Blender Blog

Happy Halloween from Minnesota

2009-11-01T12:40:00.001-06:00

more pics

2009-10-13T21:13:00.003-05:00

Bayley is joined by her floormate Karen, Braxton, Zoe, Emma and David. I, of course, am not in the photo since I'm taking it :). I guess the sun was too bright for Zoe :)

Catching Up!

2009-10-13T21:04:00.000-05:00

The family went to visit Bayley at college! Family Day was alot of fun and started out with an MSU football game (which they WON). It was a beautiful warm sunny day on an open windy football field. :) After the game we walked around campus so I could show the kids where I stomped around when I was an MSU student. Then Bayley and I ended the by going to see the college production of "Rent". Sunday we went to Bayley's church with her then headed off back home. More pics to follow...

Some Recent Family Pictures

2009-10-13T20:54:00.003-05:00

Emma plays her Scooby Doo game on the computer.

Zoe plays soccer in some early October snow.

Family gathers at the marathon finish line.

Some Family Videos (Sep - Oct, 2009)

2009-10-13T20:45:00.002-05:00

Braxton playing football for the Mustangs sophomore team. He is #74 and is playing left guard.

David finishes his fourth marathon.

Emma plays a song for her Dad!

Bayley Goes To College

2009-08-20T14:02:00.002-05:00

Hey family! Well, it's official, I am a college student at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. My new mascot is a dragon and I'm living in the second oldest dorm hall in the history of MSU (Dahl Hall). Moving Day was fun; Mom, Dad, Braxton, & I left the house at 6:40 am for the 4 hour drive to Moorhead. David, Zoe, & the dogs were there to say goodbye, and I started crying.
Because of the awesome traffic, we made it to Moorhead in 3 hours, where my roomate was there waiting for me AND holding a parking spot in front of the hall (how awesome is she!?). We unpacked everything from the van and started unpacking in my room. But then Mom went to go get a tour of the childcare center that she worked in as a student, and then the 4 of us went to Fargo for lunch at AppleBees. And guess what! There's a toll booth at one of the entrances to Fargo! People have to pat 75 cents to get into North Dakota! Mom and I thought it was both funny and stupid, but we were easily distracted by all there was to see in the Fargo-Moorhead area, including a Target in both cities (yay!) and a Well Fargo bank only 10 minutes away from campus (double yay!!)
After a Target run for last minute shopping, I was taken back to Dahl Hall where everyone said their "goodbyes" & "I love yous." I returned to my room to keep unpacking and was shortly sent off to orientation which was full of corny ice breakers and TONS of introductions.
But I am very excited to to be here, the atmospere is so warm and full of new experiences. My dorm room is now liveable and it looks awesome, there a lot of organizations/clubs that I can join, including on-campus Bible studies and service projects. I love this campus, and I excited for classes to start on Monday, Love you all!
The newest college student, Bayley =)

Bayley & Braxton's Tennessee adventure

2009-07-21T13:29:00.007-05:00

Hey relatives and friends! Bayley here to give you all the lowdown on what Brax and I have been up to recently. On Sunday, July 12th, Brax and I left the Mall of America parking lot on a beautiful coachbus to drive to the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tennessee for a covenant youth conference called CHIC (Covenant High In Christ) that happens only every 3 years. The bus took 23 hours to drive through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. We slept through Indiana, although hardly anyone actually slept. Braxton and I only got around 2-3 hours of sleep because of being uncomfortable, untimely pitstops, and a bumpy bus. But at long last, we arrived at UT around 11:00 a.m on Saturday morning (Tennessee time).

And what an amazing time we had: excursions, concerts, amazing/inspiring speakers, great calls to action. Braxton went white-water rafting and packed food for Feed My Starving Children (a ministry that brings food to starving families all over the world). I got to drive go-karts on the Nascar speedway and went shopping in a tiny town called Pideon Forge. Every night, there was an event called "Mainstage," where the entire CHIC community would hear famous Christian bands and speakers from all over the country, including a pastor from Minnesota! Brax and I saw live performances from David Crowder Band, Israel Howdin, FlyLeaf, Third Day, and the incredibly awesome CHIC band. We heard amazing sermons from pastors who build a church from the ground up or who have found the injustices of our country and came out successful. And lectures from men and woman who made it their passion to fight the injustice of slave and human trafficking.

