"Dance, Dance, Birds Should Have a Chance!"

This is the chorus that we haven't been able to get out of our heads since Thanksgiving. You have got to love what the public schools teach the kids! My kiddos love their music class and it was fun this year because they both learned the same Turkey Song. They had fun doing it together and teaching Ella. Sorry the lighting is dark in the video, but I hope you still enjoy it. If you need help with any of the words, let me know. I don't want you to get it out of your head either; that is only fair.

Happy Birthday today to Klockars!

A 5 yr. old, Elmer's glue, and fake nails....

I don't remember when Ella got fake nails, but I guess she has been saving them for a special occasion. Today was that day! While I was cleaning the kitchen, Ella was downstairs in her room awfully quiet; that should have been my sign that she was up to something. That something was that she decided to put her fake nails on- with Elmer's glue! She was so proud of herself that I had to take a picture. They only lasted about 10 minutes, because the second it was snack time, she realized that she didn't like to eat with them on, so she peeled them off.

Today reminded me of a story of 3yr. old Ella and 2 1/2 yr. old Kaia, hot pink nail polish, fingers and toes. Two years ago at Thanksgiving, the two cousins decided that they were old enough to paint their nails on their own. We were busy taking the turkey out of the oven and making final preparations when Greta came running up to tell us that the girls got hot pink nail polish all over the white carpet, their clothes, and of course their nails. They did a pretty good job on their toes, as you can see from the picture, and luckilly we can laugh about it now! I think I am noticing a trend with Ella!

Gobble Gobble!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We got to have my nieces here at our house for a couple of nights and the kids all had a blast! I do remember though why I hope our little one from Ghana is already potty-trained- how quickly you forget! My little nieces are so sweet though and the kids are tight- I am so thankful this weekend that we live close to 2/3 of my siblings, as well as my parents.

Thurs. morning we had our 3rd annual Turkey Bowl with friends, family, and Alive Covenant sports fans. We had a huge turnout and actually had four teams! Super fun and I even scored a touchdown! I want to give thanks here to my college intramural team, The Ballbusters, who taught me everything I know! And whatever Daron says, don't listen to him about who won the Turkey Bowl.

Later we headed over to my parents for the big dinner and filled our pallets with some great traditional fare! Daron and Brad decided it would be cute to dress alike, so I had to get a picture of the adorable brother- in- laws! (Hee hee)


As I look out our family room window tonight, I see that most of the neighborhood took the opportunity this weekend to put their Christmas lights up already. Not us! Most likely we will start to get into the Christmas spirit next weekend. Actually, Thurs. I will go cut some boughs with friends and make some wreaths; how Martha Stewart of us, huh? I used to love to do that when we lived in NH and Bethany Covenant had so much laurel on their property. A group of people would come together and make wreaths for the church to start off the Christmas season and then I would go the next day and cut some for our door too! I guess I am getting excited for this season, it just overwhelms me a bit to realize that it is here! Who am I fooling? When I put the radio on the day after Thanksgiving and I heard Christmas carols, first I grumbled and then I started singing along. Who can help getting into the Christmas spirit!

water 1st

Last night we went to an auction for a group called Water 1st. Their theme was "give water, give life". It was very powerful to think how much I take our water for granted. Water 1st brings safe water in the form of wells to remote areas in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Honduras, and India. I was surprised to hear that 1/5 of our world still does not have access to safe water, 80% of all sickness in many developing countries is because their water is polluted so badly, and the number one killer of children are water related illnesses. Their goal is to bring safe water to 160,000 people in the next 5 years. Some friends of ours from our North Park community are behind the vision for this group, and I was so proud of them last night for stepping up and making a difference in lives that they may never know they affected. Check out their website at www.water1st.org ! Very inspiring!

Where are you at with the adoption?

This is a common question right now and I thought I would just give a quick update. We have passed the part when the social worker comes to our house to make sure that we are state of the art parents, which we are, by the way..........this part was called the homestudy. Then, we went into Seattle to get our fingerprints taken to make sure that we are not WANTED by any official organization (we aren't). Now, we are just waiting for a referral for a little boy from Ghana that is between the ages of 0-4yrs. old. The agency that we are using, AAI, recently began the Ghana program late this past summer. There are around 14 children in their home, called Eban House, right now, and they will continue to bring other children in when they hear of needs. At this moment, there are no children that are the age that we are looking for for our family and we are just waiting until a child is brought into their home that would fit with us. Most of the children that are in the home are referred out and are waiting for paperwork to be processed until they can go home. We may wait awhile since we are waiting for a younger child, but for our family, we feel it is important to adopt younger than our youngest bio. child right now.

