O Tannenbaum!

Last weekend we purchased a permit to go and cut down our own Christmas tree. What a bargain - only $10.00! We left the house Saturday afternoon in search of the perfect Christmas tree. The first place we stopped left us wanting to search elsewhere. All the trees we saw were lopsided, not full, and just a strange shape. So we went on. We stopped a few other times then came to the place where our tree was. We looked at a bunch of trees that day but at the end of the afternoon we realized that this was the one. Mike measured it and it seemed to be a nice size, not too big and not too small. It wasn't fully everywhere but it looked nice. Mike got out his chainsaw and started to trim the tree. Oh my word was it ever heavy! I knew that trees would be heavy but this particular tree had a somewhat skinny trunk so I guess I wasn't expecting it to be that heavy! We managed to carry it down the hill to where the car was waiting. And it was then that we both looked at each other and realized just how big that tree was! We had a difficult time getting it on top of the car and finally ended up just letting a good portion of it hanging off the back end. Getting it into the house was another story! We rearranged some of the furniture inside so that we'd have room for our tree. We set up the tree stand and prayed that it would hold our tall tree. We carried it in and tried to stand it up in the tree stand. It seemed to take forever, that tree was so heavy! I thought for sure that we'd all die from the tree landing on us. Finally it was up. We stepped back to take a look and said outloud "What in the world were we thinking? That tree is humongous!" For a while we thought it was a bit much but it is growing on us now. On Sunday we had a tree trimming party and my folks and sisters family came over to help us decorate it. The guys got the ladders out and all the lights while the gals strung some popcorn together for garland. It took a good portion of the evening but we all had fun and the tree looks really nice.

Standing next to our tree

"Timber!"


Now, that's a tree!

Happy Thanksgiving!

All the cousins in a row: Caiyah, Jackson, Matthew, Emma, Camden, Cooper, and Jonah

Cousins playing "Duck Duck Goose!"

Daddy and Uncle Jeff setting up the record player

Grandpa

Uncle Ryan, Grandma and Aunt Alyssa

Daddy, Garry, Tacy, Papa, Sylvia, Caiyah, and Grandpa

Grandma, Hanna, Jeff, Alyssa, Ryan, and Nana

The obligatory picture of the host and the table of food!

Uncle Jeff and Hanna

Grandma and Aunt Sylvia

Tacy, Emma, and Papa

Nana and Aunt Alyssa

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year and it was so much fun! We filled the house with people from both sides of the family. It was so nice to finally have the space to do something like this. Everyone ate a lot and there was so much left over. There is so much to be thankful for. Thank you to everyone who helped and came over! It was a Thanksgiving to remember.

People who came over: Nana and Papa, Uncle Garry, Aunt Alyssa, Emma, and Matthew, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Alex and Tacy, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Sylvia, Cooper, Camden, and Caiyah, Uncle Jeff and Hanna, Mommy, Daddy, Jonah, and Jackson

Gingerbread Cookies

Before Thanksgiving, the boys made some gingerbread boys and gingerbread tree cookies with Grandma. They had fun, and Grandma had a LOT of patience! The cookies were very cute and they tasted great too!

AWANA

Jonah has started AWANA just recently and after studying really hard he earned his vest! He came home and was so proud of it, he wanted to wear it to bed, and to school the next day, and every day after that too! He is working hard every week on learning a new memory verse so that he can earn some badges for his vest. We are so proud of all the work you are doing Jonah!

Pictures from the summer

Cousins together at Sheridan Lake

Mom and the boys in Spearfish for a wedding

Jackson and Jonah at Reptile Gardens

A visit from Great Grandpa Baum!

In front of Wrigley Field - the boys were in heaven!

First day of school

I admit I am a teeny bit late posting this...I just haven't been into blogging as much as when I first started.

These pictures were taken way back in the beginning of September, which just also happened to be when school started. Jonah loves school. When asked if he liked preschool in Baltimore better or school here in Rapid City he thought for a while and said that he liked it better here in Rapid. I wanted to know why and he said it was because the playground was bigger! Boys will be boys I guess. Right now he has been enjoying drawing pictures and then labeling them. Quite often he will make a picture of himself and one or two other friends at the playground, swinging on the swings and sliding down the slide. He loves his homework every week and the books that he gets to pick out from the library. He has grown so much over the summer. I can't believe my baby is in school.

