Snow!

We have snow in northern Minnesota and what fun it has been. Sadie, in particular, has turned out to be a snow queen. She wants to play in the snow all day and never seems to get cold or bore of it. She could make snowangels all day and never seems to tire as long as I'm the one pulling her around on the sled! Eli likes to be outside if he has a job to do. He's been working on a fort (a teepee, really, that the neighbor kids started building on our property) and loves to shovel. It's easier to get them outside this year. I think they've grown accustomed to the cold and they don't mind wearing layers as much as they used to, or maybe it's just their age. Either way, it's going to be a fun winter. I predict lots of snowmen, forts, angels, skiing and sledding. Oh, and lots of hot chocolate too!

Eli

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" by Eli

Remember the good ol' days when I used to post every day during the month of November? It's not like we're not busy doing things or busy growing or busy learning, but it's just getting harder and harder to document their changes especially when the changes are mostly mental instead of physical. Not that Eli isn't growing either, he's managed to grow an inch and a half since his birthday which makes all of his new pants flood pants...

But, today I'm going to share some of Eli's new milestones, not because I'm bragging, but because this blog has turned out to be Eli's and Sadie's "Life Book." I figure, one day, they might just want to know this stuff.

Eli finally grew out of his old tennis shoes, which meant new ones. We got him shoes with laces so he could learn to tie his shoes. And guess what? He learned to tie his shoes, and Dennis' shoes, and my shoes...

The big big thing is that Eli is now a reader. He's reading some easy level readers and some harder picture books and is doing pretty good. Dennis and I just decided to teach him one day (he's not reading at school yet) and he's been pretty excited about it and has been trying to read every book since. He has a bank of 50 or so high frequency words and is really good at just saying what makes sense or using the pictures as clues. He attempts sounding out, but I really try to discourage that because he's not very proficient at it. Reading is such an exciting milestone. I love watching him enjoy reading to us, not that we don't still read to him!

Other milestones from the past few months:
**Getting himself going and pumping on the swing
**Counting to 199
**Wiping his own behind clean. Clean! (maybe not important to anyone but me!)

I'm sure that there are lots more milestones that I've forgotten to mention along way. Somehow he seems to be growing faster than I thought possible.

A Pink Birthday (again)!

Sadie turned 4 on October 28. Grandma and Grandpa Z. were here for the big day (and stayed for the party too) along with uncle Darren and his family. Sadie requested fried chicken and french fries for supper. The cake was just a little one to tide her over until her party which wasn't until the next day.
Sadie's birthday requests were simple: she wanted grandma to make her a fairy cake, and she wanted Zoe, Nile and Leanna to be there (grandma and grandpa and Darren, Talia, Reid and Anissa came too). That was it.
When the partyers arrived, they decorated little treasure boxes. While those dried, the kids went on a treausre hunt for real money. It's a good thing they like copper. Haha!!

We opened presents:

We ate yummy pizza:

And we sang happy birthday:
It was a pretty low-key party, but we all had a blast.

Sadie's 4 year stats:

35 pounds

38 3/4"

2 shots with tears

Another Princess in the House

With the passing of Jewel, we were just missing that special presence that an animal brings into a home. Our hearts ached and we missed cuddling a beloved pet. It was quickly decided that another cat was needed. A trip to our local Humane Society introduced us to our newest family member. This is Belle formerly known as Guinevere which was just too much of a mouthful for all of us. She's a 6 month old tabby cat. She's a little runt, very lovey and a little whiney. Much like a newborn baby, she only cries when she's put down! Eli has declared her as an indoor cat only, but I think once spring rolls around Belle will be outside chasing the bugs and climbing trees like every cat should. She's such a beautiful cat and we're so happy to have her.

Happy Halloween!!

Is it just me or does Halloween just seem to drag out? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Halloween as much as the next person, but it seems like it's become Halloween week instead of just one night of trick-or-treating. Anyways, enough babbling and on to the festivities.
Here is Eli's K1 class. Sadie is mixed into the group too. They had a nice little party with games and a spider snack. Sadie is a fairy and Eli is a power ranger, but he called himself the "puncher". Here's Sadie with our beloved Zoe.

Eli and his twin friend, Ryan. They were born on the same day, are the same size and practically look the same. Then, they both show up at the Halloween party with bulging muscles.
Carving pumpkins from our visit to the pumpkin patch.Sadie chose to carve her pumpkin in nothing but her panties. Why? Because she didn't want to get messy. Haha.

Sadie and I also went to a really fun party at Carlos and Luis' house on Saturday night, but I didn't have the camera. Eli and Dennis took the camera to Minneapolis to the Gopher v. Buckeye football game. Fun was had all around. I'll have to share those pictures later...

