Winter Fun

The weather moderated and the snow was perfect to do a few downhill runs on the snow tube while we waited for Finnian to come home from school.

The evening ended with hot dogs and S'mores roasted in the fireplace. It made everyone warm and toasty and ready for tubs and bedtime. Ah, these are sweet times. We miss you both and look forward to seeing you soon!

January Busy-ness (2nd Report)

Finnian and Adalia went to Cochrane with me over the weekend -

Saturday is baking day - Adalia wanted to surprise Grandpa with chocolate chip cookies -but we needed strong arm assistance so he didn't look down at the bowl as he stirred and stirred.

The seal of approval was given by Finnian upon the first bite of the warm, soft cookies.

Later it was time for root beer floats for dessert (be assured they ate a healthy dinner Mom and Dad) Adalia shows the skills needed when the root beer fizzles over the top - a straw and one little tongue gets the job done "lickety split".

After a big day at Pre School it is time for a snack - here is Miss Hot Chocolate Face.

Wanna Smooch?

Winter Vacation-Wisconsin Style

While Mom and Dad are having a get-away in Arizona, Grandpa and Grandma are "vacationing" with Finnian and Adalia in LaCrosse. Wisconsinites know how to ignore the sub-zero temps and wind chills and party on.......

Adalia decided to get her cool, new picnic basket out that she received from Shawn, Kevin and Ivy for Christmas (who says you have to wait until summer?) We had hot lemonade instead of the cold variety, and blue cheddar cracker fish instead of fresh caught bluegills....

Suddenly a predator appears out of nowhere!!! Everyone was on alert.....

It didn't take long and the predator was lovingly captured....


(Not without a little resistance however)

The decision was made to move to indoor facilities to avoid more predator sitings.

A decision was also made to increase the size of the village:

It Takes A Village AND a big brother to REALLY jump start the fun.

We are having fun and hope mom and dad are having a good time and resting up before returning home later this week.

News Flash: Santa's Bag Splits Open on Birchview Rd!!

My best guess is because of all the ice and snow we had last week, Santa's elves forgot to "de-ice" the sleigh, causing icicles to form, which poked holes in his bag, resulting in most of the contents spilling out at Finnian and Adalia's house. Rumor has it he was heard tip-toeing down the hall around 3:00 a.m after assembling all the toys and enjoying the cookies and milk that had been left out for him. This is what was waiting for obviously a very good boy and girl on Christmas morning:


First - there was a CASTLE BOUNCE HOUSE sitting where once a dining room lived...... yes, a full scale 12 foot high bounce house - how did Santa know Adalia loves bounce houses? It appears that Finnian enjoys it too. The protective screen isn't condusive for clear photography.

(No one having fun here!)

Then - where a sofa once sat, was a huge SLOT CAR TRACK....this was a very interesting piece of architectural wizardry - one that had to be redesigned every time Etta, the cat, walked through and around to inspect the "soundness" of the structure.

Then, it was time to try out the new air hockey table - Finnian proved to be a worthy opponent. Notice anything about this picture? Yep, Kersten is back on crutches. After many weeks of casts and physical therapy for her torn achilles tendon, it decided to tear again. Nothing like facing surgery the week after Christmas. She spent the day playing the new game of "Find Your Way Through The Obstacle Course of New Christmas Toys While On Crutches." Due to her experienced "crutch handling", she maneuvered her way through the maze in ballerina style.

While others were getting the "handle" on new games, someone was busy making tea and adding just the right number of sugar lumps and cream to each cup..... this is a very important job and Ivy makes sure its done just right!

Sending friends near and far our very best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy, prosperous and CRUTCHLESS New Year!

P.S. Last report was that Kersten and Jim are still searching for their missing furniture. With any luck it should surface before spring.

Merry Christmas

Our family gathered over the past weekend for our Christmas party. There were lots of cookies to eat, juice boxes and adult beverages to be sampled and Finnian challenged everyone to a game of checkers, and he remains the Checker Champ.....


The girls had to help Grandpa fix the stool before Ivy had time to take off her snowsuit!

Then it was time to open gifts - did anyone find the pickle on the tree??

Santa didn't bring any riding toys - but Grandpa makes a great pony!

We send our very best Merry Christmas wishes to all - enjoy family - that's what it is all about.

Ivy!

We had the opportunity to spend Thursday and Friday in Madison with Ivy while Momma and Daddy were busy at work. Ivy is taking the "I Can Say Many New Words In One Day" course and she surprised us with new additions to her vocabulary everyday. She spends the first few minutes of her nap times going over and over her new words and sounds. Because she visits the apple trees when she is at our house she affectionately (and of course Very Sweetly) refers to us as Granma and Granpa Appo. I am thankful we planted apple trees and didn't start a skunk farm.

Here she and Grandma are in the middle of a great new "car" game.

She loves the techie world and can bring Granma up to date on new things in the PC World.

Grandma is also allowed to make meals, change diapers, take her to nappy time, but it is Grandpa who absolutely, positively, has her endless adoration!!!

Here she shows her skills in making sweet music with Grandpa while doing a complicated ballet routine! Ivy really "flips" over Grandpa's guitar playing.

She's intently learning the "C" chord... a/k/a the Child Chord

There was a little quiet time for some reading and studying the dictionary.

Then it was time for some toasty warm milk - which could only be accomplished in Grandpa's lap!

And a few last adoring glances at Grandpa
before Grandma says its time for bed!! She knows Santa Claus is coming and it just never hurts to snuggle up to Grandpa and give him a few more sweet smiles

Ah - how can these little people steal our hearts away??? And what was life all about before Grandchildren!!

We'll see you on Thanksgiving Ivy - looking forward to more new words and more hugs and sweet kisses.

The Great Pumpkin Patch

Every year Linus, who lives in Charlie Brown's neighborhood, waits for the Great Pumpkin to appear on Halloween night. Finnian and Adalia spent a night with Grandpa and Grandma and the most important agenda was to visit the Great Pumpkin Patch of our friends, Marcia and Marcel. A little rain and cold weather would not keep us from our appointed rounds.

Here we are just arriving and surveying the area. The rain tapered off just enough to get into the pumpkin patch, slide around in the mud, and find the best choices of the season!
Finnian made sure he stayed with this big one until Marcia could get to him and clip the vine.

After Adalia picked out her pumpkin, she found a couple of mini pumpkins she thought would be perfect for little cousin Ivy. Obviously Grandma's earmuffs were a little too big, but they kept her little round cheeks toasty warm.

The final result: A van loaded with various sizes, shapes and colors of pumpkins, gourds and mud covered boots and mittens. To finish our harvest fun we stopped at our hosts' house for scrumptous apple crisp, ice cream, coffee, tea, and a variety of Halloween candy bars. Eating a healthy lunch before having treats isn't a rule on a Grandpa and Grandma weekend is it?