Dotzour Family.com – Page 2 – Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia

January 14, 2012January 4, 2012

Christmas morning

On Christmas morning, I woke up around 7 and came out to the living room. Mark and LuAnn were sipping their coffees, the fireplace candles were lit, and it was all peaceful. No kids up yet! So we sat in cozy contentment together, gazing at the now-stuffed stockings, and waited for the young ones to awake. Andrew came out with salutations of “Feliz Navidad, Granny, Feliz Navidad, Grandad, Feliz Navidad, Mommy!” Then he snuggled up in my lap and we hung out together for a while. I mentioned something about Sylvia waking up at some point, and Andrew disappeared. A sleepy, Sylvie groan came from the bedroom, followed by a more lively waking-up sound. In a moment, two kids were gazing up at the stockings.

After we gave the OK for them to go wake up Melanie and Dad, the unwrapping of presents began. Usually we go around taking turns unwrapping. This year, the pace was a bit more, uh, frenetic:)

Sylvia got a Vidia and Rosetta fairy!

Ooo, new dresses from Aunt Mellie!

Here’s a video of some of our present-opening:)

Andrew has been requesting a toy called BeyBlade. I’d never heard of it before…but his friends at school love them. After doing a bit of searching, I found out that they are battling tops. Actually, they’re really fun! I got Andrew a couple, and we all had fun battling them in their special arena.

Each top is a little different (these two are called Galaxy Pegasus and the Meteo L-Drago). I think the object of the game is that the last top spinning is the winner.

Fun to spend Christmas Day together, playing with toys and eating lots (and lots) of fudge:)

January 13, 2012January 4, 2012

Christmas Eve frolic

On Christmas Eve, Grandad put together a really fun scavenger hunt for all us kids. I spent a quiet December morning putting together the videos that Granny shot with the photos I took to make this Scavenger Hunt video.

http://youtu.be/UQfLY0RHMnU

After the prizes were uncovered (the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas), the kids were full of excitement and glee, and they danced together around and around and around.

Then they went to the kitchen to get some cookies and milk for Santa.

And then they gamboled together again.

Oh those two…they really crack me up!

Here’s my favorite picture from Christmas.

And a quick posed photo (with the obligatory sibling-neck-squeeze) in front of the fire place.

Ahh the excitement of being a kid on Christmas Eve. It doesn’t get much better than that!

January 12, 2012January 4, 2012

Gingerbread houses

One of our Christmas Eve activities was gingerbread house decorating. Granny had baked and assembled two gingerbread houses…all blank and anticipating the sweet decorations of my chillens.

Can you imagine their eyes when they saw the bowls of candy, candy, candy?

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While Granny piped the icing, the kids gleefully stuck on the decorations.

Don’t mind if I do help myself to a taste of that yummy frosting!

Careful consideration of candy placement.

They made windows and doors.

A yummy candy cane door…

Andrew even made a skylight.

Happy activity!

He’s having fun!

Everyone’s having fun!

Sylvie enjoyed some candy snacks between decorating shifts.

What pretty houses they made. In the next day, Sylvie’s house added a lot more candy. She learned that she was allowed to eat the candy off, so she wanted to put a lot more candy on. Smart cookie:)

Something tells me that we’ll be making gingerbread houses again.

Sweet, fun times.

Bryan got into the action and decorated a gingerbread cookie.

Which Sylvie wanted to eat!

Thanks for the fun idea, Granny! Gingerbread houses were a hit!

January 11, 2012January 2, 2012

In Texas for Christmas

On Friday, December 23, Bryan, the kids, and I flew down to Texas for a Christmas visit together. The house was so beautiful, the food so tasty, and our time together so fun. What glowing memories!

LuAnn played the piano at church on Christmas morning. Here she’s doing a little lovely practicing for us.

It’s so much fun to walk into a beautifully decorated home. So may pretty details to discover! The kids remembered all their favorite games, costumes, and activities, and the moment we arrived, they set out to review them all:)

This, my friends, is the fudge bowl. I love fudge. Love, love, love. Whythankyoui’llhaveanother.

