A Whilrwind Thanksgiving!

On Wednesday last week at 4:30 we had our Thanksgiving plans all set: Thursday lunch with some friends who invited us over to eat with their family. Thursday afternoon shopping for a new game to play this weekend. Friday maybe some early morning shopping - getting up at 5 or so. Friday afternoon getting out some Christmas stuff and Bria's piano lesson. Saturday we were going to go see "Old Dogs" and Sunday would have been church and finishing up with Christmas decorating...... a fairly typical Thanksgiving at home for us and we love it.



By 4:45 our plans had changed entirely! The couple who invited us over for lunch on Thursday had a child sick with the flu, so that was cancelled. So we were kind of moping around and thinking about what to do for our Thanksgiving meal instead. 5 minutes after that.... we were packing to head to Iowa! We decided to head on down there this year instead.



So we got up at 3:15 Thursday morning and made it to Alcester, SD to spend the day with Jon's parents and grandmas. By about 8:00 Thursday night we were in Harlan where I met up with Tabbi. After getting Emmy settled into bed I headed over to Tabbi's so that we could meet up with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to do all night shopping in Omaha. We made it to ToysRUs at 11:30 and we finally finished shopping at about 9:00 Saturday morning. Then it was back to Logan so Jon could pick me up and bring me back to Harlan.... just in time for the girls to get a ride in the combine, then showers, lunch and around 2:00 I was able to sneak in a couple of hours of sleep. We hung out for the rest of the night and Megan and Greg showed up in time for dinner. So after being awake since 3:15 Thursday morning, I finally made it to bed at 10:15 Friday night..... so in a 43 hour stretch of time I managed to sleep for about 2 hours...... it was fun though!


Saturday was Thanksgiving with my family and then we drove back home on Sunday. So it was a whirlwind of a trip, but it was a fun change for us for Thanksgiving!
Oh, and when we got to Harlan, Emmy tried to break Aunt Megan's nose..... she was so excited about the birthday present from Megan and Greg that she charged Megan for a giant hug and managed to get her nose in there instead.... after a trip to the E.R. (just to make sure) Megan recovered without a break and even without black eyes! Sorry Megan!

More Birthday Thank Yous!

Emmy really enjoyed the rest of her birthday on Monday. After school she got to open her present from Aunt Serena - 2 new Webkinz. Then she opened her present from Tabbi, Trever, Tre & Tru and was excited to get some new Littlest Pet Shop toys. We skipped on heading out to McDonalds for dinner and Jon brought home Happy Meals for the girls instead. Emmy also opened the rest of her present from us and she is loving the Tag Reading System and was excited to get the book "My Name is Dug"... her favorite book! She also loved opening the present from Grandpa and Gramasaurus Hansen... more Tag reading books and some really fun Smurf toys! Thanks everyone!! Emmy had a great birthday!

Happy Birthday Emmy!!

Happy Birthday to our Emmy today! She's 6 and I think the whole world will probably know it's her birthday by the end of the day! She took popsicles to school as a treat to share with her class and she wants to go eat at McDonald's tonight. She got to open her present from Aunt Sarah, Bria and one from us this morning and can't wait to finish opening the rest tonight.

Happy 6th Birthday, Emmy!

Thanks

Emmy enjoyed opening an early birthday present that came in the mail today from her Grandpa and Grandma Holthe. She got a fun 3-D picture animal scene, 2 new Wii games and EasyBake Decorating Sensation Frosting Pen that she is excited to try out. Right now she and Bria are trying out the Build-A-Bear Workship Wii game and having a blast. Emmy says thanks!

Spaghetti & Meatballs?

Take a look.... take a close look.... aren't these the sweetest cupcakes ever?!?! Katie sent them along with the kids today to celebrate Sophie's birthday a little more (Grandpa sent cupcakes and ice cream on her actual birthday)..... I can't wait to taste them and I'm sure the kids will think they are great too! Thanks, Katie!

Daycare Openings

Just as an FYI to all the parents.... I do have a daycare opening available as of January 3rd. The spot is available for a full-time child age 2-4. If you know of anyone interested, please feel free to give them my name and number. I do not have openings for before/after school care though. I do actually have 2 openings available in January, but I am interviewing someone this week who is interested in one of those spots.
Thanks everyone!

Happy Birthday Sophie

Sophie turned 1 yesterday! Happy Birthday!

Emmy's Bowling Party

Emmy had a great time with her friends at her birthday party on Saturday. We met at the bowling alley so the girls could play, bowl, eat cake and share presents. Emmy was the photographer for awhile during the party too and had fun taking pictures of all her friends. Now it's just 1 more week until she turns 6!

Bria's 2nd Piano Recital

Bria had her piano recital this morning.

Doghouse Birthday Cake

Tomorrow is Emmy's birthday party with her friends at the bowling alley so I spent the afternoon putting together her cake. I'll try to post pictures this weekend from her party, but she was excited about her cake, so I thought I'd put that picture up now.

And the chocolate chip cookie bar "ground" was a fun addition to the cake. I'm going to claim that I planned on the chocolate chips looking like they do. We'll just go with that. yeah....

Take Me As I Am - FM Static

This is my favorite song right now!

Bria's Photos

Here is a slideshow of a bunch of the pictures that Bria took this morning at the playground - the kids had a great time and I am hopeful that we can head back there this afternoon maybe too!

Guest Videographer

This morning I took all 8 kids to the Kelly School playground for awhile to run around, burn off some energy and enjoy the warm weather. Bria was our photographer and videographer for the day. I think she took 128 pictures/videos in all! Here are a couple of the videos she wanted to share

Busy Fall Days

We have been taking full advantage of these warm November days! Most mornings in the past week and a half we have made it outside on a nice long walk and for some playtime and we've been outside playing afterschool almost every day. The kids thrive on the fresh air and it's healthy for them to be outside running around and playing hard. We'll keep taking advantage of it as long as we can. When the snow starts falling we'll still try to make it outside as often as possible, but the kids won't be playing outside for as long stretches of time as they get to now.


Hopefully tomorrow morning we can make it over to Kelly School playground so everyone can run around and burn off some energy since there is no school. Then we'll have a nice quiet afternoon so the littlest ones can nap and hopefully head back outside later on in the day.

Bria and Emmy had to dress up like they were wounded for Awana last week, so here are my injured children.

Pumkin sacks - thanks for the idea Katie!
enjoying real food

playing in the leaves

H1N1 Vaccines Available

H1N1 Immunization Clinic

CONTACT: John Bernstrom – 746-4636
Sarah Kotelnicki – 780-2444

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grand Forks, ND – Grand Forks Public Health and Altru Health System will hold another H1N1 immunization clinic on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at the Alerus Center for children 6 months through 18 years of age. The clinic will run from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm or until the vaccine runs out.

People are asked to enter through door #5 on the east side of the Alerus Center. Doors will open at 4 pm.

Both injectable vaccine and flumist will be available at the Thursday’s clinic. Flumist can be given to healthy children ages 2 through 18. Both forms of H1N1 vaccine are free.

If you have any questions regarding influenza the State Health Department has a hotline available at 1-866-207-2880. The hotline is open Monday-Friday from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

Residents can also follow the local H1N1 flu fight on our Facebook Fan Page “GF H1N1 Flu Fight.”