Winter Update

 Grandparents' Day at school! 

 Henry loved soccer this fall.  He did a great job of following directions and learned a lot.

 He wasn't afraid to get in there!

 He also enjoyed watching Stella's games.

 The girls like to put curlers in their hair on Sunday mornings.

 A Sunday afternoon hike!

 Leila totally did that on purpose for this picture, but I still love it.

I got to go with Stella's class on her pumpkin field trip.

 Her friend Abby was in our group too.

 Henry's kindergarten class went to visit with the Forest kindergarten class.  Henry met up with his friend Patrick from Little People's Place.

 And Stephen from church.

 Leila loves to teach in front of her class.

 I took this picture after convincing Henry that his shirt says Stinky Hobos instead of Super Heroes.  He is just beginning to read and recognizes the starting sounds of words but I can still fool him on the rest :)

 I went to parent teacher conferences and found a clean hallway with all of the lockers closed except Stella's.  When I looked in to see if I could close it, I discovered that she had SEVEN coats, sweatshirts, or sweaters that she had left at school.  That is the problem with cold mornings and warm afternoons!

 We had our annual sales meeting at work and I appointed myself as the photographer this year.

 Dolores, Denise, Emily

 Kathy, Brenda, Sharon

 Dolores, Robyn Anne

 Me and Robyn J.

 I feel like I know our salesmen so well after working with them for over fifteen years but we only see them in person once a year if that.  This is Bryan from New Jersey.

 Blake from New York.

 The kids had a fall break and we decided to have a super fun kid day!

 I got papa to tag along and we went to paint a pot and crazy bounce.

 They had a blast!

We went trick or treating at the stores downtown this year for the first time.  It was VERY busy!

 The kids had a ton of fun though.

 This is the first year that I truly carved pumpkins with the kids - usually we cheat and just do the Mr. Potatohead pieces.

 I was very ambitious when I started on Leila's, but it broke a few knives and my hand started to cramp up so the other two just did faces to keep it simple.

 We went to the pumpkin walk in Allendale this year for the first time.

 It was fun to see all of the carved pumpkins in the woods when it got dark!

 Leila started with this costume but switched when it came time to trick or treat because it was too much of a pain to walk in.

 Jer brought this costume to work but the battery pack didn't work so we had to take a picture at home instead.

 Henry's teacher put some pictures of their DeGraaf Nature Center field trip.

 The kids came with Jer and I to go vote!

 First hot chocolate/hot apple cider of the year..they want it every day that there is snow on the ground! :)

 A craft that Leila had been BEGGING me to let them do for ages - home made puffy paint.

 My little card shark - I taught Leila how to play Canasta - too many cards for her hands to hold so we made a card holder from two paper plates.

 Family game night!

 I went to Chicago overnight with my dad and sisters.

 We thought we were there for the parade and festival of lights - it turned out to be the next night!

 We still had a great time.

 We got to meet our first great nephew, Ari!

 The kids could not get enough of him.

 More fancy hair pictures :)

 Time to decorate the tree! Of course we listened to Evie just like I did as a kid when my parents put in her 8-track!

 Thanksgiving at Papa's, bingo and decorating his tree too.

 I met up with Kristin while she was in town from Wisconsin.

 Jer and I had a date night!  We enjoyed walking downtown after dinner.

 We did the lights parade in Zeeland with Dan and Misti.

 We got a new computer for Christmas and the old keyboard is a great toy.

 We have had a few iterations of "Sunshine Cafe" over the years - Leila made it up one time and any time the kids decide to make breakfast for us, it is usually a big production.  They make menus and assign roles of waiters and cooks.  In the picture above Leila is angry because Stella was going to write in her book but she thought that was supposed to be her job.

 They even had a drawing where you could win a free meal (must be present to win).  Other prizes included hugs and kisses.

 Time for a family Wii tournament.

 I had to go to Canada for work to take a class and a test to become a SICA (Seed Import Conformity Assessor) to export seed from the US into Canada.  I took dad along with me for company and we had a great time!

