LOTS

December has been CA-RAZY! With what you ask? Well, here's a sampling...

We've already had TWO snow days. That's our allotment for the year. Good luck with that.

Ringing the Salvation Army Bell. Again, la familia is a BIG draw.

Ted has the next two weeks off! So we went on a DATE today! In the middle of the day!! But this was before that....chillin' with the Baxtie Boy.

I've been doing some baking. That's right. Suzy homemaker and all. No turds this year....

Tonight our Life Group from church went caroling at an assisted living facility. We are not good, but they still loved us. Sweeties.

We've also had quite a few holiday parties and concerts. LOVE this time of year. But also have to keep it in check and perspective. This is the second year our church has done Advent Conspiracy. Check it out: http://adventconspiracy.wordpress.com/

I had Kaleb this month for one-on-one time and we helped serve a holiday meal at Madison's largest food pantry. That really helped us refocus this season. Advent Conspiracy: "What would it look like to reclaim the Christmas story from our culture of consumption, and celebrate what it's really about, the arrival of God's redemption project in our world?" I strongly recommend at least checking out this website. Merry Christmas!

'tis the season!

Wowee! It's already "the most wonderful time of the year"......

Isn't this little pilgrim girl sweet?

We spent Thanksgiving at my Dad and Judy's. Always a good time!

Tree hunting! This is the first time that we've cut one down with the kids. Ted and I did this several years ago, at this exact tree farm, when we were newlyweds living in Madison. This time was sooooo much fun! Ted, the outdoorsman that he is, especially loved it. (Well, I guess he's an outdoorsman when he is riding his bike. Anyhow.....). We found the perfect tree, at the very BACK of the farm. Good thing we had good helpers, and it was in the 50's!

And the help continued.....we got this baby decorated in no time flat! Bring on the season!

Elkhorn and Lambeau

What a great weekend we had....a visit to Elkhorn and Lambeau!!!

Our besties, the Websters and Glogovskys. (sorry Kev!)

A little play time with Yaya Jen

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was sooooo excited to be watching my Packers!

This is the RIDICULOUS dessert cart that comes around. Serious desserts.

Ted enjoying his small slice.

Thanks, Welton Enterprises!

The Month of October in Pictures

Well, long time no post again, so here is a photo-documentary on our month!

A international kite-flying day near Grammy's. Good thing it was windy!

Anna did a rec gymnastics program. She was all about the socialization, and did NOT like doing the "three legged dog".

Kaleb's soccer team that Ted coached.

My husband is the BEST sport! I borrowed my costume from a friend, and then came up with the idea that Ted could be Captain Underpants. (For those of you that don't have school-age boys, this is actually a book character). It took some bribing, but he did it!

Homecoming, Wedding, Dare Devils

Well, it's been a while, so here's a smorgesboard (or however you spell that)

Homecoming in the Mt. The contest was to wear the most red. The boys at the bus stop got way more into it than the girls! Please note the red-faced chap. That'd be William.

The last of the Magill cousins got married (Matt). It was like date night for us!

Ted and his peeps (sister, grandma and mom).

This was an interesting game that Kaleb and his friend made up. Kaleb pulled his buddy as fast as he could down the hill on our backyard, and the object was to stay in the wagon the longest. They started it on the street, and Ted banished them to the grass!

Warm Weather

We've had the nicest stretch of summer weather since the kids have been back in school, of course!

We got to take advantage of it this week one day when they had early release. We visited Gov. Dodge state park, about 1/2 hour from us. The lake was practically empty, and we got to enjoy swimming for what has to be the last time this summer!

This is a different day, different lake. We went out on a friend's boat on Mendota. For those of you who know Ted's dislike of lakes, this is TRUE LOVE. SWIMMING in the lake because Anna asked him to!

Then, there was the tubing. Daddy got that honor too. On the other tube is Luke (you've heard of him --one of Anna's "dudes" from preschool, and a likely candidate for an arranged marriage)

Here were the tubers of the day. HOURS of it. By the end, very tired arms and headaches from flying OFF the tube several times!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We love you Mom! What a blessing it is to share so much of our lives with you. xoxoxo!

Last day of summer...first day of school

We enjoyed our last day of summer by doing fun stuff outside.

