You're Never Too Young for a Good Snow Mobile Ride!

With a fresh blanket of snow, comes a husband who loves to make tracks in it... he just can't resist! So needless to say our yard shows the evidence of a snow mobile lover... and with 5 snow mobiles it probably will for the rest of the winter! Jon was just itching to give Alia her FIRST ride!!
All bundled up and ready to go...

Wondering what in the world she's gotten herself into!

A before picture - it was a wee *cough* *cough* bit *cough* smoky... old gas apparently!

One successful ride under her belt and lots more to come. If she takes a liking to the snow mobile as much as she has to the lawn mower, "Ya better get ready Daddy!"

"Helping"

Ya know how I mentioned Alia LOVES to help... well the "helping" never ceases! Especially when there's yummy cake involved!





As I was putting it in the oven Alia kept signing, and saying for extra emphasis, "Please, please, please!!!" Ohhh, this girl... she keeps the day interesting!!!

Break Out the Sleigh

It's the time of year again... the white stuff has fallen and we're livin' in a winter wonderland. Since Alia had her "new" snowsuit to debut I decided to take her for a sleigh ride. By the time she woke up from her nap the streets had become a wee bit muddy, but we bravely pressed on!
And we're off...

She's absolutely lovin' it... and I'm trying to avoid slipping in my really slippery winter boots (I'm on the hunt for new ones, don't worry!) and to avoid pot holes filled to the brink with muddy grossness! I'll admit, it wasn't quite the sleigh ride I envisioned in my head!

She was always trying to touch the snow over the side!

Mmmm, snow...

So... even though it wasn't quite what I had planned, we still had a great time! We stopped by to see the horses (which were gorgeous in the fresh snow!), got a good dose of cool crisp air, and laughed a lot together! Simply put... I would walk through lots more mud puddles just to see Alia's sweet smiles of delight!

Our little Mozart

As I was putting all of our videos and pictures on a seperate hard drive yesterday, I found this video that I forgot about! I had meant to post it but just got side tracked with other things... imagine that! Anyhow, it brings a smile to my day...

The First Annual Kreiser Harvest/Fall/We're Thankful party!!

That's right... we decided to start a new tradition at our place! We hosted the first annual harvest/fall/we're thankful party! We wanted to give God the glory for all He's done for us, celebrate with our closest friends, and have one last outdoor shin dig before winter comes.
Overall it went pretty good! I could have been more prepared when people showed up (I was convinced to go on a quick galavant to our town like 45 min. before the party started... next year I won't be so easily convinced!) but now I know, eh?!

Our menu consisted of chili, cornbread, buns, pickles, chips, carrot sticks, jalepeno bites, ham sandwiches (for the kiddos), brownies for dessert, and marshmallows for the bonfire. Next year I won't be making so much chili (we had over 2 gallons left!) but Jon has been as happy as can be with chili every meal, so if he's happy... I'm happy!



We just set up some tables in the garage and I kept decorations to a minimum... so it was nice and simple!





Jon was in charge of setting up the pumpkin obstacle course and he totally out did himself! It was SO fun! (Sorry the pictures are pretty bad... between a not so great camera and it getting really dark, really fast.. they are a little hard to see!)

The course had 4 obstacles with various points at each post. The goal was to accumulate the highest score per couple to be the champions of the evening!
Obstacle 1 - Try to toss mini pumpkins into various compartments in a ladder on the ground. 3 points for the middle 2 compartments, 2 points for the rear 3 compartments, and 1 point for the first 3 compartments.


Obstacle 2 - Try to roll a pumpkin up the plank and make it land on the crate. 3 points for landing it on the crate, 1 point if it went in the crate following the platform, 5 points if you took out the "Santa, please stop here!" sign.

Obstacle 3 - Pumpkin curling. 3 points for landing in the center, 2 points for landing on the next row of shingles, and 1 point for landing between the 2nd and 3rd row of shingles.

Obstacle 4 - Try to roll the pumpkin up the ramp, hit the tire, and make it stop on the "Road Closed" sign. 3 points for landing on the sign. 1 point if the pumpkin was touching the sign.


And then... to weed out the weak from the strong.... bobbing for apples, baby!!
I have to say, it was hilarious!! Here is one of the littlest competitors of the evening...
And here's Jon... giving it all he's got!


