It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 

Bianca is all dressed up on her last day of school before winter break.

Family Photo Catch-up Since September *eek*

I am no longer able to post photos from Picasa to my blog as simply as I used to now that I took google's bad advice and updated to Blogger Beta. *grumble* This means that posting photos is more of a pain in the ass, and it means it's another step for you to view them.

For now, click on the little photo below to be taken to the most recent posting of family photos. Sept 25th through Nov 30th. Enjoy!

December 06 Family Photo Catch-up

Mommy and Princess Bianca

At mother-in-law's house. Bianca made herself a new crown from a kit Grandmommie gave her as a gift. 

Happy Labor Day Weekend


I just uploaded nearly 70 photos from our visit to Wisconsin last month. Enjoy...

Our Trip to Wisconsin - August 1st - 8th, 2006

Saying goodbye to Daddy at the airport. He has to stay home to go to work and someone needs to be around to take care of the dogs too.
(Ivan is such a great photographer, don't you think? :-) Mommy and Daddy say their goodbyes too. 

The first of 4 flights this week. Get used to those airline seats, kids.
Grandpa was waiting at the Eau Claire airport to greet us all with warm hugs. ♥
 

Picking blueberries in the cage with Grandma. (The cage is to keep the birds from eating all the berries before they can pick them.)
Bianca found a flower that she fancied.
Everybody hanging out watching cartoons. My brother Mike and his wife Jolie came over with their 3 kids. The cousins all seemed to get along great. Little Ryan is a few months older than Bianca and very excited to tell everyone that Ivan is his best friend!
Snuggled up on the couch with Peanut waiting for bedtime. 

Many hours of the week-long visit were spent playing with the lego trains in the solarium.

My niece, Elizabeth, and her new Texas heeler puppy. (Sorry Beth, I forgot your dog's name. Oops.) We drove out to her farm near Strum (?) to spend a few hours with the kids. It was strange to see my "little niece" with her own house and farm complete with horses, chickens, cows, and pigs. What a crazy life. Time keeps on flying...
 

Ivan and Bianca enjoyed running around the farm exploring.


Goodbye hugs between cousins. 

Let's go blackberry picking!
Ivan was pretty serious about his work, but it wasn't five minutes before the complaints about the bugs and then ultimately a pricker in his finger cut the "fun" short. I walked back to the house with two children with nearly empty buckets and a lot of whining. Hey, they're city kids. What can I say?

 

Grandma helps show Bianca the best berries to pick.

I really enjoyed rolling around in the lawn. I was tickled that it was as soft and wonderful as I remember it as a child. Maybe it seems silly for a 30 year old to kick off her flip flops and tumble around on the lawn in the sunshine, but it matches my kittenish personality. This is one of my best memories of the trip.

The house where I grew up. The front sunroom was added when I was a senior in high school. The little attic window above that is/was my bedroom. I never realized how tiny the house was until I came back from college to visit and everything felt diminuative. I mean, it's not that small. It's not a shack or anything, but compared to modern suburban homes it's small. One bathroom, if that tells you anything. :-P
We drove up to see Carrie one afternoon. We visited at her place and then took the kids out for dinner, Chinese buffet. On the way back, we stopped off in Carson Park near Carrie's house for the kids to play for a while. We let them romp until twilight and mosquitos chased us back to the car.

It seems the candy dish was the main attraction at Carrie's house for my kids.
Crazy Bunch! The kids had stained tongues from popsicles they were showing off.
A horrible embarrassing photo of me and Carrie. We've known each other since we were 3 years old. A lifetime of friendship... and sometimes bickering. When you grow up spittin' distance from someone and are involved in all major aspects of life together from church to school bus to english class, you tend to know too much about each other. We're complete opposites, and yet we're exactly the same. It's really quite frightening. I love you dearly and forever! (We need to get together more often. Without my kids next time. :-)
The girls cracking up at Ivan, Master Photographer. He really does a pretty good job. I always have to crop and straighten his photos, but he can compose and shoot better than my mom... which isn't really saying much. *sorry Mom!* 

Bianca pets some brand new baby ducklings, just hatched that day. Ivan was mad that I made him leave the TV for this and eyes the fuzzy duckies with suspicion and disdain. *sigh* My son...
Off to the county fair! I made the kids walk through and see some cows and pigs and sheep, but they complained bitterly about the stinky poop smell. (What smell???) I finally relented and bought some ride tickets for them and tried to forget about the missed educational opportunities.
This carney guy was a wee bit too friendly. My friends told me it might have had something to do with the lowcut red tank top and tight cowgirl jeans mommy was wearing.
The Jackson County Fair is never complete without the ever-popular Demolition Derby! Two of my nephews, Chris and James, drove in these. They have several divisions to enter -- cars, trucks, small trucks, etc. We got mud flung on us a couple times and my kids were not really too fond of the NOISE and smoke. Gosh, kinda felt like home to me. :-P