Happy Nikolaus!

Happy Nikolaus! 

What can I say, the calendar is loaded up and I barely get to the fun stuff oh and I also was sick and the kids were too, Frank is still his battling Bronchitis... excuses, excuses so here the quick recap of our last month :)...

Mommy / Daughter Date. Zoe loves to spend time with just me... we're not doing it often enough and I will put a priority on it next year for sure... things just have been so very busy that it has been hard to get out of the house with just one munchkin or let alone just myself... but we're working on it ;). Zoe always wants to go and eat Sushi :). Something we can thank Jenny for, I think Zoe got that from her for sure ;)... I love how the exchange students leave a mark in our kids life... they will never be forgotten...

And after Sushi we went shopping at Toys r'us for Birthday presents we had to get for some parties... after that we were in need of some serious Ice Cream from The Cold Stone Creamery *YUM*

Since the kids were sick on Zoe's school day off we went to Chuck E. Cheese a few days later and had a ton of fun...

Silly Bath Monsters :)

At our shopping trip at Toys R'us the game 'Labyrinth' fell into our shopping card literally three times... one edition was for us *lol* and we're playing it almost daily. The kids LOVE it. I remember it was one of my favorite games back in the days too...

Moral Focus of November was 'gratitude' which Zoe got to be the 'student of the month' for... and I loved how she gave me a special spot just for me!!! She's very grateful for me and it was very heartwarming to see it even written out without me telling her or anything...

Another fun day... Zoe's half day of school was celebrated by a trip to Legoland :). We take advantage of all the free time during the week that we can get :)...

We spent literally 6 hrs in that place (which you're normally just spending around 2hrs in) and the only way I got them out of there was to eat something at the Rainforest Cafe and then we had to go back into Legoland for an 'after dinner' session playing *lol*

The kids are making their own pancakes... very serious kids there *lol*

Ethan and Emma's Birthday Party and Elsa showed up... a hit ...

Henry and I did some shopping and of course that little guy needed to eat some pizza... one slice is bigger than his head but he ate it all...

Our Thanksgiving Turkey... 20lbs and it was gone before the weekend was over ;)... I have one 'hungry for turkey' husband *lol*

Ice Skating... Zoe is almost there skating on her own.

Waiting for the Holiday Train that goes through our town... that was a crazy busy week... that night the kids weren't in bed before 10pm but it only happens once a year and it started to be one of our Christmas Traditions :)

Our silly elf is back :)... lots of funny ideas this year again...

Holiday Lights at the Detroit Zoo... it was a great time with friends

Decorating Gingerbread houses

The elf was in a plane crash (the kids touched him which they're not supposed to do...)

... so the next day he was in casts resting in bed *lol*...

This morning the Nikolaus came and the kids literally banged on our bedroom door at 230am... yes, you read it correctly... 230am and they wanted to unwrap the gifts and play!!! They were allowed to unwrap it but I told him to go back to bed... this morning I woke them up a bit earlier so they get to play a little more with the toys... but oh man... these kids... and this elf of ours again just silly *lol*

 ... ate all the chocolate and opened one of the gifts... the kids are getting very upset with him *lol*

Fall Weather

We officially have fall enter our 2016 year and it's been really nice here. Normally we have summer - one week fall - winter but this year it's been really nice and we're all enjoying a wonderful long and warm fall. The temperatures just don't want to drop and everybody is really appreciating that.

The kids and I were talking about ice skating somehow so last weekend we spontaneously went ice skating (it was their 2nd time) and we had so much fun. A friend of mine also joined in with her family. Henry was doing really well and was eager to skate and Zoe was determined to let go of that helper thing and skate on her own... maybe next time she'll be ready.

Ice Skating in action

Awards Party at Zoe's swim team... she collected again a bunch of ribbons ;). I need a new box just for ribbons soon it seems ;).

