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The Endter family
Lots to catch up on......
It's our busy birthday time of year! Lexi turned 12 on Tuesday. It's sad for me to think my little girl is only a year away from being a teenager. She had a party with family a few days before her birthday, then we took her out to lunch and had cake at home on her birthday. She is still going to have a party with her friends but I think that is going to be combined with Austin and Adam's party too.  We went to Red Robin's for Lexi's birthday lunch. They sang Happy Birthday to her and brought her a huge sundae.  Then we went home and opened presents. She got enough money to buy herself an Ipod which is all she wanted.  A little cake on her actual brithday.  The cake for her birthday party with family.   More presents.... Earlier this week the kids participated in Ameritowne, a program which teaches kids about how a city runs. They were each assigned a job and actually worked in that capacity while also earning a "paycheck" which they could then spend around the set-up town. It was really fun and also very educational since they learned about writing checks, balancing checkbooks, running businesses, etc.  Drew and Austin worked at the Medical Center; Drew was the director and a doctor and Austin was a Medical Assistant. They would go out in the town and inform people that they were sick then take them back to the medical center and treat them. Austin had lots of fun hauling people around in a wheelchair.  Lys worked as a reporter for the newspaper. At the end of the day, the newspaper staff published a newspaper with fun info from the day at Ameritowne.  Lexi worked as a TV reporter. Above she and another reporter were covering the swearing in of the mayor and town judge in front of Towne Hall.  Adam worked at the Container shop building things. He helped make birdhouses which were given to the two class teachers at the end of Ameritowne.  Lexi also helped each of the businesses tape their tv commercials. Here she is in the Sign & Print Shop (this is the shop I volunteered in for the day).  Dr. Drew on his break. The kids earned Ameritowne money they could use to buy drinks, snacks and toys.  Lys at work on the final proof of the newspaper.  Adam spent most of his break time at the snack shop.  Poor Lexi...she was informed that she broke her leg. So she spent the rest of the day on crutches. By the end of the day she was all healed...now that is a great medical center!  The kids with their Ameritowne class. So, we learned a little something about snow last week..... #1-- Never beg for winter on your blog...apparently this irritates mother nature #2-- When the residents of Wyoming say "We aren't supposed to get much snow", what they really mean is "Come up and join us for our blizzard". Yes, there is a story behind that. The weather has been so beautiful that we figured our snow days were pretty well over (thus one of my previous blog posts requesting that someone send our winter home when they found it). We had some business to do in Wyoming so we decided to make it a little family vacation. We even asked some friends along. The day before we left there was talk of a bit of snow. I checked with the weather reports and some people in Wyoming who told me not to worry since they weren't expecting much. We had a wonderful trip (more photos of that below) but our trip home ended up driving right into a blizzard. At the Wyoming / Colorado border we ended up in the middle of a 30 car accident caused by several sliding semis. Luckily, after a little sliding down the ditch to avoid the semi spinning out of control next to us, we were able to get back on the road. Unfortunately, the road was then closed and we were turned back around to Cheyenne. Our friends were a few miles behind and were able to turn around and get us a hotel room before the hotels were all full. I'm not sure if they are ever going to agree to go on vacation with us again!  The conditions just a few miles before the accident.  Back on the road. The sign had just changed to say the highway had been closed.  When we got home, there was enough snow to make some snowpeople. While we were in Wyoming, we went to Fort Laramie, one of the prominent stops along the Oregon Trail. There are many ruins plus restored buildings. It was really interesting. We also stopped to see the Oregon Trail ruts (hey, don't our vacations sound exciting?!).   The Fort Laramie Museum had lots of fun things to play with.    Touring the Fort Laramie Jail.  A little snowball fight.  Rob really got into the Oregon Trail ruts. He is standing in the actual rut....hard to see due to the snow.  The ruts are situated on a very pretty nature walk....unfortunately, a lot of the walkway was covered with snow. Well, I've got more photos to share, but I think this post is getting too long. So, more later!! |
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Lots of Catching Up!
