First major winter storm this season.

We decided to just have a snow day today. All the kids had off from school so we did too. I knew the kids would want to play with their friends on the big snow mounds. In the picture above, Zach is laying down and Sam has the pink coat on. The other two kids are neighbors that pretty much spent the day at my house playing inside and out then had snicker doodles. It was a fun day for the kids.
We were blessed to have our neighbor come over with his truck that had a plow on the front and helped us with the sidewalk. That's right, he used his truck to clear the sidewalk. The snow was so thick and deep snow blowers were not working. He also did the end of our driveway. I love my neighbors! Matt stayed home because his company decided to just close for the day due to the bad weather. So he did shovel the rest of our driveway and help Jeanne (older neighbor lady) with her driveway. When all the snow was finally done falling, we accumulated around 18 inches. Now we have to buckle down and prepare for the upcoming ice storm they are predicting for next week. Never a dull moment in Wisconsin.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving, what can I say. It was a blast as usual. This time we had the added bonus of meeting my new niece, Sydney for the first time. Oh, what a doll. She's such an easy going baby. Well, from my perspective anyway. Though, I don't have to do midnight feedings or chance dirty diapers. I love the age of my children!
Well, my mom and dad, (mostly Mom) hosted Thanksgiving for the whole Prahl side of my extended family. Yeah, their house is too small for that many people. Mom said next year we are all just going to do our individual family. I think, that will workout better for everyone. My mom doesn't need that kind of stress anyway.
The next day, we did the gift exchange for just my family and like usual, my mom refused to follow the gift suggestion list. She had my name this year so I got a griddle (not on the list) but I don't mind. It totally comes in handy for big breakfasts I make for my family. Wow, I didn't realize how great it was to do 6 pancakes at a time instead of one at a time. Enough on my lame excitement for cooking appliances. The kids got more Webkinz from Aunt Laura. Even though I said no toys. Who am I kidding right? They also got pajamas which they really needed. Sam loves her's a little too much. She insists on wearing them every night. Which means they get washed a lot and already have a small hole forming. I will attempt to stitch them soon. I'm no pro with a needle and thread. I got some awesome pictures of my dad getting his gift. His face was hilarious, but I promised him I wouldn't post it on here, sorry folks.
We got to hear all about Jacobs buck that he got during deer hunting. I want to say it was a six pointer. Ugh, I'm sure someone in my family will correct me. See this is what happens when I put blogging off for weeks at a time.

Sydney Mae Marienthal Wheeler

Welcome Sydney Mae Wheeler! She arrived today at 4:04 AM. 7lbs 4 oz. 19 inches long
Congratulations Laura and Jeremy!
Mommy and baby are doing fine.

Halloween 2009

This year Sam went as a black cat and Zach wore His Templar Knight costume he made for his Midevel HIstory class. The kids first stop was Aunt Kiki's door, then it was off to Subway for supper before heading to the Athletic Club for our churches "Autumn Festival". There the kids can play games for candy, see their friends, and have a Bible story time. We love going there every year because it beats walking outside in the cold and asking strangers for candy. Funny that we teach or kids not to do that, then encourage in on Halloween.

When we arrived we found that Sam and her girlfriend Isabelle were both dressed as black cats.
Zach spent most of his night with his Friend Mathew. While the kids played games Matt and I either followed the kids around or hung out with Mathew's dad, Gaylord. Since we are the only people who sign we kinda stick together. Gaylord is one funny guy. He always has a funny story to tell or a joke and he never passes up a moment to tease.
The night ended with a bag full of candy and the kids excitedly talking about what costume they will make for next year. Yes I said "make." We got a sewing machine so we are going to attempt to sew our own costumes for next year. Will update on the process of that next year.

Zach's music lesson

We had a discussion with Zach about the importance of practice. Even on things he already knows, like minus problems. Zach seemed to be having a tough time grasping the idea that practice is a good thing and is helpful. So Matt, takes him over to the keyboard and shows him how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" while Sam and I watch. Matt shows Zach several times how to play the beginning of the song. Then Zach gives it a try. Once he got the beginning, Matt proceeds to show Zach more of the chords. Which Zach finds difficult to put together with the first part of the song. Thus illustrating Matt's point that in order to get the song done right he would have to practice a lot. Sam looks at me and whispers "he's not getting it." Meaning the song, because Zach was still not able to do the song right. But we didn't care because that was not the point of the exercise. So Zach leaves the keyboard and Sam rushes in and starts to play the song perfectly after only watching Matt and Zach play it over and over again. I look and Matt and we both start laughing. Matt was better able to compose himself, but I had to excuse myself into the living room because I was busting a gut laughing. Of course she would get it right the first time without even practicing! I'm just glad she didn't turn around and say "see Zach I don't need to practice."

Sam and Lily

This past summer has bared witness to the development of a wonderful friendship between Sam and the neighbor girl, Lily. We've live here for 3 years and occasionally saw this little blond girl across the street by Jeanne's house. Jeanne is an older woman that doesn't have any young children at home anymore and her grandchildren live farther away. One day I was visiting Jeanne and this little girl came over and ask if she could use the swing set. I didn't know Jeanne had a swing set so Jeanne invited the kids to join lily on the swing set and that was it; Sam and Lily instantly bonded! Lily is a year younger than Sam and a sweet polite child. We like to say that Lily is Sam's blond twin! They are like sisters. They can have a fight, then forgive and forget so quickly. I sometimes watch the two of them playing and know that one day they will look back on these warm summer days with fondness. Jeanne says she just knows they will be live long friends. I hope she is right.
It's great to watch them say good bye. They are a reminder of how we should cherish one another. They always hug and say they love one another. If you were to witness this for the first time, you would think they weren't going to see each other for months or years. And then the next day, there Lily would be again at our front door.

Labor Day weekend camping trip at Lake Emily

So here is the camp site for Lake Emily. It was beautiful and couldn't ask for better weather! This site is clean the bathrooms are actually decent! the rent-a-site that we were in was really large and we had 3 families on it with room to spare. the kids had this one area that they mainly used for playing light saber fights. The camp grounds have these great big shower rooms that you can sit in. There was also a bird of prey presentation that was super cool! They guy had a live hawk, owl and a turkey vulture with him. All of them were at one time hit by cars, but where rescued and now used for this educational program. I wasn't able to see the presentation because I was dealing with buying firewood and reorganizing our tent. So, all the above info I received from my kids.
Pictured below is our tent and it's kinda hard to tell, but the lake is behind us just beyond the trees. We woke up every morning to this magnificent view.

We had a great time at the lake. Of course getting to and from the lake meant trekking up and down some major stairs. Quite the work out, but totally worth it!

We rented a boat and John took the boys fishing. Zach is laying down against Caleb in his blue hat. He looks totally relaxed. He later told me he got a nibble but didn't catch anything.
To my surprise the kids were not freaked out by minnows in the lake. They actually chased them!
And then to top off the vacation we celebrated Nathan's 2nd birthday with cupcakes! Doesn't get any better than this.I don't know if we will return next year but, at least we can catalog this vacation for the most part a positive. We did have one hiccup on our last night of camping. I won't got in to details of exactly what happened. But, basically we had 2 sleeping bags that we were not able to use. So the kids had to sleep in the back of Jenny's van with a thermal blanket and some other blankets were were able to scrounge up. It all worked out in the end.