Fall cleanup. Our two now big trees in the front of the house are just letting go of leaves like crazy. And when we pick them all up... one wind minute later... all back down again but today I cleaned up another round again and it seems that there is only one more cleanup round left but at least we clean ours up regularly and not like others here just let it sit there for weeks *sight*.

I had some pumpkin puree left and made a jump pumpkin bread... oh that was delicious!

Loosing Teeth

Spending some time with friends and my little man at the Chelsea treehouse... a fun place

And another one gone :(...

I had him in LONG pants but only due to an accident and I had only long pants in the car to change into :)... he wouldn't want to take a picture and as soon as we got home he changed into shorts... it's cold and he is cold all the time but he refuses to wear long pants or long-sleeves... oh well... he has to live with it

Rocking Dustin's Shirt for Zoe's swim competition ;)

And we're on again... got some cool chairs that makes it easier to sit there for the 2 hrs... cheering on our little fish

Pumpkin Patch ...  forgot to take pics when they actually picked out their pumpkin... they wanted to play as well

Pumpkin Soup... yum

My new glasses... with glitter :)... I got used to it. Henry doesn't like them but I get compliments everywhere I go so I guess I picked out good :)

Trick or Treating at the Henry Ford Estate. This year we're having a Tinkerbell aka a fairy and Batman

Carving Pumpkins.... they did a great job this year... I have to do less and less each year ;)

I made some pumpkin bread last night too and another pumpkin pie. Pumpkin Quiche comes next *yum* problem is... who will eat it? I really miss my teenagers when it comes to my cooking and baking days... at least they ate all of it with joy... at least Henry ate the bread. They both didn't like the soup, Frank only eats the pie... I need somebody else I can cook and bake for... ;)

Ears pierced...

A fun day with friends at Greenfield Village on Monday and my little man :). We went today again with other friends... it always is an amazing time. 

So Zoe and I had a deal... since she really wanted to get her ears pierced I told her (hoping that it won't be for a long while) that she would have to stop biting her nails. She bit her nails really bad and it looked scary for her future and for manicures etc. so she was on a mission... I think we made that pact in May/ June or so... now it's October and even without the disgusting tasting nail polish on the nails started to grow and I was actually already able to cut her nails twice!!! So I had to follow up with my promise and let her get her ears pierced. She was very brave and she's so proud showing off her ears... it's the cutest thing and I'm so proud to be her mom... she's such a great girl.

She was over the moon and back when it was done and she had her ears pierced, even this morning when she got up and when I picked her up from school... she still cannot believe she has earrings :)

Henry is 5!

It seems like every time I want to start a post I complain about how fast time flies ;)... so I should just stop doing that... the fact is... it is flying and I totally dislike the fact but we're having a ton of fun :).

Orchards opened up for the fall fun and sure enough you can find us there enjoying a wonderful fall day out on a hay ride or in the corn maze or just having a blast :). 

We mastered the corn maze with 5 kids. Woohoo... we had a blast though.

Meanwhile Henry turned 5 already! How did that happen? No idea... I cannot believe that that little munchkin of ours is already 5 years old! He had an amazing birthday party and we enjoyed a great time on his birthday

Birthday Boy, 5 years old with his chocolate chip pancake and whip cream (his breakfast wish)

For dinner we went to Chuck E Cheese to play games, fly jets and eat pizza

House wise we have some great and sad news... great news is the house appraisal came back sooner than we thought but it came back actually way less worth than we were agreeing on paying for the house. Which is good you would think and we were really excited about it however we don't believe that the seller would entertain even the thought about selling us the house for the price but we don't give up hope yet... we could still get the house for the market value if they agree to it. Or we will end up not moving into this wonderful house... so I can tell you with this house hunting experience now I think we've taken every single rollercoaster corner with us and every single loop there is... but if we will get the keys in the end it was all worth it... wish us luck... it ain't over until it's over and Frank and I really hope they'd sell it to us but we would also understand if they decide to maybe wait another year and put it back on the market next year but we don't think they would get the $ that they're hoping for, even in a year... but it's not in our hands at this point we can only hope we will get it... wish us luck...