Below the banana moon

Picture this 5:00 am this morning, I was driving home from Rhinelander, kids packed into the back of the car. The moon was still brightly shining (well reflecting) in the sky.

I hear Kai from behind me say "Look mom a banana!!!" I looked over confused in my morning daze trying to figure out what he was talking about.

I said "The moon?"

"Uh huh, in the sky." Kai replied very excitedly. He had noticed the crescent shape and just had to express it the only way he knew how.

Jasmine proceeded to pipe in just after that in a matter of fact voice "There are all different types of shaped moons.... circles, squares..."

Again I chucked and replied there weren't any square moons. I love the ages the kids are at right now. People say you get to learn everything again when you have kids. I guess they are right; I get to rediscover things through their point of view and it amazes me what they understand and see.

Behold the Snow Camel

The other day we where outside sledding in the backyard, when the kids decided that we should make a snowman. I had no more than started on the base of the snowman when the kids decided we really should make a camel instead.

So with too much time on our hands Shannon and I went all out making our first snow camel. It took a bit and my pictures don't give the true depth of detail that we put into our camel, but I think it turned out well. Well the head was a bit hard, it took Shan a few tries and we had to shrink it down a bit to make it fit on the large neck without breaking. But behold the snow camel with a shrunken head :)

Let it Snow

I was talking with Dan last week about all the snow we have seen this year. With another large storm predicted for tomorrow, I thought I would take advantage of the sunny weather to get some nice pictures of our street.

This year is the most snow I remember in many years. It almost reminds me of the lake effect snow that the U.P. gets. With our next storm we could push over the 100 inch mark for the year!!!

Congratulations Dan

Dan and Rosey just had their first child Sara Belle Christensen the other day. I say the other day because he mentioned Rosey going into surgery late Wednesday but didn't post the follow up until Thursday Morning :)

Shannon and I wanted to say congratulations to becoming new parents to both of them. Being one of our best friends we definitely wanted to send something to them in the hospital. My first thought of course was flowers. However after a half hour shopping I couldn't find a decent bouquet of flowers for under $60. Not that I mind spending that on them, but I just couldn't justify it for something that won't even last but a few days.

So with a bit of quick thinking we came up with the idea to get Sara a Vermont teddy bear. Both Jasmine and Kai have been given one as gifts and both love them. I generally am not attached to brand names and really don't feel like most brands warrant much extra attention, however Vermont stands out in one way for me. They guarantee their bears for life. So Sara I say to you, "love the heck out of that bear, and feel free to be as rough to it as your little heart desires".

The best part about a Vermont teddy bear is that whenever it has a problem either wear and tear or complete neglect you can simply send it to the bear hospital to be patched up and sent home fully recovered.

It's Mii Mario

I figured in light of Dan and Rosey's recent posts about the weather I should add my own. Yesterday was an all out snowfest here, I think the report is the Madison area got hit with 13.3 inches while south of Madison was closer to 20.

I decided to head into work yesterday but thought better of it after a few miles and turned around. It ended up being a good idea, by the afternoon they had already shut down the hwy 12 and interstate 90/94.

The day off left me around home to play with the kids. They of course wanted to play the wii with mii :) So we decided to put in wii sports game and play through a few of the games. Eventually we came to baseball and I was playing against Jasmine. Before I get to far into the story let me give you some background.

For those who are not familiar with the Nintendo Wii, they allow you to create little personalized characters called Miis. Most people of course try to make one that looks like them. The other neat thing is that you can share your Miis with other friends who have a Nintendo as well. In my case my friend Owen has a number of personal Miis who have made there way to my machine.

Alright back to the story... So I pitched a ball to Jasmine who connected to drive it deep to right field. Who happens to be in right field but my friend Dan (Mii). He was directly under the ball and goes to catch it, only to drop it allowing a two base hit. Doh. I have a neat little tradition which apparently my kids have noticed :( I like to yell at my game and say something to the effect of "You are so Fired!" Before I could even say anything Jasmine pipes in with a lot of worry in her voice saying "You are not going to fire Dan are you?"

No worries Dan I told her I would keep you around ;) I thought this was funny for two reasons, one I never realized how much she paid attention to what I was saying to the game, oops better watch it elsewhere I guess. Second I was quite surprised that she recognized Dan's Mii, especially since at her age having only seen Dan a few times here and there through the last few years.

I guess the moral of the story here is beware of Jasmine's memory, she seems to keep both a great visual and audio catalog in her head. Only to be used against you later!

Navy Pier in Chicago

New Years eve we decided to take the kids down to the Navy Pier in Chicago to check out Winter Wonderfest. Our cousins in Chicago recommended it after going last year. It sounded like a fun time so Marcia, Leslie, Shannon, the kids, and I took the train into downtown Chicago. From there we caught the trolley over to the Navy Pier.

The Pier itself was quite the place, the size of it was quite surprising. Over all the place was great and we would love to check it out again in the future. Winter Wonderfest was setup near the end of the pier in a large exhibition hall. The place itself was incredible with its decorations and lighting. It had a very magical feel to it.

All around the hall they had rides and toys for the kids. There where large number of inflatable toys along with an ice rink, ferris wheel, train ride, etc etc. The kids had a ball playing and before we knew it a few hours had passed and we found ourselves rushing to catch our train back to our cousin's house.

It was a great time had by all and I definitely look forward to checking it out next year. Here is the slide show...

The Chicago Black Hawks

Chris surprised me this year with NHL tickets for my Xmas present. With a little help from our cousins down in Chicago, watching the kids, we were able to spend the evening watching some great hockey. It was an outstanding game, the Kings and the Hawks were pretty evenly matched. The sold out stadium was predominately rooting for the Hawks, and Chris and I were secretly rooting for a tied game ultimately causing over time and maybe even a shootout. Unfortunately we didn't see a shootout, but the game did go into over time with the Kings finally winning in the four on four sudden death 5 minute overtime.

Chris and I have watched many college games since we moved down to the Madison area, and they play good hockey. So I thought the pro's game would be about the same level, but I was pleasantly surprised. During the first five minutes of their warm ups I was already amazed talent of the players. The fluidity of their movement was wonderful, it was like the old saying "they make it look easy." The shots were fast, and the goalies made amazing saves. It was a great evening and a wonderful experience to be able to watch this level of hockey live. TV just doesn't do pro hockey justice.

Jasmine's Christmas Production

Here is a video from Jasmine's Christmas Production. Here class did a bunch of songs for all the parents on Thursday evening. It was quite cute to watch them all sing and dance.

You can watch the video here, I save it in two different formats...
Video [wmv]
Video [divx]

All You RSS Junkies

The first step is admitting you have a problem...

Okay I admit it, I myself am an RSS Feed Junkie. In fact I barely visit anyone's site anymore. Instead I find myself load it through my own RSS Reader.

Anyways I wanted to let everyone know who is viewing this from an RSS Reader, that a number of them will not show the images we are attaching to our posts. I would estimate that 90% of our posts have pictures and if you don't see them, make sure to visit our page directly.

Have a happy holidays everyone!

If life gives you snow go sledding....

We actually have snow! Over the past two weeks Baraboo has accumulated about a foot and a half or so of snow. The kids have been dying to get outside, and play in the newly fallen white stuff, but the temperatures have been too bitter as of late to let them out and play. Luckily for them, both yesterday and today hosted warmer temperatures, allowing the kids to get out. Chris just happened to have been sent home from work early because of the weather so he got to join in the fun.