Santa Float!

Every year, the Town of Menasha has 2 weeks of week nights where they drive a Santa Float through the neighborhoods. This float is escorted by police and fire trucks with sirens blazing. The first year we lived in this house, we were SO concerned--we just kept hearing siren after siren after siren.

My comment that first year was "Nice. No wonder our taxes are so high!" ...but it turns out that the Santa Float Tour is funded all by donations. When Santa sees the kids in the neighborhood, a (decent size) bag of candy is thrown to the kids with a Merry Christmas!

This year, I had my phone with me and captured the fun on video....for those that have never experienced this and want to see it, click HERE.

Merry Christmas!

So Sorry, Squirrel Family

One Saturday morning, we woke up to VIOLENT sounds--I thought our roof was being ripped off by storm troopers or something. We determined that animals were fighting...however, we couldn't figure out WHERE they were fighting. There was no evidence of anything out of the ordinary happening. The kids were scared! It was LOUD! And then it ended. Nothing more.

3 days later, similar sounds could be heard in the walls of the pink room.
THIS prompted the call to The Critter Catcher.
Let me just say that The Critter Catcher is the nicest "service man" to ever come to our home.
He was also fast--Andy called him and within 30 minutes, he was on a ladder checking things out. (Well...that was a little of a misunderstanding--he thought we had animals fighting RIGHT THEN!)

After he climbed into the attic through Ava and Jayna's bedroom closet, he discovered that we have (had) squirrels living in our attic! He sealed 2 holes and set a trap on the outside of our house (left photo below). He then left for the day...
5 hours later, I discovered something IN the trap (right photo below)!

When it was all said and done, we had 4 squirrels removed from the attic. Ick. Amazing. Really!??!?! What an experience!

But back to The Critter Catcher--Colin really took a liking to him and was VERY impressed with the man's uniform--flashlight, headlight and tools...Colin took it upon himself to recreate the outfit himself...

Aunt Rebekah Visits!

Aunt Rebekah was born on November 17 (Yes, the same date as Ellie's birthday!).
Rebekah, aka "Bekah" to Colin, is 12 years old...
And yes, she is Andy's sister...the last of the adopted 3 Glynn children.

This fall, Andy's parents went on an anniversary/missionary trip to Indonesia...for almost 3 weeks and we GOT to have Rebekah stay with us! The excitement level was SO high, there were countdowns until she arrived, and worries that she was leaving too soon, and then on the last day, tears of sadness. We really enjoyed having Rebekah here!

Rebekah took over Colin's room...and Colin slept in the closet in our bedroom! I wish I had taken a picture of it--it was very cute, actually. His toddler bed mattress fit perfectly and he slept quite well--it was very quiet and dark in there!

The day Rebekah arrived, I asked Ava to go make her a door sign--all of the Glynn kids have their names on their bedroom doors. This is what Ava made for her--and she created it 100% by herself!

Our life took on a whole new spin with another family member...Ellie commented "Mom, this is where you try out having 5 kids!" Another friend asked us "What kind of relationship do you have with her--brother/sister or more like a father/daughter relationship since she's so young?"

I learned that 4 kids is plenty loud. ;)
And, each day she was here, it was like Christmas overload. TONS of silliness, tons of giggling...the girls really got into having her! But...she was tons of help too--my favorite was that she took it upon herself to keep the dishwasher empty/reloaded. I miss that!
This was typical breakfast--Rebekah loves being with family and even though she wasn't rushing off to her school, she always wanted to be with the kids as much as she could.

And, there was TONS of fun to be had too....
Rebekah got to meet our neighbor girl the same time we did and all the kids got along well.
Colin got the most time with Rebekah and he just adores her--below, he is wearing a huge "cheese sombrero" at the Cheese Store where Rebekah was buying some Wisconsin gifts. And the bottom 2 photos are from the mall--one day, we had to run an errand to the mall and both Colin and Rebekah took in the fun of sitting on the mall rides!

Rebekah is homeschooled and was very diligent about getting her work done...but she was also very conscious of doing it when Colin and I had to go to an appointment or when Colin was napping--she wanted to take in every opportunity to be with us that she could!

