Photo Shoot for Christmas Card Picture

Tree Recovery/AKA Hide the Bare Spots

A Tree Hunting We Will Go - No Matter How COLD and CRANKY we are!

Charlie cried most of the time because his hands were cold and I couldn't get his "finga" in the thumb hole of the mitten, so he refused to wear them at all. The tree selection was weak. That is, we picked the only Fraser Fir that was big enough. Hey, it's a tradition. We have the picture. See you next year.

Giving Thanks in Chicago

Legos Land with Lou - The large Albert licking Daniel is made entirely of Legos. Lou and Daniel transformed to Jedi knights to take on the Lego Darth.

Charlie Floyd eating fresh whip cream with a dab of pie. Great Grandpa Floyd would be proud.

Conlin Cousins. Daniel posed with his mouth gaping in every photo and this was the only one where Charlie wasn't crying, so we went with it!

Big Zoo Lesson

It helps to have the child of a newspaper employee in your 3rd grade class!

Check out:
The Big Zoo Lesson at the Lansing State Journal.
There is a photo gallery and video to the right, or you can try clicking on my links and see if they work...

Daniel is in photo #5 in the Gallery sporting a hat Grandma Linda made (that's the photo in the print version of today's paper too!) and he's got a few shots in the video, including a duet with Kepler!

GO WHITE ON SPARTY GO WISCONSIN GREEN YOU RAH RAH!

Sparty On.
What a weekend! Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sue drove all the way from Slippery Rock in their Rocket Green - no one knew the difference - for the UW/MSU game. Mom said she caught her self cheering for the Badgers a few times, accidentally. What's a former badger to do? Molly couldn't handle the stress, she's asleep in the stroller.

Our Very Own Universe

Space Costumes 2008

The pumpkin walk in Downtown Lansing with Daniel, A reluctant Moon, Molly, Joe the Mickey Mouse and Emma the witch.

Houston, we have liftoff. It only took a bribe of one Peanut Butter Cup to get him to wear the moon for the picture . That's free in Daniel's book, given his strong dislike of peanut butter!Grandma and PopPop were visiting and were official Candy Distributors. Charlie made sure we had enough candy. We gave out almost 120 on a warm night where PopPop didn't even make them walk to the top of the Michigan hill we live on.

Ten Times Molly

SURPRISE!!!

Two days in Grand Haven...while the kids had their way with Grandma Linda!

Then off to Skaneateles for a weekend.
No books, just the club!

Cole's baptism.

Ithaca arrives at Rosalie's Cucina. Gamberoni con orzo - not even on the menu.

Bulldozers

Our thoughtful Daniel spent so much time thinking about where/how/when to kick the ball that few plays were actually made during this quarter...

ROWDY!

DAnIeL/DALI?

Our resident artist was chosen as one of the few 3rd graders to have his art displayed at Marble Elementary School's Barnes and Noble Night.

The Party Continues! Charlie is 2!

A little spit with that cupcake?

A little icing goes a long way.

Party 'til the shirts come home!

It's official: Molly is 4!

Molly's Montessori has a tradition of walking around the "sun" one time for every year.

Finally, a BOOSTER SEAT!!! Who knew it could bring such happiness?

A strawberry cake. Last year she requested blueberry. I guess no one has told her that cake comes in double chocolate flavor...

A gymnastics birthday party. Here's an action shot (my camera battery was almost out, so these all came out a bit odd...). We were sore the next day from dragging Charlie out of the pit so others could have their turn!

Go Green! Go White!

We've got a set of season tickets so Molly and I caught the Homecoming Game. Molly especially like watching 'Party and the Big Bird (aka Iowa Hawkeye) perform. One treat a quarter kept her pretty much entertained.

Homecoming Parade

Molly, Joe, Emma and Daniel impatiently waiting for the candy, I mean the parade.

Joe and Molly hamming it up.

Friday night at the homecoming 2008 parade in downtown East Lansing. Turns out it is everyone's homecoming - so the EAst Lansing Trojans (and their Sparty look alike mascot) started the whole affair. We sat near the judges to maximize candy quantity, so we got a rundown of who everyone was. My favorite was Bob in a Raccoon Coat, who has been coming back to Homecoming every year for 35 years. Bob wasn't walkin' real straight when we saw him. Go figure. The above picture is the MSU Turf Club. We took this pic for PopPop. They're golfing on the trailer.

Oh, the Joy of Chocolate.

Skipping Class

We saw him, from a long way away!

The Apples Don't Fall Far From the Tree

We tried Clearview Orchard's last year when Sheila and Mike visited, but they were fresh out of apples. Not a problem this year. We picked a peck (or two, I never quite got what the high school employees was telling me about the best deal...) in about 5 minutes flat. And, it is true that the apples don't fall far from the tree, which made them all the easier for Charlie to pick up and shove in our bag before we could see what one it was. It only takes one rotten one, so they say.

ESPN Sportz Center

We started the weekend with a fantabulous win by the East Lansing Bulldozers. Daniel had a genuine real-life assist. He dribbled down the sideline, passed to Connor, who scored! Indeed, we have never seen him so fired up about sports before. Well, Mike never cared that much about sports either, so maybe that explains it.

We finished the weekend with the Capital City River Run. This is the longest I've run in a very, very long time (read: many children ago). I was sore the next day, but not as sore as the day after my training run when I tripped on a crack in a sidewalk and gracefully threw my body to the grass in order to avoid hitting the sidewalk.

Regression

Mid-40s and still able to recreate junior high...

MSU Marching Band

The Marching Band Practices Daily - this is us watching them practice to help MSU beat that team from Indiana...

Hocking Hills - Where Michigan meet Pennsylvania

We hiked Ash Cave. The dry summer made the waterfalls more like drips.

A classic corn maze photo from the Space Themed Sharp Farms Corn Maze
We were the first customers of the season so we got a discount. Ted and Clara, we missed you, but you can see the corn was too high to cheat well.

Yet another cave - this time Old Man's Cave

Supposedly named for an Old Man who lived here. Creative, huh? I'm pretty sure they're looking for a paying sponsor. Lucas Oil perhaps? Molly searched unsuccessfully for his bedroom, but she and Daniel successfully kept this part from falling down.

Arts and Crafts=Paint everywhere

Charlie does his best to make sure that red heads really aren't extinct any time soon. Red from a bottle, anyway.

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Charlie bribes Cible to be his friend. Charlie has very little fine motor control over the quantity of treats that fall. This, I'm afraid to say, is the highlight of Cible's day...

Look out 3rd Grade!!

Breakfast of champions - oatmeal and milk, while reading about the recycling options in East Lansing.

O.k., I cannot figure out how to delete or rotate this. I need the 3rd grader to help me...

The first day of 3rd grade! Go Daniel!