Since we've lived here, we've made it a yearly tradition to visit "The Little Farmer"... a farm full of pumpkin patches and apple orchards. At the farm you will find LOTS of pumpkins and apples (of course), as well as hayrides, a small petting zoo, a large play area with a haybail tower and maze, a corn maze, and a farm house with all kinds of good treats- carmel apples, hot chocolate and apple cider, muffins, donuts, apple pies, and other stuff. Of course, the kids loved it. Nate especially liked climbing on the tower and the good treats. Elin loved the apple orchards, where she could bite into all the apples laying around the trees. The hayride was a big hit, too. The kids were worn out by the end. Hmmm, maybe we should go every day!

Hearts, Flowers and Piggy Tails

So this is lots of thoughts in one post! A week or so ago, I was cleaning up the kitchen at the end of the day feeling a bit tired and grumbling a bit to myself. I looked up at the chair and this was the shape of the grease/something from some meal smudge. Made me feel good.

Another feel good is Nate has discovered that I like flowers and that it is fun to pick them and put them on the table. It is lots of fun getting 30 flowers at once! He even made me get another vase after he completely filled up the first one.

And here are the first piggy tails and boy the pics say it all. Heaven help us now!

Pumpkin Pickin'

My favorite season of the year has long been autumn- I can't get enough of the fall colors, the smell of fallen leaves, hot chocolate, cozy sweatshirts, and everything else that goes with the season. And every year I look forward to pumpkin patches and apple farms and fall festivals. This year's pumpkins came from a close-by patch just west of our town in the middle of the farm fields. This was really Elin's first experience in a pumkin patch, and it was so funny to see her try and figure out what to do with all these pumpkins... "what are we doing here, anyway?" Nate, meantime, wanted to take each and every pumpkin home and put them all on our front porch. In the end, we found one pumpkin each, and Nate found two. Can't wait for carvin'!

Service for Ike victims

Our Church is involved in thousands of humanitarian projects in hundreds of countries around the world, most of which are not Church-related. These include aid for disaster areas such as the Southeast Asian tsunami, cyclones in Myanmar, Hurricane Katrina, and the recent Hurricane Ike. Some ways we can help is by donating money or time in the efforts of clean up and first aid. We can also put together "hygeine kits" to be sent for relief of victims with no homes or very little resources.

So last night we and several other families spent our Family Home Evening time assembling these hygeine kits to be sent mainly to recent Ike victims in Houston. Every family brought a bunch of one item to add to the kits (towels, toothpaste and toothbrushes, soap, combs), and then we put them together in ziploc bags to be sent to the Church storehouse in Naperville, IL, and then to the disaster area.

We had a great time. The children learned about service to those in need, and we all had a good time visiting and eating lots of goodies. Thanks to the King family, the Price family, the Christiansen family, the Upton-Rowley family, the Reade family, and the Schilt family! And especially thanks to April for putting this all together!

Our master assembly line for the hygeine kits- children hard at work!

Still going... the children proved much more efficient at this process than I did.


Elin obviously enjoyed the service project, and especially the pumpkin cheesecake.

Sometimes You Just Have To Laugh

As all parents know, with small children there is never a dull moment (or a free moment for that matter). But I've found that's alright, because usually whatever mischief our children are getting into, it almost always puts a smile on my face. Whether it's making a mess, rearranging the house, or a "sibling quarrel", it almost always makes me laugh (almost).

Nate and Elin had their first DQ dilly bars yesterday. I think they both enjoyed them thoroughly. After raising who I thought was the messiest-eating toddler in the world, I thought Elin would surely be neater during meal-time. I was dead wrong. Elin is much worse, usually getting parts of her meal in her hair, down her back, and somehow in her diaper (???). Sometimes we're happy to eat outdoors in the backyard to ease the clean-up process, then straight to the tub!

When Elin takes some play-time in her room, she has developed the habit of pulling every wipe out of the baby-wipes container... individually. I'm not sure why she gets joy out of this, but let me tell you, it's sure a joy putting them all back in!


Elin has also been a big fan of peek-a-boo, and now her favorite way to play is with her garbage basket (don't worry, we don't put dirty diapers in this!). And yes, we've had a few bumps and bruises playing this way.


Peek-a-boo... Look at this belly!

Nate's Froggy Home

Nate has always been very interested in small creatures- from spiders (which I very much dislike) to small mammals. Because of our proximity to a field and pond, we often get large populations of frogs migrating nearby. Nate loves this, and almost everyday he has a new frog friend, which he knows he must let go back to its "family" after not too long. But he always struggles with where to put his new friends. So yesterday we built a homemade frog/toad "aquaterrarium"... complete with water, rocks, plants, and a sun-warming rock. He then had to find small crickets for the frog. He learned that frogs/toads are amphibians and therefore need to be able to go in and out of water, and the new home needs to accomodate this. He's very proud of his froggie's new (temporary) home. In fact, he's so proud, he then wanted to make one for the large banana-spider in our window well. So we did.