I’d call this a full fridge. Salivatingly full.

On Christmas Eve, we made a variety of finger foods for our meal. Shrimp and veggies and fruit and cheese balls and Swedish meatballs and quesadillas, oh my! It was a good way to celebrate Christmas Eve:)

Finishing up dinner in the kitchen together.

The spread… ho ho ho!

January 10, 2012January 2, 2012

Ballet & Tap – last class of the year

Sylvia started taking ballet in January, just before she turned 3, and she’s been enjoying her dance classes every week since the beginning. Ballet costumes are a regular attire item here in our home. In recent weeks, she’s decided that she’s ready for a change of activities, though, and so this December class was her last dance class for some time. Next season, we’re trying gymnastics!

Here’s my ballerina…

Can I just admit here that there is little photography I’ve enjoyed more than photographing all these little girls in these end-of-session dance classes?

Balancing on one foot for several seconds…

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sylvie ever. I love how she’s thinking and how strong and beautiful she looks in motion.

Now on to tap class…

These photos below look neat in a horizontal storyboard.

She’s on the move!

Learning to grapevine. A good life skill.

Oh, sweetie. She breaks my heart with how fully herself she is. Love.

January 9, 2012January 2, 2012

Visiting Wichita

We took a driving trip to Wichita for Grandpa Harvey’s funeral. It was one of the first long drives (12 hours) with our two kiddos. They did great!

On the way down, we left around supper time and drove until late. Then the next day we only had about 7 hours. The way home we did in one long stretch, and remarkably, the kids were wonderful.

Of course, they didn’t often look up from the iPad/iPhones. My bags of books and coloring books and toys went mostly unused, but so long as everyone’s happy, it’s alright with me! I read a whole novel:)

We had a nice time staying at Grandma Jo’s house. Grandma Jo (Mark’s mom) has moved to an assisted living home, and it was nice to bring her back to her old digs to hang out for an evening. Sylvia liked the tutus and other props she found in Grandma’s closet. She and Grandma share a flair for the dramatic.

Sylvie shows Grandma Jo her favorite app – Wash my Cat.

There’s the lovely lady:)

Enjoying some time together:)

Now Aunt Melanie gets a tutorial.

Seems like there’s always lots of laughter when we’re together.

While the reasons for our visit were sad, we really did have a wonderful time visiting with family. We got to spend time with Bryan’s cousins and aunts and uncles, and I have lots of fond memories from our time together.

Andrew and Sylvie were great travelers, and I’m looking forward to taking more driving trips in the future.

January 7, 2012January 2, 2012

Getting our Christmas Tree

It’s a little funny to be writing this post after Christmas has come and gone, but better late than never!

We went to get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We’d thought about going to a tree farm to cut our tree this year, but Andrew wanted to go back to Jung’s (I think he was hoping for a post-tree visit to Culver’s). These kids are rapid tree deciders.

We picked out a Douglas Fir again this year, and we named it Ferb after Andrew’s favorite cartoon, Phineas and Ferb.

Sylvie is happy about getting a Christmas tree! She’s practicing her high knee skipping.

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Melted my heart to turn around in the car to see Andrew and Sylvia’s fingers intertwined over the top of the tree. Life is more fun with a sibling to share it with!

We got Ferb home, and while Bryan draped it in lights, I pulled out all the boxes of Christmas decorations and our Christmas plates. Bye bye fall, hello Christmas!

She’s loving this, isn’t she. It melts my heart.

What a fun, decorated tree!

It’s pretty fun to be three years old at Christmas time!

Bryan put up the outside lights, and poof! our home was ready for Christmas.

My mom had bought a bunch of Bitty Baby/Bitty Twins outfits, and I pulled out a few for Sylvia. So the twins (Linda and Rose Crystal) got Christmas sweater outfits and Evie got a polar bear snow suit. Thanks, Mom! Sylvie loves ’em.

January 6, 2012January 2, 2012

November playtime at the Nature Center

While Joe was home, we took Andrew and Sylvia to the Aldo Leopold Nature Center.

First we did our obligatory jumping around the stump circle.

Then our trail leaders were off and running.

