Christmas Pics

Dressed up for pics before Church! Emi sang a solo in sacrament meeting on Sunday. She did an amazing job, way to go Emi! Everyone is excited for Christmas!

Catching up

It's hard to believe that the holidays are upon us already! I feel like we just celebrated Christmas about two weeks ago.....and here it is again! I guess that's what happens when you get older. I haven't posted in awhile, so here are just a few pics of what's been going on around the Steele household.


Clara lost her front two teeth! (sorry the pic is a bit blury)


Emi practicing her violin.


You know that hot, clean smelling steam that blows out of the dishwasher while on the dry cycle? James loves it.


Boy fun. James giving his matchbox cars a bath.

Camping

We set up tents in the basement and the kids "camped out"! We used battery tea lights and blocks to make a 'campfire' and told stories around the campfire before bed. The kids had a great time sleeping in their camp tents! And Mom and Dad enjoyed NOT sleeping in tents! :)

Trick-or-Treat

October is my favorite month. I live in New England because I love fall! The amazing colors, the leaves swirling across the streets, leaves falling from the trees like snow, mums and orange pumpkins on the front steps of every colonial home.....it's just so quintessential New England! Love it.

Okay, now on to Halloween. I love Halloween because a. it's in October, b. the kids get super excited about it, and c. all of the yummy candy! Enjoy the pics and Happy Halloween!


Emi as a pretty swamp 'monster', Clara as a witch and James as a shark.


Carving the pumpkin!


The finished product.


Jim is amazing. Look at this awesome pumpkin with horns, bloodshot egg shell eyes and goo coming out of it's mouth! The kids lost interest in the carving process after about 20 minutes and left Jim with the job. He's mister fun and creative in our house! Great job dear! The eyes glow when it's lit - very spooky!


The clan at our annual Halloween gala.


Rummaging thru the spoils of the night!

Acorns

For the past two months we have been hearing 'gun-shots' falling from our oak trees. Thousands and thousands of these monster acorns fall about 80 feet and bang, clank and crash into our car, driveway, deck and roof. Watch out, it can be very dangerous! :-)


Notice how many TALL oak trees completely surround our house. I swear each tree produces about a million acorns!


Look at the size of these things! This is why Jim's old Taurus is soo badly pocked with acorn dents. (The new cars are safely parked in the garage)


Another picture to show the gianormous size of these things. On occassion, the kids have worn their bike helmets while playing in the yard! The acorns really hurt if they hit your head!

The past month

Ahhh, I finally have my laptop back again. After 3 weeks without it, I'm glad it's home. It has a new hard drive, so it's as good as new! Here's what has been going on around here for the past little while.

August/September was a rough month, but I made it...and brighter days are still ahead. I recently went thru another late-term miscarriage. This one at 17 weeks. Not fun at all! I thought it would be easier, since I've done this before (only a year ago), but it was actually harder. Surgery went well, and physically I'm doing fine, but the emotional road to recovery is a long one. But alas, life goes on.

On a happier note, school is now in full swing. Emi loves 4th grade. She is beginning violin lessons at school along with continuing her piano. She loves soccer and girl scouts too. Clara is known as "speed-o" by her first grade friends on the playground (the boys chase the girls). Her fast running is also evident on the soccer field. She scored something like six goals at her first game last Saturday! Way to go Clara! James finally started preschool mid September, and asks at least every 30 minutes if it's time to go to school yet. He loves it!

Here are a few pics of the kids this past month.


The girls on their first day of school!


James on his first day of preschool.


Sister soccer stars!


James can now ride a two-wheeler....without training wheels! He loves it and does really well. I now have to jog on our morning 'walks' together just to keep up with him - it's nearly killing me :) On Saturday, we went about 4 miles and he just smiled and pedaled away! What a little trooper!

Aspen Grove

We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Utah and a week at Aspen Grove! Fun times!

