a cooking party since she loves to cook and bake. I bought small aprons at Michaels using 40% coupons and a big pack of colored Sharpie markers and let the kids decorate the aprons however they wanted to. I had written their names on the aprons beforehand. It was interesting to see how the kids decorated. One kid started to put math problems on their apron so then other kids followed suit.<br />
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Once the kids had decorated their aprons, we made chef hats using poster board for the band and tissue paper for the puffy hat part. The tissue paper had to be accordion folded and then taped to the inside of the band. It was a little more complicated than a 7 year old could do. Luckily we had a lot of adult helpers who could assist but the hats turned out really cute!<br />
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Prior to the party I bought various kinds of sprinkles that the kids could use to decorate cakes. I split them up into small bags. Then I cooked a ton of dollar store spaghetti and buried the bags in the spaghetti. Then each kid had a turn to be blindfolded and search through the spaghetti to find their decorations. I think I gave each of them a minute or two. It was funny to watch!<br />
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Once all the kids found their decorations, we had them make their own pizzas. Brian had already made the dough and gave each kid a piece on parchment paper to spread out. Then they put sauce and whatever toppings they wanted on their pizza. Since it was all on parchment paper, we just wrote their names on the paper so we would know whose pizza was whose.<br />
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While the pizzas were cooking, it was time for kids to decorate their cakes. I had made several cake mixes in small loaf pans (I bought disposable pans just for their size) and then dirty iced them in white icing and put each one on a cake rectangle (I bought large ones and cut them in half). This process took several days. I froze the cakes in between and that worked fine. I made a whole lot of icing and made various colors of icing with different piping tips. We didn't change any piping tips while they were decorating so the green was always with the leaf tip, etc. I showed the kids how to keep the bag twisted and then how to using pastry bags. I'm pretty sure I had one pastry bag per child there and then the kids had to trade each other for the colors they wanted.<br />
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Their cakes were covered in frosting and sprinkles when they were done! Charlie and Noah<br />
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Noah had a round cake because there was a Cub Scout cake decorating contest for a banquet we were going to the following day. I helped Noah make the trees.<br />
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Megan and Sydney</div>
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Natalie and Autumn</div>
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Yasmine and Amelia</div>
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Here are their cakes. The one in the top left corner is one I decorated to show how to use the tips. Noah ate off that one because the cake he decorated was for Cub Scouts.<br />
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We still weren't done by that point! Then it was time to make the rest of their lunch (the part was from 10:30-12:30). We had a lot of fruit and let the kids make their own fruit skewers and make a dip to go along with it. I had fluffy peanut butter, cool whip, vanilla yogurt, chocolate pudding, and marshmallow fluff Most of them mixed all of them together for their dip!<br />
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Then it was time to eat. I had bought a variety of juices and let the kids make their own flavor of juice.<br />
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Here is our group of chefs.<br />
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While kids were finishing up eating and while the table was being cleared off, the kids played a game. I had a cooking item or food in an empty Kleenex box and they had to reach in to figure out what it was. I can't even remember what I put in there!<br />
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Then it was cake time. Each kid go their cake back and they got to choose which part of the cake they wanted to eat. We wrapped the rest up and they got to take it home (along with the rest of their sprinkles).<br />
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Natalie opened presents and then it was time for the kids to go home and the rest of us to get ready for the next party! I appreciated having 6 adults there (Marcie, Lisa, my mom and dad, and Brian and I). Thank you all for your help! Natalie's party was a success!<br />
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I didn't do traditional goody bags-their aprons, cake decorations, and cakes were their goody bags. I also printed some recipes that Natalie really likes that are easy to make and made a small cookbook for the kids to take home.Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-51727952422750478322017-01-25T14:00:00.000-06:002017-01-25T14:00:02.030-06:00CookingNatalie got a cookbook for kids for her birthday and we finally started using it this past summer. I helped Natalie plan some meals and we made them. Noah decided he wanted to help too. Some of the meals were breakfast items so my kids are in their pjs. They would stay in their pjs all day if we would let them!<br />
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First up was a meal of chicken satay with peanut sauce (I cut and cooked the chicken), cheddar herb muffins and peach crisp for dinner. The muffins were REALLY dry and the kids wouldn't eat them. We ended up freezing them and Brian used them for stuffing at Thanksgiving.<br />
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Then they made a lunch of an open faced crostini with ham and cheddar. The book showed the ham criss-crossed but they put it on however they wanted!<br />
