Eliana's 7th Birthday

On December 2nd, this cute girl woke up as a 7 year old!

 

Birthdays on school days aren't the best, but we were sure to have all the presents opened before Eliana hopped on the bus!

She loved her "Legend of Zelda" cake complete with her request of it having grass!

Eliana continues to be our little "Miss Independent" and is completely comfortable doing her own thing.  We love hearing about all the 'facts' she reads about and to see the excitement in her eyes as she discovers more and more fascinating things about the world.  She's quite the artist, specializing in drawing Pokemon and Baby Yoda and has even recorded her own 'drawing tutorials' on her camera.  Her love of writing is blossoming as she continues to write and illustrate her own books.

Birthday smiles are the absolute best!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 For Thanksgiving this year, we were able to spend it with family in Pennsylvania.  The kids LOVED their chance to be with cousins, we all had a wonderful time catching up, and eating all the amazing food Grandma prepared.  And as usual...I took very few pictures...

I found this little sign Eliana made to help decorate for the occasion.

Andrea brought some cute activities for the kiddos to enjoy.

A trip to Grandma and Grandpa's isn't complete without a 'workout' on their elliptical!

Half Bath Remodel

Back in January 2020, I painted a sample of paint on the walls of our main floor bathroom with dreams of redoing the space.  Yes, the pandemic may have thrown a small wrench in the plans, but quite frankly, the main delay was raising a very active toddler.  The delay turned out to be a blessing because I did a lot more research and decided to take a different--and much better--angle on the remodel.

 

On November 1st, I took the plunge and started the project by painting the existing light

I then moved on to painting and stenciling the upper half of the walls.

Throughout all this work, I always had a very willing sidekick.  Not once did I have to ask Kyron for help, the minute he heard me working in the bathroom, he would run over to offer his assistance!

Thankfully, the floor came up easily and the subfloor was in good condition,

I just got to do a lot of scraping and cleaning

Prior to beginning this project, I purchased two power tools to make it possible for me to do this work. I watched a ton of tutorials and talked a great deal with Dad--but when it came time to make my first cut, my heart was RACING!  I was terrified!  I think Dad could tell my nerves were racing, so over the phone he finally said: "You'll be fine.  Just go cut your tile."  I was having a hard time with my circular saw and thankfully I was able to trouble shoot with Dad over the phone where we figured out I didn't install the blade correctly.  Once that was fixed, the saw cut like butter.

After one day of work (and a lot of screen time for the kiddos...) I had a new bathroom floor!

The wall panels were installed and painted and Kyron jumped on the opportunity help get the vanity situated!

During this entire project, my ear was either attached to my phone or a video chat was in session with my Dad.  This project was only possible because of his help, patience, guidance, and expertise.  Many hours of planning were done with him prior to work being done and many more hours were spent while this bathroom came together.  I'm so thankful for his willingness to make this happen--I'm thrilled with how everything turned out.

20 days after I started the work, we officially had a functioning (and much prettier) bathroom!

My favorite compliment was when Eliana came out from using the bathroom and said, "Mom, I feel like I'm going to the bathroom in a castle!"

Day of the Dead

 Because we were able to do all of our Halloween festivities on Saturday, October 30th, we decided to spend our Sunday celebrating "The Day of the Dead".  Grammy and Pappy Woodhouse, Grandma and Grandpa Nelson, and Great-Grandma and Pap Pap Furin all participated in helping us remember and celebrate loved ones who have passed on.

This is my Mom, Donna Furin in the summer of 1951 on Anna Usenicnik's lap

My Mom has memories of her Grandma making fresh cut fries fried in lard--they were golden and crispy and oh-so-delicious!  Mom also showed us the decorative bread pans her Grandma would use to make them their very own loaf of bread to enjoy.  Anna loved to garden and had beautiful trees and flowers around her home.  I have memories of the snowball bush in her yard and Mom still has peonies growing from her Grandma's garden.

Mike Usenicnik holding my Mom as an infant (1951 or 1952)

Back Row: Vince Furin, William Usenik, Joseph Skoff

Middle Row: Sylvia Furin, Victoria (Vicky) Usenik, Mary (Annie) Skoff

Front: Anna Usenicnik

Max E Nelson with Ephraim Raymond Nelson.  Ephraim loved to work in the garden--here he is pictured using a crutch while he worked in the garden.