| Wow! It sure has been a long time since we put any pictures here. We have been so busy with schoolwork, work and the kids' activities! I thought I would share a few photos from the last couple of weeks. February was a busy month for us. Rob and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary.....seems unbelievable that we have been married that long. How time flies! Drew celebrated his 16th Birthday. That seems unreal to both of us. We both look entirely to young to have a 16 year old (just agree with us....it makes us feel better!). He had a great birthday and was enjoying all of the special 16th Birthday Gifts. And before you ask....no, he did not get his driver's license. Drew has rather overprotective parents who have decided that 16 is just too young to drive on his own so we are taking that process slowly.  On our Anniversary, some friends were in town for a day so we went with them to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory for a tour and tasting. Adam's favorite part was the "sweetener" variety.  This tea was definitely not a favorite....even with all of the sweetener he put in!  Lexi, a friend, Sleepytime Bear, Austin, Adam and another friend-- Drew and Lys decided posing with the Sleepy Time Bear wasn't happening.  We also went to the Leanin' Tree Museum of Western Art that day. They have a great sculpture garden.  Lexi fell in love with the bunny sculpture. On Drew's Birthday we all went out to lunch at TGI Fridays. Since it was also Mardi Gras, the kids all got Mardi Gras beads.   The staff sang Happy Birthday and brought Drew a dessert with a candle.  That night he opened some more presents.  And had a small cake... or two (we couldn't decide on one!).  And more presents!  A few days later, Drew had a bowling party with friends.  And a few days later, a party with family.  And more presents!  Lastly, is this what winter in Colorado should look like?!   If anyone has seen Colorado's winter wandering around another state, could you send it home please?! Though we are enjoying the warmth and sunshine, the lawn would really appreciate a bit of moisture! And that's our last couple of weeks in a nutshell! |
A Gift From Japan
Yesterday we got a package from our Japanese exchange daughter, Mizuho and her family (Thank you, Mizuho and family!). Amongst many other wonderful things, they sent Udon noodles. We had tried a lot of different Japanese foods but had never had Udon. So, we had them for dinner last night. They were really good! The kids had fun with them because they are quite long and they would slurp them in.  |
Meeting the Clydesdales
| For the past two weeks I have meant to update photos here and blog all about our holidays. Unfortunately, I never got the time. So, I will just say we had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and leave it at that! Last weekend we took a little trip up to the Budweiser Brewery. It is about half an hour from the house, and on the first Saturday of each month they have Clydesdale Camera Day. They have one of the Clydesdales out for people to pet and get their photo taken with. Since the price was right (FREE!) and it is so close, we thought it was a perfect Saturday trip. The kids were pretty impressed with how big the Clydesdales were. We had seen them when we were at Sea World but they weren't able to pet them, so this was a nice treat.   |
December Seems to Be Flying By!
| This month seems to have just flown by. I've been planning to get some photos put on here for over a week, but we've been so busy! These next two weeks the kids don't have any of their usual activities so that will be a nice break! We finally got a decent amount of snow. After not seeing snow last year, the kids were very eager to see it.      Last weekend we went to the light parade in a neighboring town. It was a little cold and a lot of fun! The kids really liked the horses and riders who were all wrapped up in Christmas lights.   (notice Alyssa doesn't go anywhere without a book!)  The boys and Lexi had their choir performances at some senior living centers this week. They did really well and enjoyed singing.   Friday night was their Christmas performance. I was so proud of how well they did, and how much work and practice they put in.    Earlier on Friday, we had our homeschooling friends over for a Christmas party. It was lots of fun!  Our holiday preparations are coming along slowly. I think we are almost done shopping. I took the kids each to the store individually over the last two days so they could shop for each other. They actually draw names (Secret Santa) and are always excited to see if they can keep the secret of who bought for who. Now we've got lots of wrapping to do. And there's still baking to do and cards to finish sending out! Somehow Christmas snuck up on me this year (it's not like I know every year that Christmas is going to fall on December 25th, right?!). Rob's birthday is on Tuesday so we always try to do something special to separate the festivities from Christmas (doesn't help that his company Christmas party is that night!). Then we are having family over for Christmas Eve. I think Christmas Day is going to be a quiet day, so the kids can enjoy playing with their new toys and we can all enjoy some family time. I finally got our Family Meal Plan blog/ website going. I know there are some friends and family members I had told that I would send a link when we got it done, but I can't remember who I was going to send it to. So, here is the link: www.familymealplan.blogspot.com I love to use meal planning to keep me on schedule and on budget while grocery shopping. We hope everyone has a wonderful, safe Christmas and many blessings for the New Year! |
Catching Up....