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Then they made pancake stacks with yogurt and fruit between them. We didn't quite make them how the cookbook made them but they thought it was a yummy way to eat pancakes!<br />
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Here are 2 random pictures from July that have nothing to do with cooking. I loved Natalie's dress that she wore when she was 2 so I asked Dan and Rachel to save it for me. When Natalie saw it lying around, she decided she was going to wear it. The second picture shows one of the ways that Natalie dresses up as a knight. It is interesting to see her wear a skirt because she never chooses skirts!<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-42037571154159006602017-01-24T19:50:00.001-06:002017-01-24T19:50:36.979-06:00Second Cousin Visit and Grandma's BirthdayAfter we got back from our trip out to Colorado, my cousin Amy and her twins Jaden and Cody paid us a visit. They were in town for a wedding which Jason was in so Amy and the kids had some free time while Jason was with the wedding party. We decided to take the kids down to our lake. It was a little chilly for swimming in our lake but the kids were pretty insistent! I think they all had a good time. Natalie showed them how to jump off the pier (the water is really shallow!)<br />
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Natalie looks a little cold here :)<br />
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My parents came up for dinner and Marcie and her family came down. It was mom's birthday so we celebrated.<br />
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We had the kids stand in age order like my cousins and I always used to do when we were together. I love that Cody is holding Nathaniel's hand (Amy, did I get that right?)<br />
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Thanks Amy for coming and spending some time with us!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-76498634151278366662017-01-16T22:06:00.001-06:002017-01-16T22:06:08.614-06:00Colorado SpringsWe left Mesa Verde the next day and then went to Great Sand Dunes National Park. I have no pictures from there (I learned that I don't take my nice camera to somewhere where there is a lot of sand). We had a great time there. The kids didn't play on the sand dunes that much (not like when my kids were tiny) but instead they played in the stream. They would run down the stream and come back when they knew they had gotten too far away from me. They got to work trying to make a dam across the stream. They somewhat succeeded. We had a great time there!<br />
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We then drove to Colorado Springs and stayed at the same hotel as Marcie's family. The next morning Noah wasn't feeling well so I stayed with him at the hotel while Natalie and Brian joined Marcie's family hiking to a waterfall (or something like that). Noah ended up throwing up at the hotel but then felt much better by the afternoon.<br />
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Since Noah was feeling better we decided to take him to the Olympic training center. We had a tour with an athlete who was hoping to get to the Olympics in skeleton (he actually has changed sports a couple times). It was interesting to see his perspective. We did see a few athletes that may have been in Rio (none of the major players were there).<br />
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We had to take twenty million versions of the pictures below so that every possible combination of people together could be on the gold medal platform together and on the other stands together. It got a little ridiculous :) I think I finally just started to pretend to take the pictures.</div>
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I wanted to get the kids to jump like the athletes were doing in the statue. This is what I got.</div>
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We ended up going to a microbrewery for dinner and on the way there Noah said he wasn't feeling well so Brian ended up returning back to the hotel with him. At the end of our meal, Natalie threw up at the restaurant (luckily in the bathroom). Sigh. Must have had a little bit of a bug. Not the most memorable time in Colorado Springs.Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-13189038692278033802017-01-13T12:30:00.000-06:002017-01-13T12:30:43.738-06:00Mesa Verde Day 2Warning-Long Post!! On our second day in Mesa Verde, July 4th, we started by taking a morning tour of Long House. Marcie, Ben, Amelia and my family all went along on this tour. This was my favorite tour of all the cliff dwellings. We had an outstanding tour guide and we were the first tour group there. It was a long-ish walk to get down to the cliff dwelling but well worth it! We were able to climb up ladders, get up close and personal with the rooms and kivas, see how the Puebloans got water through a weeping wall and more.<br />
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During this tour I forgot to take pictures of people so you won't see my kids very often. After an introduction to Long House, we got to climb a ladder and get up to the third level (at least I think it was the third-it could have been higher).<br />
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This is where we got to go in various rooms and see kivas up close.<br />
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They have a preserved petroglyph here. If you look at the darker orange in this picture that is a hand print from the Ancestral Puebloan people. I am not one that is interested in petroglyphs at all so Marcie and Brian teased me the whole time about petroglyphs. I had to take a picture of the one we saw to prove that I looked at it!<br />
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This first pictures is of a chimney from a kiva. The kiva was were the people would cook their food. They were round rooms that had covers.</div>
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On the way back out, the kids found holes in the rocks and put their arms through.<br />
