Amalia is an angel

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Please tell me you appreciate the irony in that title. Actually, she did make her debut in the choir of heavenly hosts last night in our church's Sunday School program. She managed to keep her halo on and follow along to both the finger play and three verses of Away in a Manger. After that, she was pretty distracted by one of her favorite baby-sitters playing Mary and holding a Baby Jesus doll. And then she tried to climb down the stairs to see Daddy and Brinnly in the audience. But what else can you expet from a two-year-old?

The doctor's kit in the preschool room helped keep the little actors quiet before their time on stage.



(She's the shortest angel on the right in this picture)

Merry Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving-as-Christmas this past weekend with Jonathan's side of family, as is our tradition on the years that we don't spend Christmas Day together. The girls again loved playing the role of hostess and Mali had no idea she wasn't the same age as her "grown-up" cousins Trent and Lauren. We feasted and celebrated and reflected the many things for which we are thankful. And now we're sporting Ball State gear around here and finishing up the last of Grandma Deni's spinach balls. Let the holidays continue!

Reunited with "Our Ryans"

At least that's how Mali has been referring to them lately...they are otherwise known as Mike, Kellie, Jack and Abigail. They graciously drove out of their way to stop at our house for an overnight and what a time we had. I meant to beat Kellie to posting about their visit, but she won, so you can read more about our pumpkin-filled adventures here.
I mentioned to Jonathan how Kellie and I always seem to "mother" our little ones in a similar fashion. He agreed. Maybe it's because we basically learned how to be mothers together? Whatever the reason, it was refreshing to be with our play date buddies again.

Unfortunately these pictures don't capture any of the fun that us adults had together...or the stuffed Dalmatian that Mali insisted on buying for Kellie when I asked her to pick out Christmas presents for Jack and Abigail. I'm sure that was top on Kellie's Christmas list.

I'm not making this up!

Lately, Mali has taken to falling asleep with several stuffed animals. We're not sure where that comes from since she has never shown that much interest in them before. Maybe it's because The Ryans are coming for a visit tomorrow! Her buddy Jack was always up for a stuffed animal cuddle. But back to the subject, she now sleeps with her "Aunt Grace bear", a racoon, a sheep, a huge Winne the Pooh, and Brinn's Holly Hobby. She snuggles up with them on her pillow and then we hear her singing lullabies to them.

What did she sing yesterday at naptime? Roll Out the Barrel. Just in case anyone needed a quick polka in the crib.

A Night at the Gardens

Amalia, Brinnly, & Madeline

They may disagree on hockey teams (our girls favor the Penguins) but they are sure glad to live in the same city and state. Brinn was so excited to play with the bigger girls that she even attempted a few steps to join in the chase!

Ring-Around-The-Rosie

Even more fun now that we now that Mike, Kim and Adison taught us the additional verses:

I'm tapping on the floor, I'm tapping on the floor.
Everybody jump up when I count to 4.
1-2-3-4!

I'm tapping on my knee, I'm tapping on my knee.
Everybody jump up when I count to 3
1-2-3!

I'm tapping on my shoe, I'm tapping on my shoe.
Everbody jump up when I count to 2.
1-2!

I'm tapping on my thumb, I'm tapping on my thumb.
Everybody jump up when I count to 1.
1!

Prayer request

Please take time to check out the link on the right for the Maleski Family Fund. Anthony Maleski is a friend of ours from Pittsburgh who was struck by train two weeks ago. You can read more details about the accident as well updates on that site. Please remember his wife Anna and their three young children in your thoughts and prayers.

Just in time to try out that Halloween candy

Brinnly now has now has two teeth!

Two Elephants Went Out to Play

We really did up Halloween this year. First stop was the East Grand Rapids Library for our regular story time. This week, the kids came in costume and the kind librarians and city workers hosted our little parade. Here's Mali with her new hero, Miss Trish (aka the children's librarian)
And then we joined our neigbors for trick-or-treating on our block. As if candy wasn't enough, Mali also greatly enjoyed her first sip of orange soda.

Seven Years of Wedded Bliss...

When most of our days look like this:(And yes, those are cloth napkins they are wearing on their heads. "Aprons" or "Aprils" as Mali calls them)

It is even more special to celebrate this:

Fall Traditions with Grandma Deni

Zoo Boo, Pumpkin Patch, and Jack-O-Latern carving. Fall weekends don't come any better!

Godparentpalooza

As we may have mentioned on this blog, Mali's godparents, The Kurths were recently in town for a visit. We weren't even home from dropping them off at the airport when we got the news that Brinn's godparents, The Meyers were coming for a visit of their own. Maybe they caught wind of the top-secret godparent contest we were attempting to conduct. In typical Meyer fashion, they stayed for less than twenty-four hours, but we were just glad that they arrived before 11:00 pm as used to be their tradition. The beautiful fall weather continued and the kids raced around the park together as we kept remarking on how much they had grown. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate all of the BIG NEWS concurrently in the works for the Meyers. A baby on the way! And she's a girl! A new pastoral call! A move to Fort. Wayne!

(We hope that all those monumental events won't interfere with Aunt Ruth continuing her gift of sending us homemade bars every month. Here's her goddaughter enjoying her first taste of one now that she's been introduced to desserts)

Heard in our home lately...

Mali to Kaeta Kurth: "Brinnly is my sweetheart. Kaeta, you can talk to her".

Kaeta amidst silence at breakfast. "I don't know where I live". A sad shake of the head was included.

Mali after the Kurths left. "I love Jonah-Joe. And Kaeta-Kate. And Aunt Karianne-Karianne. And Uncle Derek-Der".

Mali reading a Halloween card that arrived in the mail for her: "Happy Birthday Kaeta Kurth".

If only I could capture the complete adorableness of these sayings! These pictures might do a better job.

(And happy birthday wishes to Kaeta Kurth whose birthday really is today, explaining Mali's card confusion. Thanks for giving us so many vacation memories. Come back and visit soon!)

Ward Cam Updated

Recently we had family pictures taken with the Koch side, traveled to Traverse City, and celebrated Brinn's birthday. Check out the new pictures on the link to the right. Enjoy!

The Kurths were here!

We are just back from dropping them off at the airport and miss them already. Many, many, more pictures to come (especially since Derek fixed our photo hosting problem) but here are a few highlights.