Dia de los Muertos

Jeremy's been wanting to try his had at a mole sauce, so last night we did an early mini-celebration of Dia de los Muertos. Our neighbor friend, Janet, celebrates that instead of Halloween, so since her mom is letting her come to our pumpkin carvin' party we wanted to celebrate some of her holiday. Jeremy couldn't find marigolds this time of year in Nebraska, but he did put out some candles and some photos of passed loved ones. After he lit the first candle and Ernie caught on to what we were doing he declared "This candle is for Fats Waller" (the 1920 to 1940s jazz pianist - anyone?) and made Jeremy find a picture of Fats to put by his candle.Well, the dinner was delicious.
We enjoyed sharing stories of relatives and friends we miss. And it was very nice to have Fats join us. He wasn't nearly as rowdy as I would have expected.

Minnesota, Daddy's weekend, and Baby Agatha

We have such an awesome Daddy that we want him to get a nice relaxing break from the family and get to see a Minnesota Vikings preseason game every year as his father's day gift. Well this year there's another new father in the family: Chris Hall! And we couldn't all miss a trip to meet our new cousin and neice baby Agatha, could we? So we tagged along. I'm sure we weren't that much trouble.

We got to see Chris perform with his new band (everyone with a bedtime later than 7 p.m., that is).

And I have to apoligize now because I was NOT a good phtographer this trip. I barely even got a picture of Agatha! And I got to go visit her for hours while she was sleeping! What was wrong with me? I think I must have left the camera in the hotel room with the sleeping kids. Grrr. Anyway, here's what I got.

Jeremy got the kids some Vikings treats after the game. New socks for Len and some rad tattoos for Ernie.

You can't see them here, but he's showing off his "tough spots," in this picture.

And we got a brief time to see some of our Goonie friends on the trip, as we all met at the Wild Rumpus bookstore. The Wiants and the Brings made extra trouble for basically a hug and a "hi!" as we all ushered our kids around a bookstore full of wild animals.

Ernie especially loved the kid-sized door-within-a-door.

And some late-night car trouble the day before meant that we got four extra hours to see Halls, including Agatha. Aunt Cathie made an awesome brunch (pumpkin waffles, need I say more?) while poor Grandpa Denie and Daddy drove around looking for mechanics open on a Sunday. We wound up just crossing our fingers and driving home without repairs, but it was nice to stick around a bit longer! Agatha is so sweet, and the perfect itty bitty baby. We can't wait to watch her grow up.

Both kids were really happy with their pics from the bookstore for the ride home. Dick and Jane and Vampires for Len and Zombiekins for Ernie.

In a dark, dark, camper

Ern and Len once again shared a bed in a camper on our Wyoming part of the trip. Spooky stories shared in the same bed are extra fun.

Preschool

Ernie's back at Dimensions, five mornings a week this year. He loves it so much that he tries to convince us "Ms. Heinsman is prooooobably teaching SOMEONE today" every weekend. Lenora had a really hard time not being with her brother every waking moment for the first couple of weeks. She kept asking "see Ernie" over and over. Now they're both settled into the new routine, and Len likes her special Daddy time in the mornings, and plays more in her own room (since she usually played with Ernie in his before). Buddy is getting ready for real school soon. *sniff*

South Dakota, Wyoming, and GOONIES!

For the third consecutive year, we've attended a floating multi-family vacation with the folks we met on an online birth board when we were pregnant with Ernie. We love these folks. We call them our Goonies. There are really more like 60 families we keep in touch with, but movingaround the midwest, some of the cast is different year-to-year. They are all equally awesome and irreplaceable.


Here's the kids watching Cinderella for the first time in the car ride up. Eleven hours is a long time to keep kids happy just sitting still.


And we had a lay-over in Murdo, South Dakota with two more Goonie families (the Wiants from Minnesota and the Harlesses from Wisconsin). The kiddos slept in a double bed together. They really loved it, and Lenora took it very seriously. Until she woke up around 3 a.m. disoriented and got a black eye trying to crawl over the nightstand to find mommy.

Possibly Ernie's favorite part of the whole trip was the Badlands. The legends and lore of the Badlands are nothing compared to his concern about available bathrooms. "Did only the bad guys not have toilets here? I think the good cowboys DID have toilets. And sinks." And if you're wondering why he's snarling in every picture, it's because he's the Demon, on the top of Night on Bald Mountain. Naturally.

I love this picture. Love love.

