Nine Years of Christmas Morning on the Stairs Photos

A Haugstad tradition continues:

 2007

2008 (not technically on the stairs)

2009

2010

 2011(Bryce was too tired)

 2012 in Colorado Springs

 2013

2014

2015 Winter Park, CO

2016

If anyone has a 2008 picture on the stairs, please send me a copy!

2015 First Day of School

Well, here we go.

In true Bryce fashion, he was all-but shoving people out of his way to be first on the bus.

                     2015                                                                                                2014

And here's a side-by-side of the first day of school this year and last year.

After it was all said and done, Bryce managed to stay out of Mr. Peters office for the first day.  Mission accomplished.

Earlier in the week we held our annual back to school ice cream social.

2015 Witherspoon Reunion

It was another great reunion with the Witherspoon family at Pokagon State Park a few weeks ago. The highlight of the trip was the arrival of Uncle Mark and Meredith, most of whom were meeting her for the first time.  While no one had any doubts, she passed the typical family "test" with flying colors and was welcomed with open arms.  We've been having these reunions for about 8 years now and there are a few traditions that have grown along the way, such as the Penny Auction where all proceeds are donated to the Nature Center, Field Games coordinated by Heather, and Uncle Jay The Science Guy demonstrations.  We had great weather and was a great chance to visit with family.

 Field Games

 Mentos and Dr. Pepper- any carbonated drink will work, we learned!  Diet pop will only make clean up less sticky.

Relaxing and visiting

Paddle boating and a friendly race among the cousins

Trail ride with all (most) of the cousins.  Kari had to put her hair in a high bun and discreetly stand on her tip toes to meet the height requirement.  She made it, though!

And, the auction!  One of the most popular events of the weekend.  There were probably more than 150 items for people to bid on.

Rough housing.  When Bryce and Uncle Mark get together, there's guaranteed rough housing, and Meredith is always game to document the shenanigans!

 Cousin time!

Half Way To A Driver's License

We realized this scary thought yesterday morning over a birthday breakfast.  We kicked off Kari's #8 with opening presents and cards from grandparents and family.

 Shortly after breakfast we headed over to the Purdue Memorial Union for a bowling party.  Kari invited five of her closest friends from school, many of whom are in Brownies with her, too, and Bryce also invited a friend.

 Bowling was super casual- the bumpers were up and no one was concerned about keeping score.  The kids bowled a little and when the pizza arrived, they took a short break to eat before returning to the lanes.

 We wrapped up with the traditional star cake, thoroughly decorated by Kari.  We once again thank Aunt Laura for keeping Kari supremely stocked in all things cake decorating!

Kari once again chose to forego gifts from friends in lieu of collecting donations for those less fortunate in our community.  The last two years she had selected school supplies but went in a different direction this year and collected blankets and socks.  We'll plan a time in the next week or two to deliver them to Lafayette Urban Ministry.

The remainder of the afternoon included phone calls with grandparents and then settling in for a movie with carmel popcorn served with orange juice and sprite last night.  A very good day, indeed!

The Dizzy: Post Christmas Blur

We've done our bit of traveling for the holidays was back in WL for New Years eve.  We shared Bruno's with the Clawsons and Bryce, Kevin and I were in bed by 9:30.  No fanfare here- just a perfect night to go to bed early and sleep in the next day.

Meanwhile, Kari stayed with Grandmo and Grandpo this week after we came home on Sunday.  She has thoroughly enjoyed having them all to herself and was not shy in asking us when we'd be heading home...without her.  She had good reason to get us out of her hair- she had places to go and things to do!  They saw a Broadway quality Mary Poppins production in Aurora on New Years eve.  The other big highlight of the week was finding a time to go swimming at the Y.

Prior to the Chicago visit, we had Christmas at home.  We managed to stave off the kids until about 7:30 AM, so we couldn't complain too much there.  First up, the obligatory picture on the stairs and a double check to see if Santa did indeed make a stop at our house.

And then as many of you know, the rest of the morning was pretty much a blur, as much as we tried to slow down and take our time.  Santa hit a home run for Kari with a new laptop, but it didn't hold a candle to the full rainbow array of Sharpies.  It was definitely a moment of where the box was cooler than contents inside!

Bryce finally upgraded to an off-road boys bike after riding around this summer and fall on Kari's hand-me-down pink princess bike.

Since then, we've been relaxing and catching up on sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our after-Thanksgiving tradition of breakfast at Mary Lou Donuts continues! Grammy Pammy, a self-proclaimed donut connoisseur, approved.

A Frightful 2014 Halloween

Friday night's weather could have been one of the worst on record for a Halloween night.  20 MPH winds, blustery, and....SNOW!!!  Fortunately, we were in good company with our neighbors, and the Clawson's graciously hosted the Halloween party in their garage.

Bryce's costume this year, sadly, was straight out of the box from Amazon.  Kari, on the other hand, enjoyed helping me create her cupcake costume.  I found the idea here.

I was only able to get one short video.  Kari trick-or-treated down one side of the street and called it quits.  Bryce made it up and down both sides of the street, but we didn't venture beyond Windflower. Handing out candy was a much more desirable task Friday night than being outside even though we only had about five groups come to the house.

Camping With The Presbyterians

We wrapped up Year 4 of Camping With The Presbyterians last weekend and called it a success!  This has turned into a really fun weekend for the kids and I to spend some quality time with Gran and Beep Beep at Turkey Run State Park.

The elder Kecklers arrived mid afternoon on Friday to set up the campsite, which had been carefully chosen right next to the playground and far enough away from the bath house to not get extra traffic and noise.  Ben and Cheryl upgraded to a pop-up camper this summer, so camping had an even greater appeal this year for the kids and me.  We arrived close to dinner time, which Cheryl had prepared an old favorite casserole recipe of Kevin's and heated it up on the campfire grates.  It was a simple yet delicious chicken and macaroni dish.  The kids gobbled it up too!  We anticipated a decent rainstorm coming in Friday night, although nothing compared to two years ago when the storm got so bad that we ended up staying a night in the lodge.  Regardless, this one was windy enough and noisy enough to rattle the kids; fortunately we were off the ground and safely stowed in the camper for the evening.

Dinner before the big storm rolled in

The rest of the weekend was perfect camping weather and allowed us to relax by the fire, visit with church friends, play on the playground and take a short hike.  Bryce's favorite part of the weekend, for sure, was riding his bike through all the mud puddles.  I brought four changes of clothes for him (2/day) and wouldn't you know he went through all four before the end of the weekend and we still had to "recycle" an outfit.  Here's why:

Ben would take Bryce over to the water spigot and literally hose off the mud, and clearly Bryce was not a huge fan of this process.

We took a short hike on Trail #7 before getting ready for dinner.  Saturday dinner is a potluck meal over at the tennis shelter.  The camping group as well as some additional church folks will drive in just for the meal.  Cheryl served one of my favorite dishes- Amish pickle salad.  Everyone really enjoyed it. simply because it's so unique.  Gran headed back to Indy for church the next morning.  Biscuits, gravy and a casual church service rounded out the weekend on Sunday morning.

We did a bit more exploring of the campsites again this year and are already eyeing site #36 for future camping.  Exceptionally shady and a bit more private, but I really think Gran and Beep Beep like its proximity to the bathrooms :)  Looking forward to camping again soon!