I went to a lecture called "Slumdog Millionaire meets Slumdog Professor," and the man speaking told about his life growing up in the slums of India, and what he is doing now to help his country with his Ph. D. He told stories of childhood friends that would suddenly disappear from the slums, and never to be heard from until many years later where the child would return mentally damaged and physically weakened. He told us that children were, and still are, being kidnapped off of the streets or tricked into leaving their families for the promise of a better life and money to send home, but more often than not, the children are forced to work in some slave trade or human trafficking, never getting paid a penny. And they do not return home, until their master deems them "useless," where they are kicked out and left to find their own way home. After hearing all this, my blood was boiling, how can someone purchase a child of God? How can a human being treat a fellow human with so little...feeling?

But while this trip was extremely eye opening, it was also inspirational and hope lifting. Over 2,000 letters were written by CHIC students and leaders to their state senators about the importance of abolishing slavery and human trafficking. And in the span of 5 days, we prepared and packed 527, 896 meals for Feed My Starving Children! But what is even more amazing, is that in 1 single offering at Mainstage, the CHIC community donated $109, 327 for ministries in Thailand!!

About 6,000 high school students and their leaders came to CHIC this year from all the world: Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Sweden, etc.. The entire experience was unforgettable and I am VERY thankful that I was able to spend so much time with Braxton before I leave for school. We left CHIC on Friday, July 17th at 9:00 a.m (Tennessee time). We had lunch in Kentucky and dinner in Illinios (where I rode a carousel for the 1st time in FOREVER!!!!). We got back to that MOA parking lot at 2:45 a.m, that's right, A.M!!! Mom, David, and the puppies (I call them "puppies") where they were waiting when we arrived and we quickly went home so Brax and I could sleep in our own beds, which we did, until noon. =)

mountains, mountains EVERYWHERE!!!!

2009-07-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

When we drove into Tennessee, the mountain range was all around us, it was beautiful!!

RUN BRAXTON!!!

2009-07-20T20:30:00.001-05:00

Yes, that is Braxton about to be eating by a gaint dog. The only things I'm confused about, is that he's smiling

my messy, messy....dorm room

2009-07-20T20:28:00.000-05:00

picture of a painting

2009-07-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

This was painted in the middle of the arena during Main stage one night.

Brax and our Youth Pastor

2009-07-20T20:24:00.002-05:00

I'll let you fiqure this one out

Third Day!!!!!

2009-07-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, we saw Third Day live. And yes again, Mac grew his hair out

the merry-go round!

2009-07-20T20:20:00.001-05:00

I LOVED that right!!!!!

Brax may be alittle too involved with football

2009-07-20T20:14:00.000-05:00

the happy football guy and the "don't mess with me" mad hatter

A Happy Holiday Weekend

2009-07-05T19:51:00.002-05:00

We have been enjoying a great holiday weekend here in Minnesota, highlighted by the following:

We were outdoors every day
We were in the water every day
Braxton did NOT break his arm

Paul & Gretchen came down on Friday morning to make it a full “Circus Weekend.” In the afternoon we packed up both cars with the entire family: Beth and I, four girls, two boys, and two dogs. We went out to the Clifton French Regional Park. This park has a tremendous playground with ropes, tunnels, cargo netting, and slides which all of the children enjoyed.

After spending time on the playground, we hiked across the park to the beach on Medicine Lake. This had not been part of the plan and we had not packed swim suits. But it was a hot day and the kids went and played in the water anyway.

Saturday was the Fourth of July and we went to my Parents’ house in the morning. They still live in the same neighborhood that David grew up in and there is a bike parade held every year on the Fourth. Emma decorated her bike, we dressed up the dogs, and we all participated in the big parade.

Saturday afternoon I went out for a long run and then we took the kids to the beach for some sun and swimming.

