Holiday Travels

We have been traveling since Dec. 18, first to Kansas, then Georgia.  We have had Christmas with our parents, with Dave and Rachel and now we are with Chad and April.  Our next adventure will be Amy's wedding in Tennessee next weekend.  We are looking forward to our time here in Sharpsburg and cherish the times we had with family in Newton and Atlanta. 

Three

Our little, big boy is three! We first celebrated Ollie's birthday at Thanksgiving in Kansas. He's showing off his new cowboy boots from Grandma. Can you tell he decorated his cake himself? Of course we had to celebrate again on his actual birthday. We had a nice Saturday morning breakfast with present opening. We're all about dinosaurs in our house! Then we made a trip to the zoo. The weather was quite warm and windy, a great day to be at the zoo. Not too many others were there which was nice. The kids really enjoyed the play area in the children's zoo. They hatched out of eggs and pretended to be baby birds waiting for food and pretended to be flies stuck in the spider's web. When we returned home Isabel and Oliver were asleep, so while they had naps I baked a cake which we ate after supper while singing

"Happy Birthday to You."

All I Want For Christmas...

...is my two front teeth. She only really lost one.

When in Texas....

Monkey See, Monkey Do

or Isabel see, Isabel do

Catia's Birthday Party

This is the one we will show his fiance some day.

Thanksgiving

We are still sick but finally have meds. Here are some of our Thanksgiving pics.

Advent Banners

A series of 4 advent banners for Peace Mennonite Dallas.

Yum! Yum! Curry!

Saturday night we went to the Springer's house so we could cook supper together and learn a bit about Indian cooking. Of course the food was fantastic and the kids had a good time being loud and active together. Here are all the kids-Levi(3), Oliver(almost 3), Annika(16 months), Rohan(5), Clara(6) and Isabel(14 months) on the floor.

Nisha was instructing Damian about everyday Indian cooking. We ate a wonderful vegetarian meal of dahl, egg curry, vegetable rice, cauliflower and yogurt. Clara and Isabel ate it up. Oliver didn't eat as much because he was too busy being goofy.

Quiet Time

Listening to a book on CD after a quick trip to the library.

Our week

We celebrated Damian's birthday this week on Tuesday. Tuesday is one of his longer days, but he did come home for lunch because he forgot to take this lab coat in the morning for his afternoon observation. We made him some puppy/people chow as a gift (we couldn't afford anything else right now.) He said that was a wonderful gift and he didn't need anything else. Here's a picture of Ollie shaking up the puppy chow.

This past week our little friend did not stay with us after school because his granny was visiting. That was one less thing to worry about. I listed a few more items on ebay and etsy and began work on the advent banners for church. I realized I only had a few days to complete this project as we would be in Kansas for Thanksgiving and would be driving home on the first advent Sunday. And then I got SICK! Fever and infection, I won't give you the details, just BLAH!!! But today I feel better and am looking forward to an evening with the Springers, cooking Indian food together and having a relaxing time. Clara took this next picture and Ollie took the last one. I thought they were pretty good for a 6 and 2 year old.

Drama Queen

Clara took this video of herself at a time when she was sent to her room for poor behavior. She totally deserves the title of Drama Queen!

Quotes and Things

Damian to Clara: What's with the puffy sleeves? Are you stuck in the 80's or something?

Marla: The 80's are back in, you know.

Clara(with as much sas as possible): Yeah, Dad! Are you stuck in the 90's?

Damian: Probably.

Oliver: Look! I made a square! Four equal sides!

Isabel: Mamamamamamamamama!

Isabel: Uh-Oh!

Meow!

Friends

We have been blessed this week with friends starting with our camping on the weekend with the Flemings and then tonight the Peachey-Stoners came for supper. They are enjoying a family vacation in Dallas and penciled us in. Thanks P-S family for visiting! Now, who's next?

Etsy Shop

I took the plunge and opened an Etsy shop to sell my tote bags. For those of you who don't know about Etsy, it is a place to sell all things handmade or vintage. My shop is called Prairie Path. You can get there by going to http://mrowe.etsy.com/ . I will continue to add to the supply as time goes on. Also, for those of you in Newton, Holly will be selling some of the bags at Pages Bookshop.

A Video From the Weekend

Water,Fellowship, Dirt, Leaves, and Birthdays

This weekend we went camping at Turner Falls Park in Oklahoma. We met the Flemings there for some outdoor recreation. I was especially looking forward to this because I feel that our outdoor space and time is limited living in an apartment. And, of course, seeing friends is always a wonderful time. The waterfalls were beautiful. The water was clear and flowed over rock forming pools for fishing or swimming and there were a lot of shallow places were the kids could safely play. And they did! Ollie could have spent hours just throwing rocks into the water.

There are a few small caves at the park. We found one which was exciting for our kids since they never have really been in a cave before. There was also a "castle" that had been built by a doctor in the 30's as his summer home. That was fun to explore.

We celebrated all the adults' birthdays as they are all next week, except mine (Marla) which was today. Except for being completely covered in dirt and having cold feet at night we had a wonderful time. Thanks, Flemings, for making the suggestion and let's do it again!

Two of the Cutest Kids I've Ever Seen

Halloween

We had a fun time trick-or-treating last night, thanks to our church friends Micah and Sarah Blalock. They invited us to their home in Coppell which is only about 5 miles down the road. Then we walked in their nice neighborhood. Their daughter and her boyfriend came with us as well as their dog which had on a lobster costume. We had pumpkin pie and coffee (and candy) and Sarah took Ollie and Clara down the street to a neighborhood party to roast marshmallows. They said they had much more fun than they would have otherwise just handing out candy. Ollie, especially was a good source of entertainment for all. Sarah, being an elementary school counselor, was amazed at Ollie's verbal skills and storytelling.

Check out the new slideshow for more photos.

We Voted!!

I am so relieved to have this out of the way. This was the sticker Damian wore out. Now we can prepare for a fun night of trick or treating with friends.

Pumpkin Carving

Clara drew her own image and did some of the carving.

Damian roasted the seeds again and they were delicious!

He gave a few to some neighbor girls and

later they knocked on the door asking for more.

Here is what he puts on the seeds:

For approx. 4 cups seeds:

3T oil

2 t. salt

1 T cumin

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 t. coriander

1/4 t. cinnamon

Pour oil over seeds and toss. Blend seasonings and toss over seeds. Toast seeds in a single layer on pan in preheated 300F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Stir every 10 minutes for best results.

Big Score at Goodwill

We found a lot of great stuff at the Goodwill today!

Won't Ollie look adorably preppy in this cotton sweater?!

I found this Gymboree dress for Clara. Great for school.

Here is my Goodwill promo.

One of my best finds was this skirt. It is from Eden's Bouquet. Check out their website at http://www.edensbouquet.com/catalog/index.php. It's brand new and I only paid $2.99!!

It is a 3T so I will have to save it for Isabel, but I couldn't pass it up.

Even the tag is fancy!

Also, these picture frames were a steal at $2.99 each.

This one will go in Ollie's room with a photo.

I bought 2 pink ones for the girls. Check out the original price tags.

These were from a place called Alamo Trading Company. Check out their Texas website at http://www.alamo-trading.com/site/page/pg429-pn_Home.html.

We also came away with some great books that will probably end up in birthday and Christmas presents. You just can't argue with shopping second hand when you can find such great stuff for a small price, while benefiting a nonprofit organization and keeping a minimal impact on the environment.