Thanksgiving Feasting and Festivities

Straw glasses for everyone! Aunt Nancy was kind enough to add food coloring to the milk for the younger cousins! Patrick asked where they came from, which made us laugh - Grandma, of course.
Post-dinner gambling. Roll 'em Molly, Charlie needs a new pair of shoes!

There you can see the whole family engaged in "earning" a little extra cash. The gamble spoils were blown at Target the next day - good Black Friday deals!

"Are there 2 Santas?"

Meeting this guy prompted Molly to ask whether there are really 2 Santas. Charlie, who had just awoken from an unsanctioned nap (see previous post about nap cancellation) wanted nothing to do w/ this. Daniel will still humor his mom and stand for a photo.

Silver Bells

Silver Bells in the City. Lansing Welcomes the Holiday Season!

Too Tired...

to climb the whole way up. The parental cancellation of naps has a consequence.

The Incredibles

Quidditch, The Muggle Way

Quidditch Casts Spell on Spartans LSJ.
Can you see the Hoola Hoops?
The snitch was a college student running around with golden wings on his head. Hmm.

Trick or Treat Bounty

I know, the title of this post is misleading, but...we got free tickets when we were trick or treating and they were in the front row for an MSU Women's bball game versus Grand Valley State. Daniel nearly caught a wild pass from MSU and Molly and Charlie spent some quality time with 'party, as they like to call him.

The Strikers

The Strikers team photo.
In a driving rain storm, Daniel scored his first goal of his soccer career. The tabloids are reporting that his mom cried, but I think it was just the rain.

It's NOT a Pumpkin. It's a Jack O Lantern

C'mon, he's 3 now, let the kid have a sharp knife. Only one bandaid required, not bad.

Artistic juices flow better with proper head attire.

2/3 Children Like to Rake. 3/3 Children Like to Jump and Throw leaves at their siblings

A Holiday Recital

Poseidon Plays Piano
Beard Cost 30 minutes of computer time - Daniel's currency

Halloween 2009 - Under the Sea

Poseidon. This is the school parade, where we did not bribe him with computer time to wear the itchy, scratchy beard. The silver lining is that he's smiling.

About to embark on 90 minutes of candy collecting. Charlie slowed the big kids down too much, so he headed back to hand out candy. We ran out of the stuff we bought to hand out, so I had to steal from the Homecoming Candy Haul (see previous post) and give out fruit roll ups (geeky). Shh, don't tell the kiddos.

East Lansing's Pumpkin Walk with Joe the Shark - clearly got the "Under the Sea" memo and Michael Jackson - clearly didn't get the memo, but was memorable none the less.

Molly's class.

Homecoming 2009 "We've Always Been Green"

There's not enough candy in October, so we head out to the curb to collect some from creative college students. Sam and Emma joined us this year too.

Oh no, we're not done yet!

MORE BIRTHDAYS!! Mine and Grandma Cushie's too. The kids play it safe and sing "Happy Birthday" every day in October, just in case. Even I'm tired of birthdays by now. Not too tired to appreciate the Steeler cake that Julie made. We sang the fight song while I blew out the candles (the traditional Polka one).

We're in Deep Now! Charlie Turns 3!

Charlie and the Purple Birthday (Harold would be Proud)

Let The Birthday Season Begin!! Happy 5th to Molly!

The first of 3 celebrations was at school where we read "Wild About Books" and Molly shared sugar cookies.

2nd: at home with her family...3rd: A "Royal" party. Yes, its true, I, Stacy, was part of a princess party. Don't tell anyone. I did it for Molly. We searched for dragon eggs and here you can see large numbers of "kids" climbing the castle wall in our backyard.
Thanks to Emma for coming early to do the do to Molly's hair!

Buddies

Team Joe at the Lansing Buddy Walk. We had to drag the kids away after hours of partying with Sparty, walking the the zoo, sliding the inflatable slides, face painting, game playing, chip eating, hair braiding, chocolate milk drinking, sand tabling (now that is really not a word).

The Blaze

Molly scored a goal while looking good in her new Orange Blaze uniform! She's thinking its an improvement over the Black Thunder of last spring.

Kalahari

A meeting in Ohio at the Kalahari water park. We danced a little, swam a lot, and hit the game room for a chance to win lots of cheap toys (many of which broke on the way home in the car, but that's not the point). If you haven't played "Ballistic", you should!

College Football Game Day

Uncle Tom spent the night before the ND/UM game. Before the brothers pilgrimaged (is that a word?!) to the Big House, we watched the MSU band march into the stadium. Later that day, MSU lost to CMU and ND lost to UM. Apparently wearing team colors isn't enough to guarantee a win.

Grandma Grandma Grandma Grandma

We caught the last day of the bird exhibit at Potter Park Zoo. They're flying to San Diego for the winter, so we paid our $1/stick and fed a few of them some snacks for the road.



Grandma taught Molly to knit and knit and knit. Molly woke Grandma up at 5:55AM the next day to ask her if she was awake to knit with her. Place your order for had knit scarves via the Molly Knits webpage, soon to be established :-)

Empty Nesters - Take 1

All on their way to the busstop. 4th graders require Trapper Keepers, remember those? Kindergartners require polka dotted socks and new gym shoes.

Ah, the sweet sibling love you dream about (for the whole 5 minutes to the school).Molly joins Daniel on the Marble Muskrat Team!

Pre-school bound...

Mr. Charlie started preschool on September 1st. Backpack, inside shoes, and an endless list of stall tactics to avoid going into the room are all the school supplies you need! Luckily Charlie and Herman the tortoise seem to be bonding so he's got his first friend.

Look Ma, No Training Wheels!

SUPER MOLLY! She can fly on her bike (with the NY license plate) now. Practice practice practice on the school's blacktop, then to the sidewalks for precision riding practice. This past weekend, she even rode to the zoo and back. Her biggest challenge is keeping Charlie from stealing her bike when she isn't riding...

Weekend projects

We started by blanching and freezing 15 dozen ears of corn. The cooling process is perfected by wearing a robe, Bob the Builder pillow and slippers that look like claws (not shown, please use your imagination).

The next project started with a ball - a WhoHas softball to be exact. We added some packing tape and a string. There was a false start with some fishing line. Add lots of neighbors - some bring extendable brooms, some bring knot tying knowledge (supplemented by "the Dangerous Book for Boys" that has a chapter on such things), and AWAY WE GO!!!



This is a long overdue project. We're building mirrors (Thanks to Jeff) for the kids' bathrooms. "The Bob" is working with his dad, "The Wendy". Afterwards "The Bob" said, "The Bob needs a drink." You go The Bob.