So, after the weeks worth of events, we were kind of Halloweened out by the time Sunday evening rolled around and it was time for trick or treating. Eli just wanted to stay home and watch the Vikings (he's becoming quite the sport's fanatic) and Sadie already had enough candy to last until Valentine's Day. So we were lame and just went trick or treating at the mall with a brief stop over at Uncle Darren's and Auntie Talia's.

I let the kids eat a lot of candy yesterday and today. Tomorrow, I'm locking it up. I think Dennis' co-workers will enjoy the bounty!!

Pumpkin Patch

We always plan a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins and have a little fall fun. This year we went to a patch near Fargo as we were there visiting during the MEA break. The weather was near perfect and grandma was along so it was a great day!!
Pumpkin picking is starting to get a little bit harder as they have to find the right one. It has to have the perfect stem and stand up just right and have smooth flesh and on and on. This year Eli wanted a tall and skinny pumpkin. This is not the pumpkin he got:

Sadie searched and searched and searched (to the end of mom's patience) to find a perfect pumpkin. Her criteria for the perfect pumpkin: one she could carry. After what seemed like an hour of searching we finally spied a cart full of little pumpkins and that is exactly what she wanted.
The rest of the pumpkin patch had the usual fall fun stuff: plenty of opportunity for photo opps, haybale mazes, haybale lassoing, wagon rides, and barrels pulled by a lawn mower. Good times.

Happy 4th Birthday, Sadie!!!

Happy birthday to one of the happiest little girls in the world!

Brokenhearted

Our little kitty, Jewel, went missing on Friday. The kids and I were out of town. Dennis was here but was working and on-call so he wasnt' really around. She went out Friday morning and didn't come back home. We checked with neighbors, roamed the back woods, called every possible place someone could have possibly taken her if they found her and did lots of finger crossing hoping that she'd find her way home. Well, today I got a call from our neighbor across the street telling me that she found Jewel's body. The crazy thing is that it appeared that nothing was wrong with her. She didn't have any broken bones or blood or signs of rough play. We can only assume that she got into something that she wasn't supposed to get into. My neighbor, who I didn't really get to know before today, was such a sweet man. He cried with me and offered to get her ready for a burial. We're all so sad at our house and trying to answer all of those hard questions that kids ask and that parents pretend to know the answers to: where do you go when you die?, what's a soul? what happens to the body? why do we bury her? Is she with Trouble (my parent's cat who recently passed away) now? And then there are the lighter questions: can we get a dog now? and when can we get another cat?
It rained all day today. Hopefully, the weather will be drier tomorrow so we can say our final good-byes. Jewel was a great cat. I've never met a cat so gentle and cuddly and patient with the kids. We're really going to miss her.

It's a Niece!

Eli and Sadie have another cousin, but this one lives in Bemidji so we got to rush over and cuddle her. Welcome to the world Anissa Elizabeth!! Born on October 23 at 4:49pm. Weighing in at 7 pounds 14.5 ounces and is 19" long. She is a beautiful baby!! And I couldn't be happier for Talia, Darren and Reid.

School: An Update

Eli's K1 picture. He selected the outfit.

I can't believe that Eli has been in school for almost 2 months now. His life has changed so much. You all know how much I hemmed and hawed about sending Eli to K1 instead of Kindergarten, well, I can say now that it was the best decision ever. He has matured so much and he is taking risks in ways that he never has before. He has found some independence and he likes it. And the good thing is that he can make all of these emotional milestones without having to worry about academics. Next year, he's going to rock kindergarten because emotionally and socially he'll be ready.

So, here's some of his huge HUGE milestones. First, he told me that he wanted to ride the bus. We arranged it so I drop Eli off at school and that he would ride the bus home (with Zoe whom I watch until her mom gets her after work). Second, he decided that he was too big to have his mom walk him to his classroom. I drop him off in front of the school and he walks to his classroom by himself! He has also decided that he can go to the restroom in public by himself. (I really monitor this though, because I still don't like him going into the men's bathroom without Dennis. Way too many weirdos.) I could go on and on and on. Truly, he's like a different kid. Not that all of the changes have been good. He has had lots of breakdowns at home. The whining is pretty amazing. Tattling and saying "I'm not going to be your friend" are all new. So, there have been ups and downs but mostly ups. And luckily, none of the downs have been at school, only at home in the safety of his mom's watch! I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store.

A Hike in the Woods

Sunday was a beautiful day for a hike. In fact, this whole week is going to be in the upper 60s. This, my friends, is my favorite time of year. Oh how I love a good Indian Summer.

We've just started getting a little bit into geocaching. It's a good family event--mom and dad love the hike in the woods, Eli and Sadie like the mission and holding the gps... Here was our find!

It wasn't even cold out, but I love my hat.