Nate admiring his new froggie home.

In fact, we can't get him away from it.

Here's our toad... desperately seeking his freedom.

She Cracks Me Up

Well, Elin loves her older brother and wants (sometimes to my dismay) to be just like him. Nate takes swimming lessons and he is required to wear goggles. They even have the 2-year-old classes do it- so cute. Anyway from that, stems these pics. Nate left his goggles on the floor and Elin really wanted them on so, I humored her . . .

Potty Mouth? (at least it's clean!)

Every now and then, something comes out of Nathaniel's mouth that is not very good. It's not so much naughty words as talking back when he is frustrated or on the naughty spot. Well, April decided to take this "dirty mouth" situation into her own hands before it becomes a habit. I'm not sure if it worked. I know Nate is an ambitious little one, but I didn't imagine he was so determined that he would actually eat the soap. I guess we'll have to find some new techniques.

Our Very Own Chiquitita!

In our home, we have a fairly regular family ritual- kitchen dancing. These are some truly fun and crazy times in our house. We dance to all sorts of music- from Peter, Paul & Mary, to Erasure, to the Beach Boys, and, of course, ABBA. I grew up listening to ABBA- I can remember times my sister and I would play the record as loud as we could and sing along. Well, I never thought I'd be seeing Nate do the same thing, but here he is. His favorite song is Chiquitita. This is so funny! Enjoy! (be sure to "pause" the sidebar music so you can hear the video)

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And here is Elin following in her big brother's footsteps. I'm not sure where she learned to shake like this, but it wasn't me. It must come from April's side :)

Saturday Farmer's Market

One of our favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is going to the local farmer's market. April and I have always enjoyed these markets wherever we have lived, but now our kids love making this a regular Saturday activity. April likes to frequent a lot of the vegetable and fruit stands (too many to count!), making sure our family is well-nourished and healthy! Our kids like to eat all the good food along the way. This may include Korean BBQ pork sticks, fresh mini-donuts, or, one of our favorites, fresh grilled corn on the cob or in a cup- yum! You probably wouldn't believe Elin can finish off a whole cob unless you see it. For myself, I just enjoy the general market atmosphere, the good food, and the local music- folk guitar, a capella, etc. It's a great time all around- it's just too bad winter has to spoil this one.

This is a general shot of the market- about 3 blocks long.

Nate likes to buy flowers for Mommy- he does a better job of this than I do (oops!)

Nate is always up for new books.

Corn by the ton! This is becoming a larger part of our diet all the time.


A local college group singing a capella here- great sound!


Nate always asks to contribute to the local music artists. I think he just likes to be "on stage".

Just one of the many vegetable stands- I'm sure April would take it all home if she could.

Mmmm, hot Korean BBQ pork on a stick.

We usually bump into a few people we know on our market adventures. Here is the Hemmert family, some good friends in our Church ward.

Marshmallow Camping...

Marshmallow camping??? On our recent camping trip, after we'd finished eating our campfire dinner and put Elin to bed, Nate comes to me and asks, "Dad, are we marshmallow camping tonight?" I was pretty sure he meant "Are we eating s'mores tonight?" Well, what would camping be without s'mores? Of course!

We think our kids are going to be big camping fans. Elin had a great time wandering all over the campsite and trees, but her favorite part was the tent- just one big play room! And Nate loves to cook over the campfire and sleep in a big dark tent. April and I just look forward to sitting down after the kids are asleep and finally RELAX. Those of you who camp with small children know what I mean. Happy marshmallow camping!

Lake Fun

This is a small beach on the lake near our home where we like to go to play sometimes or do picnics. This is just a small clip during our picnic yesterday. The kids love playing in the water and on the sand. Unfortunately, our visit yesterday was very short because I was called into work, but we'll be back soon!

Dairyland Dare!

Last week my Dad and I did something crazy. We rode a bike ride called the Dairyland Dare, which includes 7,600 feet of climbing hills in 65 miles. This is more climbing than I've ever done in one ride, and my legs knew it by the end. I think the best part of the ride, though, was our hotel... the Don Q Inn. I don't have any pics, but the name says it all. Because it was nearly full, my parents had to stay in a theme room called "Paradise Cove" which included silk-sheeted 4-poster bed and a large cheese vat as a whirlpool (large enough to stand in). Hilarious! Next time I think we'll just bring a tent.

Getting ready to ride, looking very fresh!

We're not sure, but we think my Dad was hailing the Bike Gods by the end of the ride.

Last hill!

There's nothing better than a filling meal after a hard ride... yum!

I love pics of our kids!