Christmas Trees, Mice, and More

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Dad and Mom’s and got a Christmas tree.  The kids enjoyed helping decorate it.

Note that most of the ornaments are at the bottom of the tree in clumps – I try to sneak a few up higher whenever Kate and Lincoln aren’t looking. =)


Every night when Mike gets home from work the kids say “Throw me, Daddy.”  I finally captured it one evening. 


Picture of the kids and I on my birthday


Mice – well, we were at my parents for Thanksgiving.  The adults were sitting around the table and Kate and Lincoln were downstairs playing.  I was holding Creighton.  After awhile Kate came upstairs with a toy skillet, which she does at home all the time when she is pretending to make dinner.  Anyway, she says, “Look Mom.”  I look, expecting to see some pretend eggs or something and it’s a mouse in her skillet.  I may have screamed or squealed, I certainly jumped.  Kate exclaimed, “Mom doesn’t like mice. But Mom, it’s not real, it’s not real, Mom.”  In my mind I was trying to process if that was true or not, Grandma does have a pretend mouse.  About that time, Kate emphatically says, “No, Mom, it’s not real” and shoves the skillet up in my face and then drops the mouse on the floor.  I jumped back and said, “Yes, Kate, it is real…somebody get it.”  At the point, Kate did look a little nervous that she had been playing with a real (dead) mouse.  I will not think about how long she had been playing with it or what all she touched after she picked it up.  Almost daily, Kate says, “Hey Mom, remember when I scared you with that mouse?” and then she giggles hysterically. =)

November Birthdays

We had our almost monthly birthday celebration with the Rassi fam this past weekend.  Birthdays this month (and early Dec) were Silas, Elisabeth, Grace, Mom R, and myself.  I didn’t take many pictures, but here are a few.

 

 

I probably sound like a broken record, but Creighton is so much fun right now.  He smiles and smiles and is so happy.  Mike and I can’t remember if our first two were this happy or if he seems exceptionally happy because his reflux is getting less severe, but we’ll take it, either way. 



Do you see Creighton?


OH, there he is.  He is playing with “Sweet Darling, Jesus, and Tim.”  I have no idea which baby goes with which name, but oh how I’d love to know how Kate came up with these names. :)

Couple of Kate stories to share today.  The other day, we were visiting Mike at work.  One of his co-workers asked Kate, “Did you get your curls from your Mom or your Dad?”  She looked at me a second as if she was wondering why they would ask that and then she said, “Well, actually, I got them from the spray bottle.”  If you wonder if Lincoln is listening to your every word or not, a few nights later at supper he said, “Well, atshly (actually), I no want peas….”

Anyway, the second story.  Kate was talking to Mike and she asked him, “Dad, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Mike said, “Well, how old do I have to be to be grown up?”  Kate said, “I don’t know.”  Mike, “Well, who do you know that is grown up?”  Kate, “Grams and Popsy, they are grown up, what do you want to be when you are grown up like them?” Mike, “Kate, I guess I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up like Grams and Popsy.” (For anyone who doesn’t know, Grams and Popsy are my Grandpa and Grandma Kaiser).

College Buddies

This past week was a busy one, but I have just not felt real inspired to take pictures lately, so there aren’t many.  We enjoyed a visit from my college roommates from my freshman year this past week.  Amber brought her kiddos along and Bekah’s lil’ guy got to stay and have some Grandma time.  Thanks for coming girls, it was good to see you again!


Lincoln has played with his baseball tee so much that it is actually broken and won’t stay together anymore. I actually bought him a new one.  One day he and I were playing while Kate was at preschool.  We hit off the tee, played catch with baseball gloves, a volleyball, and velcro paddle things, played kickball, and played catch with a football…can you tell what he likes to do? =)

Quite the crew!  Tess, Brie, Cade, Kate, Creighton, Lincoln – All 4 and under, plus Titus is a few months older than Brie.

Creighton is super happy and laid back and smiles all the time.  He is growing up so fast!  We are enjoying his frequent smiles and Kate continues to adore him.  She is often found reading books to him or coloring with him.  Now, if only she’d love Lincoln that much. =) 



It was a rough week for Kate and I.  We battled at every turn.  Every time I asked her to do anything she had 437 reasons why that would not work for her.  She spent a lot of time in timeout, losing privileges, or just in tears.  I will be the first to admit, some of her infractions were not that big of a deal, but I was just grumpy and tired and not in the mood to referee or to be gracious.  Anyway, this week is already going much better and I just share that in case you think life is always perfect at our house.  It’s not, far from it. We are continually learning on this path called parenthood. =)

Mel Kaiser Family

A few weeks ago we had some family pictures taken of the Mel Kaiser family.  It’s getting quite large these days and getting bigger every year.  I’m thankful for such wonderful grandparents who have been married for over 50 years and are always so willing to do anything and everything for each of us.  I love you, Grandpa and Grandma!

It started with two.

Then they added 7.

And now…

The Great Grandchildren

Halloween Fun

We had a fun weekend complete with a preschool Halloween party, carving pumpkins with the neighbors, dressing up for candy, helping celebrate the (near) completion of Beutel’s cabin, and eating dinner and playing games with my fam.  However, I don’t have pictures of a lot of the events, but I’ll share what I have.