Max and Melba Nelson

My Dad's Grandpa, Ephraim Raymond Nelson, served a mission in New Zealand for at least two years and had to leave when Max Nelson was only 1 year old.

William Redmond, father to Teresa Redmond Woodhouse.  Grammy told us memories of frog hunting with her Dad.  She had the job of holding the flashlight to stun the frog and her Dad would grab the frog so later he could enjoy eating one of his favorite treats--frog legs!

Geoff has a sweet memory of his Grandpa Redmond.  Geoff was spending the night at his grandparent's home, woke up extremely early, and heard some sounds downstairs and was convinced there was a burglar in the house.  He crept down the stairs to find his Grandpa Redmond exercising--all was well and safe!  His Grandpa stopped exercising, picked up little Geoff and read him "Puff the Magic Dragon" and then sent him back to bed.

Muriel Guffey Redmond

Memories Grammy Woodhouse have include the fact that Muriel LOVED candy and even sought out Circus Peanuts to munch on!  Her Mother also encouraged Teresa to always practice the piano.  Muriel was very artistic--musically and visually.  She played the piano and organ and we have a needle point piano bench she made as well as a piece of her hand-painted china.  

Gladys and Charles Woodhouse

Geoff's Grandpa (Charles Woodhouse) was one who was always up for a challenge.  One time his college fraternity claimed that one could not eat nor urinate upside down due to gravity.  Charles not only told them such a claim was false, but he also proved to them that it was not true!

Charles Woodhouse (Geoff's Dad) shared that he and Geoff were born in the same hospital in Wichita, Kansas--but he reassured us that they were NOT delivered by the same doctor.

We also visited with Great-Grandma and Pap Pap Furin where we learned a great deal about Mike Usenicnik.  He was a very hard worker and was employed as the Janitor of the YMCA.  His wife would pack him a lunch every day and when an orange was included, he would save his orange so his children could enjoy the sweet fruit instead of him.  Mike loved animals and always had a dog and was often caring for other animals like chickens--including a chicken he once kept at work!

To finish off our special day, we had some pudding cups inspired by the decorated skulls often used in the celebration of our ancestors.

Happy Halloween!

We had a Happy Halloween with this cute crew!

When we were discussing Halloween costumes with the kids, I asked Kyron if he wanted to be Olaf because he LOVES any little show with that silly little snowman.  Surprisingly, he said no--he wanted to be a dog.  I showed him some pictures of dogs and he decided he wanted to be a white dog. Since Kyron loved the Peanuts Movie, I suggested he be Snoopy and he seemed pretty excited about the idea.  Well, after I sewed up his costume, he looked at it and said, "No, Snoopy's not for Kyron, it's for LaLa!" And he refused to put it on!  I explained that his costume was for Halloween and so when he wears it he would get candy.  He finally put it on so I could make sure it fit him properly and even smiled when he saw his reflection in the mirror and then turned to me asked for his piece of candy and for Snoopy to be taken off.  Ha ha!  I hung his costume up where he could see it, hopeful it would grow on him, but when Halloween finally rolled around...he exclaimed, "I don't want to be Snoopy, I want to be CHARLIE BROWN!"   I asked if he could just put it on so I could take a pictures with all the kiddos and this happened:

This picture breaks my heart to see those little tears in his eyes, but we took it off right after to go to our Halloween festivities for the day...

Hylie wanted to be the Pokemon "Alolan Umbreon"

Eliana was the Pokemon "Mewtew"

And Lillian was "Piplup"

The kids loved wearing their costumes around the house and it would crack me up to see Mewtew practicing the piano,

or a crew of Pokemon eating breakfast!

Lillian enjoyed the Halloween fun planned at Preschool

On Saturday, the kiddos had fun participating in the festivities at the Library--Kyron even put his costume on after we arrived!

Our ward also held a trunk or treat activity where other Pokemon fans got to gather

And to wrap up our Halloween festivities that day, we headed to Main Street in Lisle to do the business trick or treating fun they had planned!