Love this pic of Andrew and Sylv with their Joe.

Here’s my favorite silly girl.

When they’re around their uncles, Andrew and Sylv spend a great deal of time upside down or in the air.

We played some fun games of freeze tag too.

Joe, it was so much fun having you home for the week! I really, really value the times we get to spend together. xoxo

January 5, 2012January 2, 2012

Thanksgiving 2011

November was a super busy month for me photography-wise. I’m a little surprised to look back to see how few pictures I took of my own kiddos that month. The ebb and flow of life:)

We were home in Madison for Thanksgiving this year. Joe was visiting us from Washington DC (I first typed that he was home from Washington DC…where is home?). Maretta and Kyle came to town. Heather & Michael were in town with Evelyn and their twin babes, Amalia and Alexander. So great to have everyone together!

Here’s Terry and Amalia enjoying a little snuggle.

Kyle and Michael examine Terry’s periodic table. They are such science nerds:)

Evelyn is adorable, don’t you think?!

Michael prepares Party Potatoes.

Bryan and Maretta look dapper and beautiful.

We had 16 people for our Thanksgiving meal this year. We shared meal-creation duties and spread out Terry’s lovely home.

Our menu?

appetizer platter ~ Dad

turkey ~ Althea
ham ~ Althea
cornbread stuffing ~ Lisa
party potatoes ~ Michael
gravy ~ Althea
rolls ~ Althea
sweet potato casserole ~ Lisa
pink salad ~ Kyle
steamed broccoli ~ Tom

cranberry red pear relish ~ Connie

pumpkin pies with whipped cream (2) ~ Althea
pecan pie ~ Althea
egg nog ~ Gary
wine ~ Jack

After our afternoon meal, we spent the rest of the day hanging out and enjoying being together.

In the evening, a game of poker broke out.

Some of Terry’s rock and Ukrainian Easter Egg collections.

Sylvie enjoying an afternoon of iPad time.

Where was Joe in these pictures? Not evident. In any case, he was there!

January 4, 2012January 2, 2012

Girls in New York City

In early November, Bryan’s mom took me to New York City for a girl’s weekend. No kids, no husbands, just us two girls hanging out for a weekend on the town. It was so much fun!

I had been to New York a few times when I was in high school, but my last visit there was close to (good heavens!) 20 years ago. I loved walking around and feeling the energy of the city.

Our hotel was just off Times Square, and we walked around at night and during the day. I was amazed by the flashy signs, the variety of shops, the height and complexity of the buildings. Wow.

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I loved spending the day wandering around the galleries. I must make a point of going to museums more often.

I was a bit surprised to see a painting of my sister…

Such a beautiful museum!

After our museum wanderings and a reviving lunch at the museum cafe, we headed out to Central Park. Such a beautiful place! We hadn’t meandered far before we spontaneously ran into my friend Jennifer. What are the chances!? We had plans to meet for dinner the next night. Jennifer recently moved to NYC from Lake Tahoe, California, and it was so fun to meet up and stroll through the park together.

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My friend Noa Green is a photographer who does sessions in Central Park (click her to see some of her beautiful work). Now that I’ve been there, I’m feeling a little jealous!! What trees and light!

LuAnn and I went to a couple Broadway shows. Our first was Wicked. I know I’m a bit late to get on the band-wagon, but I LOVED it! I immediately got the sound track and have been a bit, er, obsessed. I loved musicals so much back in high school. It’s been a long time, but the love remains.

We spent quite a bit of time wandering around town. The churches are oh-so-beautiful!

Sunday morning, we hung out at the base of the Queensborough Bridge and watched the first of the NYC Marathon runners come past. It’s so inspiring! And the crowd was so pushy!

We wandered Macy’s and Bloomingdales and several toy stores. We saw skaters at Rockefeller Center, ate lunch across from the Plaza, found cute delis and delicious sushi. I even saw a rat in the subway. What a New York experience!

Sunday afternoon, we got to see Jersey Boys. What a show! I loved the music and the theater of it all.

Such a treat! Thanks so much, Mom, for a really memorable, remarkable weekend. xoxo