Spring Break 2011 By Ellie

For Spring Break we drove up to Washington D.C. We did several things. Emily's favorite was a butterfly exhibit. It was in the Natural Museum of Natural History.We bought tickets to go inside the exhibit. We went through this door into a room full of flowers, butterflies, and moths. There was more than just the butterfly exhibit there was dinosaur, skeletons, and rooms about oceans, sea life,animals, and history.

This is DC cupcakes. We watched the show a couple times before we went to DC. They had two stores one in Bethesda and one in Georgetown. We got cupcakes and they were delicious.When we went we had to stand in line outside. When we were outside waiting we got menus and we decided to do vanilla cupcakes.

This is the Jefferson Memorial. Inside there is a ginormous statue of Thomas Jefferson. It has his speech on the wall. We had to walk to get there.

I am holding the Washington Monument(not really). It has a lot of stairs inside. We didn't get to go up in there because they were sold out of tickets. There are 50 flags going all around it.It has little windows in the Memorial.

We are sitting in front of the White House. There was a big gate in front so nobody could go in the yard. It had lots of trees and plants.

January/February 2011

2011 is keeping us very busy. We started off with my birthday and a cake made by the kids. They love to decorate cakes and cake seems to be our favorite part of the birthday celebration. Decided the theme of the cake is always a fun, sometimes difficult decision.


Michael's birthday came next. Hard to believe he turned 12 this year. He had some boys over to watch movies, play nerf war, and wii. Pizza and cake were also enjoyed. He decided on a basketball cake. He received an I touch and some movies (Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings).











Michael shares his birthday with his Grandma Burkholder and Grandpa's is a week later. We made a special cookie cake when they came for a visit. As you can see we like to celebrate birthday's with treats. Michael received a bow and arrow from them and has enjoyed this quite a bit.













February brought Valentine's Day and a special Father Daughter dance at our church Pax Christi. Rob took the girls for a special night out.

December 2010

December was a fast month. We took a skiing adventure to Perfect North with Jesse, Holly, Owen and Aunt Laura. The kids did very well as this was Michael's second time and Emily & Ellie's first time skiing. It was a great day. We also spent some time snow tubing after skiing. The kids really enjoyed this.





We were able to see all three kids perform in three different Holiday performances. Ellie was first with a musical about the Angels. She played Gabriel the arch angel. Michael had a band concert where he played the saxophone. Finally, Emily had a chorus concert where they sang Christmas songs. It was great to see all their performances.

We celebrated Christmas early at our house which has become a tradition. The kids don't seem to mind that Santa comes early. That allows us to do see lots of family for Christmas. We spent some time in Rockford with the Reder side of the family. Christmas would not be complete without snow up there. Had lots of fun playing with the cousins and playing rummy with Grandma and Grandpa. Lots of baking and cooking too. On the way home we stopped to see the Burkholder side of the family. We had a lovely Christmas Day dinner with Great Grandma and extended family. Then had a nice visit at Grandma and Grandpas house. All of it went to quick but we are thankful we got to see as many people as we did.

Novemeber 2010

November brought colder temperatures and we made it out to Keeneland for some family pictures. The kids liked this one best.

Thanksgiving brought us traveling and celebrating 2 Thanksgiving. We started in Indiana with Rob's family. Lots of rain so the annual football game was a "rain out" The cousins decided to put on a play to entertain us. We also did some crafts, cooked lots of food, and played cards. Then we traveled to Rockford for Thanksgiving #2. Weather got colder but thankfully no snow. Again lots of food and lots of games. Kids enjoyed pool in the basement and playing with their cousins.

October 2010

October brought a couple trips to Reed Valley Orchard for us. It's about a 45minute drive, but well worth it. The kids enjoy going out with the apple picker and finding the biggest apples and Asian pears they can. The bags were bursting full, but they disappeared quickly.

We also finished up soccer for Ellie and Michael. Rob coached both teams and that kept most of our Saturdays this fall busy. We look forward to the spring season.

Ellie and I were able to take the "special trip" this month also. It seems we have started a tradition that when someone turns 8 they get a special trip alone with a parent. Ellie thought Florida would be a good place to go and I was certainly up for that. We happened to pick a weekend that the Browns were going to be there also so we even got to play with the cousins while we were there too, which was an added bonus. Lots of swimming, looking for shells and sea glass, and some dinners out. We had a great time.

For Halloween this year we had some very creative ideas. Ellie was a Twister board, Emily a Candy Corn, and Michael a Zombie. Lots of candy, but the allergies and braces for Michael left little candy for the kids and a whole lot for the parents. The costume and the race to the houses is the real fun anyway.

August/September 2010

Emily turned a double digit this year.Birthday number 10 was full of fun. She had a party with some friends from school. We tie dyed shirts and had cake then went off to see the new Ramona and Beezus Movie with popcorn and candy. Her cake this year was in the shape of a movie screen and the title of the movie on it. Since we did this party a week early we also had a cupcakes on her actual birthday with Uncle Jesse, Aunt Holly,, Owen and Caroline. We spent the day at Kings Island with them. Everyone was tall enough for the roller coasters so we did them all. We also spent some time at the water park. The kids all had favorite rides:
Michael's were Diamondback and Firehawk. Emily Woodstock Express and the vortex. Ellie Vortex and typhoon twister. Rob and I were just thankful we made it out of the park still walking.

Rob also celebrated a birthday in August. The kids made the whole cake a decorated it themselves.

First Day of school also happened in August. Michael started Middle School this year and braces and contacts were part of that transition. Emily started 4th grade and Ellie 3rd. All seem to like their classes and teachers thus far.

They are keeping us busy after school. Michael is doing academic team, math team and soccer. Emily is doing chorus and Ellie is in soccer. September brought cooler temperatures and a trip to the Apple Orchard. We found the biggest apples ever.
That is a brief summary of fall what's been going on in our lives.

Summer

June and July

The summer is just flying. We started off June with several trips to the strawberry patch. Our favorite place is Boyd's Orchard. We made it their several times. We ate strawberries plain, with a little sugar, in a smoothie, and made into jam to enjoy all year. This was one of the things we missed this very much while in Texas- no strawwberry patches their.

Ellie's Birthday

Ellie decided she needed to turn 8 this year. With that, she also decided a slumber party was in order to help celebrate. She invited some girls from school and we had pizza, did crafts, watched a movie with popcorn and ate cake. They had fun. She had a purse cookie cake at the party.

July 4th

We were excited to return to our tradition of going to Rockford

for July 4th. Being in Texas for a couple years, we have missed the Reder fire works and swimming. This year a rocket launch was also on the agenda. Who will catch the parachute- always a race. We also had another birthday celebration for Ellie with a Fourth of July pinata, cookie cake and cupcakes. The weather was great and the kids enjoyed time with their cousins on the Reder side.

Ellie got her ears pierced also for her birthday. She said the second one hurt worse, but has forgotten about that and is happily changing them often now.

We made a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Burkholder's one day in July. We picked up Great Grandma on the way and all the cousin on the Burkholder side got together for the first time since the 3 new ones (Caroline, Evan, and Ashley) were born.. Tractor rides, holding the babies, lunch, picking blackberries, and the tire swing made for a busy day.