Alia was quite disturbed at the sight of apples being treated this way, but once we sat her down, and gave her her own apple... she was calmed enough to enjoy the evening!

The grand champions for the evening were Zach and Jen... so we'll see if they can defend their reign at next year's games!

Ready for SNOW!

Alia and Jon are ready, that is! I could do without one flake of the white stuff ALL winter and be happy as a lark.

But... since we live in Canada, and since winter is bound to come, I decided to get Alia's snow gear ready. I bought her a new snowsuit last year in prep for this winter... but upon our debut fitting, realized it would be WAY too big and there's no chance of it fitting her over the next 5 months. (So our clothes saga continues...)

Thankfully a friend from our church called and asked if I would want her daughter's outgrown clothes. I said "absolutely" and in the bag there was a snowsuit and a brand new pair of snow boots for Alia, which were the perfect size I might add! My, what a blessing!

Alia had a ball waddling around in her chunky pants and even tried to help me fold clothes with her mittens on! I'm hoping she is this excited when it comes time to don her new attire! Jon is tuning up the snowmobiles as I speak (or type, whatever!)... and if I know my daughter... and I do... she will LOVE going for snowmobile rides! Now we just need to find her a cute little pair of snow goggles!!

As for me... I prefer a snowsuit over a bathing suit anyday. So I guess I should be thankful I live in Canada (where it's winter for at least 5 months out of the year) vs. Florida or Mexico or Arizona or something!

These two...

are just the best of buds! And... I love it!

My little helper

Alia has gotten to the age where she wants to help... with EVERYTHING! Whether I'm folding laundry, doing dishes, tidying up around the house, cooking, dusting, making the bed, grocery shopping, or putting on my deodorant... she wants to be right in on the action! I have actually starting giving her a microfiber cloth while I'm cleaning... she might as well really be dusting as she "pretends"!

Well, the other day I wanted to get a start on canning tomatoes, and she, of course, pushed up her chair to join me. I honestly thought she would just be in the way, but she handed me tomatoes and actually held her weight pretty good!


It's taken me a bit of time to come to this point ... but I have really enjoyed this time of bonding for us! Doing dishes might never be as quick and "painless" as it once was (in Alia's aftermath there's usually puddles of water and countless silverware that has been licked, re-washed, and licked again...) but it's a time that we'll never get back, and I'm going to enjoy it while I can!

Dominoes

My wonderful friend from Germany spoils us with letters, chocolate, trinkets, candy and other goodies from her home country on a regular basis. Since the arrival of Alia, Franzi tends to not only spoil Jon & I, but her as well! In her last package Franzi included a set of wooden dominoes with pictures of planes, cars, trucks, buses, etc. to match up! It was SO thoughtful of her, and Alia just LOVES them! She'll sit on the floor matching the pieces and taking them in/out of the box for a good amount of time... giving me the chance to make supper without tripping over a little person - so we're both thrilled!

Apple thief

For some reason we didn't get as many apples this fall as in previous years. Usually people are all but begging to get rid of apples due to their massive overload. Needless to say, I won't be making apple pies this year (we still have like 8 in the freezer from the last go around... so I'm sure we'll survive!) and the apples we did get weren't around very long.

We had a little apple "thief" in the the house!

I'll give ya one good guess as to who that might be...

She's short, blond haired, giggly, can run faster than one would assume - and when caught, she has the cutest little smile that will make even the toughest of tough melt to a puddle!

The cool factor

Look at this girl...

she's cool and she knows it!

Last Summer Hoo-Rah!

So my best friend and I decided to load up the chillin's and head to another friend's house about 1 1/2 hours away. We stopped by Tim Horton's for a massive box of Tim Bit's (for added measure) and were on the road! The trip there was pretty uneventful with 2 of the 3 chillin's dozing off, as per our plan!


We enjoyed some great conversation, a grand feast of a lunch, and then headed off to the splash park in town to cool off a bit. My oh my.... was it ever FUN! Our small town is getting a splash park this spring and I had my doubts... but after spending an hour or so at this one - I'm practically counting down the days!!!






The trip home had maybe 3 minutes of peace and quiet with my little darling doing most of the screaming (not my fondest moment of her!), but since we are crazy, and in desperate need of adult conversation, we'll probably load up the chillin's in a few months for another trip! Don't worry... we've smartened up a little and next time we'll save enough Tim Bits for the ride home... a few doughnuts will keep anybody quiet!