Snow Time

Country Girl at Heart

Eli and Sadie got a bunch of dress-up clothes for Christmas. This little "milk-maid" dress is one of Sadie's favorite because it has a high "twirl rating" which is very important when you're two. Here she is watching the Inaugural Parade and playing along with the numerous marching bands. Just so Eli doesn't feel left out:

January Slowness

It turns out that we don't do much in January. We've been doing something everyday, but nothing out of the ordinary or anything that is particularly note-worthy or picture-worthy as would be the case here. So, these will have to do to hold you over until the next exciting adventure!

What Happens When Sadie Dresses Herself

Christmas At the Zemans

On Christmas Day after a feast and some sledding at Grandma and Grandpa Sperle's we made the journey back to Fargo to spend the rest of Christmas Day with the other Grandparents. Traditions run very deep at this house. We MUST make sure every dish is washed and that the house is spotless before we start opening presents. Then, we must take pictures, which can be humorous and frustrating, but nonetheless, it must be accomplished. I have ZERO pictures of Eli opening any gifts. And it's not that he didn't have any, he had plenty, believe me. But, he was so busy. He opened his presents so quickly and was off passing out gifts to everyone and putting paper in the trash and passing out cookies and making sure that the dog was ok and just being all around Mr. Event Coordinator that I didn't have a chance to get a picture of any of it.
Sadie, on the other hand, opened her presents so slowly and enjoyed each present as if it were the best present on Earth that she was still opening presents long after everyone else had finished. First, Sadie got the "precious jewels" and promptly put them on. Then, Sadie got the guitar. She patiently waited for me to get it out of the box (for those of you with kids, you know that this can be a long process of untwisting twist-ties and unscrewing screws, and breaking through un-breakable plastic), then started to play... Santa, by the way, pulled through and brought her the skunk slippers that she requested.Later, still with her "precious jewels" and guitar, she can be seen wearing her new LLBean backpack with her name embroidered on it, and her new sock monkey (though, notice "monkey" is still getting some love as not to get jealous). It was such a joy watching the kids this Christmas, they had a blast and loved every moment (except for the tantrum Eli threw when we made him wear a sweater to church--oh the agony!) of family togetherness, Christmas Preparations, Christmas goodies and the overall spirit of Christmas. The start of a new Christmas tradition? Eli, Sadie and Grandma slept under the Christmas tree that night in their brand-new inflatable sleeping bags. I didn't think they would sleep there all night, but they did. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or grandma? Just look at grandma's smile and I think grandma was pretty happy.

Christmas At the Sperles

The trek to ND was rather uneventful. We managed to miss all of the major storms so traveling was a breeze. The kids handled the car ride with nary a problem, thank goodness for the portable DVD player. However, it was cold. Very cold. When we arrived in Bemidji we kept commenting that it just "sounds cold" as the tires of the car have a way of crunching over the frozen snow. Dennis' mom kept telling us how warm it was when it was minus 9, which yes, was 20 degrees warmer than earlier in the day, but 9 below is still not warm. We got used to the cold rather quick though, because after awhile we were commenting on how warm it felt when it was only 14 degrees. There was also a ton of snow. It was a record breaking snowfall for December. The ditches were full, the sidewalks were covered and the snow mountains were starting to form in the parking lots.

I can tell that I've been in ND too long when all I do is talk about the weather. I'll move on to talking about family.

Eli and Sadie love going to the farm. Grandma Sperle has everything. Seriously. She has the original Cat In the Hat and all of the original Barenstein Bears Books, plus, about 3,000 games. AND all the cookies, candy and chocolate milk that a kid could want! There are lots of cousins and aunts and uncles to do lots of spoiling.
Grandma Sperle and Sadie:
Sadie trying on her stockings.With Auntie Mic:Some of the family... That's Ashley helping Sadie with the camera and Carl playing cars with Eli. Carl is 18 years older than Eli, but I think he enjoyed the cars as much as Eli.

