Our Year in Review

Holiday picture taking, December 2009

Family Camping Trip, July 2009

As we prepare to send out our Christmas card, actually a day or 2 prior to Christmas for a change, we wanted to update our blog with a look back over 2009. This year has led us to feel more settled into our home- even leading to an almost finished house project! What an accomplishment that has been! We have officially significantly redone all but 3 rooms of our now 6 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom, 103 year old home. This year has included refinishing the kitchen floor, adding a main floor laundry, a major remodel of the main floor guest bedroom with addition of a guest bathroom, and the addition of new stairs to the basement along with demolition of the old stairs. In our opinion, the nearly finished product is beautiful! We are also more than thrilled to have now refinanced and completed our construction loan within the last month- a 3 year project that has been well worth it (or at least we can say that now looking back at it)! Here are a few highlights...

Front view of house
Back view of house
Remodeled guest bedroom
New guest bathroom
Tiling laundry roomRefinished kitchen floor
'Reading Room'
Front Entry

In addition to our house, we have enjoyed many other gifts during 2009. Kyle has begun a few new career paths this year. First, he is now working with a friend from church on a new endeavor, Prairie Creek Seed. They are still working out all the details as to who will have what responsibilities. For now, Kyle is working on the website and the bookkeeping aspects. In addition to this new venture, Kyle began a coaching position at Cascade High School as the assistant varsity boys basketball coach. This has definitely been a positive addition and is keeping him quite busy with daily practice and 2-3 games per week from Dec.-Feb. He continues to serve as the chairperson of the Trustees committee at church as well as technician, preparing the weekly powerpoint and running the computer during each service.

I continue to work as an elementary principal, in charge of 2 buildings. Both kids now attend the larger of the 2 in Cascade. My job keeps me busy and is such a delight. I am blessed to be able to be surrounded by people excited about learning every day. I get to work with kids and adults. Never yet have I come home and said that my day was boring! I think it helps keep me learning and keeps me a kid at heart. In addition, I will take on the responsibility of the chairperson for the worship committee at church in the upcoming year.

Cade is now in 2nd grade. He still has similar loves- reading, climbing trees, snow skiing, and playing with/teasing his sister. This year he was able to also discover his love for cave exploration and expand his sense of adventure on a few nature hikes along the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. He also spent time during the past year playing soccer for the 3rd season, added flag football to his list of sports, and played his second season of baseball. In addition, he enjoys playing kickball in our yard or at recess and building anything from snow! We are finding that Cade is pretty quiet and thoughtful, often surprising us with new facts he has read or ideas he has dreamed up. He is an amazing combination of his dad, his Uncle Chad, and his Uncle Scott. So far, this seems to be a pretty good mix!

Football in the yard
Rock climbing at Backbone State Park
Hanging out admiring the Mississippi
Mines of Spain
Cave Exploration
Maquoketa Caves
Hanging out in Wilbur's kennel
Yes, he put himself in there!

Morgan began her career in the same school building as her mom and brother this fall.

First day of school, Pre-K 2009

She is in a fabulous Pre-Kindergarten class, which leaves her daily with LOTS of new songs and stories! She seems to be friends with all the kids in her class. Trying to select a few kids to celebrate her birthday with her was a challenge because the list changed EVERY time we asked her! A few of her favorites are singing, dancing, playing dress up (especially with make-up and jewelry), being read to and starting to read a little on her own, helping around the house (YEAH!), and playing with Wilbur (the family dog). As for who Morgan takes after- well so far she certainly exhibits the same level of energy and fire that I apparently did as a child. Maybe more of her dad will take over as she gets older?!?

Our helpful little girl mopping
(notice the kitchen floor before being refinished!)
Her next job- dishesShowing off for the camera during a hike along the Mississippi River Some 'girlie' relaxation- pedicures with Mom
No photo shoot is complete without Wilbur!

We pray that this year has been a blessing for each of you as it truly has been for our family! We thank God for his hand in our lives throughout 2009! We will leave you with one final smile to spread a little holiday cheer...

Finishing up our holiday photo shoot, December 2009

Merry Christmas to all!

