The Holly Jolly Light Parade

Last night, Grammie and I took the kids up to Baraboo (about 45 minutes north of here for the "Holly Jolly Light Parade!"  We actually started out by going to the Wisconsin Dells, which is about 10 minutes from Baraboo and has a big outlet mall.  We had some coupons for Osh Kosh and Carters, so we got some clothes for the kids, and Grammie and I even managed to sneak around and get a couple Christmas/Bday gifts for Hannah!  (we don't even think she noticed!)  After that, we headed to Baraboo and found our parking place for the parade which started at 6:00.  It was a wonderful parade!!!  It lasted for about 45 minutes, and it was actually CHRISTMAS oriented!  There were floats covered with Christmas lights...all sponsored by local businesses, churches, and organizations.  Many of them had great manger scenes!  There were a couple high school marching bands who played Christmas music (even religious Christmas music!) and the UW marching band sousaphone section was there, too!  One of the most unique sections of the parade, in my opinion, was from the library.  They were all pushing book cards covered in Christmas lights.  It was very cool.  There were also multiple unicycles and other similar contraptions covered in lights, which Eli thought were great--every time he saw them he started laughing!  Actually, he was laughing for much of the parade--he would see things with lights or people or clowns and would laugh, whenever people would clap for a performance, he'd clap right along!  Hannah loved the parade, too--she stood right out there with all the kids watching the parade go by, waving, and collecting candy (can't miss that part!).  Afterwards, Santa was visiting with kids above the drug store!  We waited in line for a LONG time, but Hannah was insistent that she needed to see Santa, so we did.  :)  It was SUCH a fun night!  Everyone came home exhausted and happy.

Thanksgiving at School

Today was the Thanksgiving Luncheon at Hannah's school. Gabah was in New York working, but Grammie, Elijah, and I went to have lunch with Hannah. There were MANY people there having lunch with kids--it was a zoo! The food was...hmmm...I guess I'd say average. There were little turkey cubes in gravy poured over mashed potatoes, something claiming to be "traditional" green bean casserole that was more like green beans smothered in glue (no french fried onions there...), pretty good rolls, and great cake! But of course the best part was being with Hannah and enjoying the special lunch with her. We're now looking forward to going to Missouri next week for our real Thanksgiving celebration!

Yay, Team!!!

Hannah got to go to a cheerleading clinic this morning at Middleton High School. I didn't realize how many girls would be there! They had it divided up by grade level, and there were 27 kindergarteners! The numbers got lower as grades got higher (26 1st grader, 25 2nd graders...only 2 5th graders!) The girls had a great time learning dances and cheers! Hannah was very happy to find out that she knew 5 girls from her school, two of which are in her class at school! They did a performance at the end for parents which was wonderful! And Hannah has been doing cheerleading at home ever since! (FYI, the Middleton mascot is the cardinal, so that's what you hear in the cheers. (Cardinals/Cards/Big Red/etc.) :) Here's the link to the video on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/teachermom29#p/a/u/0/0k2PRvYGgTQ

Happy Halloween!!

We had such a fun Halloween this year! Eli was a leopard and Hannah was Ariel. On Friday, Grammie and Mommy took Hannah, Tayla, and Elijah to State Street for trick-or-treating. There were lots of kids down there, and lots of businesses generously handing out candy to the kids, so we brought home a lot!! Eli was so cute--he would hold out his pumpkin to the people giving out candy, and sometimes would even say "here ya go!" SO cute! The girls got their faces painted, too. Then, on Saturday, we finished up carving and decorating our pumpkins! I think the two we did here may have been even more creative than the one we did in Missouri! You can judge for yourselves... Grammie and Gabah said that almost everyone who came to the door was completely amazed by them and gave compliments and wanted to know how we made them and some even took pictures of their kids with them!!! Wow--what an ego-booster for me! ;) Anyway, for Halloween night, the kids got all dressed up and ready to go trick-or-treating. Elijah was pretty tired, but we got him set up in the wagon anyway to see how long he'd last...just so he could have a bit of trick-or-treating fun. I carried him to the door with Hannah at a few houses, but eventually let Hannah go up on her own and let Eli hang out in the wagon with a blanket over him because it was cold and he was pretty sleepy. He ended up falling asleep after about 20-30 minutes with his head all tilted to one side. I called Gabah who came to get him and Hannah and I continued on trick-or-treating for another hour or so. Needless to say we have WAY too much candy now when you count the candy from the Homecoming parade, Hannah and Eli's candy from State Street, and Hannah and Eli's candy from Halloween!!! Anyone want some? Happy Halloween!!!