General News – Page 16 – Dotzour Family.com

December 1, 2010November 30, 2010

Giving thanks for 2010

Thanksgiving Day. A fun day of relaxing and playing. Granny did nearly all the cooking (with moderate assistance from Melanie and even more moderate assistance by me). I took a little time to photograph some of the prettiness around the house.

Here’s the fall wreath on the front door.

Granny got some materials for the kids to make place cards. So cute!

Pilgrims and Indians and the napkin rings made by the kids.

Beautiful Thanksgiving flowers sent by Grandma Jo.

Meanwhile, my half-naked children played games. Here’s Sylvia coloring with Grandad.

and Andrew and Bryan playing a game of Quirkle. Andrew caught on to this game right-fast!

The weather was balmy for the first few days of our trip (high seventies!), but on Thanksgiving, a cold front blew in, and we all got a little chilly! Here’s Sylvia (wearing a dress that used to be Melanie’s) and Bryan watching Grandad and Andrew playing with a remote control car.

Grandad steers and Andrew leaps about in front of the crazy car.

Here’s my sis Melanie looking svelte and fabulous.

Me and my girl (thanks for taking the picture, Grandad!).

Here’s our lovely Thanksgiving table.

Grandad carves the turkey.

So much good food!

Yum! I hope your Thanksgiving celebrations were warm and loving and full of all your favorite foods.

We have so much to be grateful for – good health, wonderful family, treasured friends, warm homes, full kitchens, peace, and contentment. Wishing you all a gratitude-filled year!

November 30, 2010December 1, 2010

Playing in Texas

We’re back home after a great week-long vacation in Texas with our Dotzour family. We sure do all have fun together:) We left on Monday morning – drove to Chicago, and then flew through Dallas to College Station. After weeks of anticipation and a long day of travel (the kids did great), we were really happy to be there!

Love this pic of thoughtful Sylvie and her doting daddy. <When Sylvie saw this picture just now, she said, “I’m thinking, I want my paci and poodle.”>

The kids have a whole slew of games that they love to play at Granny and Grandad’s house. One of their favs is To Grandma’s House We Go. I think Granny has probably played this game with the kids 100 times:)

Looking in as we sit down for supper. LuAnn fed us really well. Mmmmmemories.

After supper, the kids delighted in cookies (out of the giraffe cookie jar) and heart-shaped jello. Sylvie says, “I like the cookies!”

By looking at this picture, I’d say she likes the jello too!

Goofy girl!

Andrew had a great monster-drawing game. He’d ask a Magic 8-ball about the monster features, “Does the monster have bat ears?” “Does the monster have six arms?” and then he’d draw the results. Granny and Grandad made their monster versions too, and then they’d make up stories chronicling the monsters’ adventures.

On Thanksgiving morning, LuAnn, Melanie, Bryan, and I had fun running a 5K. What an active bunch:) Our team name was “Bring on the Stuffing!” So I can remember in the future, I was #37 out of 305 with a time of 24:50 (that’s 7:59 min miles). My best time yet…YES!

It sure was nice and relaxing to all hang out together. Thanks, everyone for a great vacation:)

November 16, 2010

Girls on the Run

On Saturday morning, a few friends from Bootcamp and I participated in a 5K in Waunakee called Girls on the Run. While we just ran the race for fun, the majority of the participants were elementary school girls and their parents. Girls on the Run is an after-school program held in elementary schools that works to build self-esteem and self-respect among young girls while they train for the 5K. What a cool program! It was so neat to see all these girls as they got ready to run.

Pictured is Nicole, me, Deb, and Julie.

Race day morning was cold and rainy. And then cold and very rainy. Here’s a pic of us at race start. My goal for the race was to beat my Zoo Run Run time. The time they called at the finish was a little slower than that time (boo!), but the published race results show that I was a bit faster (yay!).

I sure do enjoy running these races! Bryan, Melanie, LuAnn, and I are signed up for a Turkey Trot in College Station on Thanksgiving morning. And I’ve just signed up for the Jingle Bell Run 5K on Saturday, December 11 at 10:45am. My team name is “Yippy Skippy,” so if you’re interested in joining, you can sign up here: http://jbrmadison.kintera.org/.

I’m hoping to run the Shamrock Shuffle and maybe some other 5Ks next spring. Then I think I’ll up to the 10Ks when the weather warms. If you’d like to run with me, just let me know!