The younger guys played on the swingset

Anna hung in the 'hood and talked about very important matters

and the older guys were on the swingset too! Ahhhh, summer. I'm so sad it's over!

Onto school!

First morning at the bus stop. Doesn't Anna looked pleased? She was actually the most excited of the three for school to start. She woke up on the first morning and said, "yesssss, First Grade!" But right before I took the picture, I told them to look like they loved each other, so Will gave her a sloppy kiss and Kaleb strangled her with his hug. Joy.

Here's our traditional first-morning-bus-stop-breakfast. In our little neighorhood (20 houses) we've got 35 kids, 26 of them school-age. We were missing some in this shot.

And what have I been up to, you ask? I've started my new part time job!! And I'm thinking it's quite possibly the PERFECT part time job. I'm a Josten's girl! I go to 30 area high schools after the sales pitch, and collect orders for class rings and graduation caps/gowns/invites, etc. and then also deliver them. It's always during the school's lunch hours, 2-3 times a week. Yup. Perf. Not to brag, but I've got mad skills delivering rings (that's all I've done so far). I'll let you know how the other stuff goes....

'09 McWebskyfeldt adventure

Every summer, we spend a weekend with this group of Elkhorn friends. We've been to Door County, Lake Delton, Lake Wisconsin. This year, we decided to do a staycation in Elkhorn. We had the use of a pool (thanks Uncle Jeff!), the kids camped in a tent in a backyard (thanks Darrenn for getting no sleep!) and we had a grand time!

Dawn's welcome

Some of the kids taking a break to eat

Setting up the ginormous tent

The McMillans, Websters, Glogovskys, and Neinfeldts. Love you guys! See ya next year!

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale....

So our friends Dave and Brenda won a "sailing trip" from a silent auction and invited us to join them. Brenda and I had a luxury sailboat in mind. We invisioned a lovely sunset cruise, casually drinking wine and enjoying each other's company, while we were driven around by a captain (do you even "drive" a sailboat?). We got to Lake Mendota, and Brenda's comment was, "I didn't pay for THAT." Oh yes you did, and what a FUN time we had! We did have a knowledgeable captain who wanted us to learn how to sail a bit. Which we did, only after stumbling onto our boat, and getting nervous a few times about tipping over.

Here was our cruiser. Please notice the sky. After the raindrops in the beginning, it did clear.

The sailpeople. It got a little hairy as we were pulling into the pier. A lot of things had to happen at once. Dave and Ted were very busy and all Brenda and I could do was laugh.

After our cruise, we enjoyed some time at the union. Here's that famous chair again.

THANKS CRAKERS! FUN TIMES!!!

Water Follies

We haven't had the hottest of summers here, so when it's hot, we like to take advantage of it!

The Munsons joined us at Grampy's.

Here are the professional clam fisherpeople. They set a new world record with 81 clams! Steve thought a clam-bake was in order, but apparently clams from Lake Wisconsin aren't the tastiest.

We met up with the Klugs at an aquatic center about 1/2 way between where we each live. The cousins had a great time!

Mauerman visit

My brother Dave and his family came for a visit from Cali. We had a great time, and great weather. I had tons of pictures, so I had to pick and choose!

We went downtown and here we are on library mall

At the union, in a huge, made-for-pictures, famous union chair

True story: some of my mom's step family lives in the Mt! We didn't know it until after we moved here. Much of their family was together during Dave's visit, so we got to see many who we hadn't seen in YEARS. Here our kids are getting a chauffeured ride in a John Deere Gator by one of their long-lost cousins!

We spent lots of time up at Grampy's lake. Everyone tubed (well, I didn't). Here are Kaleb and Chris.

Mindy and half of her clan came up for dinner one night. Good times!

This would have been almost perfect. Nice Ted.

We also went to the Wisconsin Dells. First, a ride on the Ducks.....

...and then on to Noah's Ark. I also got a family shot, but all of us in our suits probably is best left in my file, not on the internet.

So much fun! Each visit makes us realize how much we miss our cousins, and wish you were closer. LOVE YOU!!

On a different note (hey, good one. That ties in nicely)......Will is learning to play the trombone! Since we are NOT a musical family, this is very exciting for us. He captivates us with his practicing of "hot cross buns", "Mary had a little lamb" and his self-taught "Ode to joy".