Christmas 2009

Here are some of the things I learned this Christmas:
1. When you lose a loved one during the holidays, it makes you realize how truly special your relationship with the rest of your family is.

The hugs were a little tighter and lingered a little longer this year. My Grandma passed away early Thursday morning. She had been pretty much as healthy as a 96 year old woman could be until last week. She got a stomach bug, went on hospice care and passed away pretty much over night. Most of us got to see her just 8 hours before she died peacefully in her sleep. Just the way things should be.
On a lighter note. Callie came with me for our last visit. My Grandma didn't have her teeth in. This made Callie a little squeemish, (me too, but thems' the facts of life!) Callie needed a bit of an explanation for the lack of teeth. Simply put, sometimes when you get older you lose all your teeth and have to have fake teeth instead. From that point on Callie kept asking to "please see Great Grandma's "pretend" teeth." Kids are such good buffers sometimes!

2. My belief about Trent having my pain tolerance is still solid.

In the middle of our party all 5 boys came into the kitchen saying, "Aunt Jenny, Trent hit his head and he's bleeding." Trent's face was red, but he wasn't crying. He had his hand on the back of his head, but there wasn't really any blood. As soon as I took his hand away the blood started streaming. A deep gash right smack in the center of the back of his head. A clean cut from the corner of a file cabinet. I am sooooooooo glad it stopped bleeding quickly and we did not have to go to the ER on Christmas Eve!

3. If you get to church at just the right time, you can get a seat and if you bring a coloring book, you can keep a 3 yr old and your 4 yr old entertained for the entire 1.5 hours.

Last year we did Christmas at the Barn. A live nativity scene. I thought it was great. Apparently I was the only one since it was completely vetoed this year. So church it was. We left the house later than we planned and I thought for sure we'd be standing. Everyone got to sit, shoulder to shoulder, but we had a pew! I brought a coloring book and some crayons, Kim brought a coloring book and crayons. The girls made it pretty far into the service until Callie had enough of trading coloring books. Molly didn't like this one bit. Here-in lies the difference between 3 yr olds and 4 yr olds. At least Callie had some wisdom to "share"....

4. "Christmas is about giving."
With Molly pouting on the pew, Callie reminds her of the meaning of Christmas. This is interesting advice coming from a girl who didn't want to share.

The sadness of my grandma's death was a small part of this holiday and my family choose to celebrate as we always have. We remembered the special person she was and the place she held in our hearts. It still really was one of my best Christmas's. And I know my Grandma is now an angel watching over all of us.

2009 Christmas Letter

Our 2009 Christmas Letter. A small sampling in the life of Chasing Callie and Trent time, plus a little of Marshall and I. Click on the picture to see it larger for reading purposes.

"Old" Time Hockey

New this year, a coaches game for charity. Marshall was back on the ice after quite a long hiatus! I do have to be honest - I was nervous for this "old" man! It was great fun to watch and he skated as if he'd been playing all along! He keeps talking about getting back on a team. Wait and see?

Can't catch ME....!

I don't bake for Christmas. Sometimes I make Chocolate covered pretzel rods to give as little gifts, but that's about it and Marshall ALWAYS makes Chocolate Chip cookies for Santa (and himself!)

Our baking tradition happens at Grandma's House. Decorating gingerbread men. Let the sprinkle-ing begin!
New this year, and as it turns out popular with lots of family's. The gingerbread house. Grandma and Grandpa made their's from scratch, butI guess Grandpa's architech skills don't transfer to houses made of dough. Slight structural failure! Leave it up to Marshall to make the most of it!

Say What....

I added some more quotes to the "Say What...." section on the right side. Be sure to read them!

Long Lost!

You might remember me mentioning awhile back that Trent had a loose tooth. We'll it actually did finally fall out. Two months (an eternity!) of wiggling and wiggling. This tooth seemed like it was never gonna fall out, and we were getting aggressive with it!
The tooth fairy brought Trent $5. He wanted to keep the tooth, so we suggested he write a note. He did and with out complaining one bit about the pink, stuck the tooth in the little"lost tooth holder" my Grammie gave me when I lost my first tooth. "Dear Tooth Fairy, can I keep my tooth please?"Trent also left us this message on the computer. BIG SMILES!