Artsy Fartsy

Here are some more artsy things that the kids have been up to.
Eli took this picture earlier this summer and I forgot to put it on. Doesn't it look spectacular? I love how the cars are all lined up in the light.
Eli is going through a landscape phase. This is" pyramids in the moonlight". Right before this he painted a desert scene with saguaro's that was also awesome and had cool purple birds, but he gave it to Zoe and I didn't get a picture of it.
This isn't the best shot, but Sadie and I did this little art project the other day. I thought it turned out so cool I framed it and put it up in the kids' art center.

Fun With Whipped Cream

The Family Pictures That Didn't Happen

I can't believe I'm posting this picture as everyones eyes are closed, but it's the only picture I got and it's actually a kind of funny story. We went to a fundraiser for a local pre-school at Buena Vista Ski Area. There is a dinner and horse rides. The best part is that you get to walk up the hill and check out all the fall colors. We brought our own picnic since it was a gloriously bright and warm day (and I didn't know that they were serving dinner). There were lots and lots of people coming up the hill to check out the view. We ran into a family that we know and she volunteered to take some pictures of us. And she "took" a lot. She had us move around, and she "took" pictures from all sorts of angles. Well, tonight I was downloading pictures for this post, and wouldn't you know that there weren't any pictures on the camera except this one. This has happened to us before (on vacation in Burlington, VT), I'm going to blame Nikon. I guess it's not a fool-proof camera. Anyways, I'll try to get some more pictures of fall since it's almost over. Our trees are dropping leaves like crazy. We're past the orange, red, yellow, and green phase of fall and have moved into the "shades of brown" time of fall. The leaves do sound spectacular under our feet. And the mushrooms! Oh, you should see the mushrooms. They are so awesome right now and they look so darn tasty. I'm working on identifying them, but so far all of the possibilities are telling me not to ingest!

Sadie At School

Here are some highlights of Sadie's first three days of school. She missed one day because of her ear infection, but she is now feeling just fine. This year there are three boys. I think that makes for a fun gang.
From the back, left to right: Veritas, Luis, Leanna, Hawken, Aaron, Sadie, Scout Elizabeth, Elena

I'm sure I've mentioned before, but every Tuesday is soup day. They all participate in contributing a vegetable to the soup and they all help prepare to make the soup.
I love this picture of the kids shaking. I'm guessing they each have shaker eggs and they're listening to music.

Photos the Kids Take, Part 2

Here are some pictures that Sadie took. Sadie takes different pictures than Eli. She tends to take a series of pictures and usually she takes pictures of people instead of things. Her hand is still a bit shaky, but she's getting better at centering the photos. It seems that I am her favorite subject. She's always demanding that I stop and say cheese.
Here is her latest series: Mom in the kitchen.

A Date

I've been having mommy/daughter dates with Sadie for two years now, every time Eli has school. Well, for the first time ever Eli and I got to have some alone time together. With Eli having school every-other day and Sadie having school Tuesdays and Thursdays, that means that every-other week I'll get to have some time with Eli. When Sadie had school on Tuesday, Eli had me all to himself. When I gave him the list of possibilities, he chose to go home and do crafts. Apparently he thinks that that's what you do when you have alone time with mom considering all of the little crafts projects that Sadie and I do during the week. Eli received one of these car kits for his birthday, so we painted and assembled it. And Voila! an old-fashioned limo. and some very special time for both of us!Thursday, Eli was supposed to have his second date with me. Well, Sadie was up all Wednesday night with an earache. So instead of going to school, we went to the walk-in clinic, the pharmacy and took a long nap.

Sadie's First Day of School

Yes, Sadie did go to school this summer, but this is different. This is school without Eli, which means that Sadie is a big girl and can now go to school by herself. She's been ready for this forever now, it seems. Sadie is my independent child. She must do everything by herself. She likes to choose her own clothes (even if they don't match), put on her own shoes (even if they're on the wrong feet), button her coat (even if the buttons are crooked), comb her own hair (even if the back of her head gets missed), buckle her carseat (even if it seems to take forever), and a thousand other things that often make getting out of the door on time a little bit challenging. But, alas, it's all signs that I indeed have another pre-schooler. Oh how I love her independent spirit.

Photos the Kids take Part 1

Every time I download photos there are at least 50 or so that the kids took. It's interesting to see what they deem as photo worthy. Eli is getting really good at centering his photos at least and making sure his fingers are out of the way. He's figuring out that he needs to turn the flash on when the pictures are blurry and he deletes the ones that aren't good.

I mentioned that Eli took some photos on our train trip in Duluth. While the other side of the train had wonderful views of Lake Superior, we sat on the side that had much more interesting things like cars and road construction and apartment buildings!

Eli laughs every time he sees this photo:
He thought is was funny that there was a lady taking pictures of the train from her apartment. Self portrait #1: Oops, zoom is on...Self portrait #2: Serious.
Self portrait #3: Cheese!