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We explored the Wetherill Mesa a little bit (we didn't have tons of time). There was another cliff dwelling there called Step House. This cliff dwelling didn't have very many buildings that were preserved but there were more petroglyphs. We had to run through this dwelling quickly so I don't have many pictures.<br />
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We then had to drive all the way to the other end of the park (there are 2 major roads and they are twisty turny so you can't go quickly) to meet Mom and Megan for our Balcony House tour. The kids were most excited about this tour because of the long ladders and the hole that you had to crawl through. Once I saw the ladder it made me nervous as a parent. It was really long! (The picture may not look like it but it is double wide-two people can go side by side up the ladder).<br />
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The kids did a great job and scampered up the ladder very well. I think the adults (well probably just the mothers) were the most nervous. Balcony House was much smaller than the other cliff dwellings that we had visited. There were more buildings in tact that had the original wood. The kids definitely liked Balcony House the best (because of the ladders and the tunnel).<br />
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It's hard to see in the above picture but the ledges to walk were very narrow. It was definitely not easy to get around with big feet!<br />
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The way out was up the cliff. The other two cliff dwellings had much easier ways to get out! There were more ladders and stairs that were wonky. You definitely needed the hand rails to help you maintain balance.<br />
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After Balcony House we got some homemade Navajo fry bread. Yum! We met Dad and Nathaniel at the museum so that the kids could finish up their junior ranger badges. They had a fun kids area where kids could play some Native American games and try their hand at being an archaeologist.<br />
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And if that wasn't enough, we stayed up late and saw fireworks in Cortez since it was the 4th of July. Marcie has better pictures from that evening. I didn't take any-this was from Brian's phone.<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-36902880464143093862017-01-12T13:30:00.000-06:002017-01-12T13:30:45.619-06:00Mesa VerdeAfter our brief stop in Kansas, we met Marcie and her family and Mom and Dad at Mesa Verde National Park. We were there over the 4th of July so they had special Native American dancers. At the Visitor's Center we saw some Hopi dancers doing a traditional dance.<br />
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While we were in Mesa Verde we went on the 3 tours to Cliff Palace, Long House, and Balcony House. We went to Cliff Palace first as that was the shortest tour and Nathaniel could go on it. The kids had fun climbing the one big rock while waiting for the tour to start.<br />
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Our tour guide on this tour was not particularly great. She was pretty gruff and did a lot of her own hypothesizing rather than giving us history lessons. The kids did get to climb a ladder or two which they were excited about but we didn't get to go up into the houses. We did look into a kiva but that was about it.<br />
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I always am amazed at how small the openings were for the doors and how small their rooms were compared to how much space we have now! I also still can't figure out how people could live in these cliff dwellings and farm up on top of the mesa. Climbing up and down those cliffs seem so scary! I don't know mothers kept their children safe either. Yikes!<br />
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Nathaniel did have a good time playing the sand/dirt while the tour guide talked.<br />
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To get out of Cliff Palace, you had to climb up rocks and ladders which made me nervous with kids (but not near as nervous as the climb up to Balcony House or out of there!)<br />
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After our visit to Cliff Palace, we stopped along one of the roads and saw some kivas and other cliff dwellings. This kiva was on top of the mesa. The people who lived at Mesa Verde changed their type of housing throughout time. At first the Ancestral Puebloan people lived on the Mesa. They first lived in pit houses dug into the ground, then in houses made above ground and then into villages on the mesa. The last group of Puebloan people were the ones who made and lived in the cliff dwellings (the things you learn when you do junior ranger badges!)<br />
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One of the pages that the kids could do to earn their junior ranger badges was a Bingo game. One of the things they had to spot was a lizard. We saw lots of them when we stopped at the archaeological sites.<br />
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Here is Cliff Palace from the other side of the valley. You can get a good picture of where the village was located, ow far up they had to climb to get to their farming area, and how far down it was to the valley floor. Not my ideal place to live!<br />
