The "Activity" Set

Every once in a while, one of the kids asks if they can take some pictures with my camera. I love to see what they take pictures of! Lots of random stuff, and lots of pictures of their toys, from their perspective. These are pictures Calvin took of our "Activity" set, as they call it. I put it low down, so they could move it around and play with it a bit. I had no idea there would be a big camp out with some of their other toys!

They put their other toys in socks, like sleeping bags. I also don't put out the baby Jesus until Christmas day, so they used one of their little babies in the manger. Pretty funny to see what they come up with!

Ho...Ho...NOOOOO!

I really thought this year would be different. I don't bother waiting in line at the mall or taking them anywhere special to see Santa Claus, because, for one thing they have been terrified of the guy in years past. Also, I don't like to make it the emphasis of our Christmas celebration. Anyway, he does make an appearance at our church Christmas party. Knowing this, I decided to let Mina and Calvin in on a little secret. I told them that Santa would be coming to the party, BUT, it's not THE real Santa... Santa has many helpers... and I told them WHO from church would be dressed up in the Santa COSTUME. They were concerned, "How will he tell Santa what we want for Christmas?" "He emails Santa a full report" I told them. Lots of good questions, but it seemed to be okay to them and to get them a bit more excited and not freaked out. They were even worried about slipping and telling their friends the secret, or saying "Hi Brother Bowker" instead of "Hi Santa." I thought that was funny, since they never say "hi" to adults anyway. Even in line, it seemed like I would actually get a picture of the kids with Santa. Then it was our turn... Mayzie dutifully went up to Santa and got on his lap, I think she saw that other kids were getting candy canes.

This is when she began to sense that Mina and Calvin were not coming anywhere near Santa. They were in fact, pulling on me, yanking me in the other direction. She must have sensed their fear because when we saw Santa later...

...She started screaming and crying! She even said "Santa scary" over and over! It did not help that Santa came right up to the girls and tried to talk to them. Mina screamed her head off, I am not exaggerating! Mayzie saw that and followed suit. Slowly we have convinced her that Santa is nice, not scary.
Oh well, maybe next year!

Share Fest!

Mina and Calvin's preschool had a family activity called "Share Fest." We all got to
go and make some fun Thanksgiving projects, eat some yummy treats, and meet their
friends and teachers. Mayzie LOVED it, she always wants to stay at school with M &C, so she was thrilled!

Calvin and Mayzie making their cornucopias.

Mina with her turkey!

I love when they do this at school... they ask the kids all the same questions and write down their responses. It's especially cool since I have 2 kids in class - to see how different their responses are! They were each asked:
How do you cook a turkey?
How long?
What temperature?
What ingredients?
Mina said:
We put it in the oven. It has to be cooked for an hour. A hot temperature. Peperoni, sauce, lemon juice.
Calvin said:
The turkey is made with eggs, flour, and lemon. Then you put the turkey in the oven. After you put the turkey inside the oven, it pops. Then the turkey turns into another turkey. Then the turkey is ready to lay it's eggs.

Calvin took this of me, I am wearing the noodle necklace he made for me!

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner...

The Weiner-Mobile was in town, and we got to take
a look and go aboard!

Trick or Treat!

For Halloween this year Calvin was a dragon, Mina was a BLUE fairy,
and Mayzie was a princess. This is Mina and Calvin before going out
to trick-or-treat.

I thought Mayzie would be all about going door to door and getting candy, but she
was more interested in crawling around on the ground, so she did not go. Mina and
Calvin are trying to be nice by laying down on the ground with her, since I could not
get her to stand up!

Now, after eating nothing but candy for 4 hours, Mayzie is a happy princess!

Mayzie's 2nd Birthday!

Mayzie turned 2 in October! Yay! She is such a fun, sweet little girl! She talks so much, and has the sweetest little high pitched voice! She is the most independent child and insists on doing most things herself, and manages quite well. I love this age - 2 is one of my favorite ages!

I think I re-lit this candle for Mayzie several times, this was just for

lunch, but I love putting candles in everything all day. She loved it too!

She got this cool "jumpin horse" from Aunt Steph for her birthday. It's like one of those big bouncy balls that you sit on, except it's a horse! Big fun! Calvin loves it too.

More candles, in birthday pie.

We had a small group that included just our parents. This was right when we began our couple weeks of being sick with SOME kind of flu. We warned others to stay away.

The Colors of Fall

I just love Fall in our neighborhood. We have tons of big trees around and the colors are so beautiful. This also means we have lots of leaves to rake! Fortunately the squirrels take care of all the acorns. We had some raking helpers this year!

Philly trip

In early October, Mina and I went with my Mom and Dad to visit my sister in Philadelphia.

Each time we go, we try to visit a new area. This time we went to Lancaster, PA. It is the home of the oldest "market" in Pennsylvania. They had everything from veggies to candy, meats to bakery good. I love those kinds of places!

On the streets of Lancaster

This is at Stephanie's house with her dog, Stella, and boyfriend, Charlie. Mina is not a fan of dogs, hence her position - way up in Grandpa's arms. She did get brave near the end of the trip and actually pet Stella while Steph or Charlie held her tightly with her facing away from Mina. On our way home from Philly, Mina kept saying "Stella really liked me, Mom."

Stella is coming home for Christmas, so we'll see how much all the kids like her!

She's Crafty!

I got the itch to sew something. This urge strikes every so often, but I seldom make the time to do it. I found some cute fabric and a fun pattern for a cute girls shirt. I have been wanting to make clothes for Mina since before she was born. She is now 5 and this is the first thing I have ever made for her... I think? Anyway, she actually likes it and wears it proudly! How cool is that? Here she is showing off the "pear shirt."

This was also a rare occasion where I got a GOOD picture of all 3 children, looking AND smiling. This was 2 minutes before we were supposed to be out the door for school. Amazing!

Peter Piper Picked a Pack of... Pretty Pumpkins!

Going to pick out pumpkins is one of our favorite fall things to do!

Jam!

I said I made a lot of jam this summer, and I was serious! Here is just one weekend haul. My sister told me she liked some jam I gave her this summer, so I wanted to make some fun kinds to bring her when we went to visit. I made strawberry-lemon marmalade, raspberry mango, and cranberry-raspberry preserves. There is also peach pie filling pictured on the left that I made. There is just something wonderfully appealing to me about filling jars with delicious fruity goodness!

Milwaukee trip

Joe and I are fans of the show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" on the Food Network, and when we saw a place on there called the Comet in Milwaukee, we decided to go give it a try. It was a great little cafe/diner.

I ordered a hot chocolate, as it was a bit chilly that day. Calvin and Mayzie were ALL over it!

Cute birds!

Then we went to see "The Fonz" statue. Joe has been wanting to go see him for awhile. Happy Days is one of his favorite shows!

Ayyy!

The last stop on our trip was the MARS Cheese Castle. As you can see they

specialize in all things Wisconsin; that would include cow and beer shaped cheese...

and cheese head hats! What a great day!

First Day of School!

Mina and Calvin went to preschool together this year! They are in the same class with the same teacher. Their school has the 3, 4, and 5's all together. It's been working out great. They stuck together a lot the first few weeks, but now are branching out a bit. It's also great for me to have them at the same place, at the same time. Less running around. It's also been fab having time with just Mayzie.