Surprise Visit

Last Sunday the kids were delighted by a surprise visit from Grandpa and Grandma Brouwer. Although they were only able to come for the day (quite the drive for a short visit) it was a day filled with smiles! Here are a few for you to enjoy as well.

Birthday Girl

This year Morgan had the never ending birthday celebration filled with parties, gifts, and LOTS of sugar- all of which she seemed to think were perfectly fine for a proud 5 year old! The birthday event began with a Thanksgiving celebration with the Fikse family, enjoyed along with Morgan's cousin Laura who recently turned 2, some wonderful new girlie clothes and jewelry, and some delicious cupcakes with sprinkles provided by Aunt Lynnette at Morgan's request.
Her next party, complete with an extremely chocolatey cake, was enjoyed with our family during a snow day that kindly fell on her birthday.
Two days later, we headed with 3 of her friends from school for an evening of playing at McDonald's and then home for more gifts, cake, and ice cream.

The next day brought the kids church program and a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Brouwer, a complete surprise for the kids when they saw them enter the sanctuary that morning. Of course we needed to have another birthday celebration- complete with more gifts, cake and ice cream!

I think her birthday is now complete following a final celebration at school yesterday since she hadn't been back following the snow day Thursday and no PK class on Fridays. She got to wear a crown for the day and pass out her birthday treats, Little Debbie cakes because we haven't had NEARLY enough cake lately. Thank you to all who helped to make her birthday celebration sweet and memorable!

We are now on a sugar ban at our house from now until Christmas- mostly for my sake!

A Musical Manger Mystery

This past weekend we had the delightful and proud experience of watching our kids perform in the church Christmas program. Needless to say, we were beaming! It was adorable! Each of them had a part in the performance along with joining in the singing. I'm including their lines and a few pictures- not nearly as cute as the real thing, but hopefully it will make you smile anyway!!! Cade is the fuzzy yellow/orange duck in the back right and Morgan is the chicken in the front right.

Cade (duck): As ducks you may think that we're all wet,
but there is something we just can't forget.
If we're going to see the baby, then presents we must bring.
But what should we bring to this precious little thing?

Morgan (chicken): As a chicken I don't mean to peck on you today,
but you'll have egg on your face if you have it your way.
We should give the baby a feather bed,
and a special feather pillow for his little head.

2 chickens: We chicks promise we won't make a peep.

A huge thanks to Dad and Mom Brouwer for making the long trip just for the day on Sunday! They agreed it was worth the trip- plus they had the chance to come back to our house for a few hours and enjoy one final birthday celebration with Morgan (which I'll include in my next post). Hopefully they still thought it was worth the trip during their sleep deprived 6 hr. drive back home!

Family Field Trip

During Thanksgiving break we had the opportunity to enjoy an afternoon field trip to the lock and dam and a trip through the Christmas light display with my parents. When we arrived a barge was just getting ready to lock through. Although this field trip was a little less exciting for the kids than the adults because it takes quite a while for a barge to go through in two separate sections- it was an experience for all. Here are a few pictures to share.

Girl's Best Friend

Morgan loves all that is girlie- purses, shoes, make-up, dress-up clothes, fingernail polish, dresses, jewelry, and the list goes on and on... Not only does she love to dress herself up, we all know it is better to enjoy the things you love with someone you love. Kyle was able to capture this pose of Morgan's dress-up partner for the day, Wilbur, all adorned with necklaces, ribbons, barrettes, and even a purse around his neck. I don't know that he was smiling for the camera...
...but I'm positive Morgan was!
Isn't it nice to have a best friend!

Ho Ho Ho

Our annual trip to see Santa was a success. This was the first year no one cried about sitting on his lap and they both eagerly shared what they hoped Santa would deliver this year.

Apparently they aren't yet aware that Santa is on a budget! I guess we should have discussed that a little more BEFORE going to give Santa the list. For Cade this included a few toys and was followed by, "... and any other surprises you might have for me this year."

For Morgan the best part was getting to scratch Santa's soft, fuzzy pants while listening to her brother rattle off his list. She reported when she got off his lap, "Mom, his pants were so, so, so SOFT!"

It appears they had fun!

Merry Christmas!