Hello? Anyone there?

If you have been reading this blog for a while you might have thought that we dropped off the face of the earth. It's been an entire summer and I am just getting around to writing! I guess that relocating halfway across the states does that! I felt it was appropriate that I clean up my little corner of the blogosphere in honor of our move.

Whew! We made it to South Dakota - after many years of fantasizing about it. We are in our new house and loving it more and more each and every day. The boys have a grand time playing outside with each other, exploring the land, and riding their bikes. We still can't get over the fact that we are really here.

Some highlights from our summer include:

• Visiting Wrigley Field in Chicago (Go Cubs, GO!)
• Spending lots and lots of time with our extended family
• Learning how to ride bikes and going rock climbing in the backyard
• Having friends and family over for meals
• Meeting new friends and learning that our neighbors have children

I know I took lots of pictures during the move but I can't seem to get my act together enough to sort through all of them. Some day I'll post them to share.

We've got more exciting news...Jonah will start his first day of Kindergarten this Friday. We are so excited. We went and visited his new teacher (Mrs. Gilson) and saw his classroom. He saw where he will be sitting, and where his cubby is. We also figured out where the bus will stop and how he'll get from the bus to the classroom (I think that was more for me than him - he didn't seem to be worried about it at all!). He is ready to go ride the bus without me. I asked him if he was a little bit scared to go by himself and he replied with "Mom - I won't be alone, the bus driver will be there!" I guess he's right. Even though I'm excited for this next phase in our lives, I still get a little choked up thinking about him leaving me all by himself for the very first time. It scares me to death. What happened to my baby?

One Last Night

Well, we are still here. We couldn't be any more disappointed but here we are. We had a wonderful and relaxing time at the attendings house, swimming and going for canoe rides down the river. The surroundings were gorgeous and it was just what we needed before we dealt with the rest of this mess called closing on a home. We thought we'd be on our way by now but we aren't so hopefully tomorrow will be the day! Tonight we went to Chevy's for dinner - a wonderful tex mex place and as we came out, we noticed the brightest and largest double rainbow we had ever seen. I'm taking it to be a sign from God. It was really quite breath taking. I guess that God was trying to send us off with a beautiful image of Baltimore. So, if anyone is still reading this blog, please pray for us and our up and coming trip to SD. Please pray that the buyer's loan will come through and please pray that this happens by Thursday! We might be a bit difficult getting a hold of over the the next few days. Both of our cell phones are not to be trusted - mine doesn't hold a charge, and Mike's drops calls at the blink of an eye. We have to save our cell power for the calls about the house so please forgive us if we aren't updating everyone every day. We'd love to but it might not happen. We can't wait to be out there with our family...but it's still a little bit bittersweet leaving this place. So from here on out...Good Bye Baltimore. We've had fun. So much fun.

Packing and Boxes

They just can't help it. With so many boxes around here they are bound to play with them, right?

Fun time at the B&O

Last week a friend invited us to join her and her two boys at the B&O train museum here in Baltimore. We got to see a really grand round house and so many cool looking trains. We even had the chance to take a train ride. We climbed on the train, sat in our seats and off we went...then two minutes later it stopped! Evidently there was a car stuck on the tracks up ahead and they couldn't get it off the tracks so we sat and waited, then headed back to the round house. Jonah was a bit disappointed that he couldn't go on a train ride. It was so much fun to explore inside some of those trains.

PreK Graduation

Tonight was Jonah's PreK Graduation. He had been looking forward to this program for quite a few days. The kids had been practicing a few things and he worked so hard to not spoil the surprise for me. I'm glad he was able to keep his mouth shut. The children sang a song about what a miracle they are, then there was a slide show of each class during the year, then each class (there were two) had acted out a little "play" from a book they had read. After that, each child walked up on the stage and shook their teachers hand. At the end of the program, they received their diplomas! I told myself that I wasn't going to cry, but I did. I just can't believe how much he has grown since we first had him. He's learned so much too. Jonah, Mommy and Daddy are so very proud of you. You are so special to us and the rest of your family. We love you!

~acting out the play~

~watching the slide show~

~Shaking Mrs. D's hand~