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One thing Brian and I remarked on later was how much Mesa Verde has changed since we were kids. The sites haven't changed but the way that the tour guides talk about the place has changed. No longer do they talk about the cliff dwelling as ruins nor do they talk about the Anasazi. These cliff dwellings are still ancestral homes to Native Americans. The Puebloan people were the ones who lived here and once they left Mesa Verde, the Pueblo split into various other Native American tribes.Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-23040788184969576242017-01-11T14:00:00.000-06:002017-01-11T14:00:34.645-06:00Way back in July......we took a vacation out to Colorado so we could attend my cousin's wedding. Before we went to her wedding, however, we stopped in Kansas (so N2 could cross Kansas off their list) and did some more things in Colorado. In Hutchinson, Kansas, we toured Strataca, a salt mine museum that is used to store historic documents, memorabilia and important documents. There is only one way in and out of the salt mine museum (and the archives) and that is down an elevator. The elevator ride was quite interesting because it is a double-decker elevator and there are no lights. They pack you in pretty tight. Luckily we were in the second batch that loaded on the elevator so we were the second on and the first off :) They do have a push on light (I can't think of the name of those lights) which they turned on for a little bit after the door closed and on our way back because the person who brought us back up asked what our kids would prefer.<br />
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Once we got down to the mine, they let you explore the museum part of it on your own. The part that we could tour was not an active salt mine any longer but there is a company that mines salt farther away (the mine is huge!) Historically, everything that was brought down in the mine was not brought back out so there are a lot of old machines down there (plus lots of trash). They also had to build all the machines down in the mine because the elevator shaft was too small to take large machines down.<br />
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As I said above, they didn't take trash out of the mine. This trash has been around for over 50 years. There is no moisture in the mine so the trash doesn't decay.<br />
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We took two different train/tram rides. On one of them, we were able to take salt from a pile of salt. We could choose a piece no larger then our palm or a bag of small pieces. Noah chose to take a bag while the rest of us took larger pieces. We actually can't figure out what to do with the rocks because we can't put them in the garden!<br />
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As we were driving from Kansas and Colorado we passed by a couple places that make the large wind turbines. There were fields and fields of propeller pieces. It is amazing to see just how huge they are!<br />
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Not too far into Colorado, we happened to look back and noticed one of the most vibrant rainbows I have ever seen and one of the largest ones I have seen (probably because there wasn't much to block the view!) It was a double rainbow as well. We pulled over on the road along with almost everyone else to take a few pictures.<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-31478776846512979522017-01-10T14:30:00.000-06:002017-01-10T14:30:14.879-06:00Random DecemberMy kids set their shoes outside their doors on St. Nicholas day. I happened to be around when they woke up to see what they got. St. Nicholas always brings interesting things!<br />
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They both got glitter glue, interesting fruit snacks, and snow markers. Natalie got a watermelon and Noah got cinnamon bread. Not was strange as some gifts in past years :)<br />
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We celebrated Christmas with my family on the 28th. Marcie and her family were there at mom and dad's. I didn't take many pictures that day but we did get pictures of the grandparents with the grandkids and the whole family.<br />
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I don't know why the kids were doing this but I thought it was pretty cute. They must have been waiting for something.<br />
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Early in December we were talking about swaddling and Natalie was wondering what that was so we swaddled her :)<br />
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And that's our December! Maybe I'll move on to November next rather than going back to the summer!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-43940651870751573302017-01-09T13:30:00.000-06:002017-01-09T13:30:01.661-06:00Gingerbread HousesAfter my nativity scene display when Marcie's family was still in town, we got together to decorate gingerbread houses. We had a ton of candy for the kids (thanks Marcie and mom!) They all had their own unique way to decorate their houses and it was interesting to see how they used the candy and which candy they didn't want to use. Nathaniel loved yellow, Natalie wanted the Life Saver gummy rings, and they all seemed to want roofs made of Necco wafers.<br />
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This isn't a great picture but you can see from this one all the candy that we had. My kids have sure enjoyed picking candy off their houses and eating it!<br />
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Here are my kids with their finished houses. Noah looks a little strange in his picture but it is the best one I got!<br />
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We had all the kids hold up their houses along with Grandpa's version of a gingerbread house. These were the best I got. I don't know what was up with Noah and taking pictures that day.<br />
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The kids decided that they were going to ride on Brian's feet. I'm not sure how it started, maybe with Nathaniel wanting a foot ride and the rest of the kids hopped on, but it ended up with Nathaniel and Noah riding on Brian's feet and Natalie and Amelia holding on and being dragged on their stomachs. I'm not sure if Brian could actually move but I think he tried. The girls may have self-propelled a little.<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-19112577841711706762017-01-08T15:00:00.000-06:002017-01-08T15:00:10.225-06:00Snow!Natalie has loved snow recently! She could play in the snow all day long if I would let her. Noah comes in after not too long because he gets cold but she doesn't seem to feel the cold. They both have been anxious for snow and it finally fell on the 4th of December for the first time. Natalie was in seventh heaven! It was wet snow so it made great snowmen. She made one all by herself.<br />
