Mardi Gras Fun

Last night we went to John's company Christmas party which had a Mardi Gras theme. I have been to many of his company (different companies) parties over the years and have found them to be about the same regardless of the company. There was always a good spread of food, some free drinks, and a very long boring presentation by the head hanchos praising people for their good work during the year. Then there is the small talk with people that one hardly knows or cares to know. Because of this I was going into this party with some reservations, then throw in the Mardi Gras theme and who knew what it would be like.
Well, I was so pleasantly surprised. It was by far the best Company Christmas party ever! When we got there we put our stuff down at a table and the boss's wife came over and sat by us. We had met earlier on the elevator and she remembered our names. So here we are at a table with not only the President of the companyand his wife, but the other owner, the Vice President, and the head of marketing and their wives. Wow, we were dining with the high ups for sure! The conversation was fun and easy. The food was good and the free Hurricanes were yummy, too.
John and I had our fortune told by some lady who only tells positive fortunes and even though I picked the death card she was able to turn that into something good. Lucky I don't believe in fortune tellers!
There was a fun trivia game show which pitted table against table. Three people from each table went up and answered questions. John went up with the boss and his wife, but they lost out in the first round, oh well...
After the game show they had something called Piano Fondue where two dualing piano players entertained us. It was good. We ended up dancing a lot to that music and then dancing the night away to a DJ. It felt like college and that is always a good thing.
I think we showed the company that we like to have fun!
Here are some pictures of the evening.This is me and my juggler friend.

The first flurries

Today as I was dismissing my children to their parents, we all noticed the snowflakes. I wish I could bottle up the excitement of Preschoolers seeing their first snow of the season and sell it. I think we could all use some of that innocent happiness at seeing the white stuff for the first time.
As I get older, I just want the snow to stay away as long as possible because I know all too well all the icy roads, snow drifts, sub zero temps, and all the other negatives that come along with it.
But, at least for today, I am going to look at those pretty snowflakes as a four year old does and embrace the beginning of the winter season here in Wisconsin.

Just a recap of yesterday (Wednesday) which as you recall happens to be my favorite day of the week since Tizita comes to my Preschool class on Wednesdays. She is getting so used to the rules and routines of the classroom that I hardly notice that she is there. She blends in so well and that is the way it should be. I am so happy that she has made some little friends and is starting to play with them. She still enjoys her art work and if you give her a bottle of glue she is your friend for life, but she now does other things in the classroom in addition to working at the art center.
Anyway, after school we enjoyed a nice lunch with Gigi. After that Gigi and Tizita created some sort of culinary delicacy with apples, grapes, carrots, and some soap. Tiz had such fun creating that dish. Afer that adventure I took her down to the basement and she had a fashion show with some of her mom's and Aunt Alissa's clothes that I had saved from when they were little. It was quite a funny fashion show! Then we got out the art supplies and made a few pictures for Grandpa, Papa, and Herb and Pearl. It was another fun filled afternoon and before I knew it, it was time for Tiz and Mama to head back to Oshkosh. My camera was at school or I would have taken a few pictures, but here are a few from the morning Preschool class:Here we are going on an Astronaut Adventure. We have just left the shuttle and are walking around in space.
More space adventures.



After we returned from Outer Space we had a band. I don't think Tizita was very excited with the bells. Luckily we rotate instruments so all the children get to use many different instruments.
Time to watch the snow fall for a little bit now.

Christmas parade and festivities

On Saturday afternoon John and I took Tizita downtown to take part in the Christmas activities that were happening before the Christmas parade.
Our first stop was at Rock River Pizza where Tiz made an ornament. She could choose either a stocking, snowflake, or reindeer. She chose a blue stocking and had fun gluing on some hearts and buttons. We finished up there with a hot chocolate which turned out to be way too hot for her to drink, but she sure did have fun adding lots of marshmellows.After leaving Rock River Pizza we headed over to Tribeca, Courtney's favorite place to hang out when Tiz is in school on Wednesdays. Tiz made a cute snowman there with lots of personal touches like feathers, ribbons, and googly eyes. John spent the time chatting with a man who's elevator didn't go all the way to the top, hardly made it up one floor, but John was patient and listened to the guy's stories over and over again. Tis the season to be tolerant of others, I guessOur next stop was at the Horse and Carriage ride. Tiz really enjoyed the horses but didn't want to touch them or get too close. The ride was only a few blocks long but it was fun none the less.After the ride we walked the six or so blocks up to the Market to see the electric trains. Unfortunately the trains were not running when we got there so we had Grandpa go get the car since Tiz's little legs were getting tired. Not sure why since this is where she spent most of her "walking" time.After our fun afternoon we came home for a bit and got bundled up for the Christmas parade which was starting when it got dark.
Tizita enjoyed some ice cream cake with mama and Auntie Lissy. She loves that cake as much as the rest of us. It is best eaten right out of the pan.
The parade was lots of fun. Tizita really enjoyed it, Alissa, not so much. We went to El Mariachi for dinner after the parade and we all couldn't stop talking about the great food we had there.
All in all a great end to the Thanksgiving weekend and a great beginning to the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just finished up our turkey with all the trimmings. It was delicious, best ever, I would say. It was a small group this year justKev and MalAlissaMomJohn and IAnd this yummy looking bird!