Saturday night was fireworks time and we went to our usual spot behind our old church to watch the display from Central Park in Roseville. This was a double celebration for our family this year. Last year Braxton had just finished his cancer treatment and was still weak where the biopsy had been done on his arm. He broke his arm right before fireworks while playing catch.

This year Braxton is a fully recovered cancer survivor. He is playing baseball again and is doing regular weight training in the hopes of playing football this fall. So returning to Roseville for fireworks, enjoying ourselves, and not having anyone get hurt was a major victory and brings us much joy!

Today, after taking Paul & Gretchen back home, David took Braxton, Zoe, and Emma to the outdoor pool at the Meanwhile, Beth took Bayley down to the Mall of America so she could meet her new college roommate. What a big day!!!

Sun, water, fireworks, health, safety, and new beginnings. All in all, a pretty good holiday weekend.

+++

Rufus Says, "Happy Fourth of July!"

2009-07-04T15:34:00.002-05:00

Fun Time Had by All

2009-07-02T19:23:00.002-05:00

Bayley's Graduation Open House (2009-06-13)

North Shore Getaway - Day 1

2009-06-22T22:02:00.001-05:00

Beth and I were able to get away last weekend, so we went to our favorite spot - Lake Superior's North Shore. We got on the road at about 1:30pm and encountered fairly heavy traffic all the way up. Some of this was for Grandma's Marathon and some, I'm sure, was just summer cabin goers trying to get out of town for the nice weather.

But the weather wasn't so nice as we went past Duluth and trekked along the shore. A great mist was coming over the lake and the temperature started to drop.

It was cool and misty when we stopped at the Tettegouche to visit our favorite rock beach (and gaze upon the arch). But we hiked down anyway and were greeted by a virtual city of rock cairns (somebody had made 40-50 separate towers of stones and left them there). It was quite a sight. Beth, of course, got right to work making her own rock cairns and I just enjoyed the view.

By the time we reached our cabin along the Cascade River it was downright cold. We were quite happy we had decided to book a cabin that had a fireplace - even in June. After getting a couple of bowls of chili at the local greasy spoon, we settled in for an evening beside the fire and just enjoyed time with each other -- quiet, cozy time with each other!!

Happy Rock on the North Shore

2009-06-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Bayley!!!

2009-06-08T22:57:00.002-05:00

Bayley Kinner - Mounds View High School Class of 2009

See Bayley Graduate

2009-06-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

Tossing of the Hats!

2009-06-08T22:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T08:42:00.002-05:00

Kids Dying Easter Eggs

2009-04-13T08:38:00.002-05:00

Flowers from Grandma Gay

2009-04-13T08:32:00.003-05:00

THANK YOU!!!

Bayley's Prom Dress!

2009-04-04T10:20:00.000-05:00

Taking Care of Ladybugs

2009-03-22T21:04:00.000-05:00

"I took care of the ladybugs," said Emma.

"Oh," said her mom. "How did you take care of them?"

"Last night I found two ladybugs in my bedroom. So I squashed them and threw them in the garbage!"

Dave's Taxi & Entertainment Service

2009-03-07T19:41:00.002-06:00

Day 2 of Beth's trip to Illinois and the day started early.

6:30am - Sunny woke David up to be let out.

6:45am - David drove Bayley to school for her speech meet.

7:50am - David drove Braxton to his friend John's house so he could go to baseball tryouts.

9:15 am - David & Emma drive to the hotel where Paul is having his birthday party and pick-up Gretchen.

10:00am - David plays games with the girls. First they play a round of speed-Life which Gretchen wins. Then David and Gretchen play a game of Battleship. Gretchen wins that game, too.

11:30am - David, Gretchen, and Emma take Sunny & Rufus to the dog park. Emma has a great time gathering up tennis balls and throwing them to the dogs. Gretchen was cold!

12:45pm - We left the dog park and stopped at McDonald's to pick up some lunch. Then we went home, met up with Zoe and Braxton, and whiled away the afternoon (during part of which time the girls drew faces on some of Emma's remaining party balloons).

3:30pm - David is back in the car again going to pick Bayley up from her speech meet.