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Pardon the leaves, we still had a lot of leaves left on the ground because we had such a mild fall and leaves stayed on the trees for so long. Our leaves only get picked up until around Thanksgiving so there wasn't anything we could do with the leaves after that.<br />
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That snow did not stick around for a long time. Her snowman was melted within a few days. Luckily it snowed again a week or two later. But then it got cold so they didn't have too much time to play outside. They tried to sled down our very small slope but didn't manage to go too far.<br />
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I decided I wanted to make some winter decorations that I saw on Pinterest where you make water balloons with colored water and then freeze them outside. We had VERY cold weather and I figured this would be a perfect time. I made them one night and let them freeze for about 3 days. Some of the balloons burst before they froze and I think some balloons developed small holes and leaked but I did managed to get 7 balls. I wanted to set them on the top of the snow and have them look very pretty but they just sunk in and discolored our gloves while we tried to move them. Oh well, at least I know that they are a hassle.<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-94058327409059282017-01-07T14:00:00.000-06:002017-01-07T14:00:10.825-06:00Preparing for ChristmasWe had a difficult time figuring out when we could get a Christmas tree because we had so many plans on the weekends in December. We figured out that we had a couple hours to get a tree one day. We drove out to Richardson's farm where we have been getting our trees almost every year since we have been married. Right before we got there, Natalie told us that she was going to throw up so we pulled over and got her out of the car. We were meeting Brian's parents at the Christmas tree farm so we couldn't just turn around. We calmed her down a little and drove the rest of the way (less than half an hour) and tried to convince Natalie that she would feel better shortly if she sat down and waited a while. She insisted that she wanted to go home. So Brian took her home (I hadn't brought my purse or wallet) while Mary Kay, Dale, Noah and I picked out a tree. Brian did let me know that Natalie felt better soon after she got home. We think she gets car sick now and she has convinced herself that she gets car sick. It's not fun.<br />
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I wanted a specific sort of tree but they were difficult to find! Once we found them, they were very tall! Luckily we found some short ones and ended up with a very nice tree. Dale was nice enough to cut it down for me. I did help him carry it to the wagon. Here is our tree!<br />
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After we got the tree home, Natalie was feel just fine, so we decided that we would attempt to see Santa. Our town does a Holiday Walk where Santa and Mrs. Claus sit outside and kids can visit with them. They also have vendors, crafts, gingerbread house contest, and a parade. The parade takes Santa to an indoor location at the Park District. It is a nice event and a free one! So far it hasn't been too bitterly cold to see Santa outside. All we did this time was see Santa and vote on gingerbread houses. We were too nervous about Natalie feeling sick. Luckily she was fine!<br />
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The following day we were supposed to head to a concert at Northwestern with mom and dad but Natalie decided shortly before we needed to leave that she was going to throw up again. This has happened quite often in December so we've realized that she gets worked up about being in the car and makes herself feel sick. Some days she is fine being in the car and other days she is not. I sure hope she grows out of this soon! Needless to say, we didn't end up going to the concert and it was a good thing because it started to snow later. We decorated the tree while the snow fell outside.<br />
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This is when I took our Christmas picture. I didn't know what picture I was going to use and N2 were quite photogenic at that moment. I took the photo I used for the Christmas card first and then tried to get a better one when I realized the first picture was the best. It wasn't planned and wasn't posed. So glad I got lucky enough to capture it!<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-49447570834749614552017-01-06T15:00:00.000-06:002017-01-06T15:00:08.389-06:00Christmas afternoon/eveningAfter lunch we headed down to Brian's brother's house (Dan and Rachel) for Christmas with the Weidners. This year we had just an immediate family gathering which was wonderful. With 6 grandchildren, N2 are the oldest and 3 under 3, there is a lot going on! We started the party with getting a picture of the grandkids with grandma and grandpa. This was an experience! I used 5 different pictures to photoshop this photo :)<br />
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After that we let kids open presents. We went from youngest to oldest. The littlest ones did a great job being patient (as did the oldest). Charlie,5, challenge the older kids to open their first presents with oven mitts. Natalie was up for this challenge! Too bad it took so long that the little ones grew impatient.<br />
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Aunt Lisa crocheted N2 blankets-Noah a shark and Natalie a mermaid. Noah loves to wear his all the time--he has asked if he can sleep with it but I have said no.<br />
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Mary Kay found emoji hats for the all grandkids. I guess we should have tried to get a picture of all of them with their hats on!<br />
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After all the gift opening, I realized that I didn't have a picture of the two of them on Christmas yet. As I was trying to get a picture of them, Chloe decided that she wanted to join in the fun.<br />