I just realized how long it has been since I updated the photos on here. We went to the North Pole over a week ago and I've been meaning to put photos on ever since. We go to the North Pole every year, so we knew we had to get there before it closes for the year. The day was very nice but a little chilly....perfect North Pole weather! As an added treat, we met up with some very good friends there. We hadn't seen them for over a year so it was great to visit with them again!
Last week we went on a tour of our favorite candy factory, Hammonds. We were there with the homeschool group so the kids got to have fun with some friends.
We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving. We had our main meal ourselves, then my parents stopped by later for sandwiches and dessert.
And finally.....we had some snow this weekend! Not much (about an inch) but the kids were so excited to get bundled up and head out to play in it.
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Is This November?!
 Who would think we should be wearing shorts in mid-November in Colorado?! Everytime I think I can pack away the kids' summer clothes, we end up with warmer weather. The kids are a little disappointed that we haven't had any snow yet. After spending the year in Phoenix, they were looking forward to seeing snow!  On Sunday we went to a Japanese Hibachi Grill for dinner. The kids love Japanese food so they are always excited to get to go to one of these type of restaurants. The chef was really great; very interactive with the kids. The food was really amazing! Too bad it's too expensive to eat at often.    |
Yesterday the kids had a ceramics class. Drew painted a Christmas ornament, Alyssa painted a truck (?), Lexi painted a dolphin, Austin painted a turtle and Adam painted a dinosaur.     |
Out For a Walk
| Yesterday was about 65 degrees so we figured it was a great day to pick up some sandwiches and head to the State Park that is a few miles from the house. We've driven by it almost daily but had never stopped in. By the time we headed over though, the sun was going down and it was getting very cold. So, we nixed the picnic idea and just went for a walk. It is a very pretty area to walk in, plus it is home to many bird species including the Great Blue Heron. We saw them a few times but they always hid away too fast to get a photo. The kids thought it was neat to see them though. |
 One of the ponds at the State Park. There are four trails (each about a mile long) that go around each of the ponds.      |
Wow! What a Busy Week!
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Lexi, Austin and Adam at their cooking class. They made stuffing and smashed potatoes. Both were so good we made them again for dinner last night. |
| More cooking class..... |  |
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All five of the kids joined in on the cooking class. Drew and Lys weren't too sure about it at first, but some of their friends were going to be there so they decided to give it a try. They both ended up having a lot of fun. |
| Adam with a knife...that's a scary sight! |  |
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Drew, Lys and their friend making stuffing. |
| Our Whole Foods tour was very interesting. We learned a lot about the right things to eat. The kids' favorite part was the eating....they served lots of samples as we walked around the store. Here Drew is giving pomegranate seeds a try. |  |
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And we tried fresh apple cider..... |
| Adam was pretty fond of the popcorn.... |  |
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And the pita chips..... |
| Lys helped Adam sneak just one more piece of gingerbread. |  |
Carving Pumpkins and Other Scary Stuff
| What a beautiful Halloween we had! The weather was nice and warm (not a usual Halloween in Colorado). The kids were able to go out in their costumes without being bundled up with jackets over them. We walked around the neighborhood for awhile then came home for dinner and to give out some treats of our own. A few days before we painted and carved pumpkins, then toasted some seeds which lasted about 15 minutes. The kids look forward to toasted pumpkin seeds all year long. The kids had a Halloween Party at their bowling league on Thursday then we had a homeschool group Halloween Party at the bowling alley on Friday. I think they had a really great Halloween!  Lexi trying to decide what to do with her pumpkin.  Drew signed his name all over his pumpkin. I told him we should lacquer it and save it until he's famous someday and we could sell his autographed pumpkin on Ebay.  Adam the artist painting with his all time favorite color--- green.    ooooooo....the boys love pumpkin guts!    Only the younger three decided to get costumes this year (though Lys dressed up as her favorite singer from a band). The boys both wanted to be pirates but I didn't want them to be matching (we are always asked if they are twins so I didn't want to dress them the same!). So we found two very different pirate costumes. Lexi was a princess and got lots of compliments on her beautiful dress, though she found that getting in and out of the car with a hoop under a skirt is not an easy feat!    |
