Firsts

Today.
First Day of School.

First Day of new clothes.

First Day of chilly mornings.

First Day of busses and lunches and friends and homework.

For Olivia and Christian, today is the first day of a new school with Olivia entering high school and Christian entering Kindergarten. 

The first day of school is always exciting yet nervewracking. Dropping off each of the kids today reminded me of how fast time is flying by and how old I'm getting. A high schooler?? A 7th grader?? Christian's already in KINDERGARTEN? Not possible... yet here it is.

It's so exciting to see these kiddos blossom and grow. 

My beauties! 

Olivia - Freshman

Morgan - 7th grade

Christian - Kindergarten

Olivia with her BFF Paige on their way to HIGH SCHOOL

Miss Mo 

Christian's new classroom - sadly this is only HALF of the children that will complete their classroom this year. Too big. Too big.

We love our school district!

Family Tubing Day

Two days before Christmas, the whole { H } clan - local at least - headed up to the snow to do some tubing on the Autobahn. HOLY FUN!
I was a bit worried about my tailbone (Dec.3 I took a good spill and it's still sore) but once we got up there and I saw there was no impact on your rear end, I decided to go for it. AND GLAD I DID! What a blast!
The day couldn't have been any better. The sun was bright. The snow was compacted just right to slide fast! And my kiddos stayed warm. What more could we ask for?

Winter Concerts

Tis the season for choir concerts in the schools.

Each of the girls had theirs this past week and got all dolled up for them in their fancy dresses and curled hair.

Olivia:

Seventh grade choir:



Olivia and Paige:



Morgan:



ENTIRE elementary school K-5:



Morgan in her pretty dress (that I stumbled across at Target on clearance that very day... $7.48!!)



A big thank you to Christine for curling Olivia's hair and teaching me to curl with a straightening iron. I ended up doing Morgan's myself... not too shabby for my first try.
Also a big thank you to Jennifer for taking pictures of Morgan for me. I'm the ding dong mom who forgot her camera AND her phone.

Flying South

What a Daddy/Daughter Date! Definitely one to never be forgotten...

GO DUCKS!

13 Days of Madness

We've all heard of the 12 Days of Christmas... but have you ever heard of the 13 Days of Madness? Let me tell you all about it.
There were 13 days beginning October 26 ending November 7 that were filled with birthdays, sugar, parties, Halloween, sugar, craziness, H1N1, and of course, more sugar!
Let's start at Day 1:

Day 1 {October 26}
Olivia's 13th Birthday
Can we celebrate? No. Why not?? She, Christian and myself are down with the swine flu. DOWN with the swine flu. It hit hard. And ugly. Not a fun way to spend a 13th birthday.
But several dear people in our lives took pity on Olivia and delivered cakes, cupcakes, Popsicles & balloons and made her day so very very special.
{Thank you Jenn, Andy & Cindy, and Cathlena!}







We crawled out of bed to eat dinner which Daddy so graciously prepared {frozen lasagna and garlic bread} and sing Happy Birthday to our teenager. The best was when it came time to blow out candles and she waved them out instead so she didn't spread the piggy germs! Thanks Lu!




Day 4 {October 29}
Morgan's 11th Birthday
Feeling better, I took DQ ice cream sandwiches to her classroom to celebrate her big day... dragging Christian and Delaney along.
We gathered up the energy that night to attend Olivia's school Harvest Party. They served a free dinner and lots of games and prizes. We thought it would be a fun activity on Mo's birthday since her big party was that weekend. By the time we got home, my energy was zapped.



How pretty is that 11 year old smile?!



DQ provided her cake as well... and we added the police paraphernalia in honor of her Fashion Police Halloween costume. We sucked up our Duck pride and decorated for our lone {H} Beaver fan. Grandpa Clyde would be proud!



Day 5 {October 30}
Friday night we dressed up - got all gussied up - and went to the church Trunk or Treat/Halloween Party. I've already posted pics of costumes, but I just gotta put this one on again - just for giggles! :)



Day 6 {October 31}
HALLOWEEN AND the girls' birthday party at the skating rink! AACK!
The girls had a combined birthday party and invited many friends. Much fun was had by all... lots of cake and ice cream... costumes worn... loud music... crazy friends...
Carly and Mom came down. Martin left early to go to the Duck game. Paula showed up for a quick hug! {YAY}
It was a busy busy fun day.





We headed home to get better shoes and coats on to go out Trick or Treating only to have Morgan tell us she doesn't feel good enough to go and to go without her with the little ones. WHAT!?!?! Morgan miss out on Trick or Treating???? Something was very wrong with this picture. So we let her rest with her birthday gifts and were gone around the neighborhood for a bit only to get back and find her temp up over 102°!! NO! Our pediatrician had told us when we took Olivia and Christian in that if anyone else spiked a fever in the near future, it too would be H1N1. Ugh.


Day 7 {November 1}
At some point in the wee hours of the morning, Delaney decided to also spike a fever. After a call into the doctor, Tamiflu was prescribed for D because of her age {high risk group}. Luckily her symptoms were very short lived.

Days 8 - 10
Morgan was down the entire week and missed school. Luckily for her it wasn't a big deal - she's such a smarty pants!

Day 11 {November 5}
Christian turned 4!! But we didn't tell him LOL. His party was scheduled for Saturday, so we just pretended it was any other normal day and that Saturday was his big day.
Still nursing Morgan and Delaney back to health...

Day 13 {November 7}
The end has come! Last day of the madness!!
Christian celebrated his 4th birthday at the pizza parlor with Papa, Zach and Grandma {H}. Sadly, NONE of his little friends were able to come due to fevers. That swine flu was horrid around here. Christian was oblivious to the fact that his friends weren't there. He was thrilled with cake and video games and new toys! {Transformers}



I couldn't love this little man any more. He is the apple of my eye, for sure!



Because I love my monkey man so much, I spent the entire day Friday baking and decorating his Lightning McQueen cake. At one point during the process Christian came in and said to me, "Mommy. I like you that you make my cake." ♥



Zach helps Christian figure out the Transformer.


Our sweet Papa with Delaney... Delaney's face pretty much sums up the Ducks' performance that day against Stanford. Boo.

As one can imagine, by the end of these two weeks, we were pooped. But you know what they say: No rest for the weary! Thanksgiving was just around the corner... to be hosted at OUR HOUSE!

Up, Up, and Away!

This year for Halloween, Martin went all out (again) and dressed himself and Christian up as characters from Disney's movie "UP", Carl and Russell. What a great movie! I think I cried over half the movie making it one of my top Disney movies to date.

How cute are my boys?? I couldn't look at Martin without giggling, though.

Our very own Wilderness Explorer:

Character Meet-N-Greet at Disneyworld AND at your local Trunk-or-Treat!

Martin had plenty of balloons to hand out to the kiddos rather than candy.

The best part of the night was listening to Christian run around, clanging everywhere he went:

Delaney was a cute little penguin waddling the waddle:

Olivia used my Senior Prom dress and strutted her stuff as an "80s girl".
Note: my prom was 1991!

Officer Morgan as the Fashion Police:

...and because I have to, (I have orders from the Powers that Be) here I am as Gemma Doyle from A Great and Terrible Beauty.

(ok ok I confess. I've had the wig and dress for a couple years now. I just stuck the name on this year!)