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Before taking a good picture I let N2 get the sillies out. I always have to let the kids take silly pictures in order to get good ones!<br />
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On our way home we drove around to see Christmas lights. We had some tired kids by the time we got home! We had a wonderful Christmas!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-5282207325137735622017-01-05T16:00:00.000-06:002017-01-05T16:00:15.190-06:00Christmas morningWe had a wonderful Christmas morning just the 4 of us. N2 were told that they had to wait in their rooms until 8 (yay for sleeping a little!) but Brian and I ended up getting up around 7:30 so they didn't have to wait that long! They did wait patiently while we checked to see if Santa came.<br />
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Since we had snow outside for the first time in many years, Santa left boot prints. My kids walked right over them and then stopped to look for a second or two and moved on. Noah declared later it was powder since snow would have melted. I tell you he is going to be tough in the future!<br />
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Natalie had left a note for Santa (I can't remember what it said) and Santa wrote back to her thanking her for the cookies and carrots. They were very intrigued by what Santa said.<br />
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They were both very excited to see Lego kits from Santa. They had asked Santa for iPads and legos. <br />
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They both were very excited to give the gifts that they had picked out for other people in our family. They took turns passing theirs out and wanted to see the other person open their gifts. It was very sweet to see. Natalie in particular was very proud of her gifts for Brian and I. She got me an owl Christmas ornament and Brian a tie with Santa on it that sings. She picked out laser tag for Noah (I kind of had to convince her on that). Noah picked out a game for Natalie, a nativity scene for me and wanted to buy Brian tickets to see Rogue One but instead decided to do a delayed present and get him the movie when it comes out.<br />
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They both were very intrigued by this large oddly shaped present that was behind the Christmas tree. Noah thought it was a spider web climbing thing. They could not wait to open it. It was much more a present for Noah but we figured unless we had something equally large for Natalie, the present needed to be for both of them. Take a look at Noah's eyes in the second picture. You can tell he is beyond thrilled! Best buy at Goodwill ever (especially on 50% off day!)<br />
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So far they haven't seen anything in the telescope-Brian has to figure out how to calibrate it. Their last present was their big present from Brian and I. We decided to get them a computer that turned into a tablet. They have been doing more things on the computer lately for school-math games, typing, etc that we wanted them to have one to use at home. They are thrilled that they can play Minecraft on it and play coding games. We only bought one so they have to share which they are doing OK at right now.<br />
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We spent the rest of the morning playing (well N2 did at least) with Christmas presents and being somewhat lazy before we headed to the Weidners for Christmas afternoon.<br />
<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-17131809701533880372017-01-04T14:00:00.000-06:002017-01-04T14:00:25.684-06:00Christmas EveChristmas Eve was my first day off of school so I finished up odds and ends in the morning before heading to my parent's house. We had a nice lunch of waffles (where Noah ate 4 or more waffles, bacon, little sausages and tons of fruit) and then made cookies-gingerbread men and sugar cookies. My kids know that Grandpa and Daddy love red hots on their gingerbread men so they loaded cookies with red hots especially for them.<br />
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They also enjoyed some books read by Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa read them <i>The Gingerbread Girl</i> while they made gingerbread men although he did add some Brer Fox in while reading :) Grandma read them a new book that she bought in Australia about Brian the sheep who lead Santa's tractor as he delivered presents in his shorts and tank top. My kids thought the book was really funny!<br />
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We then headed to church and finally went home to have a late dinner and hang up stockings. My kids were anxious (and ready) to go to bed so that Santa could come!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-77113704783588087182017-01-03T16:00:00.000-06:002017-01-03T16:00:16.238-06:00DowntownWe wanted to go downtown to see the Zoo lights, the windows at Marshall Field's (yes, I know it is Macy's but it will always be Fields to me) and the tree at Millennium Park. We started our trip on the L which is always a fun ride for N2. For some reason I always end up taking pictures of them while riding. Here Natalie is imitating an ad she saw on the L of a singer.<br />
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We started by going to see the windows and the tree in the Walnut room. As a kid I always loved to see the windows and it was so exciting to see what the theme would be. They were always so intricate and told a fairy tale story. If I had known what the windows were going to be this year, I would have just skipped them. What a let down! Each window had a theme like "dream," "love," "believe" and were supposed to be decorated to fit that word. Look at how creepy this one is.<br />
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Here we are not quite impressed by the windows.<br />
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The tree in the Walnut room was elegant. The lights did change colors gradually from blue to white and back again.<br />
