Amber Turns 6!

Happy Birthday Amber!

Amber turned 6 this year (though we've only been talking about her party for four months).

There was plenty of excitement when we woke up Saturday morning.

The big news is that she got her very first pedal bike!

After breakfast we took it for a spin.

You should see her face when she is riding and her hair is blowing in the wind.

Saturday was only part of the celebration.  The real party was Sunday afternoon.  Amber ordered hamburgers (and no green vegetables).

All of a sudden, a party-favor war broke out!

I love this kid's smile

Happy birthday Amber!  You are such a creative, kind and generous little girl.  I love it when you are coloring and making things as gifts to bless your friends and family - oh the joy it gives you when you get to give a package to someone.  You are my crazy/silly one.  I had no idea you could be so silly until you came home from school talking about the things you did with your classmates.  The friends you will make at school are in for a treat when they get to know you.  Your teachers are going to love your curious mind and your sweet spirit.

Love Daddy

Taryn Turns 3!

 Happy Birthday, Taryn!!

Let's celebrate with chocolate chip/cocoa pancakes with bacon.

Taryn, you have a unique gift of sliding into people's laps.  In one minute, no Taryn; all the sudden there's a Taryn cosy-ing up and making herself at home. 

It cracks me up when you come down in the morning with a huge smile on your face and announce "It's Me!" and then go to the art-table for a snack.

 

 

I love how you sing with reckless abandon.  Your ability to jump two octaves without breaking a sweat astounds me.  Mommy can testify how I fell down laughing hearing you sing 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight' in high C (I still laugh whenever I think of it). 

You are a little girl full of empathy and concern for others.  You have a sensitive soul and a kind heart.  Your smile is disarming and charming and can melt the hardest of hearts. 

 

You are a funny girl.  Not only are you very clever, you have also mastered the art of dead-pan.  I remember asking you one evening if you were a cow.  You looked at me from the couch, said 'No' and went on with what you were doing.  Oh, I laughed.

 

Taryn, we love you.  You will always be our wee-lass from the Home Land. 

Office and Dining Room Makeover

 The COVID shut-in is lasting longer than anticipated (says everyone everywhere).  For us, it meant converting our guestroom/office to an office (with a guestroom).  

The card-table just wasn't doing it for us as a long-term solution...

...and the bed was taking over a lot of space.  

So, let's take out the bed, paint the room and rearrange our office space.

Instead of blah-white, we chose a green-ish teal and repainted the ceiling (which was also blah-white).

We are really pleased with our new digs.  Working there will be much more pleasant.  Phase 2 is building and installing a Murphy-bed.  Stay tuned...

Since we were on a painting role, we decided to finish the dining room.  It took a few sample pots to get it right be we really like how it turned out.

Taryn's First Haircut

 We took this picture of Taryn's amazing hair back in May 2020.  Fast forward to January 2021 and you can imagine the unruly length of baby wisp going on.  It was time for a haircut.

I took this 'before' photo right before we left for her haircut.  It doesn't quite capture her need for a cut, but it's still a cute picture.

It was fun to see what car Taryn would choose.  I thought she might go for the fire truck but she chose the black muscle-car hot-rod with flames.  Taryn did not waiver in her opinion.  Whoa little girl.

When asked what movie she would like to see she chose "Cinderella" without a second thought.  She was a great little client.  She only refused the hair dryer because of the noise. 

And she chose a yellow balloon at the end.

Here is our little princess now.

Christmas Tour of our Home

 Merry Christmas!

In the year of Covid we are unable to show off our Christmas decorations like we want.  Instead of a private tour, we will host a virtual tour.  Welcome!

I was able to sneak this one in because there are Christmas cookie cutters on the counter.

First stop on our tour is our 7' noble fir.  We acquired and decorated it a week after the other decorations so we had to wait *patiently* for it.  Or, as Amber constantly asked 'When are we going to get our tree?!!!'

Amber is being extremely care with ornaments this year.  Last year when we set up the tree, Amber broke four ornaments (one that I really valued) with in five minutes of getting the tree up.  Apparently, our admonishment dug deep.

Next up is our mantle.  Not only are we displaying our new stocking holder that Sandi and Amber picked out, we are proudly showing off Sandi's new stocking.  Mom made it for her so we could have a complete family set.

Sandi grew up decorating the stairs with garland and lights.  It's nice to have a house with stairs to decorate.

In the dining room we have a beautiful Christmas village all lit up... 

Taryn!  What are you doing?  Back to bed! (Sorry about that.)

... and a beautiful old nativity set.  Growing up, Sandi was in charge of setting up the nativity set.  It was fun for her to do it again so many years later.  

It took less than a minute for Amber to change it all and cram EVERYTHING inside the barn.  We got her to relax the building code a little and let a few animals out so we could see baby Jesus.

  

In the living room, our piano is very festive.  It not only plays Christmas, it displays Christmas.

 Last, but not least is our little rustic winter scene.

We hope you enjoyed our virtual tour.  It's too dark outside to show our porch.  We decked the pillars in red and white lights for a candy-cane effect and hung large Christmas balls between the pillars.  

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Trick or Treat!

 

Sandi and I (like all parents) were wondering how to give our kids a good Halloween during a pandemic.  Fortunately our church hosted a harvest party in the early evening.  Both got a large bag of candy and it was fun to see all the costumes.  Then we headed over to Sandi's parents for an all-family sleepover. 

A cute little bumblebee and a charming little princess

Sandi's mom got into the spirit by dressing up as a witch and sending candy down her front porch in a cardboard tube.  We were all impressed.  

After a dinner of chili (a Reimer Halloween tradition) with all the fixin's, we took the girls for a walk around the neighborhood to see all the spooky houses. As a bonus, about a dozen houses were handing out candy.  One house went ALL in by creating a front-yard haunted-house.  The experience, capped off by a blue moon, was quite impressive.
 

We also marked the occasion by having the girls sleep in the same room together.  Taryn's only concern was that we leave the door opened a little so she could get out (even though Amber promised to let her out if she needed).  Bummer for Amber that we promised her a roommate all night long and she wouldn't have to be alone.  Taryn, however, had no allegiance to her new roomie and wandered downstairs before Sandi and I went to bed.  Oh was Amber distressed.  I think we will have them share a room occasionally at home so it is a better experience for everyone when we travel.

Final note unrelated to Halloween: the weekend happened to fall on Standard Time weekend were we gain an hour of sleep.  What a miserable idea!  Kids don't know or care about the extra hour of sleep.  It just produces the LONGEST day of the year because kids are tired, parents could give a rip about extra daylight and bedtime on Sunday can't come soon enough.

Pumpkin Patch

We picked a beautiful Sunday morning in early October to visit the pumpkin patch.  

Taryn was really into it and wanted to pull the wagon.  

There was lots to choose from

The girls helped carry out booty back to the car.

We love decorating our porch in autumn (and think we have the best non-Halloween display on our block)

Both Amber and Taryn picked out their pumpkins