Below was the sight I saw one day as I was working on the girls' school's auction at my computer. I was madly typing in teacher wish list items and as I turned around, I was serenaded by the 2 guitars. As you can guess....Colin LOVED this.
One Saturday afternoon, Andy took all 5 kids to a local park. Rebekah happened to look down on the pavement and saw "Jim & Margie" (Andy and Rebekah's parents' names!) imprinted on a brick! How fitting... :)

Below, you get a glimpse of the bond that these 2 November girls share. They both are on a swim team and Rebekah even got to take in a few practices with Ellie. Here, Andy snapped a series of photos of them trying to "chest bump"....too bad Ellie is many inches shorter than Rebekah... ;)

Rebekah was game for ANYTHING...and I think she really enjoyed her time here; as much as we enjoyed her being here!

And while she visited, she taught us some things about being "older". We learned there are these cool round speakers you can hook your ipod or mp3 player into...and hear your music without headphones! Amazing....we had to order one! She and Jayna LOVED spending alone time together and sadly, I have no photo of it...just memories! Often, though, they'd be up in Rebekah's room listening to music. Again, special bonds being made!

All in all, the almost 3 weeks went very fast....we did some really fun things....and made lots of memories! This photo below was taken the last morning she was at our house...

We miss you, Rebekah!!!

Apple Picking 2011

We LOVE apple picking!

This year, we had fabulous "warm" weather....and we were able to take our visitor, Rebekah, with us!
We all had a blast...and we picked A LOT of apples!

It was fun to see the kids' reactions when trying different apples...

and Jayna was most excited that it had been over 1 year that she had been able to actually eat a whole apple!

Ava worked hard eating apples...which was hard without 2 front teeth!and Colin....what can we say? Mr. Cheeseball!

This was the 1st weekend we had Rebekah staying with us while Andy's parents were in Indonesia. Ellie and Rebekah share the same birthday--they have a special bond in many ways.

And what does one do with apples? Well...we bake...and bake some more...and bake some more! Usually the baked apple treats last 1 day in our house. If you snooze...you lose! (Right Andy?!)

Mulberry Lane Farm

AGES ago, I purchased a Groupon to Mulberry Lane Farm.
I had planned on having Andy take the kids and Rebekah when she was staying with us...
but I never looked at the expiration date. Thankfully, one of my facebook friends posted something about the expiration approaching--and we suddenly found ourselves adding in a trip to Mulberry Lane Farm...without Rebekah!

It was a beautiful day--a bit chilly, but it turned out beautiful.
Half of our children loved everything, the other half only loved the non-animal parts! In fact, when we arrived, we almost had to leave-- Colin was so frightened of the Mulberry Lane dog!

There were MANY opportunities for the girls to hold, cuddle and pet a variety of animals.
Our first stop was the chicken area:

At most of the petting stops, this is how Ava and Colin participated:

And then we stopped to visit the piggies! Jayna was the only brave soul to step into the pig pen.

Andy tried to convince Colin that it was ok to feed the sheep...and Ellie just LOVED each opportunity to feed the animals.

The tractors were a big draw for Colin....they were often used as bribery: "If you go near the animal, I'll let you sit on the tractor...." ;)

The big girls LOVED riding the ponies...

And Jayna got to milk a cow. Ellie watched this demonstration! :) While Jayna milked, Ava found a little calf to pet.

Another HUGE draw were the little bunnies--who doesn't love a furry bunny? In the lower left photo, Andy is holding a big bunny who had sharp nails--we had been warned not to let kids hold this one. Andy's response once he picked it up was "No kidding....these nails are SHARP!"

And, our last animal stop was to hold the baby chicks. It was comical watching Andy and the girls try to capture the chicks! They were fast!

We had fun trying to pose a picture...just being silly,

and took advantage of quality sibling time!

Again, we made a tractor stop...

and found ourselves in the old barn.
We attended on a day where all patrons received a free slice of Amish Pumpkin Pie. Jayna decided to try it..and promptly lost a tooth in it! She laughs re-telling this story--she says "WHY couldn't I have lost a tooth in a yummy dessert? I didn't care for that pie at all!"

As you can see, Ellie and Ava were having a blast jumping off the hay bale tower and Colin LOVED the "sand table" aka corn table!

The grounds of Mulberry Lane Farm are just beautiful--the kids love Weeping Willow trees and had fun playing in them.

They also had HUGE tractor tires that had been turned into play equipment. All 4 kids had a blast playing hide and seek!

What a fun fall day!

Labor Day Weekend, take 2.

This is "Take 2"...of the weekend that had no beach.

But if we're doing take 2 of Labor Day Weekend, we better back up to the actual LABOR DAY.
Since we played all day Sunday at Discovery World....we WORKED all day on Labor Day. It was a Labor of Love, that is for sure.