4:00pm - David, Braxton, Zoe, Gretchen, and Emma drive back to the hotel where Paul is having his party and join the party for some cake and to watch Paul open presents.

6:00pm - David is posting pictures and drawings to the blog so Beth can see what we've been up to.

6:30pm - David uses all of his culinary expertise to prepare a meal of fish-sticks and tater-tots for the kids.

7:30pm - David writes this last blog entry for the day.

8:00pm - Time to put Emma to bed and start turning the clocks forward for tomorrow.

+ posted by David

--

A Picture for Mommy!

2009-03-07T19:28:00.000-06:00

Emma drew this picture for Beth so that she'll know that Emma loves her Mommy!

Pictured from left to right are Emma, David, Braxton, Beth, Zoe, and Bayley.

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Nice Hat, Emma!

2009-03-07T19:26:00.000-06:00

Emma's Baby Balloon

2009-03-07T19:24:00.002-06:00

Gretchen Surprised

2009-03-07T19:21:00.001-06:00

Balloon Faces

2009-03-07T19:19:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday, Paul!

2009-03-07T18:26:00.000-06:00

Paul's Birthday Party

2009-03-07T18:25:00.000-06:00

Another Day with the Chatty Chatty Princess

2009-03-06T18:37:00.000-06:00

Today is Day 3 of Emma's vacation from school, Day 2 of Bayley, Braxton & Zoe's vacation from school, and Day 1 of Beth's trip to Illinois. Bayley, Braxton & Zoe were at Brad's house last night, so David decided to take Emma to the office for half a day.

Emma is always greeted by smiling faces. She is known in these parts as the Chatty Chatty Princess and people in the office go out of their way to make sure they get to see her. She is one precocious and entertaining child!

Today Emma spent the first part of her visit opening up some of the toys she received at her kid birthday party: (i) a Thumbalina Fairy, (ii) a My Little Pony, and (iii) a couple of Littlest Pet Shop toys.

After playing with those toys and visiting a few friends, she worked on some drawings. She did a great job of entertaining herself while David was engaged in a one-hour conference call.

Great patience, Emma!!!

After the conference call, it was time for a meeting of the officers of the Toastmasters club that David is a part of - he is the VP of Education. Emma was excited to go to her "very first meeting." She brought her drawing pad and drew a picture of the event.

+ posted by David

-

Car Repair & the Chatty Chatty Princess

2009-03-04T17:30:00.005-06:00

Emma (a/k/a/ the Chatty Chatty Princess) had no school today because of parent-teacher conferences. So David stayed home from work to spend the day with her.

So what do a dad and a six-year old girl do when home alone for the day?

You guessed it - car maintenance!

David's car needed new tires, so he took Emma to the local Discount Tire to get replacements. The people were friendly and the service was great.

Here is a drawing from Emma showing the work that was done.

Beth's car also needed some maintenance today. Her car was due for an oil change. So after getting new tires on David's car we traded vehicles with Beth and took the mini-van to the local Insta-Lube.

Service there was performed with a smile.

See?

After the oil change, David took Emma to Super-Target to get some pizza and cheetos for lunch.

What a day!!!

+ posted by David

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Happy Birthday Again

2009-03-01T22:05:00.001-06:00

Emma had her "kid party" this weekend and I am happy to say that we survived!

The Chatty Chatty Princess invited eight girls over for her party. They all arrived at about 12:30 on Saturday. After being greeted by Sunny & Rufus, the girls went to the dining room to decorate party bags. Then there was a game of "hot potato" and after that Beth served cake and ice cream.

Rich came over to help us transport the girls down the street to the family center where there is an indoor playground called "The Eagle's Nest."

The Eagle's Nest was total pandemonium! There were at least four other birthday parties happening at the same time and loud, screaming kids were everywhere. The girls had a great time climbing, crawling through tubes, playing in the ball pit, and going down slides. Zoe was there to help monitor things. Barb came and watched the chaos, too.

After letting the girls run wild for a little over an hour, we gathered them up to go back to the house.

Wait a minute!

We only have seven girls. We need two more!