And this one makes me LOL. Three March 2007 babies! Ernie, Evie, and Teddy! And that's Super Goonie in Evie's hands. He likes to travel around and do fun stuff with Goonie families around the country.

Lenora and I tried to keep up.

Here's one for the holiday card!

Lenora's favorite part of the whole trip is summed up in this picture. "Mommy! I pay! I pay giwls! I pay wid big giwls!"

We were so close, we had to take a day trip from our vacation base at the Hein family ranch in Newcastle, WY to see Mt. Rushmore. Jeremy taught the kids about all the presidents in the car ride up.

But we somehow had left Snuggle Puppy in the parked car. So Daddy ran down three flights of stairs, through the parking garage, back up again, and just LOOK at the intensity on SP's face as he's gazing at Borglum's most famous sculpture:

Biscuit is kinda like "Meh."

More fun back at the ranch. The fire warnings were low enough we could roast some mallows.

Lenora loooved little Abrie. She's very openly affectionate.

And Jeremy was falling hard for the Mauro sisters. Makena and Zoe were pretty darn good at Tic-Tac-Toe!

Lennie loves Zoe, too.

Here's the whole gang! Six families, ten adults, and thirteen kids all under five years old!

And we got to take home Super Goonie next!

Allen and Patty Eckman, the Artists-in-Residence at Mommy's museum wouldn't hear of us being anywhere near South Dakota and not seeing them. We made a stop-over for a delicious lunch at their home, and a tour of their studio. These people love kids like nobody's business. Allen showed Ernie the c-mixer for their home improvement projects.

And seriously, kids love Allen and Patty back.

We had an awesome trip! We can't wait to see the gang again!

Two Rivers!

The Erbs had the awesome idea of a multi-family vacation in Two Rivers State Park! We slept in cabooses! We swam! We ate LOTS of food! Baby monitors and adults hung out around fires at night! Please say we'll do it again?
When we first got there we couldn't check in, so some of us just stripped into our suits anyway.
This was Lens' first big-girl-bed experience! And it was a bunk-bed! In a CABOOSE!

We were all right next to each other, so we could share grills and picnic tables and child-watching responsibilities.

And there was a commissary near by with our morning coffee and any essentials we forgot.

Ernie was a little disappointed that fishing didn't immediately result in several dozen fish.

But Kelli came through with a catch, and boy-howdy did that little bugger taste good when Joel fried him up.

Auggie was still a bit too tiny for s'mores, but that didn't stop the rest of us.

And after your afternoon fuel of s'mores and root beer, you feel like you can do anything. Like climbing a massive tree!

Swimming again!

The lake was perfect. It was the farthest Ernie's been able to walk on his own in water, and it was strange being so far away from him while swimming! Len preferred the shallows and the sand. She gave Mommy a nice sand pack, which resulted in sand mite bites that are still in recovery two months later. Everywhere I itched I could hear her saying "Aaaaan onna knee, aaaaan onna nodder knee, aaaan onna ewbow . . . "

And Ernie's favorite thing was to say "Go out there Dad! Keep going! Back back back! Now STOP! Ok, now put your arms out like this!" and then he'd ruuuuuun into his arms and Jeremy would swoosh him around in a circle.

It got to be a little exhausting.

But please say we'll do it again!!!

The final fall

Bye, bye, Tree

In one singular 24-hour period we had a series of mini-home-disasters that would have destroyed all dreams of a 7-Day Disney Cruise (had that been the plan). First the cellar door finally caved in, then we noticed a huge part of our 100+ year old elm tree (one original to the Elm Park neighborhood) had fallen onto the kids' playhouse, then we learned that was due to carpenter ants, then the sump pump malfunctioned, which flooded the a/c filter, which broke the switchboard on the furnace (new furnace). And then when we thought that was over, the washing machine timer broke, so we decided to say "to heck with it all" and make a midnight frozen pizza. Except that the oven starter was now broken.
Anyhow, we've recovered from all that finally. But we do still miss our tree.
R.I.P. Elm

Wedding receptions are for dancing

Len's first haircut

So back in August, Ernie decided he was going to be a hairdresser and practice on his little sister. Before that Jeremy had to decide that he could trust the children together for less than five minutes while he used the bathroom. Interestingly, Jeremy was the more wrong of the two of them. Ernie has consistently gotten compliments on the haircut he gave his sister that day. Not that it pleases his parents much. We've finally come to terms with the end of her baby curls :'( and she reminds us even more of her big brother now. He looked like Mia Farrow after his first haircut, too.