Jack the Elf has arrived

Our Elf on the Shelf elf's name is Jack.  Kate & Will received Jack when Kate was 2 yrs old and Will was 2 months old. It's hard to believe he's been around that long.  He always arrives at our house the day after Thanksgiving.  This yr. the doorbell rang at 7:15am with Jack on our doorstep.  The kids were SO excited to see him again!  Our elf has gotten a little crazy in his old age.  Here the kids discovered him in a bathtub of marshmallows one morning.

 

Another morning, that crazy elf got all of Kate & Will's underwear and hung them on the Christmas tree!  They didn't have any underwear when they went to get dressed that morning.  Then they discovered where they were and boy did they giggle and giggle with this one!  (Good thing that Elf didn't get a hold of mommy's underwear & bras too!  That would have been really bad!)

And the craziest stunt so far was when Jack got ahold of 2 of Kate's markers.  He decided to get a little color happy!

Kate & Will woke up with marker ALL OVER THEIR FACES!!!  They were absolutely Dumbfounded by this one!  Yet, so excited about it.  They would let me wipe it off their faces so they could show their friends at school.   WOW is our elf crazy this year!

Opa flew in for a visit the 1st weekend in December.  Kate has a fun little game called Headbands, and she talked Opa into playing it with her.

The object of the game is to ask as few questions as possible to guess and figure out what is on the picture card you have on your forehead.

Will loved playing too.  Although many times he would get impatient and shout out the name of the object he saw on the other players cards before they could figure it out.  Bless his little heart!

Opa really liked playing the game.  I think there is an adult version of the game.  Possible xmas gift idea?

That afternoon we decided to head to the bowling alley.  Kate & Will love to go bowling. 

Will did much better this time.  He actually stayed focused on the game for quite some time.  Every 10 minutes he would ask when we were going to get a snack, but he did seem to have a lot of fun when it was his turn to bowl.   Here's a little video of them bowling. 

On another note, Will was the Star of the Week at Preschool a few weeks ago.  We gathered many of his favorite things and pictures to share with the class.  He was so excited that it was his special week.  On the last day he got his special crown and certificate.   He was so proud!

Here's a picture of his Star Board at school.   His friends loved the picture of him buried in the sand during our trip to Florida last year.   Way to Go Will!

Thanksgiving Prep & Fun.

So sorry, you have to turn your head for this photo.  I could not get it to rotate for the life of me!   November Thanks started out with a salute to Veterans at Kate's school.   "Give a hand to Veterans." was the theme.  Kate called her Great Grandpa Harvey and asked him what his favorite colors were to decorate her Thank You Hand in honor of him.  She worked very hard on this project.  Her hand was displayed on a huge quilt at the school. 

We started out our Thanksgiving celebrating with Great Grandma Van Zee in Pella.  I volunteered to bring an apple crisp for the dessert.  I got a fancy dancy apple peeler last yr and the kids loved it!  The spiral apples were so much fun to make.

Will was determined to help with the project as well.

Ta Da!

On Thanksgiving we went to W'burg and celebrated with Brett's Mom and the rest of the family.  Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera.  But like always we had a ton of great food, chatting and exchange of xmas lists for the kiddos.
On Saturday Brett & I hosted our 1st Thanksgiving at our house.  My mom was determined to teach me how to cook a turkey.  With her guidance and a great recipe from a friend we accomplished the task!  We were so proud!

I found out halfway through the day that my parents had a little bit of anxiety with my cooking plan.  When I told them I didn't put the turkey in the oven until 7:30 that morning and the plan was to eat at noon they got a bit nervous.   However we really weren't off by much.  We had to cook the bird about 30 min. longer than what we had planned for, but it worked out fine.  My dad is the gravy pro (with mom's guidance) in the family.  I gave them the reigns on the gravy. 

My Mom did a great job as Supervisor of the chefs.  She is such an AMAZING cook.  I have learned everything I know about cooking from her. 

We broke out our chargers and table cloths for dinner.  I don't think I have used them since before we had kids!  A little dusting was in order before setting the table.

After the turkey coma went away we played a few family games.  Fibber was the game of choice this year.  The funny glasses and nose pieces made it pretty fun. 

No a week of working out to burn off all those extra calories before we head to Iowa City next weekend for our final Thanksgiving Dinner with our Iowa City family!!!

Will's Tonsils are OUT of HERE!

Will got his tonsils removed on November 1st.  After lots of testing for other things, the doctor thought the reason he may not be growing well is because he has HUGE tonsils!  Recent research has shown a link between large tonsils and growth delay.  Will has always been a light eater.  He takes little bites and doesn't like to sit long to eat.  He has never choked on any food because of the restriction of his airway, but nonetheless he may find the restriction uncomfortable and therefore not eat a lot because of it.   So the day before the surgery, I cooked him whatever food he wanted.  He chose dippin eggs and toast.

We had to check in at the surgery center at 6:30 am.  He was actually pretty excited about the whole thing. Little did he know that a lot of pain & discomfort would follow.  One of my rehab patients bought him 2 little toy cars as a get well gift the day before.  He LOVED them so much that he put the cars in those 2 little pockets of his surgery gown to take with him back to the operating room.  SUPER CUTE!  I think he melted Dr. Close's heart!