After a little searching, we found the last two girls and got everyone home safely.

Once back at the house, Emma opened up her gifts. Then we finished the party with a pinata.

Birthday Party Girls

2009-03-01T21:44:00.001-06:00

Painting Party Bags

2009-03-01T21:43:00.002-06:00

Candles & Princesses

2009-03-01T21:41:00.002-06:00

Make a Wish!

2009-03-01T21:38:00.002-06:00

Party Moves to the Eagle's Nest

2009-03-01T21:37:00.002-06:00

The Sky's the Limit

2009-03-01T21:35:00.002-06:00

Kathryn, Emma, and Georgia on the Slide

2009-03-01T21:30:00.001-06:00

Rufus Finds a Friend

2009-03-01T21:28:00.002-06:00

Zoe's Science Fair Project

2009-03-01T21:14:00.006-06:00

For this year's science fair, Zoe decided to study salt crystals. She made crystals out of table salt, rock salt, and epsom salt.

Below are pictures of some of the results.

Some Paintings by Emma

2009-03-01T21:06:00.004-06:00

"Bayley's World"

"Zoe's World"

"Daddy Loves the Vikings"

"Emma Loves Mommy"

Emma Does a Dance

2009-03-01T20:56:00.003-06:00

Heavenly Vision

2009-03-01T20:52:00.001-06:00

Picture of the winter sun David took on his cell phone.

+++

Happy Birthday, Emma!

2009-02-24T22:57:00.002-06:00

THE CHATTY CHATTY PRINCESS CELEBRATED HER 6TH BIRTHDAY ON FRIDAY!!!

Emma woke up on Friday morning to a birthday serenade from her Mom & Dad.

Then she went and celebrated her birthday with the kids in her Kindergarten class. They sang to her again and she brought a game to school to gift to the classroom. All of the children also drew her a picture and she got a Curious George book from her teacher.

We celebrated at home by letting her pick what to have for dinner (she chose McDonalds). Then the family gave her some birthday presents:

* A princess accessory kit

* An art pad, stickers, and new paints

* A baby that swims in the bath tub

On Saturday David took Emma around to her friends' houses to deliver party invitations for her "Kid Party" which will be held next weekend.

Then on Sunday we had Rich, Barb, Jenny & Norma over for a big family party. The family party was a great celebration with roast beef sandwiches, mac & cheese, salad, hot dogs, and chips. All of which was topped off with a homemade chocolate birthday cake with yellow frosting, pink sprinkles, and the Disney Princesses on top.

A fun weekend for everybody!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMA!!!

+++

Technical Difficulties

2009-02-22T16:58:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the long delay between updates. We have been without wireless internet since February 13th.

We are getting our new wireless internet hook-up later this week.

Here are some of the events you missed:

Free screening of Pink Panther 2 with Hope Kids
Beth's trip to Dallas to present at an educational conference
David's attempt at keeping the house and kids together while also participating and presenting at a large sales conference in Minneapolis
Emma's 6th birthday
Bayley's incredible performance at the Mounds View Speech Meet

We'll try to get you all caught up this week.

+++

Like Mother, Like Daughter

2009-02-06T15:36:00.002-06:00

Beth found an old school photo from when she was Zoe's age.

See any resemblance?

WOW!

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Little Cabin in the Woods

2009-01-27T20:43:00.002-06:00

View From the Front Porch

2009-01-27T20:41:00.002-06:00

Sunset Over Grand Marais (1/23)

2009-01-27T20:39:00.002-06:00

David on North Shore

2009-01-27T20:36:00.002-06:00

Rock Cairn by Beth (1/25)

