thanksgiving

we had a fabulous thanksgiving holiday, though i apologize it has taken me almost a week to post on it. astrid came to visit us for the weekend, and it was so NICE to have her here!


















we drove down to gram and pap's for our thanksgiving meal where mamaw, lorrie, scott, kristin and corrie also were also in attendance. we filled ourselves with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and desserts. emma didn't eat much of her meal, though she made it clear to us that she was more than willing to eat more dessert...especially that heaven!


















































later that night, astrid and i went out for a few drinks at the merry arts to celebrate her birthday (which happened to fall on thanksgiving this year!) and have a little girl's night out for the 2 of us. we tried our best to stay away from the popular shopping areas on "black friday", though it was somewhat unavoidable when we had to pick up some grocery items at trader joe's. there were plenty of people out and about ready to spend, along with a few protesters holding up anti-consumerism signs (tell me again how standing around holding up big signs changes things?). we also picked up astrid's totally cute and eco-friendly birthday present started by a gal in the NE ohio area...check out cosmic bobbins.




























we had an enjoyable visit from astrid. emma had lots of fun hanging out with her auntie...giggling, dancing and chatting together...as if she's known her forever. we hope she comes back soon!

"snow bunny"

the top and slippers are new from last weekend...we thought the outfit made her look like a little snow bunny. she loves the slippers, especially since it gets so cold here. the 2nd photo is her on her little rocker trying to figure out why it was vibrating (i turned on the vibrating mechanism).

busy week

sorry there hasn't been a post in a while. we've had a lot going on this past week. i have a little dance recital next month, and i'm trying to get stuff organized. i think i have most everything done except for costumes...and to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!

my niece came for a visit last thursday. she also had an interview at the podiatry school here and she was accepted! hooray! we worked very hard over the weekend to try and sell her on cleveland. we took her to malley's twice (who can resist their delicious sundae topped with whipped cream out of their whip cream machine?) and down the new Steelyard shopping center. the kids scored on some new clothes thanks to ibu. it would be pretty cool to have her in the area.














then on sunday, we had a great "thanksgiving" meal after church. since we the service is held out of the high school cafeteria, we set up the meal there and just pulled a few lunch tables together. aaron and i were in charge of decor and entertainment/games so we had been busy putting stuff together for the celebration. who knew that pin the tail on the turkey would be so much fun for adults?
































astrid is coming in today to visit over the thanksgiving holiday. i'm very excited to see her. it's so great to have visitors, because we enjoy hosting!

field trip tuesday

yesterday, the 4 and 5th graders took a field trip to severance hall to watch the cleveland orchestra perform. he wore his suit...


















the crossing guard girls giggled when they saw him. "he did it! he wore his suit...teehee, teehee."














a girl in his grade checked out his suit in the hallway. "you look niiice."














his buddy alex didn't want to wear a suit because all the girls would be looking at him. tyler's response: "dude, that's why you wear a suit...for the girls!"

good-bye...

my uncle dave passed away last night. it sucks because it happened so suddenly, and you never really got to mentally prepare yourself for the "final" good-bye. he'll be missed...














4 vinje brothers (uncle dave is 2nd from left and my dad is 4th from left)















uncle dave's family (aunt kathy, his 2 sons with their wives, 2 grandkids and one on the way)

tis the season....

...to get presents (kidding). here are this year's links for christmas gift ideas:

tyler (of course, any lego present you give him he'll surely be happy with..doesn't have to be what's on the list)

emma

aaron & prasti (another gift idea for aaron...a tattoo-big surprise, huh?)

these will also be listed under links to your right.

more from asterisk gallery

Family, Cleveland
Originally uploaded by Mike Levy

this photo was taken by local photographer, mike levy, who was attending the children's exhibit from yesterday. originally, he had asked to take a photo of aaron & emma, but then aaron asked him to take a photo of the rest of the fam. since he forgot our camera. is it a faux-pas to ask a professional photographer to take a "non-arty" photo like that? i don't know, but he was still kind enough to do it. check out his flickr site...he's got some great stuff.

mommy's little helper

i need to find her a smaller version or something. that way it will be easier for her to maneuver.

art show fun for kids

while i spent the day teaching and learning how to provide CPR to adults, children and infants, aaron and the kids went to asterisk gallery for a children's show where they had an exhibit of children's artwork. sounded like they had a blast painting and looking at the artwork. tyler got his face painted, and there was a room in the gallery w/ black lights where the face paints would glow in the dark. emma did her very first painted artwork, and also enjoyed looking at the pieces on the wall and tasting the food there. *sigh* i wish i could have been there....i like when we do family outings like these. aaron forgot to bring the camera, so these are photos after they got home.

kids playing instruments

here are a couple of videos of the kiddies playing instruments. the first is of tyler playing his cornet, after about 1 month of band practice (2x/week for 20 minutes). he also practices 20 minutes each day outside of school, and i think it makes a whole lot of difference. the second is of ms. emma playing the piano and singing. it's just too funny.

over the river and through the woods...

...to gram and pap's we went. we had a fabulous lunch there to celebrate pap's birthday. unfortunately, we didn't get any photos of the birthday boy, but here's a few from today (and of course, always more on flickr).

tutu

too tired to comment much...emma in her tutu. she expressed an interest in wearing it today so i put it on her and let her run around in it for a bit.