James' Bday and Old Friends

Happy 4th Birthday James! This is James with a plate of blueberry pancakes and a candle. We sang "happy birthday" and opened gifts in the morning, because that afternoon we boarded a plane and flew to Utah. James thought it was great to fly on his b-day and it was a great surprise when a flight attendant announced his name over the plane intercom and everyone on board clapped and cheered!


In the tube slide at McDonalds. James and his two best friends Will and Andrew.


James' first official birthday party! We played fun games at home and then headed to McDonalds for lunch and cake. The party was a great success.


Flashback seven years....yes it's been that long since Emi was 2 and her cute little friends Hannah and Kalaya were 3. These three little musketeers were best of friends back in our 'early' days of livivng in CT. The Howards and the Arnes long ago moved away, but we're all still great friends.


Here is Hannah, Emi and Kalaya now! Aren't they all just beautiful? While in Utah, we got together with the Howards and the Arnes. The girls had a great time playing and us Mom's had a wonderful time catching up. We love our dear friends!

Trek and more

Jim and I participated on our stake's youth Trek this past week. We were assistant wagon masters. It was amazing!!! Honestly, I don't think it could have gotten much more authentic. From pushing handcarts for over nine straight hours (through mud and rivers, over trees and rocks) - all the while going without food for 14 hours. To shooting muskets, killing live chickens with an axe and cooking them over a fire, to sleeping on the ground under a handcart! The youth and leaders in our stake are absolutely amazing! It was a privilege to take part in trek.

In other news, Emi got her glasses. She's thrilled and since this pic was taken, she has completely covered her glasses case with stickers. The glasses are shiny purple. She only has to wear them at school for distance, but she loves them!


On Friday night, we went to our town's 4th of July concert and fireworks display. We packed a picnic dinner, played ball, play go fish and enjoyed the beautiful fireworks. What a fun night!


James getting his "summer haircut"

Little Boy Week

I took James to the doctor on Friday because he had a rash on his face....well, the doctor wasn't too concerned about the rash, but WAS pretty concerned about his raspy breathing (aka respiratory infection). So, for the next week James has to take antibiotics and wear this mask/nebulizer three times each day. The girls think it's great fun to 'help' James with his 'breathing' time.


James' last day of preschool was 'Super Hero' day!


One of James' best friends is sadly moving to CA. He lovingly gave this riding dump truck to James! We bought a new battery for it and it's as good as new. The kids like that you can drive in both forward and reverse! James is absolutely thrilled with his new toy and loves cruising around the yard and filling/dumping the truck bed with sticks, rocks etc.

In Rewind

I haven't posted in over a month.....life has been crazy. So in rewind, here's a few things that we did in May.


The kids all made wonderful gifts and cards for Mothers day, and Jim made me my favorite ice cream pie. It was great!




Emi and Clara just finished their year of dance classes with two fantastic dance recitals. Clara did tap and Emi did Jazz and Ballet. They both loved it!





We always love attending our town's annual Memorial Day Parade. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time!

Spring

Salt Lake Trip

Overlooking the SLC temple at Sunset. Isn't this just a beautiful view!?









This is "Al-gator"....a huge stuffed alligator that a blind woman knitted for my Grandpa. (Yes, he does recieve some pretty interesting gifts). "Al-gator" has been well used and loved over the past 10 years, and so my grandparents recently decided to have him re-stuffed! He's as good as new! :)






James and Uncle Brent in one of their many amazingly cool boy toys. James absolutely adores Tag and Talmage and loves staying with Brent and Ang.





In between conference sessions.
Emi's first time attending General Conference. She came with Jim and I to the Saturday morning session. She did really well and had a great experience!

While in SLC we celebrated my birthday! The kids made this cute display out of pom-poms. Look closely, it says "happy birthday mom".

While in SLC we also celebrated Easter. Here are the kids getting ready for their Easter egg hunt. Between the egg hunt with cousins and three adoring sets of grandparents, we probably brought home about 20 pounds of chocolate!