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After riding the escalators up and down (what a treat!) we went to Millennium Park to see the large Christmas tree. We had heard that a tree was being cut down and donated from a resident of Wauconda. It was a big deal around our small town!<br />
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We then took a bus down to Lincoln Park Zoo (my kids also love bus rides-we always sit all the way in the back) so we could see the zoo lights. We hadn't seen the polar bear or penguin exhibit so we went there. Too bad all of them were hiding. We warmed ourselves up by touring the houses. We discovered Natalie really dislikes snakes and Noah is fascinated by reptiles.<br />
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I didn't get a picture but the lions were right up against the glass window. Natalie happens to LOVE lions and one of the female lions got up from where she was laying and walked right over to Natalie, looked at her, turned around and peed-she must have been threatened by her! Natalie was thrilled by being so close to the lion. The tiger was also very active, pacing in front of the window. I don't think I've ever seen a tiger so close up that was awake! The cats were definitely the highlight of the trip. We waited around until the lights came on and walked the whole zoo again (good thing because we were able to see 1 penguin and 1 polar bear). The lights are crazy but fun!<br />
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Our trip downtown was so fun! We ended by eating dinner in Evanston. While we were walking to the restaurant (combo pizzeria and Mexican-interesting) we saw a semi truck take down a traffic light and almost take down a light pole. Poor driver who clearly had the wrong directions and tried to take a corner that wasn't possible.Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-71834625414504445362017-01-02T16:14:00.003-06:002017-01-02T16:14:42.039-06:00Peanut's AnticsI know the Christmas season is just about over and Peanut has been gone for over a week but I finally have time to get around to sorting out my pictures and blogging about them. I still need to show you quite a bit of this past year and of their birthday parties from last February (which I will hopefully do before their next birthdays which are in not that long) but I figured I would start with the most recent and work my way backwards (at least that is my plan now).<br />
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Peanut our elf was not quite as creative in past years. I think Peanut was overworked and felt the pressure of working until Christmas Even and also of the pressure of finishing up some papers. N2 wanted Peanut to be mischievous but he just didn't have the energy most days. Peanut came back from the North Pole on the 29th of November. He decided to take the slow route via USPS. Noah was a little skeptical of Peanut this year (and of Santa) and the handmade stamp didn't impress him. He is going to be tough in the future!<br />
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Shortly after he arrived, he decided to try to help us with the problem of a missing dishwasher. Unfortunately he wasn't too much of a help.<br />
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Peanut decided to eat N2's Halloween candy and left a trail of wrappers from the pantry to where he was hiding. N2 didn't believe that Peanut ate their candy though because the bags weren't any less full. Guess Peanut has learned his lesson that candy needs to disappear from the bag for them to believe! <br />
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The elf wanted to teach N2 kindness so he made elf pancakes for them the next day to make up for eating their Halloween candy and Peanut asked N2 to make up for something that they did wrong but neither one could think of ANYTHING that they needed to make up for so the lesson was lost. :(<br />
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After that Peanut got boring. He just moved from place to place. Then after we got a larger package, he decided to use the packing peanuts to take a bath with some rubber ducks.<br />
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Another day Peanut built them snowmen using donuts, starburst, raisins and fruit leather. Then Peanut decided to reuse his idea and make a snowman out of snow but he left it inside too long. Apparently Natalie went outside looking for the snowman he tried to make.<br />
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One of N2's favorite things that Peanut does is blockade them in their rooms. Noah said he was not too happy because he really had to use the bathroom when he first woke up. Peanut decided to leave them only a very small opening along the bottom.<br />
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Peanut was captured by Lego men another day. The Lego men had a very hard time finding the right bricks for this. They thought this would be a very easy thing to do but in fact it was not.<br />
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Peanut got a little more creative when he found the Expo markers. He drew all over N2's pictures which they both thought was hysterical. Noah laughed every time he passed a picture. Natalie did make sure that they were cleaned up the next day.<br />
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On the night of the 23rd Peanut was anxious to go back to the North Pole. He hooked up some of my nativity scene animals to a sleigh and tried to fly away.<br />
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So long Peanut. We'll see you next year!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-60409244406670579712016-12-17T10:42:00.003-06:002016-12-17T10:42:58.598-06:00My Nativity ScenesHere are some photos from my nativity scene collection.<br />
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Argentina</div>
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Aruba</div>