November 12, 2010

Sibling love

This is a two-part post about the Andrew/Sylvia relationship as I saw it this morning:

Part I – The good

Andrew and Sylvia are so cute together! They wake up and rush for their vitamins. They dole them out for each other, and then they leap about exclaiming in mutual glee what they want for breakfast. Sylvia carefully watches Andrew and mimics his expressions and his moves. Except when he’s mimicking her. After breakfast this morning, they crawled into Andrew’s bed. She snuggled down under the comforter next to him, and he read her a couple chapters of Frog and Toad. I leaned on the door frame and took in the beauty and comfort of their relationship. The way Sylvia adores Andrew. The joy he gets from her company. It’s such a wonder and a gift that they have each other.

Part II – The not-so-good

Moments after stumbling out of bed and greeting each other, the conflict begins. Sylvia wants a purple spoon with her breakfast. One of the COVETED purple spoons. Andrew says that both the purple spoons should stay in the drawer until they can use them together (he already has an orange spoon). Sylv persists. Andrew holds the silverware drawer closed with his body. Sylvia pulls hard on to open it. Voices are raised. Sylvia shrieks. The kids have been awake for about 4 minutes, and I’m threatening to get rid of both purple spoons if there is any more conflict over the stupid purple spoons. Andrew demures. Sylvia gets the purple spoon <Note to self: Andrew gets the purple spoon next.>
The kids sit down at breakfast and begin laughing and giggling about a thumbs up/thumbs down game they’re playing. Suddenly, they’re not on the same page. Andrew’s giving something a thumbs down. Sylvie isn’t happy. Andrew begins frowning, grunting, and saying, “No. NO. NO!” Sylvia starts to yell something. “Yes!!!” “NOOOO!” “YESSSSS!!!!” Just when I’m about to end breakfast and have them take turns eating since they obviously can’t seem to do it together, they work it out, and it’s on to the next thing.

~~~~

Is it any wonder that I sometimes feel a little dizzy?

November 11, 2010November 9, 2010

Sibling jobs

It’s always really fun to see people I love getting to do work that they feel really positive about. In the last month or two, both Maretta and Joe have gotten new jobs.

My little brother, Joe, graduated from Bowdoin College in May. He spent the month of June here in Madison, and then from July through August he interned in Senator Feingold’s office. Through that time, and for about a month afterward, he became a professional job applyer. After a couple months of riding an emotional roller coaster consisting of interviews and second interviews and no job offers, Joe landed a job that he’s thrilled with. He started a couple weeks ago.

Joe’s official title? Research Associate for the Energy and Natural Resource Program

Joe’s place of work? Taxpayers for Common Sense This organization is “a non-partisan budget watchdog serving as an independent voice for American taxpayers.” Their mission is to “achieve a government that spends taxpayer dollars responsibly and operates within its means. They work with individuals, policymakers, and the media to increase transparency, expose and eliminate wasteful and corrupt subsidies, earmarks, and corporate welfare, and hold decision makers accountable.”

In addition to providing administrative support for the energy and natural resources staff, Joe will be researching and writing white papers and fact sheets, and he’ll be writing regular content for their website.

He’s now got an apartment in DC with two friends from Bowdoin. And he’s working on capitol hill! What an exciting time:)

~ ~ ~

Maretta got a new job this fall working for a theatrical costume and makeup company in the Twin Cities. I’m excited for her to be trying something new and working at a job with links to her heart’s desire…acting.

Way to go, sibs!

November 9, 2010November 4, 2010

Back yard soccer with friends

Autumn is such a beautiful time! Here are some pictures of some backyard playtime we had with Jessica, Eli, and Celia in late October.

The boys were having a great time kicking the soccer ball around…

I just love the gold leaves!

Happy, active boys.

Sylvia (wearing a Sylvia-ensemble…including markers on the face) looks on.

GOAL!!!!!

Meanwhile, Celia bikes on the driveway.

She lost her clog, but Sylvia is there to help her get it back on.

I love this picture! Jessica took it:)

Handsome bay.

And another handsome boy! Eli’s bottom left tooth is loose! This particular smile won’t last long!

November 8, 2010November 4, 2010

Our fireflies

I finished the kid’s firefly capes a couple days before Halloween. Thanks to Jessica for lending me her sewing machine.

Here are a series of pictures of the kids trying on their costumes and pretending to be fireflies…

Sylvia, if you were wondering, is actually a mommy firefly.

Some notes on the capes. There’s two layers – the black top wings and the silver under wings. Just like real beetles:) I made them with a magnet closure, but the magnets were sadly not strong enough. So they are now safety pinned together and perhaps someday I will get velcro so the kids can take them on and off themselves. Pretty simple costume, but I’ve got to say that I really enjoy having their costumes appear fully handmade by Granny!

It was a fun Halloween:)

November 7, 2010November 4, 2010

Autumn outings