We also played all summer, traveling here and there...and our shrubs needed big time attention.
We declared Labor Day "Family Work Day" and we all started working on the yard. Halfway through the morning, the girls created the above scene on the edge of our deck...some refreshments. It was cute. And how do you like Colin's apron?

And while we're looking at Colin, what about Colin's shirt? "Daddy's Little Helper"...funny story for you:
Andy had to run to Home Depot for something...ONE item. Colin knows of Home Depot because they have race car carts. He is begging to go with Andy...and Andy thinks that is pretty neat. Off they go...both wearing Hawkeye hats and Andy does tell Colin there will be no cart. Colin says he understands.
Well, who can resist a race car cart? Apparently through the entire store, Colin screamed nonstop--he wanted the cart. It was not a very good father/son errand experience.....and I'm not sure it will happen again, unless a race car cart is in the works! :)

So...the yard is clean and neat and we still didn't make it to the beach...fast forward to Friday night. Andy checks the weather and says "Let's go to the beach tomorrow! It might be our last hot day!" We think about this a little and determine that IF the Hawkeye game can be recorded, we'll head for the beach.

Saturday morning, Andy is itching to get out the door....after all...it's a SATURDAY and it might be the last beach day of the season right? Right. We could barely find a place to park in Two Rivers...at noon...on a "hot" Saturday....there were ONLY 3 cars in the parking lot at the beach! We got a good laugh over that one. Seriously, Two Rivers is a hidden gem. Beautiful beach and rarely more than a handful of people, unless it's the kite festival!

When we arrived, we were delighted to see some kites....it's fun to see the huge kites against the beautiful blue sky.
Colin was in heaven....sand sand and more sand. As you can see, he is all for the total sand experience....why not lay in it and roll in it and get it in your ears and hair?!?! Hmmm.
The kids also had a blast in the water. Apparently it was not that cold....but don't ask me--I was huddled in my sweatshirt reading my Kindle, shooing away the birds (scary birds to Colin), playing in the sand with the kids and even (gasp!) took a nap!

We had a fabulous Saturday at the beach and learned 2 things:
1) a certain 10 yr old is not able to fully sunscreen herself (Oh, what a beautiful red back you have, child!).
and
2) why waste your time watching an unpredictable Hawkeye game and miss out on family fun? A new "routine" was established....fun with the fam and watch the DVR recording later...ONLY if it's a worthy outcome! :) We love it!

Labor Day Weekend!

There was a time when we said "Every Labor Day Weekend, we go to Two Rivers to the Kite Festival!". Sadly, mother nature is changing that statement...the last 2 years, the weather has not been "play in the beach today" weather and we've had to find alternative activities for our family.

This year, we put on our "fall clothes" and went to Discovery World in Milwaukee.
Now, this is a pretty neat place...but apparently they think so too...for a family of 6, it would have cost us $85!!!! YIKES. We, however, have the museum pass that allows us free entrance to many locations around the USA. (Ironically, that museum pass was not much more than $85, and since we used it 2x on our Kentucky trip this summer...we've more than paid for it a couple of times! Just another plug for those 'family pass' type things!)

Discovery World has a little of everything:
We started out in the aquarium section--
It was very cool seeing the fish swim above us, below us, on the side of us...just very cool.

We also saw a lot of information about water and air and plants and tress....and the most disturbing fact was realizing how much more water the USA uses compared to other countries. Hmmm....things that make you think about your daily habits...

We tried to have a picnic on the Milwaukee waterfront....but it was FREEZING! And the wind was blowing so strong, we knew our plates would quickly land in Lake Michigan...so we opted for an indoor picnic! :)

After eating, the kids played on the HUGE play boat, walked (ran?) in the human sized hamster wheel and laid on the bed of nails--great job girls, for all trying it! The consensus afterwards was that the nails tickled!

There was an area of the museum that showcased guitars and other instruments. Colin was in guitar heaven!


There was also an area that had "old" phones .....the children did not know what a phone booth was, nor do they really know about phones on cords. So sad...

And speaking of phones...

After our fun, we headed on over to the mall to the Apple store. I had been having problems with my cell phone and we were hoping that one of the techs could give us some insight. Well....we were able to make an appointment...for 1.5 hrs later...and when that appointment came, we found out that it would help if I simply updated my phone....ooooppppsss. Now we know! :) Just call me "non-techie"!

The children were very patient though...and for a reward, we got them a little treat at Dairy Queen. It was Colin's first time getting a real treat; he doesn't like ice cream, so he went with the red slushie like the girls...this photo speaks for itself:

Even though the weekend wasn't what we (or our friends!) had planned, we did have a good time together and little did we know....just 1 week later, it would warm up and we could hit the beach for some end of summer fun!

