Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for just general fun
Fun with Ry Ry
Ryan stayed over last night, and the kids were so excited to see him this morning. Ben wrestled and wrestled with him, and to Ryan’s credit, he just let it happen. It actually brought back so many memories of me playing with Ryan when he was that age. Ben reminds me of him so much. I can still hear Ry Ry shouting, “Wrestle!” as we rolled around on the floor, and then this morning it’s like I was reliving the past as I heard Ben shouting the same thing. It was awesome.
The kids are lucky to have a cousin like Ryan. Although it’s tough having him so much older than Ben & Emma, he really seems excited to be a part of their lives, and they will certainly learn a lot from him. If our kids turn out to be like Ryan, we would be very fortunate parents.
Our first Christmas party
Although seeing Santa would make for a very full day for us, we weren’t done. The Atherton family was having a holiday get-together at Bob & Marla’s in Earlville, so we headed North from State Farm to attend. Ry Ry hadn’t planned on attending, but at the last minute he got a ride over to Normal and hopped in with us. Grandma Judy and Nancy were surprised to see him when we got there. They were both so excited that he came with us, that I think we scored big-time brownie points bringing him! 
The most unfortunate part of the evening was when Emma barfed all over herself while we were eating. I think that she just gagged because she’s been coughing some today, but regardless of why it was pretty gross. Thank goodness we had thrown jammies into the diaper bag…her cute Christmas outfit was covered in vomit and she had to be changed. As usual, she recovered fine, and had a really good time with all the kids. Ben struggled to deal with Digger, Bob & Marla’s dog, most of the night. But a couple of the older kids were big helpers with Ben. Reiss, my cousin Lisa’s 8th grade daughter, finally got Ben to pet Digger a couple of times, and he wasn’t freaking out quite so much when Digger would run by. The poor kid is just scared of dogs, and as much as he doesn’t want to, he just is.
We certainly don’t see that side of my family often enough anymore. It was fun to visit with my cousins and it was definitely great to see Grandma Jane. It had been way too long since we had. She looked great, by the way, and seemed to be pretty coherent tonight. It’s difficult for her when there’s a large crowd, but at least she knew my kids, which was great for me. Even though it made for a very busy day, the party was fun and I was glad we went. It’s nice to keep the family together as much as possible.
Santa!
Today was Santa day, and it pretty much went exactly as I thought it would. About three days ago, Ben started saying that he didn’t want to talk to Santa. You could hear in his voice that he was not going to be talked into this. He did not. want. to talk. to Santa. So Dave and I thought we would have him write a note, and maybe when we got there he’d change his mind. Wishful thinking, but one can always hope.
Just before we were ready to go, I asked Ben to come help me with a note
for Santa. He was way more into the Christmas show we had on, and really didn’t even want to do it, but I insisted, and he finally half-heartedly dictated to me. He even signed his own name, although I’ve seen him write it so much better before. Like I said, he was very distracted by his show. I got Emma all dressed up in her Christmas outfit and she loved it. In direct contrast to Ben, she was dancing all over the kitchen and was so excited to go. We were all set. Ryan ended up coming with us, because we were going to a family Christmas party afterwards and he was riding with us. So off we went to State Farm to see the big guy himself.
When we got there Ben started in right away insisting that he didn’t want to talk to Santa. 
I tried to get a few pictures of the kids at all of the photo spots while Dave was in line, but as usual both of them were pretty wild running to each one like maniacs. At least I got one very cute shot at the fireplace, though, so I was relatively happy with that. That atrium is a crazy place on Santa Day, so I can’t really expect them to be calm when they’re so excited and around lots and lots of other wild kids.
Finally we were next in line. Ben was behind me and didn’t even want to hand his letter to Santa, so I finally convinced him to hand it to the elf who was helping. After that, he hid behind me the entire time…most of it with his head buried beneath my sweater. Meanwhile, Emma walked right up, sat on Santa’s lap
, told him she wanted “a toy” and then posed for her picture beautifully. She loved it! Santa did read Ben’s note while we were still standing there, so at least Ben was pleased to know that Santa knew where to leave his gifts.
I shouldn’t say that I knew exactly what would happen with Santa, because Emma actually surprised me. I figured as soon as she actually got close to Santa she would chicken out, too. I should have known she would talk to him, though. She told me she would do it, and when that little girl makes her mind up about something, not much changes it!
