Thanksgiving festivities





 Jeremiah's class had a special Thanksgiving celebration at the community center. They had eight stations where they learned about the lives of the pilgrims and Native Americans. They made their own pumpkin dessert, strung macaroni necklaces and played games. Mom shared information the pilgrim and Native American homes and the food they ate. (Her station was at the bottom of the favorites list....)

Jeremiah's class dressed as pilgrims and the other class were Indians. The parents provided a full Thanksgiving feast. Oddly, Jeremiah's favorite thing was cinnamon bread. It should be noted that the baker has a professional pie business! 



We traveled north for Thanksgiving celebrations on Wednesday morning. This allowed the boys to lend a hand for some of the preparations. Andrew helped make pies. He peeled a few apples with Grandpa and liked using the rolling pin with Aunt Carrie. She even outfitted him with an apron.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving lunch with all the Todd aunts and uncles, and then headed over to G&G Schnitzler to spend the evening there with family.

Jeremiah's 6th Birthday

Jeremiah had a special 6th birthday. He requested french toast for breakfast so we made overnight french toast. He took yellow star cut-out cookies for his school treat. Daddy had to work so Mom told Jeremiah that he could pick anywhere to go out to eat for dinner. His choice was McDonald's!

Andrew 3 year stats

Andrew is a growing three year old! At his 3 year check-up he weighed 33.8 lbs. and was 3 ft. 1.25 inches tall. He didn't need any immunization shots but he was not at all pleased with getting his flu shot!

More birthday celebrations

We welcomed family and special friends for a birthday celebration for the boys on Saturday, November 3. We continued the football and soccer theme. People attending were Aunt Sheila, Becca, Dylan, The Hills, The Rademakers (with Anna and Lanie Duden), Uncle Roger, Aunt Sandra, Emma, Sophia, Isabella,The Kuipers, Aunt Ann, Uncle Tim and Karl.

The many kids enjoyed playing together. Both boys received some very special and fun gifts. We will be opening new boxes for many days!

Andrew received a mini toss game, play golf set, play doh, a Veggietales bath toy, legos, a boat matchbox, and snow boots.

Jeremiah received a car race track, space shuttle matchbox, snow boots, a hula hoop, a game and a National Geographic kids subscription.

Jeremiah Birthday Party

Jeremiah welcomed five friends from school (Sam, Drayton, Jenna, Nick, and Logan H.) and cousin Karl for his 6th birthday party. He had a football and soccer theme. The kids started with a football craft, then played football toss, enjoyed cake and then found paper footballs and soccer balls hidden throughout the house.

Jeremiah received exciting new toys and treats. All the kids enjoyed plenty of free play time too!

Halloween!

The Halloween festivities started in the afternoon at Jeremiah's school. His class took a trip to get treats at the local bank and downtown.

Then, after a few activities at school, they had a parade outside of the school. Andrew and Shelly stopped by for the fun. Andrew also wore his costume.

Jeremiah decided his choice of costume would be a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Mom enjoyed the many comments about how people had not seen one of them in a while and people singing the theme song. Jeremiah made a comment about his surprise at how many people knew the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Andrew was a great pirate sporting a hook and a great "arrrr"! The boys and mom started trick-or-treating and then Andrew returned to the house to help Daddy hand out candy. Grandma, Kelley and Laura arrived and helped with that a bit too.

Andrew's Birthday

For several weeks Andrew has been requesting donuts for his birthday so his day started with a treat from Casey's, made more special because his sitter makes the donuts.

He took his pirate costume to the sitter's house and was able to wear it to the Halloween parade at Jeremiah's school.

After trick-or-treating and helping Daddy hand out candy, Andrew's choice for dinner was pancakes. Grandma Schnitzler, Cousin Kelley, and Laura (from Switzerland) joined us for dinner and then cupcakes. They were staying the night to be on campus the next day. Andrew also opened gifts from Mom and Dad.

This kid knows when his birthday is AND knows that he is now three. Unfortunately, he thinks that means he can NOW go to school.

Halloween Fun!

The weekend before Halloween, we carved pumpkins with the boys. They each helped clean the guts out of their pumpkins and drew "pictures" of what they wanted the faces to look like. Jeremiah's was usable for a carving. Daddy took a little creative liberty in interpreting Andrew's drawing.

Jeremiah was very good at cleaning out the pumpkin. Andrew was not nearly as interested in getting the goop out!

John added a three in the mouth of Andrew's pumpkin to celebrate his third birthday.

Soccer Visitors

Jeremiah's fall soccer season came to a close at the end of October. He had a great season, scoring a few goals, playing hard and improving some of his skills. He has special spectators for his game on October 20. Aunt Caitlin and Uncle Matt made the trip down for a visit. They were able to watch him play two games of soccer and then spend some time with all of us.

Jeremiah and Andrew took full advantage of having both of them visiting by involving them in numerous different board games, puzzles and more!