October slipped by. Our tree in our front yard turned the most amazing golden color this year. When the sun shone through the leaves, I was mesmerized. I don’t think that there could be a more beautiful site. The kids liked it too, and I made up a story for them about how Bryan and I take our extra money and make it into gold and store it in the tree just so that for a few glorious days in the fall we can see what happens when leaves turn into papery thin pieces of gold.

Below, you’ll see some pictures of some late-October outings we took.

This is a pile of nuts that Sylvia found and stuffed into my pockets while we went for a walk:

Silly girl on the trail.

And there’s Andrew back when he had curls…

The kids and I were hiking at Kagonza State Park. We’d gone the night before to attend a night-time walk with the trail lit by jack-o-lanterns. However as we were walking in, Andrew (who was running) tripped and scraped up his elbow. It was game over, and we all piled back into the car and headed home. So the next morning, I thought we’d try again.

Sylvia’s red mark on her nose is from where she fell down the front porch steps and landed on her face. No permanent damage done.

Andrew pretends to chop down a sapling. Note that Sylvie has Poodle stuffed down her pants:)

Here’s a different day…our last outing to the apple orchard.

Sylvia wore swim suits every day all summer. As the weather turned cold, she still wore them but added warmer items like a hat and mittens. Then she started wearing clothes on top of the swimming suits. When Bryan packed all the suits up and put them in the basement a few weeks ago, there amazingly wasn’t a whisper of complaint!

Sorry this picture is rotated funny. Here it is corrected. I love when the two of them are sitting together on the front step, enjoying each other’s company. Plus, just look at Andrew’s curls!

Some painting…

Alivia lost her first tooth!

Enjoying some Culver’s left-overs

Here we’re taking a trip to Schuster’s Playtime Farm near Cambridge with Jessica and Celia.

Two girls enjoying the fences. Sylvia is so non-phased by large livestock that (as her mother) it’s almost disturbing.

Hello, chicken!

Bye bye October!

November 6, 2010November 4, 2010

Mel’s visit

It was so much fun to have Melanie come visit us over Halloween weekend this year. We’ve enjoyed having her come north quite a few autumns over the last eleven years.

Here we are at the farmer’s market on Saturday morning. There’s so much good produce to find!

Playing in the yard!

Raking up the leaves.

Aren’t I married to a handsome man?!

Sigh. Gold leaves.

Our yard in the fall

Sibs

Sylvia and her daddy. A new favorite picture.

Pumpkins and mums

Sweet sister!

Love this one!!!!!

Thanks for flying up to see us (and for taking Sylvia back home with you! Can’t wait to see you for Thanksgiving!

November 4, 2010November 5, 2010

Hair cuts!

A couple weeks ago, Andrew and Sylvia turned a quiet afternoon into a self-hair cutting extravaganza.

It was after school on a wet day, and Andrew and Sylvia wanted to watch a show. I had some photography phone calls to make, so I agreed. They also wanted to do some art projects, so I helped them get paper and crayons and paper. And then I sat down at the kitchen table to work and make calls.

Andrew came in a couple times to get snacks.

And then I didn’t see them for a while.

The quiet had a funny sound to it, so I went into the living room to check on them.

And then I screamed.

I slapped my hands to either side of my face as if I was trying to hold my head together.

Lying on the floor was about four cups of Andrew’s curls. And both Andrew and Sylvia had their scissors up to their heads and were looking at me wide-eyed in mid-cut.

Sylvia dropped her scissors from her trimming and clapped her hands over her ears.

I kept my hands holding my head together as I surveyed the scene, muttering something like, “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, whatwereyouTHINKING??? OK OK OK OK Ok ok ok ok WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?!?”

Sylvia is looking at me with shock and alarm, and Andrew is looking at me, with his very shorn head, with confidence and righteousness. No contriteness there.

I considered making him go around for a few days with the haircut he gave himself, but knowing him, he would think that was great. And even if the kids at school thought he looked funny, he probably wouldn’t care. And then perhaps I’d be stuck with him wearing this ridiculous mullet-type cut. So I sadly sat him down and finished the job.

Here he is a few days later.

Really, there’s nothing wrong with his short cut. It’s just a short boy cut. But oh, his curls! And the humanity of it all!

I told him that in the future if he wants his hair cut, HE NEEDS TO ASK FIRST. I’m curious when and if we’ll see his lovely curls again.

Sylvia’s cut was less dramatic, so for the first day or so afterward, I didn’t even really notice it. But then I realized that all her curls on the right side of her head had been lopped off. She didn’t shear it off close to the scalp (thank heavens), but she’s got a whole area of her head with hair about an inch long.

For a little pop-culture reference, Sylvia’s ‘do actually reminds me a little of Rhiana…

She’s oh, so trendy!

Oh well. It’s just hair and it grows back. And now that the trauma is in the past, I’ve mostly recovered.

And the scissors? They’ve been removed from circulation!