Chasing Time Rewind

Not enough hours in the day!
We'll have to settle for a 3 minute replay instead of the full report!

We took Callie to the ballet, Cinderella.

We carved our pumpkins.Callie wanted a three eyed, alien pumpkin.
Marshall got innovative this year.
Trent did his all by himself. He did such a great job! I really liked the face he created. I don't really like the "throw-up" pumpkin he wanted to do, but it was inevitable.
We took our annual LaCrosse hunting trip. I however did not take my annual Hobby Lobby trip!
It is usually the highlight of my trip, but I decided this year I really didn't NEED anything and didn't want to be tempted by SALES!!! (I did get a chance to go a couple month's ago after a tennis match so I didn't feel completely deprived.)

I thought it would be cute to stage a leaf fight for pictures. Trent took it a little too seriously! Nothing like an arm-full of muddy, wet leaves flung ruthlessly into your face!Hockey is in full swing.
For Grampy's birthday I got him some "pin-up girls" stickers for his ski helmet. The look on Trent's face when he realizes what he is looking at is priceless.
Lastly, we had a destination Thanksgiving, Door County! It was a nice little get away.

Do you hear what I HEAR?

It's official. I know they've been playing it, but now Marshall has tuned in here at home!

Click-Or-Treat!

Callie decided this year for Halloween she wanted to be a TV. I talked Trent into being the remote.
It was a little windy for Trick-Or-Treat this year, you can imagine how that went! The best part of these costumes was watching Trent try to reach up to ring doorbells with his arms stuck inside his box!

Halloween Story

A man is walking home alone late one foggy Halloween night, when behind him he hears:BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...
Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.
BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...
Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him. FASTER...FASTER..
BUMP...BUMP...BUMP......
He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him. However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping.
Clappity-BUMP...clappity-BUMP....clappity-BUMP...on his heels, as the terrified man runs. Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, he locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps.
With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door. Bumping and clapping toward him. The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup! Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket...and,
(hopefully you're ready for this!!!)

The coffin stops.

Happy Halloween! (Thanks for the forward Amy!)

Hay you there....

Get it - Hay.

We took our annual family trip to the pumpkin farm. The place is great because its close, and cheap and fun! The kids love chasing around the hay tower. This thing is four bales tall! It's got hay slides and mazes and little hiding places. This is our 3 time getting our pumpkins at Pearce's. They keep putting up the hay tower, we'll keep comin' back!


In addition to the fun of climbing, chasing around and getting all dirty. It also provides me great photo ops. Gotta be quick though, they don't want to sit around for very long!

Once Upon a Time....

I think the last we left off it was the end of July. What happened to August and September you might ask? Well, I feel the same way! I know I celebrated my anniversary and my birthday. The kids started school. Trent had hockey tryouts and I coached the tennis team at my Alma Mater. A definite highlight of September was Luke and Amy's wedding. (I took 1500 pictures! Go to Jennyography(click on link.) Most of the rest of these last two months are a complete blur! Going into it, I knew the month would be busy. Little did I know how fast it would fly!

School has been going well for the kids. Callie brought home her first book to read. That first one always brings a tear to my eye. I am always so surprised and impressed! It's awesome to listen to her reading just a month after her 4th birthday! Trent has figured out that if he works consistently at school, he can finish all his work and doesn't have to bring it home. So different this year with his new teacher and only 6 other kids in his class!

I am in charge of the afterschool care program at the kids school. Hanging with up to 14 kids until their parents get off work. At times it gets a little crazy, but when the weather is nice the kids have plenty of space to breathe!

Directly after the last parent comes to pick-up, we would head to tennis practice 3 days a week. It's over now, and I am grateful for the extra time, but I love, Love, LOVED every minute of it! What a great bunch of girls. They improved so much over the course of the season. I was so proud of them! I can't wait to do it again next year. I am sad that half the team is graduating. I just got to know them!

The day we waited all summer for! Callie couldn't wait to get her pretty dress on and celebrate Uncle Luke and Amy's wedding. So memorable! We are happy to officially welcome Aunt Amy to the family.