A Visit with Santa

We had a visit with Santa while we were at the zoo on Friday night. I was pretty shocked when Eli sat on Santa's lap and told him (albeit very quietly) that he wanted a polar bear and a penguin for Christmas. Sadie, however, would have nothing to do with that fat jolly old elf!

Gingerbread House

I bought one of those Gingerbread House Kits and the kids and I decorated it the other night. At first they were both very gung-ho about adding the little candy decorations.Then, Sadie got kind of bored and ended up moving the candy from one dish to another with a few ending up on the floor and a lot ending up in her mouth.

Eli stayed pretty focused.In the end, the house ended up looking quite charming and the kids love sneaking candy off of their house.

PS Sorry a lot of these are blurry. We were doing this at night and there wasn't enough light. I tried using the flash, but that looked worse than blurry pictures!

Eli's Christmas Program

Eli's school had it's Christmas Program this morning. I think this short video shows exactly how Eli felt about performing in front of an audience! (Eli is on the top left, wearing a red sweater. He's the one with his hands in his pockets. Eli's really good friend Jackson is right in front of him.)

First Snowfall

I'm still going through our vacation pictures. Let's just say that I still need a lot of practice using all of the features of my new camera. But, here are a few to tide you over until I can get through them all.
We arrived home from our trip late last night and were welcomed by snow! We took the opportunity to go sledding.And do some shoveling:And take Dad for a ride:

Thank Goodness

Today is the last day of November which means it's also the end of posting every day. Thank goodness! I was really struggling thinking of things to write every day! Needless to say, I'll be taking a few days off before you'll be hearing from us again. We will be going on a short trip to North Carolina via the Smokey Mountains this week. Then we will return home for 10 days or so before the trek to Dakota for Christmas.

Pat's Here!

Auntie Pat is here to visit. The kids LOVE Auntie Pat and have so much fun with her when she's here. She's so good at playing games, and doing dishes and ice skating:I would love to show you pictures of Eli on the ice and I wish that the camera were the excuse this time, but unfortunately being three and not taking a nap is the reason that Eli refused to ice skate.

O, Christmas Tree II

We will be spending the Christmas Holiday in North Dakota this year. That used to mean that we wouldn't get a Christmas Tree, but now that we have kids who are at prime-enjoy-the-Christmas-Tree age we decided that we would have to get something. And that something turned out to be a fake three foot tree that we bought at the thrift store for $6. Sadie says that it is a "big tree", so it must be good enough.
Remember last year when we decorated the Christmas tree? Eli was the task master who worked very very hard at putting on as many ornaments as he possibly could. While Sadie spent the whole time holding as many ornaments as she could and admired them all. It turns out that after a year, things haven't changed a whole lot:Though she did manage to hang a couple:And Eli took a break for a moment to smile at the camera:Voila!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Turkey Day, every one! We just got back from our third annual "pronounce the e" Sperle-Ponesse Thanksgiving dinner. This will probably be the last turkey dinner that Katie and Matt cook for us, which is sad because not only is the food really delicious, but because they are also really great friends. The children have moved up to the "kids table" not that any of them ate a single bite. We still didn't get to do the visiting we were hoping the kids table would bring us because 4 children three and under can be really really loud especially when they are running laps around the table!
I would really love to show you pictures of the event, but wouldn't you know, my camera died. I'm so glad my new camera is on its way!
By the way, I'm thankful for all the laughter, smiles and tears that my children have given me over the past year so I can share them here with all of you. And I'm thankful for all of you, my family and friends, for being here for us no matter how near or how far away you are. I hope you all had a wonderful day feasting and sharing laughter and love with those you hold dear.

Eli's Got the Baby Bug

Let me set the scene: Eli was sitting looking through one of the numerous catalogues we've been getting in the mail.
Me: Eli what do you want for Christmas?
Eli: This baby right here.
Me: Which baby? (Thinking it was a baby doll.)
Eli: This one. (Pointing to a real baby in the catalogue.)