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Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-33944073802647217782016-10-22T21:48:00.000-05:002016-10-22T21:48:12.180-05:00Random JuneAfter Marcie posted about her kids painting with their feet, I had N2 paint with their feet. It was somewhat successful. I couldn't keep the paper on the driveway and I think it was too hot for them because I seem to remember them complaining about being hot. The both slipped on the paint and then got paint all over their pants. But we did end up with three strips of paper that they were excited to show Brian. They got to pick the colors for all of the papers (I think we had too many colors and they got a little muddy but N2 didn't care) and they decided where they would step.<br />
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I tend not to like messes and there was a lot of clean up (figuring out how to get feet clean without tracking paint all over the house, getting clothes off kids without getting more paint on their clothes, drying the paper without getting paint all over). I think you see the trend-not getting paint all over. I tend not to get paint out very often because it is just too messy. I need to figure out how to let my kids paint without me worrying about the mess.<br />
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I asked N2 what we should get Brian for father's day and their generic answer is an adult movie (no, not that kind of movie). This year they also included beer. They know Brian enjoys trying new kinds of beer. So I took Natalie (Noah didn't want to go) to Trader Joe's to pick out beer. She wanted a small shopping cart so all the beer went in her cart. This made me feel a little wrong :)<br />
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This summer N2 got up before Brian and I. It was not uncommon for us to come down and find N2 playing a board game. This particular morning they were playing while eating and their animals were also playing.</div>
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Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-41460034286630991212016-10-21T21:33:00.000-05:002016-10-21T21:33:05.740-05:00Swim PartyMy multiples group hosted a pool party last year and decided to make it a tradition and host one this year. The pool and slides are open just for our club from 7-8:30 (we were able to swim from 6:30-7 as well when the diving boards were open). This is such a great event that my kids really enjoy. This year Natalie decided to be brave and jump off the diving board. She went over and over again. Noah would get in line to try but wasn't confident enough.<br />
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I love this next picture because it looks like Natalie and the other girl (who is in my multiples group who Natalie has only met once or twice before) are trying to do synchronized diving.<br />
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Natalie and Noah spent the whole rest of the evening going down the slides. There is a kid's area where there are things to play with and slide down but N2 were not interested in it at all.<br />
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Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-72197692449459151892016-10-20T21:24:00.000-05:002016-10-20T21:24:12.386-05:00Strawberry pickingWe were fortunate enough to go strawberry picking two times this year-once in March in Houston and once in June around here. We decided to buy big baskets because we figured N2 would pick a lot of berries. We got out to the strawberry fields and they really didn't want to pick berries at all. Natalie decided she wanted to pick snow peas, so she and I head back there. Once we picked a lot of sugar snap peas, we went back to strawberry picking but Noah was done picking. Next time we'll just buy smaller baskets so that Brian and I don't need to pick as many!<br />
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I love that my kids still like to hold hands when they walk places. They don't do it all the time but they are cute when they do!<br />
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I'm glad that we picked so many strawberries so that I could make Grandma's strawberry coffee cake! I managed to make 4 pans with one recipe and I still have 2 in the freezer!Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-36853259128952201732016-10-19T21:18:00.000-05:002016-10-19T21:18:28.454-05:00Father's DayI'll eventually get to posting about N2's birthday parties but the amount of pictures I have is pretty daunting.<br />
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For Father's Day this year we met up with Brian's brother and his family along with Brian's parents at Illinois State Beach on Lake Michigan. The water was still pretty cold and my kids were pretty hesitant to go in the water. Dan couldn't convince his daughter to go in the water (maybe she got her toes wet but that was it) so he got my kids to go in the water. There were also dead fish all over (apparently this happens every year around this time so we just need to avoid the beach there in mid June). No one stayed in the water very long. I saw under an umbrella and read a book :)<br />
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After they played in the water, Brian got out the kites and both kids tried to fly their kites on the beach. They have beautiful dragon kites that flow so nicely in the wind.<br />
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<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4689141273266170219.post-76692942997666854672016-10-18T21:14:00.000-05:002016-10-18T21:14:09.251-05:00Spring soccerMy kids decided they wanted to play soccer in the spring. We tried a new soccer league and it was OK. We had a very rainy spring so lots of games and practices were cancelled and rescheduled. It was somewhat of a pain. N2 realized that they both like playing defense and goalie. Neither one like to play forward (very similar to me). Noah spent lots of time on the ground-he liked to fall when playing. They both improved their soccer skills and had fun.<br />
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They are playing soccer again this fall with the same league (and they'll play in the spring too) and I have better pictures (I wasn't able to attend many of their games last spring).<br />
<br />Beckyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04833773820374525656noreply@blogger.com0