(Thanks to Uncle Jeff for taking our family picture. We asked the photographer to do it, but she got involved with the Bride and Groom, imagine that!)

Callie was a very diligent flower girl, dropping the petals one by one and walking ever so slowly down the isle. The kids first song request was Electric Avenue, a favorite in Daddy's car. Trent was bustin' out his robot and all his break dancing moves.

I was quite surprised both my kids passed out relatively early in the evening. No fading. One minute catching the bouquet and garder respectively, the next minute asleep on the couch! I'm glad the kids are at an age where they will be able to remember all the fun we had. I know in the future they will feel honored to have been a part of it.

Once upon a time it was summer.

Hello fall! What fun do you have in-store?

Enjoy the Ride.

Here's a quick update;

Callie can almost ride her big girl bike!
I hope to catch her on video this week! Check back in a couple days!

Trent finally has a loose tooth!

Primitive?

Ahh my friends, it's been waaaaaay too long!
I have a lot to fill you in on, but that will have to wait, alas, I only have time for a quick story....

Last night we had no power for 5 hours. When it first got dark, we lit some candles. I walked into the living room to find Trent huddled around a candle, NAKED!? He said he wanted to "Get Primitive." That kid is gonna be fun at parties, I can guarentee it!

We lit a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed a cozy, quiet night together.

Food Fight!

Callie eats frozen hotdogs, corndogs and fishsticks! Ugh! GROSS!
Trent refuses to eat String Cheese, even though he will eat pizza.
I love salty foods, but can't stand Olives and Capers.
Marshall went through a phase of blending (in a blender) several of his meals for no ligitmate reason.
What are some of your/your family's eating quirks?

The mini camp out

These pictures were taken in the dead of winter. The kids were playing so well together. Trent was being so patient with Callie and really being a sweet boy and awesome big brother. Even though I think sometimes he can't stand his little sister, who alternately worships the groud he walks on, he has his moments. The other day Callie was Trent's "Master" and he would do anything she asked. This went on for a good half hour! Including him washing her from head to toe!
It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops as the years go by. Right now they are so different. I wonder how they will change and grow.

Callie (Cassat) and Star Wars Sculpture

Callie and her daddy.

Starwars Sculpture by Trent

Happy Birthday Callie!

My little birthday girl! 4 years old! Lucky girl, she got to celebrate her birthday 3 times! At the second party someone asked her how old she was. She had to stop and think about it, and said, "am I 5 now?" No Callie, just because you celebrate your birthday again doesn't mean you have reached the next age. After the third party she asked if "she was having a party again tomorrow?"

She made sure we had her birthday girl hat. Breakfast at Egg Harbor - Rainbow pancake made with a special flair for her special day!

Dinner with Gran, Grampy and Auntie Kate at The Rainforest Cafe for the 2nd year in a row!
VOLCANO!

Trent picked out this Thumbellina for Callie, one of her favorites. He was so sweet when he asked to go shopping for her.Marshall is all about the thumbs up with the kids lately!
Princess Clothes! Have been donned at least once every day since!
Thank You everyone! Callie is a happy girl!

Scroll Down!

I backdated a post from June 22nd. Scroll down to read about Trent's first sailing race. Man I am slow on posting these days!

