Gone Fishing

Ethan has been fixated on getting a fishing pole and having daddy take him fishing. We decided to make that the theme for his birthday party.

So of course we needed bait. The kids started by making some creepy crawler bugs.

What's fishing without worms? The kids obediently dug their gummy worms out of the cups of chocolate pudding and oreo cookies. A few of them even liked it.

The kids fished in our pond, to gather some fish stickers. Somehow we missed pictures of that.

We ate our catch. Okay, so it was chocolate cake covered in cream cheese icing. Obviously, I'm no professional, but it worked out pretty good.

And we ended the day with some present opening chaos.

I think he was pretty happy with the events of the day.

Christmas Joys

It didn't take much convincing to get the kids up on Christmas morning. And despite the look on Ethan's face, they really were excited.

Through our trip to Disneyworld and riding the carousel, Maya cemented her love of horses. This made her Christmas morning all the more joyous when she saw her rocking horse, which has galloping and horse noises and some animation of the head and tail. She has spent several hours riding her horse since. She has also loved her various dolls (her babies).

Ethan loved getting his toy tools and a new air plane addition to his train set. We had the livingroom covered with a huge setup. Luckily, we have enough trains and remotes for everyone to play because Maya refused to be left out of the fun.

Of course, a miniature city means that somebody's going to play monster and knock it down.

By mid-day, the kids had more fun than they could handle.

Todd got some gear and accessories for his new hobby. Todd managed to keep a surprise and obtained a string of pearls for Maya and I, thanks to a colleague who had traveled to China. I also got some books to complete "The Great and Terrible" series. So I've spent the last two weeks fussing over food storage, water and emergency supplies after reading about potential events in the last days.

Disney World Was a Blast!!

We obviously found the drums in the Africa section of the Animal Kingdom.




Maya was much more enthralled with meeting the characters. Ethan tended to take a swing at them until we got after him for being rude.


Todd and Maya trekking through the jungle. Okay, well somewhere within the Animal Kingdom. I'm not sure exactly where I snapped the photo.


ET and Stitch, before the feud. To test his strength, Ethan clasped hands with Stitch. They then both pushed to see who was stronger. Ethan pushed Stitch back a ways. It was about time for Stitch to go, so we started to leave. Stitch followed Ethan with his hands up to request a rematch. It was great fun.


Here's Maya kissing Tigger. She must really like Tigger, because he's the only character that received a kiss, at least from Maya. Ethan was kissing a cute French hostess at one of our dinners.

Christmas Soon Will Be Here

We can't escape the excitement of Christmas. Especially now that Ethan is almost 5. He is more than a little enthusiastic every time he sees Christmas lights as we drive around, or decorations in the stores.

We recently received a gingerbread house kit, which he saw. Of course he started hounding us to make it ever since we got it. So, one evening before he could ask yet again, we broke out the set and made a gingerbread house.

The kids loved it, and I have to say, with really young kids the sets are the way to go. We've baked our own gingerbread and made our own icing in years past. All that waiting wears on the patience of little ones. This kit had all the pieces cut and icing already in a squeezable bag. Simple, slightly neater and much faster for that holiday tradition.

I'm not saying we won't bake them in the future when the kids are older, have more patience, and better fine motor skills. But for the next few years I think I'm going to cheat a little. At least on the gingerbread houses for the kids. We may become quite the gingerbread family if the excitement factor holds out a few more years.

Giving Thanks

Once again, Thanksgiving is upon us and we find ourselves counting our blessings. While we watch so many people around the country getting laid off, we are blessed to continue to have income. We are also blessed with health and good friends.

So we find at this time, that it is one of the ways that we can help the Lord help others. We will again be hosting a Thanksgiving meal and have asked some grad. student families to join us. We know that it is difficult to be far away from family during the holidays and offer ourselves as a meager substitute.

I pray that we will continue to recognize the blessings that Heavenly Father has granted us and we will continue to inpart what we can to others. I will also strive to be thankful for what I have, instead of yearning for what I don't. (Although, I don't think yearning to see family is a bad thing. So that I'll keep.)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

On our way to church, Todd stopped for a pedestrian in a crosswalk. A car came up very quickly on our right and we thought we were going to witness a nasty accident. Luckily we didn't.

Todd - "I thought we were going to have to stop and give CPR!"

Kara - "And first aid."

Todd - "And call the police."

Ethan - "Why?"

Todd - "So we could get that guy help and tell them what happened."

Ethan very adamantly - "And tell them it wasn't us!"

Just a few Halloween pic. Afterall, a picture's worth a thousand words.