 Canadian Tire is a popular store there that has everything under the sun!

 We went to a movie downtown Lindsay.

 We kept seeing this sign and couldn't figure out what the dots were supposed to signify.  It cracked us up!  It turns out that it means the road is slippery when wet.

 I even had the obligatory Poutine!

 Stella's class went on a field trip to Frederik Meijer Gardens while we were gone.  Her favorite part was the McDonald's happy meal for lunch.  She even got to order a Sprite with it!

 Stella did Sacred Dance for the first time at church - she is behind Avery in this picture.

 She was not feeling well but did not want to miss it, so after the performance I took her home and she slept it off.

 Leila finished her swimming lessons and this week and next Stella (above) and Henry (below) have their lessons.  None of the kids like them that much in spite of making so much progress with swimming this past summer.

 Papa watched the kids while Jer and I went to his company Christmas party and they decorated a gingerbread house together for the third year in a row.

 The girls were not the only ones who liked the frosting!

 Leila is an artist with hair!  She even managed to get a bun into Henry's hair.

 We went on a drive to see Christmas Lights and I made Bingo cards for the kids.  We managed to find everything but a sign for the North Pole.

 Reading minutes!  Amelia Bedelia is Stella's new favorite.

Stella and Henry wrote a note to our elf Alice:
Dear Alice,
Do you know Mr. Pickles? Could you bring some friends please?
Sincerely, your best girl pal: Stella
Love, Stella and Henry

Mr. Pickles is the elf of their friends down the street, so we arranged for Alice to go to their house:

 And then the next day, Mr. Pickles came to our house:

 Leila is no longer a believer, but she is doing an ok job of pretending for the other two. 

After finding our magical Elf on the Shelf the other morning, Stella and Henry asked me if we could buy an elf on amazon since they had seen a video on YouTube where the people ordered an elf and the parents hid it and the kids could find it. It looks just like our elf and they want a pretend elf like that too.
The way that kids' minds work is fascinating!



Kid Quotes:

Henry: Mom! Was that a taxi?
Me: Yep.
Henry: If I were older and had a phone, I would have taken a picture. That was my first taxi that I have seen in real life.

Henry: Mom, did you ever get coal for Christmas when you were a kid?
Me: Is someone worried about being on the naughty list?

Stella: Mom, Leila punched me right in the brain.

Henry just tried to convince me that crunch berries are a fruit.

Leila & Stella were having a discussion about when Stella used to have bangs.
Henry: Hey, I know, that’s what vampires have!
Me: No, that’s fangs.

Henry: Dad said I have to finish the cookie cereal, but I don’t like the chocolate chips.
(2 minutes later)
Henry: I’m lucky to eat chocolate chips for breakfast!
Me: You just told me that you don’t like chocolate chips.
Henry: Yeah but they’re sugar, so it’s lucky.

Henry: Mom, are clowns real?

Stella: Am I more than 800 days old?

Stella: Henry, did you know that the moon has to travel around the world a long time before it becomes the sun?
Henry: Yeah I knew that.
Stella: No you didn’t, I just told you.
Me: No he didn’t because that’s not true.

Henry: I got a hoop!
Jeremy: It’s called a basket.
*It must be noted that the way Henry says hoop is hilarious.  The 'oo' sound is emphasized too much and is slightly high pitched. :)

(looking through a Where’s Waldo book from the library)
Stella: Someone circled Waldo with a pen.
Me: That’s too bad.
Stella: Well it does make it easier to find him cuz he is hard to find.

Stella: if a horse and a zebra get married and have a baby would it be a zorse?

Stella: I bet I know how a robber could rob a bank. You could make up a first name and a last name and tell them to give you your money.
Me: But you need to know your account number and sometimes you have to show them your ID.
Stella: Well then you would need to try your best to make one.
Me: An ID?
Stella: Yes but I wouldn’t do that because I would do it wrong. And because you’re not supposed to.

(Steps over a cigarette butt)
Stella: I almost stepped on a smoker!