Cookies galore.....

TRADITION......we ALWAYS decorate Christmas cookies with the Landsverks....I think we've just missed 1 year in the last 6-7ish years?

Years ago, a far away friend gave me this recipe for frosting where you "finger paint" it onto the cookies. At the time, I think it was just Ellie and Silas decorating cookies...and now we've added Shae, Jayna, Ava and Colin (well, he EATS the cookies!). Years ago, we trained them well to NOT lick their fingers, just paint the cookies! It is a most fun way to decorate cookies!

Here are Silas and Shae hard at work on their masterpieces:

And then the Glynn girls concentrating as well...(and Ellie with red frosting teeth!)

Our dear friends David and DeAnn....and take note of the bottom 2 photos here--DeAnn is VERY artistic and she loves it when the kids have had enough--it's her turn! As you can see by the bottom right photo, she is very detailed in her decorating...

I love the cookie decorating process too...and this was the 1st year that the husbands joined in the fun. Andy surprised us all...another lefty who is VERY gifted in finger painting cookies! The bottom 2 photos are his prize decorated goodies!

This year, I added a craft idea that I had seen in one of Ellie's magazines to our afternoon--3D snowflakes. These might be some of the coolest things we've made out of paper! DeAnn got me started (because I hate to read directions!) and they left us with 2 beautiful HUGE snowflakes that are now hanging in our dining room windows! Note the bottom right photo--the lights from outside use the snowflakes to make a cool design on our ceiling!

Happy Winter.....and stay tuned....I have MANY photos/video to sort through from the girls' recent Christmas programs/concerts!

Reunions Galore....

July was a month of visiting many...
We started off in IL for the annual 4th of July celebration.
We then spent a weekend in WI for Andy's extended family reuion.
Finally, we rounded out the month in MN to see all of my family, including my Grandpa, visiting from Nebraska! Such fun times, much laughter, and time that went too fast!

Below: the group from the WI reunion....missing many people this year, but we still had a wonderful time. It was quite the feat trying to explain to the children "who" the other children were...."No, they are not your cousins...they are Daddy's cousins children..." :)
All in all, the children all got along well, we all pitched in to make meals,
and much relaxation was enjoyed by all!

The 4 Glynn kids....

Above, you will see Colin guarding his rocks that he found...he was very into his rocks. Line them up, make them into a big circle, line them up again and so forth. Now we find ourselves taking home rocks from each trip....

And....in WI, Cousin Paula brought her stash of Wiggles toys....Colin was in HEAVEN:

Guess what Colin is getting for Christmas?!?!?!

And, of course....Comical Colin was sighted....many times!
(Don't you love what happens to a boy's hair when you sunscreen his head?!?!?)

There was much swimming to be done, many boat rides to be had....lots of fun in the sun! Colin didn't appreciate the boat rides as much as other people, but his dislike of the windy boat provided time for him to fall asleep!

We enjoyed a fire one of the nights, complete with yummy s'mores, and while the grown up grown ups were on a kid free boat ride, it started POURING rain. All of us kids figured WE were the smart ones, inside from the rain! After, we spotted the most beautiful double rainbow!

Exactly 1 week later, we found ourselves back in the van for another 5 hour trip...this time to Spamtown, USA....aka: Austin, MN! We did get a big family photo taken,
but to my knowledge, the proofs aren't ready yet.
Stay tuned....
all the grandkids in their Spam shirts...you surely won't want to miss it! :)

There was much fun to be had at Grammie and Grampy's house....playing with cousins, swimming, good conversation, and frequenting Katie's past.

There was MUCH yummy food....

And Comical Colin was sighted AGAIN!

The children were swimming almost the entire time we were there and were sad to leave on Sunday....but oh, so tired when our van started the long trip home!

THEN....1 week later, Grammie, Grampy, and Great Grandpa came to Neenah to visit us! Great Grandpa had never seen where we lived and while they visited, Colin and the girls entertained him, we all went swimming at the Omro pool, and we dined at Luigis....(of course!). We also celebrated Grammie's birthday with a quick baking of her favorite...carrot cake!

We're done tripping for awhile....and it feels good. This morning, no one was rushing to pack last minute things, no one was crabby in the van, being restrained for too long.... so what did we do? Well, we can't just sit around you know....we completely moved all the childrens' rooms around and then spent the afternoon swimming in Omro (again!)! Summertime fun continues!