I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
Dec 13th, 2017 by ECM
For our last homeschool play group today, we had a Christmas party with board games, ornament making stations, and yummy food. We hugged everyone goodbye but did not cry because we’re in denial that this is the end. This semester flew by way too fast.
Last week, we headed up to Milwaukee for a quick visit. We met up with the Driscolls and admired how much our families had grown since JJ and Tommy were the 3L babies back in Indian Lakes Apartments, then while Derek gave a talk for the local Fed SoCal chapter, the kids and I checked out the Milwaukee Public Museum! We loved the Old Town Milwaukee exhibit, the European village with houses from all the home countries of Milwaukee immigrants, the butterfly house, the rainforest hall, the Native American dioramas, and the artifacts from cultures around the world. Definitely a place we’d like to see again!
Dec 4th, 2017 by ECM
Tonight the Isbells decided to have a bunch of us over for a Christmas season kick-off party. The under-ten crew came in their pj’s, we had cookies and cocoa and watched a Christmas movie, sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with motions, and had an impromptu Christmas carol piano recital. We love these guys!
Dec 2nd, 2017 by ECM
The SoCal DenHartogs may be our BFFs, but the Midwest DenHartogs were our friends first! Jonathan and Jackie were some of our very first married friends in South Bend, and Jackie and I haven’t seen each other in person since she was super pregnant with Abby and I was newly pregnant with Tommy. And of course, we have their eternal gratitude for introducing us to Josh and Sarah. So it was great to have them drive down for a visit while we were still in the same part of the country! Jackie and I talked homeschooling, Jonathan and Derek talked teaching, Tommy and Caleb played games, built snap circuits and played indoor football, and the girls talked, played, and bonded. The kids were predisposed to get along because anyone related to James and Ellis has to be pretty awesome, and sure enough, Elizabeth declared them kindred spirits. Now to figure out an excuse to visit Minnesota next summer…
Nov 29th, 2017 by ECM
We’re not decorating for Christmas here in Iowa. We’re leaving before Christmas, and we won’t be around much of December. It’s depressing. So I had a last minute idea to go down to Columbia last weekend and at least help cut down and decorate Grandma and Grandpa’s Christmas tree. Of course, the weather didn’t cooperate. It was as warm as California! We’ll have to wait another few years to tromp through the snow for our tree, I guess. We did find a nice, bushy tree and had a great time decorating it!
Work fascinates her. She could watch it all day.
And the big news this Christmas was that Grandma and I saved our pennies to buy Janie her much-desired Melody doll. She had to open it early because she’ll be getting some Melody accessories before the official Willett Christmas. She was SO excited, gasping, “Yes!” as she opened her. She has been practically inseparable from Melody ever since!
The first of many photo shoots with the newest member of the family!
Nov 23rd, 2017 by ECM
Matthew and Nicole came for Thanksgiving, and we played games, colored, feasted (after spending the afternoon outside due to a fire I started by leaving a hot pad on an inadvertently heated burner!) and ended the evening reading Farmer Boy aloud.
Nov 12th, 2017 by ECM
This weekend, just Tommy and Susie and I headed out to the Hoover Presidential Museum. It’s smaller than the Reagan Library, so we were through in under an hour. Susie was particularly fond of this Chinese robe from when the Hoovers were living in China.
Sometimes it’s nice to go through a museum with only two kids!
Nov 9th, 2017 by ECM
The kids and I just spent a long weekend learning about Chicago history and architecture while Derek had a conference. It’s a great city to visit, if not our favorite place to live!
We started Friday morning in Millennium Park, of course.
This is what fall is supposed to look like!
Spending the morning at the Art Institute? Good times. Spending the morning there with Laura? Priceless.
We spent most of our time in the Impressionist rooms.
The Chicago River!
Laura came along on the architectural boat tour.
It was seriously cold.
Back to the Art Institute for the armor exhibit.
Not exactly practical tournament gear.
On Saturday morning, we met up with Hannah and Robert at the Chicago History Museum!
Life size Chicago dogs.
We want a bookshelf like this one.
And we had deep dish at Bacino’s!
We had a sweet hotel room just off Michigan Ave.
It was a good food weekend. We took Brett and Grace to Volare. It was as yummy as ever!
Despite the fog, the Hancock Observatory was a big hit.
Oct 31st, 2017 by ECM
For this year’s Reformation Day, we went with a joint book/tv show theme.
“Beep Beep! Trick or treat!”
“Take chances, make mistakes, get candy!”
“According to my research, it’s Halloween!”
[Liz the lizard was not really into the whole photo shoot thing…]
We had to bundle quite a bit for the 37 degree weather! Leggings under tights, layers upon layers of clothes, and all the hats and mittens we could find.
The Stantons invited us to come trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood, and the eight big kids moved so fast that they didn’t have time to get cold!
Oct 29th, 2017 by ECM
“Look, Mommy, the shape that Lizzie’s learning about.”
“You mean a parallelogram?”
“Yep, parallelogram toast!”