2009-01-27T20:33:00.001-06:00

Beth on the North Shore

2009-01-27T20:29:00.002-06:00

Tettegouche Arch on Frozen Lake Superior

2009-01-27T11:23:00.002-06:00

Winter update

2009-01-26T17:28:00.003-06:00

Happy Winter Midwesterners!!! Bayley here with an update on the family that is mine (let me know if that was correct grammar...or even made sense). We're all staying warm, and plenty busy. Braxton and I had Semester 1 finals this past week, so there was a lot of studying in the house. But they're over now and we're excited to begin the 2nd half of the semester with a clean slate and new classes. Zoe had begun rehearsals for the church spring musical, "Fat, Fat Jehoshaphat". Zoe has a speaking role this time and is working very hard on memorizing her lines. Emma has started another round of dance lessons and is learning how to read and write. Every week the class focuses on a different letter in the alphabet. Mom and David traveled up North this past weekend for some fun in the snow. I don't know much about the trip except that they went hiking with the dogs most of the time and not a single case of frost bite.
Beth here now :)- NO frostbite. The temps were quite cold, and some wind when we weren't in the woods. But the snow was powdery, and very deep, which proved to be insulating instead of wet. Snow shoes would have been handy for some of the trail. The dogs were leaping in and out of belly deep snow. I think they enjoyed it though. They sure did sleep well at night! :) If you can't live in the tropics, you may as well learn to have fun in the arctic!
Stay warm everyone! By mid-week it should be in the mid 20's!!
-posted by Beth and Bayley

Rock Man

2009-01-18T21:52:00.002-06:00

Tonight Emma decided to play with some rocks that Beth has collected from up north. She sat on the floor to see what type of a picture she could create with the rocks.

Her creation: Rock Man!!

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Emma & Her Rock Man

2009-01-18T21:51:00.001-06:00

Winter Rock Man

2009-01-18T21:49:00.002-06:00

Emma decided to outfit her Rock Man for Winter. She gave him a hat, put mittens on his hands, and built a miniature snowman for him to carry in a birdcage!!!

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Emma's Rock Dog

2009-01-18T20:26:00.000-06:00

Look, It's a Baby!!!

2009-01-12T17:27:00.000-06:00

Braxton, Bayley, Emma, Zoe & Baby Audrey

2009-01-12T17:26:00.002-06:00

Audrey & Jeff

2009-01-12T17:22:00.001-06:00

Emma' New Hat

2009-01-12T17:21:00.002-06:00

Thank you, Alissa!!!

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Nord Grandchildren

2009-01-12T17:19:00.002-06:00

Sleeping Bob

2009-01-12T17:16:00.002-06:00

Sleeping Nick

2009-01-12T17:15:00.002-06:00

Penguino!

2009-01-12T17:12:00.002-06:00

Emma and her new stuffed toy - Penguino!

Thank you, Grandma Beverly!!!

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Baby Snowflakes

2009-01-12T17:11:00.001-06:00

Emma and her new Baby Snowflakes.

Thank you, Grandma & Grandpa Houston!!!

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Rock Band

2009-01-12T17:06:00.003-06:00

Kids playing their new Rock Band game on Christmas day.

Thanks for the drums, Grandma Beverly!!!

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WOW! Catching UP!

2008-12-30T21:17:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to all!!

It's been some time since David or I have blogged! I guess the holidays took us away with them and we have not. really, stopped to blog. Everyone is well and we have been busy enjoying Christmas! Christmas Eve was quiet, my kids went with Brad and Paul and Gretchen were at home in Cold Spring. I was frantically finishing Christmas Day entertaining details!!! AAAAAGH! But, a nice dinner with Barb and Rich calmed things down. Emma got to open a couple of presents to warm her up for the BIG event :)

Christmas Day was full and fun! Emma was so excited to open Santa presents in the morning, then family converged for lunch! All of the kids came home and The Houston and Cameron-Enberg families embarked on our new blended family Christmas celebration. I think that all of the kids had a good time and no one got hurt...:)

Since Christmas the kids and parents have been around the Metro on various outings including HopeKids events at the Science Museum, Gameworks, and a movie (Bedtime Stories). We spent a fun day at the Minnesota Zoo, went sledding and snowman making at Valentine Hills, and shared an over-stimulating afternoon at the Mall of America :).

In the morning, we leave for Illinois to celebrate Christmas with the Nord side and have lots of time with new baby Alexis!!!

Pictures to be posted...

-posted by long winded Beth :)

Happy Birthday, Green Elephant!