Chillin' at the Cabin

We took our 3rd annual trip to the cabin a little earlier this year. The next weekend after the 4th felt a little soon to get away, but of course it was still so nice to get-away. No TV, no phones and no computer, just a whole lot of nature and relaxation. I haven't slept that well in a long time! The minute we pulled into the driveway, Trent was begging to go Turtle hunting. We unloaded the car, and Marshall brought the fishing poles down to the lake. Callie took her first cast and caught her first bass. She even knew that's what it was! As she commented, it really is "just her size!" Trent had a sucessful turtle hunt. We caught 5 turtles - 3 big, 2 small. We separated them into two buckets. I carried the little turtles up to the porch. If you've read any of my frequent animal antics post, you know we do follow the catch and release (after a day.... or two) program. Unfortunately with the distraction of Trent falling into the swampy water off the pier yet again, we left the turtles defenseless down at the lake to be pilfered by a lazy predator during the night. You may have heard the term shooting fish in a barrel? I was really disappointed in us, but it was a good lesson. There was only one "body" so we had hope the other's had escaped. We gathered up the remaining little turtles to return them to their home. Every place we go up-there has a nickname. I think I will call the turtle swamp, Trent's Bay. We released the turtles in Trent's Bay and Trent convinced me since we were there we might as well try and catch a couple more since his buckets back at the cabin were empty. We were really in hot pursuit of this particularly elusive turtle. I mean it was a real chase! I perfected a new style of paddling the canoe. Picture me standing gondola style in the front. Who says you should never stand in a canoe! If I didn't think at any moment I could be swimming in muck 5 feet over my head, I would consider bringing a video camera, because it is America's funniest home video material for sure. We have more fun doing this! And I get the best work out chasing swimming turtles all over creation! Anyway, we finally caught the turtle, and realized, it was missing its back foot. Totally open wound. At this point I was ready to ban the turtle hunting for life! Ugh! How could we have been so irresponsible! Again, a good lesson to learn. With as much fun as it is, I could hardly deny the pleasure, and we caught many more which we did keep safely. We even caught one that we caught last year. I know because it has a tumor like thing on the side of it's head. I'm hoping next year we will catch "stumpy" again, then I will feel a little better about the whole thing. On a side note: I didn't take it, or even look at the results, but there was a poll on facebook that asked, "Should hunters be able to put their hunting pictures on Facebook?" I thought it was the lamest question. Anyway I hope I have properly conveyed the fact that I accept complete responsibility for the turtle casualties and vow to never let it happen again. There, my conscience is clear.
That first day Trent professed his love for turtle hunting, and pretty much said that's the only thing he likes to do up at the cabin. This made me nervous, because although we do a lot of turtle hunting, we do a lot of other things too, and Daddy and Grampy really like fishing. He did say he liked skiing. For as many turtles as Trent caught, Callie caught Bluegills! SHE just might be the fishing buddy. Every time she would cast out her line, she would pull in a fish. Grampy would cast it out for her, nothing. Callie would cast it - FISH ON! She would get so excited, and Trent so jealous!

Trent did catch the biggest one, but Callie caught the most! I've always considered myself to be a good fisherwoman. I didn't fish much this trip but I did catch two fish, and a lot of Weed Bass! I put my pole down, bait still out, to take a picture. I looked over and my pole was bending into the water, I caught a huge Perch, on accident! The other fish I caught while Marshall and I went out one night just before dinner. It was an "Evil Eye".

The most interesting thing we caught was a frog that still had it's tadpole tail. It was sort of creepy looking. Just not something I was used to seeing. The food at the cabin is so great. Especially eating the fish we catch. Lunches are particularly fun. We had a campfire lunch at the Third Island. Marshall made his speciality, "Camp Cakes" Sandwiches and dessert. Callie and Trent did a little "mountain climbing". Callie is such a little monkey. I can't believe how she made it up this hill all by herself! Our Picnic lunch is always at Leach Beach. Trent has his skiing down to the point of waving to the crowd. Callie took her first official crack at it up and down the beach.She loved it so much she didn't want to stop, unfortunately her daddy boat and grampy boat ran out of gas!

We are so lucky to have opportunites like these! Thanks for letting us use your cabin Mr. and Mrs. K!

4th of July - 2009

This year was a very different 4th of July for me. Sure we did the traditional things like fireworks on the lake:

Fireworks in our bay:
:
And the parade:
We usually have rain over the 4th of July Holiday. It this case it was raining CANDY!
Tip of the day: If you're not getting enough parade candy, bring a net. We've been doing this for 3 years and the novelty still hasn't worn off, the candy throwers can't help themselves, they want to make it into the net, and keep trying until they do! Candy everywhere!

Of course we celebrated a couple birthdays' and the girls had a fabulous spa day. The weather was so crappy we really didn't do much of this:
But we did a lot of this!:
Still my favorite time of year and lots of fun no matter what the weather.