Mmm…steak…
Tonight we partook in one of our favorite winter traditions…going to Alexander’s for steak. We went with our friends Buck and Amy, and it was a really enjoyable night out. The reason I call this a winter tradition is because at Alexander’s you grill your own steak. They have giant brick enclosed grills that are constantly hot, and you get to pick your own piece of meat and cook it the way you like it. In addition, they have a big pan of potatoes all wrapped in foil, loaves and loaves of Texas toast, and a giant vat of butter with brushes so you can add as much or as little to both items. Add to that the many seasonings that sit around the grill and you really end up with a seriously good meal. To be honest, none of this is that fun in the summer heat. But in the winter, there is something about standing around a giant grill holding a cold beer that works. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend you visit one soon.
Making treats
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making Christmas cookies and candy. Now it’s something I look forward to even more since both of the kids love to help. Tonight we started with something very easy, the circle pretzel treats. In case you’re not familiar with these, it’s a very simple recipe…you lay circle pretzels out on a cookie sheet, put one Rolo or Hershey Kiss (I really like the candy cane kisses) inside it, pop it in the oven for a very short time, top each one with a Christmas colored M&M to squish it down into the pretzel, and then let them cool. They are super simple, super cute, and very yummy.
Both Ben and Emma were very serious about helping. Basically all they did was unwrap candy and set it in the pretzels, but it was enough for them. They were super excited. Shockingly, though, the next night after dinner, neither one of them really liked the treat they got for dessert. Go figure…my crazy kids!
I’m sure we’ll make much more before we’re done, but it was definitely fun and helped me get into the Christmas spirit even more tonight!
The finished product
I’ll admit that I was worried about decorating the tree this year. The kids were so excited to help and I knew they’d go at it full force with no regard to ornament placement at all. Anyone who knows me knows that this would be difficult for me. I love decorating the tree, and part of that is finding the perfect spot for each ornament. But when you’re two or four, it’s all about getting as many ornaments on the tree as quickly as possible in an area you can reach. Obviously we have very different approaches, which is a challenge.
Happily, though, I found that I could relax and let the kids hang their ornaments wherever they wanted. We had so much fun sorting through all of the ornaments…each one bringing back so many memories. The kids especially liked seeing the ones with pictures of them as infants. Emma couldn’t quite understand that the cute little baby was her. We kind of worked as a team…Dave was at the tree helping and I was at the ornament box pulling things out a little more carefully than they would have. As they hung more and more (most of them on the same few branches, of course) 
we all just had more and more fun. I will admit that we had to move several of the ornaments to other branches later, but the kids didn’t really notice, so they were satisfied and proud that they did it all by themselves. It was so awesome to watch them have so much fun doing this. I was happy I could let them!
We had such a great time, and we ended up with a gorgeous tree again.
Sycamore or bust
We made a quick trip to Sycamore…went up yesterday, and came back this afternoon. It was so good to visit Grandma and Grandpa…The kids had been there earlier in the fall, but I hadn’t been up there in forever!
The kids and I got there about 11:00, just in time for me to hop in with Rod and Ryan to go to DeKalb for one of Curtis’s basketball games. C plays on the Freshman team, and they had a tournament all weekend. I was glad that I got to go to the game. It’s one of those things that I used to do all the time in my old Sycamore life, so it was nice to be able to be at one of the boys’ events again. Curtis got some playing time, and they even won the game!
While the grownups were at the game, Grandma, Brett, Ben & Emma all decorated Grandma and Grandpa’s tree. Since they’re leaving for Florida on the 10th, it is a very small tree, but at least they have one. Grandpa told Grandma earlier this week, “We’ve had a real tree for 49 years…we’re not going to miss a year now!” So he went and got a little tree and set it up so they would not miss out on having some Christmas spirit in their house.
After the game, everyone went to Grandma & Grandpa’s house and we ordered pizza and had birthday cake for Grandpa. Of course my kids were very into that. They’re suckers for a rousing version of “Happy Birthday”. Most of all, though, they had so much fun playing with their cousins. It’s getting more and more fun being with the entire family now that the kids are getting older. Even Emma joined in with some of the games we were playing. Of course, “Little Miss Me Too” couldn’t do a lot of the things Ben could, and that was frustrating to her. But it’s definitely getting easier to keep them both entertained.