2008-12-24T08:17:00.002-06:00

One year ago, the Chatty Chatty Princess received Green Elephant as a gift on Christmas Eve.

Green Elephant has been her closest friend ever since!

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New Photos

2008-12-14T20:14:00.003-06:00

Some new pics are on the blog. The first is a picture and letter that Emma dictated and illustrated for Bryanna and Nick. She's very excited to meet Alexis! Emma had breakfast with Santa on saturday morning, with Barb and Rich, at the St.Paul Macy's. Santa came to visit her at her table and they had quite a long and animated conversation while Santa read her list. She came home with the snowflake on her cheek, a balloon braided candy cane, a tummy full of french toast and bacon, and the satisfaction that she got her requests known to "the big guy".

We've been decorating the Christmas trees for most of the week, off and on. The real tree is in the living room and still standing...the fake tree is upstairs and holds the really old family ornaments and really fragile ornaments. Zoe is a good helper and Braxton and Gretchen helped finish the little tree upstairs on saturday. The last pic is from Braxton's band concert last week. He never looks at me or poses for one just one good shot, but this one is ok. He wore the Santa hat all night. Now he wants his own!

We all enjoyed seeing pictures of baby Alexis! Zoe had 5 friends over on saturday for cookie baking and sleep over and they all looked at baby pictures too. Lots of "oh, she's so little and cute!"

Sister in law Jennifer and her friend Norma left on saturday morning for 3 weeks in Columbia to enjoy Christmas with Norma's family. We pray for safe travels for them. We are, however, in the throws of more unseasonably cold weather...

12 more days til Christmas...

-posted by Beth

Note From Emma

2008-12-14T20:03:00.002-06:00

Paul & His Snowman

2008-12-14T19:43:00.000-06:00

Breakfast w- Santa

2008-12-14T19:39:00.001-06:00

Decorating the Tree

2008-12-13T08:53:00.001-06:00

Emma & Lights

2008-12-13T08:52:00.001-06:00

Zoe Decorating

2008-12-13T08:51:00.003-06:00

Braxton in Concert

2008-12-13T08:51:00.001-06:00

New Kid On The Block :)

2008-12-12T20:44:00.002-06:00

Bryanna Lynn had her first baby tonite! After many hours of unsuccessful laboring, a C-section brought Alexis Kate into the world sometime around 8:15 pm. 7lbs, 70z. and 19 inches long. Mom (Bryanna) is tired but the grandparent and auntie groupies are jazzed up! Pictures posted soon...

Playing Catch Up

2008-12-11T19:18:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I've made a blog entry, and it's my turn. Since our last entry, time has moved quickly. The holiday season is, very much,upon us! I've started the shopping, baking, decorating, and card stuffing. Zoe filled out our cards this year, David wrote the letter and put together our family photo, and I put on the stamps. :) There's just never enough time to take care of details and simply enjoy Christmas.

We chose a beautiful tree in under 3 minutes on a very cold and windy day last weekend. Even Emma ran for the warm van. We decorated the tree and enjoyed it for a couple of days before it fell over, on tuesday, while no one was at home. Braxton came home first and called Bayley home to help him push it back up against the wall. When I came home we wrestled with it for more than a half hour before we got it to stay up. It's been 3 days and it's still standing!

Braxton had his Christmas band concert on monday evening. He looked cute in a Santa hat! It was a good concert full of traditional holiday standards and even a chance for audience sing along. On wednesday, my Pre-schoolers put on their annual Christmas Chapel at Bethel's great hall. The place was packed and the pre-schoolers delivered a great show! I have been the stage manager for the past 3 years and spend the whole show running kids around back stage and shoo-ing them on and off stage when they're cued. Watching the DVD is always so funny to see all the spontaneous things that the kids do. On tuesday we attended a Christmas show at our church. Barb and Rich came along and everyone enjoyed it and the cookies at intermission!

The weekend will be spent having more Christmas fun, and finishing projects ( I hope). Zoe is having some friends over to decorate cookies and stay overnight. Some nasty snow is predicted for sunday so it will be a good day to stay inside and do Christmas stuff.