What a Beautiful Weekend
| It was such a beautiful weekend, we decided to spend a lot of time outside. We went to the park to play tennis and football then went to the pumpkin patch. The kids each got a small pumpkin they are going to paint and we got one big pumpkin to carve. It is supposed to be so warm this week, we figured we better wait until mid-week to carve it so it won't fall apart before Halloween.  The pumpkin patch had lots of fun things; like funnel cakes and rides.    Last night the girls were invited to a Murder Mystery Dinner Party. In case you haven't been to one, it's where they act out a murder mystery and try to convince the other guests that they are innocent of the 'murder'. All while eating dinner. It was lots of fun....turns out my oldest daughter is a murderer...who would have ever guessed it?!  |
A Recipe for a Cold Day
I've been promising my mom the recipe for Cincinnati Chili for about a year now. The weather is definitely chili weather today so I thought it was time to share the recipe with her 
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*1 1/2 pounds ground beef
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A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch
On Friday, we took a field trip to a pumpkin patch. It was kind of cold and cloudy; perfect fall pumpkin patch weather! They had fun in the hay maze.  And the petting zoo....though Austin was a bit weary of the goats.  I told the kids to watch their step, and Lexi took the instructions quite seriously!  They got to learn about bees. Drew and Lys were asked to dress up in the beekeeper outfit. Drew couldn't seem to get his shoes through the outfit.    Then they went through the corn maze. It was quite simple...only one way in and one way out....so we didn't lose anyone!  Each of them got to pick out a little pumpkin which we are going to paint.    |
Happy Birthday, Alyssa!
| It is hard to believe our baby girl has turned 14! When did we give these kids permission to keep getting older?! We actually had three celebrations over the weekend, so we are quite partied out! I think she had a really great birthday though, so that's what matters! She decided she wanted to go play tennis on her birthday so we all headed to the tennis courts down the street to play before going to her birthday dinner.    Grandpa and Grandma met up with us for Lys's Birthday dinner. The restaurant embarrassed her by singing Happy Birthday and bringing her some ice cream with a candle (after we already ordered her a dessert). Adam and Austin were happy to eat her ice cream for her.  Then we went home for some card / present opening.  On Saturday, Lys had a party with her siblings and friends at a fun center with go-karts, bumper boats, and mini-golf.  This was a scary sight--- I don't even want to think about these two driving!   The Birthday Girl speeding around the track.   The fun center embarrassed Lys by singing Happy Birthday to her.  On Sunday, we had a family party at the house. It was a treat to have my aunt and uncle at the party since they were in town for a few days.  The kids put their money together to buy Lys a Halloween Build-a-Bear which she wanted (The kids seem to have just about every Build-a-Bear / Build-a-Dino made!). Adam wanted to be sure she knew that he had helped pay for and make the stuffed cat.   HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYSSA!!! |
Crazy Weather and Cows
Yesterday the weather was beautiful so we packed a picnic and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Well, apparently everyone else in the state had the same idea-- traffic getting to the park was backed up miles. So, we decided to go to Lake Estes instead.     We got the picnic out and ready to go only to have the wind pick up, then the cold and light rain blew in. Not willing to let the weather ruin our picnic, we had a picnic in the car. The kids thought it was pretty great considering they usually can't eat in the car. We walked around the lake a bit but finally gave up since most of us were freezing. Today we went on a tour to a dairy farm with our homeschool group. We got to see lots of cows and learn all about the milk processing and bottling process. The kids were a little traumatized by the smell and the fact that we had to walk through some pasture areas which left their shoes not smelling so nice (and of course most of us were wearing new shoes!). But we had fun!    |
Catching Up Again!