Kate has had her tonsils out, and 3 sets of tubes.  Will has had 2 sets of tubes and now his tonsils.  My least favorite part of the experience is watching the nurse take my child off my lap and walk back to the operating room without me.  This being the 6th surgery for me to put a child through, I was super excited when I saw the new RIDE show up to take Will back for the surgery!   He was so excited to get in the wagon with his cars and superhero books! 

He was all smiles as the nurse pulled him away!  And I was all smiles too......because he was smiling!!  What  a brave little boy!


 



The surgery went great!  He was ready to go home 3 hours after surgery! He was pretty groggy for most of the first day.  He did do a great job eating soft foods and drinking water.  I tried to get him to eat these popsicles I bought.  He took 1 bite and was done.  He has never liked really cold foods or drinks.  I was hoping a sore throat might change that, but not so much.  He stuck to the water or milk for the first few days.   Dr. Close was right,  days 1-3 were rough,  then Will rallied for a few days.  On days 7-10 he had a set back again as more changes in his throat took place.   He also ended up with a really high voice!  Almost as if he has been breathing helium all day long!  Brett & I both hope the voice lowers soon!
This past week Will has been eating so much better, and he also doesn't snore anymore when he sleeps!  We had Will's 3 week follow up today and HE HAS GAINED 1 lb!  He now weighs in at 29 lbs!  YEAH!!!!!

Halloween 2012

Halloween 2012 was a lot of fun.  This year we decided to try painting our pumpkins for something different.  Kate was very excited to do this new craft.

Will chose Angry Birds for his pumpkin.  He painted the red coloring.  Then his short attention span drew him away to play with cars for a little bit while I stayed and completed the majority of the project.  He showed up at the end to put the face on.  He loved the final masterpiece, and that's what counts.

Kate picked Cinderella and her pumpkin carriage.  A much harder project than expected.  I had to pull in reinforcment to help me get Cinderella not only in the carriage, but standing just right so the glow of the candle iluminated her and her gown on the inside. 

TA DA!!!!

Beggars night is always the night before Halloween in DSM. Brett & I learned really quickly 6 yrs ago that if you don't have a joke or riddle to tell the home owner when you trick or treat YOU WILL NOT GET ANY CANDY!!!  So it's not only a big deal to think (or find) a joke for each child to tell, you have to practice it OVER and OVER and OVER again so they have it memorized and ready to spit out 50 times in a row on the big night! 

Kate's Joke: "What kind of music do mummies like? .........  WRAP MUSIC!"
Will's Joke:  "What do you call Candy Corn?...... PUMPKIN POOP!"
By the look of their emptied buckets,  I think the jokes were a success! 

Will was very excited to wear his batman costume to his "Fall Party" at preschool. 

 

I was in charge of the game for his class.  We played "Pin the face on the Pumpkin."  The kids loved it!  They giggled and giggled when I spun them around blindfolded before turning them loose to make their crazy pumpkin face.

I am also the Homeroom Mom for Kate's class this yr.  Her party was a huge a lot of fun.  1st grade parties are so much easier than kindergarten parties so far.  The kids know what to expect and have a little more patience while the Moms and Dads set up the party. 

The class made masks for their craft.  They turned out great and the kids loved wearing them.

 

We had 4 different Halloween parties to attend this yr and Kate decided to change things up a bit.  She was a mummy twice and a spider a few times as well. I think this might be the 3rd Halloween that that spider costume has surfaced for.  Will was batman at all the gatherings but 1.  He decided to throw in the monkey costume because he loved that it had a tail.  This was the first year that both Kate and Will were able to walk the entire neighorhood to trick or treat without riding in a stroller, wagon, or being carried because their legs were too tired.
 IT WAS LOVELY!

 

Color Run & Pumpkin Patch

Kate & I did the Color Run a few weeks ago when it came to Des Moines.  Ever since I started running and participating in road races Kate has asked to run a race with me.  I thought the fun of the Color run would be a great start.  At the start of the race we were bright white & clean.

Half way through we had a little color on the canvas...

By the end we were rainbows!  Kate and her friend Kathleen had a great time.  They walked the entire 5K without stopping in under an hour!  The mile walk back to the car was not fun though!

The following day we went to the Pumpkin patch with the Schaefer side of the family. 

The kids loved swimming in the corn pool filling their socks and pockets with corn as always.

They added a few new items to the patch this year.   These little horse races were a hit.

Will loved driving the tractor around the track with Dad.

Kate got to drive alone since she was tall enough to reach the peddals.  She loved it!

Kate & Teagan raced down the big slide.  Will passed on the slide once again this year.  He just doesn't like going up that high.

The apple sling shot was fun for the guys. Brett didn't get to go with us last year so this was his first experience.  Pull back......

And RELEASE!

The Hayrack ride was chilly but fun.

Picture time.

Kate & Will grew their own pumpkins at Nana & Papa's this year. But we let them pick out pumpkins for Brett & I at the patch.  I have a picture of Kate when she was 1 yr old trying to lift a pumpkin the size of her!  This pic brought a little tear to my eye seeing how grown up she is now!  Oh how time flies!

Will was so set on getting this exact pumpkin! It is about as big as he is!

These 2 girls really didn't want the day to end.  They have so much fun together!  It's a good thing the holidays are approaching so they can get together some more!