At present, we are all awaiting the birth of our newest family member! Bryanna is in the hospital laboring to have her first baby girl. I remember the day that Bryanna was born so waiting for her baby to be born seems surreal. Life is weird...

That's all for now. It's time to do some Santa work while all of the kids are out of the house. Emma is waiting for another tooth to fall out and is expecting that the Tooth Fairy and Santa will work together to bring her something special this year :).

-posted by Beth

Going to the Holidazzle Parade

2008-12-01T21:04:00.002-06:00

Starting on Thanksgiving, downtown Minneapolis has a "Holidazzle" parade Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings through Christmas. These parades are fun and family oriented with lots of bright lights and festive music.

The weather was warm on Saturday so we decided to take the whole circus out to see the parade. It was great!!!

+ posted by David

Waiting for the Parade

2008-12-01T21:02:00.001-06:00

Holidazzle Snowman

2008-12-01T21:01:00.002-06:00

Check out those Joe Mauer Sideburns!

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Santa's Workshop Float

2008-12-01T20:58:00.001-06:00

Happy Emma!

2008-12-01T20:56:00.001-06:00

haha...snow=)

2008-11-30T17:29:00.001-06:00

Here's a shoutout to Grandma Beverly and all the Illinois relatives to supposed to get 5-7 INCHES OF SNOW!!!!! We didn't even get a quarter of an inch. Be sure to call and tell Mom how much snow you actually got!

Wonderful Wicked

2008-11-30T12:52:00.006-06:00

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Beth and Bayley went to the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis to see "Wicked." They ordered tickets last May through the drama department at Bayley's school. This was Bayley's first time seeing "Wicked," So she was super excited to see her favorite musical on stage. During intermission, Bayley said that the show was "AMAZING!!" Her favorite song was "Defy Gravity" and Mom's favorite song was "For Good." Bayley was lucky enough to be sitting next to one of her friends, but unlucky enough to not be sitting next to Mom. It turns out that the drama department had the students sitting next to the students, and parents sitting next to the parents. But the good things from the show outweigh the bad by far. All in all, the show was...Wondeful.

Thanksgiving Celebration

2008-11-29T12:56:00.002-06:00

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving by going to David's Sister's house in Deephaven, Minnesota (a suburb to the southwest of Minneapolis about a 35-minute drive from our house).

Catherine got married this Summer and brought another blended family to the Houston Clan. Catherine's new husband is Kevin Cameron and he has three boys - Neil, Craig, and Carter.

Also invited to the festivities were David's parents - Rich & Barb - and Kevin's sister Kathy and her family. Paul & Gretchen were not with us this year, but Kathy and Tony brought their children - Kaylin & Thadeus. So all together we had nine children at our celebration: Neil, Craig, Carter, Allie, Jack, Bayley, Braxton, Zoe, Emma, Kaylin, and Thadeus.

Plenty of fun for everybody!

It was a nice early winter day - sunny and in the mid-30's. Some of the kids went ice skating on the small pond behind the house. Other children enjoyed television, video games, or ping-pong.

The food was wonderful. Catherine prepared us a fresh turkey after the defrosting accident caused the loss of the original frozen turkey and some other "incident" caused the loss of a turkey breast. Other family members filled out the feast by bringing garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. We had numerous desserts: pumpkin, apple, pecan and french-silk pies; and cookies and brownies.

After the great feast and celebration we went home and took our traditional walk through the neighborhood. The highlight was seeing the new light display in the center of the neighborhood where one man creates something new each year. It's like Christmas morning - the anticipation of seeing what the new theme will be.

This year it is a 25 foot tall pirate ship.

Way cool!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!!!

+ posted by David

Pirate Ship I

2008-11-29T09:47:00.001-06:00

Pirate Ship II

2008-11-29T09:44:00.001-06:00

Rufus in Space

2008-11-27T07:48:00.001-06:00

Bring Your Chatty Chatty Princess to Work Day

2008-11-26T10:27:00.001-06:00

Emma has no school today and the other kids are at Brad's house. So Emma is visiting David's office today and providing entertainment for his colleagues.

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