On Saturday the kids and I went to the Miner's Day Celebration in a small neighboring town. Besides the parades at Disney, this was only the second parade the kids had been to.... Don't they look excited?!  Once they started throwing candy, everyone enjoyed the parade! Austin and Adam even caught Dairy Queen ice cream sandwiches, and Austin caught a t-shirt. It really was fun! After years of resisting getting a trampoline, we finally gave in last week. I'm still a little nervous about it but we have set very strict rules and the kids have been good about following them so far.  Drew and Lys at their tennis lessons:  The rest of the crew watching tennis lessons....it's almost impossible to get them to be serious for a photo!     |
Catching Up....
| After receiving several emails from friends asking if we had indeed fallen off the face of the earth, I thought it was probably a good time to update the blog. (By the way, I don't think it is scientifically possible for JUST our family to fall off the face of the earth-- not trying to turn this into a science lesson, but I'm just saying.....) We have been so busy with unpacking, acquiring furniture (who knew that was so time consuming and exhausting!), keeping up with school and activities. The kids' schoolyear is in full swing. The older two are doing a lot of their curriculum on a computer-based program which has made it easier for me to spend more time working with the younger ones. Rob has one more class left before his degree so he will be done with school in October (YEAH!) and will take a few months off before starting his Master's. I'm still plugging away at my classes; in no rush but taking two classes at a time so I'll hopefully graduate before I have grandchildren Just to prove that we have really not fallen off the face of earth (yes, those friends who shall remain nameless, I will tease you about that for awhile!), here are some photos: The house had unfortunately not been well taken care of by the last residents. The real estate people tried to do a bit of maintenance before we moved in but it was still in great need. The kids and I decided to tackle a bit of beautifying one day. Each of the houses in the neighborhood has a cute little light post in the front that comes on at dusk, so Lexi, Austin, Adam and I decided to dig out the mess at the base and plant some flowers. This became a two day project because we ended up needing more tools.   After a short rain storm a beautiful rainbow developed over the backyard. The boys thought we could find a pot of gold if we went to the end of it; I thought we would just get muddy shoes. I won....we don't have a pot of gold but we do have clean shoes, and isn't that what's really important?!  Back at the Berry Farm picking strawberries and raspberries:  Adam agreed to be my "pack mule" and carry my purse in exchange for a strawberry:   Poor Austin! The bees were just terrible by the raspberries. With his sensory disorder, the noise of the buzzing bees is just too much. So he spent his whole time at the raspberry patch hiding in his jacket:  Drew, Lys, Austin and Adam got haircuts this week. The boys stayed with very similar styles but Lys went for a total change. Lexi decided to grow hers out more:  The boys waiting for choir practice to begin:  Austin at bowling league. He's getting quite good and starting to put more effort into the actual bowling and not just visiting with friends:  Adam still has the "toss it down and hope it makes it to the pins" style of bowling. He's really more concerned with high 5-ing the other bowlers and visiting with his friends. But he has fun!  Drew loves being back to bowling and takes it quite seriously. Though he also enjoys the time with his friends:  Back to the lightpole.....   |
Spiders, Spiders....Everywhere!
Poor Austin! Somehow that kid is always the one to have injuries and such. Yesterday he had a few large red bites on his legs (looked like big mosquito bites). By this morning the whole side of his leg was grotesquely swollen....about the size of half a grapefruit. So this morning I took him to urgent care and found out he has an infected spider bite! Supposedly the house was exterminated last week before we moved in so we are quite surprised to be having biting spiders...YEESH! So, if you would send a few healing prayers his way, we would appreciate it! |
Some Pictures
Lys was bored along the way and decided to take some pictures. I was surprised that most of them came out, considering they were taken with my beat-up purse camera (always have it with me) from a quickly moving car.
 The Little Engine That Might, otherwise known as Old Faithful. In Arizona, passing by the Meteor Crater. |
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 Drew and Austin catching a nap. |
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 Colorado greeted us with grey skies and rain. |
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 Austin and Adam taking a little break from unpacking to write some music. |
One of the first things we did was visit our favorite berry farm. The strawberry picking was pretty thin but we found enough to make it worth the drive there.   |