And another time, Eli was sitting on the table looking out the window when he told me this story:
"There is a baby outside. A naked baby. A naked baby playing in the leaves. And he is cold and wet. And no mommies are outside watching the baby only my mommy. We should bring the baby inside and make him OUR baby. He can be part of our family."

I think we've been reading New Baby Train too much!

Sadie's Got A Big Nose

Sorry. I don't have much else to say. Plus, I've gotta wipe up the floors before the Dancing With the Stars finale. 'Til tomorrow.

En Garde!

Remember Eli's Halloween Costume? We borrowed it from a friend and it was a real hit with Eli. Well wouldn't you know, I was out thrift store shopping and came across the same knight set sans sword, but it was only 67 cents, so I bought it anyways. Yesterday, Eli wanted a sword because we've been reading a lot of books about knights and dragons and rescuing the fair maiden (much to Dennis' chagrin). There just happened to be a large box blowing around outside, so I made Eli and Sadie each a sword so they could have a duel.

Oh Drats! and Ice Skating

I did it again. I didn't post yesterday, but it's not my fault. Dennis was finishing up a project last night so I had to find something else to do. I went to bed.
Dennis took Eli ice skating yesterday for the first time. I wish I had pictures to show you, but Dennis neglected to bring the camera. (I was at home with a very very sleepy Sadie, she napped an unprecedented 4 hours!) Eli was sort of excited but very nervous. They decided that they would just go and watch, if Eli changed his mind they could go skating. They watched about 15 minutes and Eli decided that he wanted to give it a try. This made Dennis nervous, because Dennis is not a very good ice skater. But, apparently they had a really good time. Eli was pretty wobbly and fell down a couple times. Dennis had to keep him up and push him around the ice. Next time we go we'll be sure to bring the camera. Oh, and apparently Eli kept saying things like, "Look at how good THAT daddy can skate!" Love it.

OSU vs. Michigan

Dennis and I braved the cold 30 degree temperatures to go see OSU play their big rivals Michigan. It was not a very exciting game as OSU won 42 to 7, but everyone who knows me knows that I don't go to sporting events for the actual sporting event. I go for everything else: the food, the cheerleaders, the band, the traditions, watching people sign the Star Spangled Banner and watching the men in the armed forces work really really hard to get the flag up, etc. Here we are with 105, 562 of our closest friends:

Marching bands just aren't a big deal in North Dakota, but we discovered after attending The Circleville Pumkin Show's marching band parade that marching bands are a huge deal in central Ohio High Schools. I suppose it's because most of the kids who attend those high schools go on to attend Ohio State and perhaps they want to be in the "Best Damn Band in the Land". They really are pretty good perhaps even better than the OSU football team this year. Here's their famous Script Ohio: The band, the cheerleaders, and some players running across the field. Yea!!!Apparently one of OSU's traditions is having the (I'm guessing here) ROTC do a push-up for every point every time OSU scores. Osu scored 42 points. That's a lot of push-ups.

Sadly, this was probably our last OSU football game as next year we'll be somewhere else besides Columbus, Ohio. Where that is we're not quite sure but it'll be west of the Mississippi. So, we probably won't be moving on to greener pastures, just browner ones!

Oops!

I had great plans to post last night and got distracted so I'll post two today. I was going to post all about the Pharmacy School's big "Beat Michigan" chili cook-off, but wouldn't you know, the camera battery died. Argh. And the kids were being soooooo cute. They were dancing on the stage (it was in a classroom with a raised platform where the teacher stands to give the lecture) and it was pretty hilarious. Eli was head-banging and Sadie was doing her "raise the roof" stomp complete with two other cute little girls, one of which could have been Sadie's twin. Sorry I couldn't show you the pictures. But, Dennis and I sampled 20 different chili. We both liked the same one. We tasted some really good ones and some were pretty awful, too sweet, too vegetarian, to tomatoey, etc. I like a good, spicy traditional southwest chili with lots of cumin and fresh peppers. I'm not sure who won because we left way before the end, but I sure hope it was the "Wild West Chili Gang".