Annalise

Annalise, or Shlee as she is called around here, is a fun loving kid.

Annalise is such a fun loving kid. She is completely different from Evie. She loves getting attention by doing silly things, but she is also capiable of playing on her own. She loves to play with dolls, cows and colors. She really likes to cut paper into tiny little bits. We aren't sure what that is all about but we are sure that we have to sweep frequently. Annalise loves to do what ever Evie is doing. it's a blessing and curse at the same time. Evie likes being a leader, but at time, she gets tired of being followed and some sort of fight happens. Most of the time, they get along well.

Annalise was the first of our kids breaking an arm this summer. On a Trampoline. Despite her temporary handicap, she figured out how to ride a bike all around the neighborhood and to school. She completed the "Butterfly" class last spring and is now a "Ladybug" who goes to school 3 times a week. She likes school a lot. Her favorite part of school is making crafts.

Annalise is also my little Gardner. She accompanied me on many Master Gardener work hours at a local park. She also was a big help in starting our seeds in the basement for the garden and then planting them in the yard. She tells us all the time that she is going to have her own garden next summer.

Annalise is still the animal lover. She seems to have a way with them and loves on goats and calfs any chance she gets. We made a couple of trips to the fair to make sure that all the animals in the FFA building were well fed.

Annalise turned 4 this fall. Her current livestock obsession is with cattle. She says when she grows up she would like to be a farmer after she goes to Purdue to learn all about farms. Then she is going to take care of calves. I wonder if she has figured out that a calf grows into a big stinky cow.

Annalise has become more of her own person this year and it has been fun to watch her change. The good news is that after 4 years, she is finally sleeping through the night. That was a long journey! Now we are just trying to get her to sleep past 6:30 am. Maybe next year.

Evie

Evie continues to grow and just be so much fun! She celebrated her 6th birthday this year. We can't believe how fast the time has gone by. She has developed into such a sweet little girl. Of course, she can be bossy and stubborn at times, but what 6 year old isn't? We will keep her at least another year.
Evie completed kindergarten (shown here with her teachers). She really loved kindergarten and I think it was a great start to her school career. She carried lunch most days but was allowed to buy lunch in the cafeteria. Her favorites are pizza, hamburgers, and mini corn dogs. All the stuff that mom won't make at home.

Evie played spring soccer. She seems to be losing interest in soccer, but has informed us that she intends to play again next spring.

We visited our old MN stomping grounds in June and met up with friends from when Evie was a baby. Annalise, Evie, Laura, Ethan and Mary Kate were buds long ago and had fun eating at the Cup and Cone this summer after playing in the lake.

Evie participated in swim team in the neighborhood this summer. She improved a lot over last year and competed in free style, back stroke, and breast stroke--her favorite. I think she even placed first in one of her races and she is very proud of that blue ribbon. She plans on swimming again next summer.

Our dear friends, Erica and Clay, welcomed a daughter this June and named her Averelle Samatha. We finally got to meet her in August. Evie and Annalise were so attentive and loving to her. Sorry, kiddos, this is as close as you are going to get to another baby sister.

Evie welcomed a new cousin this August--Georgiana Mae born to Becky and Brandon in SC. She is just the sweetest thing.

We also welcomed new neighbors this year who have two little girls. Since they moved in, all four have become fast friends. Almost every day after school, they play together outside, at their house, or at ours. It has been wonderful to throw some new kids in the mix and we just love them to pieces.

But, Evie took a spill this year on a trampoline too and she ended up in a cast with 2 pins. She did ok, but that was one stinky arm when the cast came off after 7 weeks.

Evie is doing great in the first grade. She loves her teacher and her classmates. The same can't be said about her nightly homework, but she is getting through it. When we ask her want she wants to be when she grows up she answers scientist or engineer and also plans to go to Purdue. For now, she keeps herself busy with reading lots of library books and doing science experiments whenever she can drum up intrest and an assistant.

Jenni and Jim--the parents

This was a good year for us. I filled my time this year doing lots of Lego building. We inherited Jim's old Lego blocks from when he was a kid and we have added several sets of our own. It makes a great big pile that mostly gets cleaned up and only some of the clear pieces get sucked up in the vaccuum.

I also completed my Master Gardener training this year by doing lots of volunteer work at local parks, the fair, and the county plant sale. I also attended the state confrence at Purdue and learned enough about weeds and identification that I am a wealth of knowledge when driving down back roads.

My other activities this year include lots of volunteering at the kids' schools, being the family shuttle driver, head chef, house cleaner, gardener, food preserver, baker, and family blogger. I did manage to squeeze in some time for fun during trips to Washington DC, Purdue football games, a John Melloncamp concert and I met the famous Mollie Busta of the Big Joe Polka Show fame. I also spent a fair amount of time at the neighborhood pool hanging out, getting tan, and chatting with all the other moms.

Jim also had a banner year. In early Febuary, he started training for the Indianapolis 500 festival mini marathon. He ran on the first weekend of May and completed his 13.1 miles in just under 2 hours. And didn't even hurt himself! Jim continues to work for Beckman Coulter and makes trips up to Chaska, MN and Boston about every 3 weeks. He's also been filling in the role as assistant scientist to Evie as she completes her many science experiments.

We celebrated our 12th Anniversary this year. Since the kids have been born, we haven't been able to do that big trip that normally comes around Anniversary 10. This was the year. Jim cashed in his frequent flier miles and we went to Europe for 12 days!

Conviently, we were in Munnich for the original Oktoberfest and it was every bit as fun as you would imagine it.

There were these great big pretzels to go with the great big beers.

We also visited Paris to see Laura and Jean Marc, Jim's sister and her husband. We took in all the sites, ate anything that looked good, drank lots of wine and relaxed. We didn't even miss the kids too much until the day before we returned home.

We are looking forward to 2011 and hoping for a nice healthy year for our family and friends. I plan to join Jim in running the Mini Marathon and we hope to get a family vacation in as well as trips to visit our far flung family and friends.

Have a great Holiday season! Thanks for checking in on us!