Alissa carved our bird, as she does every year. This has been her job ever since she was old enough to safely handle a knife.Mallory took on a new job this year. She riced the potatoes for us. We usually have mashed out of the box, but this year I decided we should go back to the old riced potatoes. It brought back memories of many turkey, duck, goose, and chicken dinners at my grandma's house where riced potatoes were the only kind served. We also remembered how my dad always ate his potatoes. He would pat down a flat layer of potatoes, then gravy and top it off with cranberries. None of us follow this tradition.
We are now watching the Packers play who happen to be stinking up the field at this point. In a few minutes the ladies are heading out to K-mart for a pre Black Friday shopping trip.
Definitely a great Thanksgiving. Hope you all enjoyed your day as much as I did. We certainly do have much to be thankful for.

A trip to the Children's Museum in Appleton

On Saturday, Lynne, Melissa, the twins, Meghan and I drove up and met Courtney and Tizita at the Children's Museum in Appleton. What a fun day we all had. We started with lunch at a nice little restaurant near the museum. Everyone was on their best behavior and enjoyed their meal.
After our lunch it was off to the Children's Museum. The boys were right a home in the Big Dig area with the trucks.They also thought the water play area was fun.Lynne took Tizita over to see the snakes because, as you know, I would not go anywhere near those reptiles! Meghan enjoyed the art area where she and Courtney spent a good amount of time making a mermaid. She also had fun scanning all the food in the grocery store area.Everyone liked the firetruck and the airplane where Meghan flew to New York, Jacob to Vegas, Calvin to New York, and Tiz to Ethiopia. And finally, we all posed in the big chair.What a fun, fun day for all of us. I am still amazed that all four kids were so happy and well behaved the whole time! I guess having a one to one ratio of adults to kids is the only way to go!
I look forward to many more outings with these good friends!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I usually put all my Christmas decorations and tree up on the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year the bug bit early and I now have my Christmas village up and lit. It did hurt to put the snow under the village because I do not want the real snow to come any too soon, but the white stuff under the village is only a blanket of cotton after all. Today I added the living room, dining room, and kitchen decorations. I was just in the right mood for all of this. Some years it is such a chore to haul it all up and then arrange it all, but this year it just all fell into place and I actually enjoyed putting it all up. The tree will probably go up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Since our Thanksgiving is not anything big this year it won't matter if we sort of skip that holiday and roll right into the next. We will have turkey, the trimmings, and yummy desserts, but it will only be my mom, my brother, Mallory, Alissa, John, and me so there is no need to have anything too out of the ordinary. Oh and the Packers play that day, so it will seem just like a regular "Sunday" on a Thursday for this family!
Anyway, I know you are all anxious to see the village so without further ado, here it is:
This is the town church, school, and one house. The house and the church were the first pieces I got for the village many years ago and they are connected by a short cord so they always have to be next to each other.I just got this new addition last year. One of our favorite holiday movies is "A Christmas Story" and this it from the scene where the little boy got his tongue stuck on the flagpole. Funny stuff! Here's the hotel district of town which has a restaurant, hotel, brewery, and gas station.This is the hill for sledding, the ice skating rink, warming house, and town square.

I also have a candy shop, cookie shop, and a movie theater, but the sun was streaming in the window behind that area and I couldn't get a good photo of that area. I am anxious to see Tizita's reaction to my village. It should be fun!

A fall walk on Tivoli Island

As you know we had a wonderful Saturday with Tizita at Sesame Street Live and later at Ella's Deli. She slept soundly in our bed between us on Saturday night and on Sunday Courtney, Paul, Tiz, John and I took a walk to Tivoli Island. It was a nice crisp fall day and the Island was not disappointing.When the girls were little we spent so much time on the Island. In fact, we have numerous pictures of the girls sitting right here n this very bench! Fall is particularilly pretty on the Island with winter close behind. Summer is the one season we stayed away from the Island because of the mosquitoes.Looks like this happy famly enjoys this Island, too!A happy Grandma and Grandpa, too with Tizita.John's knees were hurting that day so we found him this nice walking stick, not really sure if it helped him too much though.Just kicking around in the fallen leaves.Courtney was very nervous about climbing up on this fallen tree. We were both just coming off of falls in the previous week so I think she was being overly cautious! She did make it up and down just fine.Paul and Tiz walked way out on the wall to the view the dam better. It made me very nervous to watch them walk out there. Brought back the memories of when my girls made the walk.And then our time on the Island was over and we headed back to our house. A nice step back in time for us. John and I can't wait to show Tizita the Island when it is covered in snow.