Piano Lessons

Kari received a beautiful electric piano for her birthday (Thanks, Tiffany!)  Since then Kari has been super excited and motivated to learn.  Conveniently, lessons are offered at school.  Miss Mandy is young and energetic and has a music theory background.  I had to laugh last week because Kari specifically requested that her picture be taken during lessons, probably so that I could post about it.  And here she is!

Pony and Cowgirl Birthday Party

I asked Kari several times as her birthday approached what type of party/theme she'd like to have.  Not even once did she waver from a "pony party."  I negotiated a bit with her to see if she'd tolerate a more general cowgirl motif and to ensure that this wasn't going to turn into a My Little Pony party.  Fortunately she was amenable to the minor modifications and we rolled forward.

The invitations set the theme and turned out really well.  I had a bunch of Kari's old jeans with blown out knees and I had no idea why I was holding onto them until this.  I'm so happy I had stashed them away.  Of course this encouraged guests to wear all things cowboy and plaid!

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Developing the decorations took relatively little work.  Mom brought down Dad's cowboy hat and boots and each boot served as the centerpiece at the tables. I equipped one of the boots with a vase and gerber daisies.  Pink bandanas and horseshoe confetti rounded out the table decor.

Next we came up with the menu.  That was super easy- white chili, red chili, deep fried turkey, Spanish cornbread and lemonade served in cowboy mugs from Oriental Trading.  The food was delicious and so appropriate!  We were able to continue the Western and rustic decor in the kitchen too.  I had recently scored some old storage boxes from a lab at work.  They served as perfect serving containers.

 Okay, so My Little Pony wasn't totally omitted from the day. At least she wore a cowboy hat.

For dessert we had our traditional family star cake, Uncle Lee's sugar cookies using a horse, horseshoe and star cookie cutters and these super nifty cactus sticks.

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This was a super easy party with lots of resources available with little effort.  Already looking forward to planning Bryce's party in August!

Happy Birthday!

To our little girl turning 5.

Look Who's Turning 5!

We just wrapped up a wonderful birthday weekend, albeit an early celebration.  Due to conflicting grandparent schedules, earlier worked better than later, so we went with it.  Even so, we still couldn't get everyone together; Grandpo was absent due to a previous skiing commitment.

So far, every year Kari has celebrated her birthdays with her grandparents.  Sadly, though, I think this will be the last grandparent-exclusive party she'll have.  It only recently dawned on her that while she gets invited to little friends' parties, she too, potentially could have friends to her parties.  I suspect next year will look very different.

Nevertheless, we celebrated in fine fashion with a pony and cowgirl theme.  More on that later.  We had cowgirl-appropriate food- two kinds of chili and a deep fried turkey (complements of Kevin's new indoor fryer).  The food was delicious and it was nice to relax and visit with everyone.

  

 

 

 Uncle Mark thought of Bryce too!

 Leotard for gymnastics.  To be seen again later.

 And the grand finale: a full-size electric keyboard. Kari is very excited to begin lessons.

 

 Kari was so excited about her gymnastics uniform she wore it the whole next day; never mind it was bitterly cold outside!  Thanks to all the grandparents for making the effort to spend the afternoon with us.  It was a yee-haw afternoon!

A-B-C

While Kari and I were at gymnastics, Bryce and Daddy were able to spend some quality time together.  Recently, and quite to our surprise, we learned Bryce can sing virtually the entire Alphabet Song:

Kee-Ya!

Kari had another board-breaking ceremony just before Christmas break.  Although we couldn't be there, another parent was gracious enough to take video of Kari.  The neat (amazing!!) thing this time is that she did it with her hand!  It took a couple of attempts (she first practiced on "Angry Adam") but didn't give up and her Sensei is super encouraging.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

Well the kids certainly have no clue what the start of a new year means, but the parents are hopeful it's one filled with more great memories, more sleep and a less destructive Bryce :)

The past week 5 days we spent in Chicago with both Grammy Pammy and Grandmo/Grandpo. The kids got their second and third Christmas celebrations Windy City style.

Thursday afternoon was Jesus' birthday celebration times 2. The Haugstads were able to surprise the kids with several new toys and games. Of course it was the cool new toy for a few minutes before the youngsters tore into a different item.

Grandmo and Kevin were present to listen to Bryce's new rendition of the Alphabet Song. Not only did he successfully carry the tune, he was able to get many more letters out than just A B A B. This time he easily mentioned at least 62 percent of the letters and his grand finale rendition of a "next time won't you sing with me".

Speaking of firsts, Friday brought another one with our 2-year old destruction King. While in Riverside with Grammy, we got to hear Bryce count from 1-9 (which solidified that all our $$ being spent at daycare might just be paying off). He also managed to take her DirecTV remote and record 5 different Barney programs on her DVR.

The kids had fun petting Beau the kitty cat, taking naps in unfamiliar surroundings and most importantly ripping open more wrapping paper with additional gifts. Unfortunately the weather was rain most of the day and prohibited us from joining Dale for a trip to the Zoo to see Christmas lights.

The original Christmas Day celebration took place at home with a wonderful visit from Gran and Pappy. They got to wake up before the kids and see their reactions to Santa's overnight visit to West Lafayette. Kari so thoughtfully left his Royal Red Heiness a piece of Jesus' birthday cake and a cold class of milk from Payless. Just crumbs and a few sips of milk remained in the morning.

 

Christmas Eve

 

It's a Haugstad tradition to sit on the stairs and wait for an adult to make sure that Santa has stopped by.  Notice anyone missing?  Bryce could not, for any reason, be roused Christmas morning.  Eventually Bryce did join in on the festivities and we mocked up a stair photo after the fact.

 

 

 

Despite a nasty cold that traveled from Kari's head to Mommy's chest to Bryce's throat to Daddy's sinuses and ear, the Kecklers found a way to survive the 2011 Holidays. Even though our days and nights seem to be filled with telling Bryce "NO" or "STOP IT", we still find time to be thankful for all that we were able to give and receive during the Christmas time.

We wish all of you a wonderful 2012!