When we get a referral, it could be between 4-6 months for everything to come together. Daron and I plan on traveling over, and we hope that we can bring the rest of the kids. How amazing would it be to go as a family to meet our new son/brother. The kids are so excited for this!

Still amazed!

This was our view we woke up to this morning with the fog over the bay, I am still amazed by God's beauty everyday I look out our windows!

More Birthdays!

Greta and Daron both celebrated their birthdays this month! She got breakfast in bed and she chose Capt'n Crunchberries, banana, and chocolate milk. For her party, Greta had a few friends over for a pj party. We did everything that you would do at a slumber party, but after a few hours, the kids went home to sleep in their own beds and just as important was that I got a decent nights sleep! Greta had a lot of fun with her girlfriends making pizzas, watching Lohan's Parent Trap, eating popcorn, and having ice cream sundaes. Justus was off at his friend's house, but when he stopped by for a second, you would not believe the excitement and giddyness of the 1st graders of this second grade boy already. Ughh! That is what I was afraid of and planned the party when he was busy. Can you believe that I am already having to figure out the motives of the little girls that want to come and play with Greta?

For Daron's birthday, we had our 4:56 Worship Service at Alive. The day before we celebrated with all the Oct. /Nov. bdays in our family. Happy Birthday Inger, Lola, Daron, Greta, and Ella! I think it was Snickers birthday too, but no one acknowledged that! On Daron's bday, we gave him a good hearty farmboy breakfast that he got to eat while watching the Minnesota Vikings on TV. We also made some deep dish Chicago-style sausage, mushroom, and onion pizza- his favorite! This weekend we also had some friends over after a school auction for some Starbucks Mocha Martini's. Yum!

Halloween Fun

We had a great time trick-or-treating with friends and family. Inger, Tyler and baby Elin were in town, so we went downtown Poulsbo with them. They close off the mainstreet and the businesses hand out candy. It is so much fun to run into friends of ours and the kids. It is great to see how many people you know in a town our size after 2 1/2 years here. In case you are wondering, yes the brunette Snow White is our daughter. You could hear her telling her friends, "Hey, it's really me, Greta, not Snow White!" And yes, I probably could have found a better wig for her, but I found cheap Elvira one that I cut off the white stripe and gave the wig a crop. My almost 7 yr. old loved it- that is what matters! And in case you are wondering, Ella was a ballerina and Justus, Luke Skywalker. After walking around town, we went over to our friends house for some soup, wine and fellowship; followed up by some trick-or-treating!

cinderELLA is five

It is that time of the year again when we have three birthdays and Halloween all in a week and a half! Ella just had her 5th birthday and she had so much fun. I think that she was giggling all through the day of her princess party and the next, which was her actual birthday. For her party she invited just a few friends to come and play dress up. She told them to come dressed in their own princess dresses because she didn't have enough for everyone. Then they had their nails painted, played a game or two, watched a princess movie (of course) and had some ice cream sundaes! The next day she got breakfast in bed and went on a date with her dad, to Minnesota! Yep, it was her turn to go to harvest at Daron's family farm with him. Every year Daron takes one of the kids back to the farm to go and harvest, this time it worked out on her birthday. The kids have it all worked out when they get to go and they keep skipping me! I think I need to remind them that I was the first to go and harvest with their dad 14 years ago!

Do you have a pink trophy?

Well, Greta's 1st soccer season just came to an end and it was so much fun to watch her play. It made it even more enjoyable since Daron was one of the coaches. You would think with both of their competitive natures, that they would have had an undefeated team. Instead, it was a very humbling season of no wins (of course that isn't official since they don't keep score for micro soccer). Greta liked playing, but I think she really liked the social part of talking to friends on the sidelines, dressing up in her uniform, getting a snack at the end, and running through the parent tunnel at the end of the game. Naturally, the absolute best part of this season was the pink trophy that she gets to add to her shelves!