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!!!

Mizzou Homecoming

Last weekend, we traveled to Columbia, Missouri again to visit Nannie and Paw Paw and to participate in some of the Mizzou Homecoming festivities. Fortunately, no one went to the game to see Mizzou get killed by Texas. It was ugly. We got there on Friday afternoon and had some yummy pizza for dinner. Then, Grammie, Gabah, Mommy, and Hannah went to campus to see the fraternity houses. Each year, they all put up big stages that are decorated and do skits about the game. It was very cold and a little drizzly, but we still had a great time! After that, Mommy went back to the house to put Eli to bed and the rest of the group met up with Paw Paw to go to the Mizzou practice basketball game. Obviously Mizzou won! ;) On Saturday, our whole group (Mommy, Hannah, Eli, Grammie, and Gabah) went downtown for the homecoming parade! It as pretty cold and breezy, so we all had to bundle up! It was Eli's first opportunity to wear his new winter coat, hat, and mittens. After the street was closed off and before the parade started, Gabah put Eli in the street and let him walk around--he ended up walking back and forth about 4 blocks! And then proceeded to sleep through the parade. Hannah, however, was wide awake waving at all the people and collecting tons of candy. After the parade, we enjoyed the afternoon together at Nannie and Paw Paw's playing. Eli had fun playing in a box, and Hannah had fun playing with pom poms and "selling" little pretend coolies. Then, Hannah and I carved them a pumpkin which turned out to be one of the most creative pumpkins I have ever come up with! TOo bad the "teeth" melted after a few hours--I hadn't thought of the fact that the juices from the pumpkin would melt the candy corn into a huge puddle of sugary goop. Oh well. Saturday night was the horrible football game, which no one enjoyed watching. And Sunday was our drive home! It was a wonderful weekend filled with great memories! :)

A Sick Elijah and The Pumpkin Patch

Elijah has been having such a rough time lately... First of all, he has been having such a hard time with teething! He's working on his molars--he has two in so far, and the third is almost there. One of his newest favorite playthings has become my muffin tins, and apparently they make great teethers, too! Last Wednesday evening, I had to take him to Urgent Care because he had been crying uncontrollably for almost 3 hours and had a 101 fever! I was afraid he had an ear infection since he'd had a cold for a few days. But, as it turns out, he had "pink eardrums" which were apparently "almost an ear infection but not quite yet." Hmmm. Anyway, the doctor said it's just pain from his teeth and there's nothing I can do about it other than giving him Motrin like I had been. Nights were rough and he didn't get much better, so I took him to his regular doctor on Friday morning, and then he really did have an ear infection. He started taking antibiotics and started feeling better fairly quickly. So, on Sunday afternoon, we had planned to go to the Pumpkin Farm with Hannah, Eli, and Hannah's best friend. This was the only day we could go before Halloween. Just before we were going to leave, Eli started throwing up! About 5 times in an hour! So, Gabah took the two girls, and Grammie and I stayed home with Elijah. But, after that hour, he never threw up again. And now, he's back to normal except for his slight cold and his painful teething. But the girls and Gabah had a great time at the Pumpkin Patch! They saw some giant pumpkins, bought our pumpkins, rode on the haywagon, walked through the corn maze, petted the animals, and lots of other things! I'm glad they were still able to go! This weekend, we're headed to Missouri for the Mizzou homecoming and a wonderful visit with my grandparents!!

Apple Picking '09

Well, we had a really fun afternoon today! We decided to go apple picking at Appleberry Farm, about 15 minutes from home. We also decided to bring along Hannah's best friend, Tayla! All 3 of the kids had a ball gathering apples! Hannah and Tayla were running around like crazy collecting apples, and Mom and I had to work hard to get them to stop--we didn't want to end up with a hundred apples at home! LOL Eli got attached to a couple apples that were just his size--one in particular was so tiny and cute! He had one in each hand the whole time we were there, and there was no taking them away! At one point, he decided to bite into them--he made lots of teeth marks but never really got a real "bite." After collecting lots of apples, I took the kids on the hayride while Grammie warmed up in the car. (It was a pretty chilly day!) It was a fun day, and everyone had a great time! Can't wait to go again next year! P.S. To see all of our pictures from today, go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2627545&id=8621722&l=a7daa04b9c