Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Lost But Not Forgotten

It seems to be a trend lately that our blog often gets forgotten when life gets busy. I am learning that some things just have to be put on the back burner sometimes. Several years ago before I was a mommy, I had visions of perfection when I thought about motherhood. I thought that my house would be spotless, my kids perfectly mannered, I would make perfect healthy, balanced meals daily, and my hair would get cut and highlighted on a regular basis. For some silly reason I preached about how I would never let my kids watch television or eat McDonald's. I had some high hopes. Now that I am the mommy of two wonderful kids I have learned that the idea of perfection is just that, an idea. I still do my best, but I have learned that it is okay if the kids watch Sesame Street while I am running, and that chicken nuggets will not harm them. I am also learning how precious this time in our lives is and that I should spend more time with my kiddos and husband and less time trying to meet some standard I set for myself. All that being said, I have been missing from blog land for quite some time and I apologize to those of you who check in for new pictures of the kiddos. I have posted a few below to catch you up on October and November. Enjoy!

Here we are at the Festival of Trees. Unfortunately we
could not get Maggie to put her blankie down and Ben was
not about to cooperate and smile.
We picked out our Christmas tree at a farm near our house.
We have gone to the same farm for the past three years and really
like their selection.
The kids always love it when they get to help cook.
Here they are helping with some desserts for Thanksgiving.

Random shot of Bob reading to the kids before bed.

I decided to take some practice shots for the
Christmas card this year. Can you tell that my
kids are used to me taking their pictures.
So handsome!

Blueberry Eyes


This is another random shot, but I think it is so
adorable how both kids go to the window every morning to
wave as Bob leaves for work.
After trick or treating on Halloween we went to a
fire station with Grandma and Grandpa Keefer and
Uncle Tom and Aunt Diane. The kids got their faces
painted, played games, and took a hayride.

Ben and Maggie enjoyed visiting Grandma and Grandpa
Gaerte to trick or treat.

We realized right before we were ready to pull out
of the driveway to go trick or treating that we had
not taken any pictures of the kids in their costumes.
Ben was not happy that I postponed his fun.
Here are the kids with the Jack O' Lantern that they
helped carve. Hopefully you can see them in the dark
picture.
Maggie really enjoyed digging the goop out of the pumpkin.

Scooping out goop.

Here are the kids drawing what they think Bob should carve on
the pumpkin.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

While You Were Out

Bob recently traveled to India for work and was gone for almost eight full days. Several of those days were flight days for him, but we missed him a ton. This was the longest stretch that he had ever been away from the kids. I think the longest he had been gone in the past was five or six days. We tried to stay as busy as possible while he was away to make the days pass quickly. Let me tell you that we were so happy to have him back home, and we are very thankful for the Internet and video chatting. While he was gone we went to watch cousins play soccer, went to church at Grandma and Grandpa Gaerte's church, went to the Apple Festival, went to the zoo with Aunt Jess, had a fun play date, and spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma Gaerte's house. Below are some pictures of what we did while Daddy was gone.
Here are the kids before heading to church.
We had time to snap some shots because we are used to being at church
in Fort Wayne almost an hour and a half earlier than we had to
be at their church.
This was just a random shot of the kids in their jammies.
It finally got cold enough while Bob was gone that we had to
break out the warm p.j.'s.



We had a great time with Aunt Jess at the zoo.










After the zoo we visited the Miller Mini Farm for a few minutes
to see the newest goat.
The kids really really enjoyed staying the night at
Grandpa and Grandma's house. We got to stay up late and watch
a movie and Grandma made them pancakes for breakfast.
Ben made a point of telling me that he likes the pancakes
Grandma makes better than mine, because she doesn't put
blueberries in hers. He doesn't like it when I sneak fruit in
his pancakes. They also love playing with the toys at Grandpa and
Grandma's, and they got to pick and eat fresh raspberries from the garden.
I unfortunately didn't get Dad (Grandpa) in any pictures. He had already
left for work when I started taking pics.


We made our weekly trip to the library and got
some new books. Here are the kids checking out
their newest selections.
Before Bob arrived home we made some cookies for him.
We also taste tested a few. :)

Here are the kids waiting for Bob to arrive home.
We got really lucky and had a beautiful sunny day, and
the combines were out harvesting while we waited.

Daddy brought us souvenirs from India and from several
airports. Maggie and I both got Indian tunic blouses. Ben got
some squishy robots, a magnetic make a face, and an Indian
noise making toy. Maggie also got a cute little book. I doubt you
can see Ben's treasures in the picture below, but he had to have a picture
of himself with his new things because Maggie and I got ours taken.


After Bob arrived home we took advantage of the beautiful weather
and went to Chain O'Lakes to play and hike.