It was a fun trip, although short trip. When we left today, Ben said, “I wish we could stay at Grandma Judy’s longer, because there’s a lot of stuff we didn’t do yet!” I had to smile at that one. I’m pretty sure he’d feel that way even if we had been there a week. There’s always fun stuff to do at Grandma Judy’s.
I didn’t really think about it when we left this afternoon, but today may have been the last time we’re at Grandma & Grandpa’s house until next spring. Each year I think it will get easier to have them gone for the entire winter, but so far it hasn’t. I’m pretty sure it never will.
Another warm Saturday=neighborhood fun
It was gorgeous outside again today, which is crazy considering it’s November. But we certainly took advantage of it, and we spent almost the entire afternoon outside playing. In the summer, we play outside almost every night with our neighborhood friends. But those days are becoming fewer and far between, so it was great to spend so much time with them again.
The biggest attraction today was sidewalk chalk. All of the kids were totally into it. They drew words, they scribbled big sections of colors, and they drew pictures. I even joined in, because let’s face it…there’s not much better than drawing with sidewalk chalk on a warm fall afternoon. The kids were all covered with chalk, and it was a really awesome afternoon. Hopefully this warm weather will hold on so we can stretch fall out a little bit longer.
Ali’s birthday party
Ali is truly one of our kids’ best friends, and tonight we got to celebrate her fourth birthday with her and a lot of other friends. We were at All About Fun in Danvers, IL, which is a big building that has inside it a bouncy house, an air hockey table, a fooseball table, tricycles, hippity hops, chalkboards, and an apparently endless supply of little plastic balls to throw around aimlessly. The place is awesome. Needless to say, everyone had so, so, so much fun.
There’s really no better way to describe the night than with the pictures
I was snapping like a madwoman. I took a million of them, but I think this one sums the night really well. You can’t get the full impression of the place, but the kids all pretty much had the same expressions at all times…one of pure joy!
My favorite picture of the night, though, is this one. It was taken while we were all singing to Ali, and I absolutely love the look being shared by her and Ben. When I saw it on my camera, I said to Ali’s mom, “Look, we can use this on their engagement announcement!” We always call them an old married couple, anyway.
We all had so much fun at that party. It’s really cool seeing Ben and Emma play with and care about their friends. It’s really the start of a phase I am looking forward to…getting to know the kids they choose to be their friends.
Halloween fun
The weather made us nervous all week, but luckily it pretty much cooperated in order for us to have a very fun Halloween night. It was a tad bit chilly, but thankfully the rain finally stopped.
We started the night with pizza, and Grandma & Grandpa Kerber joined us first. Then Aunt Theresa came, and finally Auntie M, Salina, and Bella rounded out our group. It didn’t take anyone long to finish eating…the anticipation of trick-or-treating was on the forefront of everyone’s mind. 
So after we ate we changed into our costumes (which luckily were big enough to leave room for a couple of extra layers underneath) and headed out. Ben the panther, Emma the lion and Bella as Magenta the dog made up our costumed group. 
Since Auntie M and Salina both came with us, the adults outnumbered the kids for once, which is never a bad thing!
We started down the street and the kids were into it right away. Emma had not napped this afternoon, so after only a couple of houses, she was getting droopy and was pretty far behind.
But Ben was very patient with both of the little girls. He would wait out on the sidewalk and I can’t remember him complaining once. After about 40 minutes of trick-or-treating both of the girls were ready to head in. Neither of them really knew what any of the candy was in the first place, and they were pooped from walking. Plus, Bella had other stops to make, so Auntie M and Salina were off.
Ben, however, was still ready to go. So Dave took him around one more block. Needless to say, his pumpkin was very heavy by the time they got home a half hour later. He was so excited about some of the things in there. It was too funny. By this time Grandma & Grandpa had gone home, but Aunt Theresa still had a bag of goodies for the kids. They both loved opening these, and we had to have just one more treat before bed.
Both kids had so much fun trick-or-treating. 
We ran into almost all of our neighborhood friends and saw some pretty cool Halloween houses. While Halloween is certainly not my favorite holiday, I have to admit that a smile came to my face on more than one occasion tonight. There’s not much more you can ask than that.
Oh wait, icing on the cake…the Illini football team beat Michigan tonight, too! Woo HOO!!
