Matt and Jen Higgins Family

Ben's first Month

2011-09-08T10:35:00.000-06:00

Little Ben was born in the middle of May and I still haven't put together and sent a birth announcement... Anyway, here is a little album of Benjamin's first month:

Off to Grandma's!

2011-08-20T23:12:00.000-06:00

All summer the kids have been looking forward to one thing above all others: Going out to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We finally headed out August 3rd and were able to stay for almost 2 weeks this year. I was a bit more random than usual with photo taking, but I've put together a couple collages and a "scrapbook" with some of the pics I did get...

Having Fun with Grandma and Grandpa Haroldsen
We always have a great time visiting Jen's parents. As well as making a few "excursions", we played at a couple nearby playgrounds, visited the library, and had "Early Christmas". (Early Cmas lets Grandma & Grandpa watch the kids unwrap their presents and also lets the kids enjoy summer-related gifts, like the girls' tent).

Exploring the Carnegie Science Center and Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

Carnegie Science Center is always a great place to visit --- for Matt as well as the kids! This year was our first time checking out the Children's Museum, though. We teamed up with (Jen's sister) Lisa and her boys for the day, and had a great time.

Enjoying the Lake at Raccoon State Park (PA)

On the Friday the 12th, we went out to the lake at Raccoon State Park with Lisa and her family. We had been there last year and really enjoyed it; this year the weather was not as warm, but we still had a great time. (The kids missed having Uncle Joe & Aunt Mary along this year, though --- Joe was always the one up for taking them out in the "deep" water....)

We're so glad we got to go out to Pittsburgh this year! It's a bit of a drive (10 hours + potty stops, etc) but always totally "worth it"!

School Review

2011-06-27T15:09:00.002-06:00

Just for fun, I had Mike, Em, and Nat help me put together some "smilebox" scrapbooks with pictures from the school year. Results follow...
(**Note: if pages are going by too fast/slow, there are generally control buttons towards the bottom of each presentation that will let you pause,go back, etc.)

Natalie's 1st Year of School

Natalie went to half-day 4-yr-old kindergarten this year and Loved it! (Her teacher, "Mr. K" is legendary at Hoover) Be sure to check out the video clips of her singing after the first day of school and the class dancing/singing on their last day....

A Snapshot of Mike's School Year

Mike had a great year in first grade. I think he/we pulled off a particularly cool set of show-and-tell's by bringing a cocoon in the fall and the resulting "polyphemus" moth in the spring! (We thought the little dude had perished over the winter but were pleasantly surprised!)

Great Fun for Emily

Emily had a wonderful time this year, too. There were only about 6 girls in her class, so the teacher really encouraged them to "stick together" and be good friends to each other....

Mom's 2 Cents Worth

I continue to be very pleased with our local school, Hoover Elementary (West Allis - West Milwaukee school district). The kids' teachers have all been excellent and the principal is great, too. I'm really enjoying being a "PTA mom", too. (I co-chaired the Reading Carnival committee and ended up mostly doing prize ordering/organization since the carnival was scheduled 4 days before I was due to have Ben!)

Needless to say, we are ALL looking forward to 2011-2012!

Happy Birthday Grandma Higgins!

2011-06-15T10:31:00.004-06:00

Our Smilebox for Grandma Higgins:

As always, it takes a few tries to get our video "messages" to everyone's liking.... One of these days I'll have to make an out-takes "reel"... (Today's favorite is when baby Benjamin sneezed during Esther's song, and her comments on it)

Hope you have a good day, Mom!

Happy Birthday Grandma Haroldsen!

2011-03-23T12:24:00.000-06:00

Just a little "smilebox" we made for my mom's birthday:

Free digital ecard generated with Smilebox

The kids had a great time singing for Grandma, but Mike had to do his joke quite a few times because Esther kept interrupting... We'd think we had her interested in something in the other room, but she'd come running back in when she heard him start talking again... Ah, well, it all worked out eventually!

Natalie's Birthday (including Castle pinata)

2011-02-28T12:56:00.000-06:00

Natalie wanted a "Super Why" themed birthday party again this year, but with the specific focus being the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk". We decided it would be the most fun just to focus on the adventure of getting to the castle in the clouds (not the whole angry giant and stolen goods aspects of the story!). To that end, we painted a bunch of oatmeal canisters green to be our "beanstalk" and we also made a castle pinata. Poking around the web, I came up with some ideas on how to make it a pull-string pinata so it would be reusable (and safe to do inside!).

I made a mini-album on FaceBook showing/describing how I made the pinata, hopefully this link will take you there:

Castle Pull-String Pinata

We played several games with the kids:
"Catch the Cows" (blind man's bluff with everyone on their knees moo-ing);
"Magic Bean" Bingo;
"Cloud Hop" (jumping across the living room from shape to shape, each time across one "cloud" disappearing --- kind of like a non-competetive cake-walk);
and "Don't Wake the Guard Dog" (which is like red-light-green-light).

After each game we added some pieces to the beanstalk. Here are Natalie and most of her guests (one was being too shy for the group shot) in front of the cabinet where we built the beanstalk up to the castle...

With no sticks involved, Daddy (Matt) was quite willing to hold the pinata for us:

After the games and pinata, we moved on to presents and then cake. Having spent quite a lot of time on the pinata, I was fortunate to persuade Natalie that a simple cake would be fine... I'd seen little plastic "Super Why" cake topper character on the web, but we made our own by printing out the characters onto cardstock and mounting them on handles from plastic forks. Yummy chocolate cake (of course!), a few Cool Whip "clouds", and there ya go:

After cake & ice cream, we just let the kids play with Natalie's new stuff until their parents collected them...

It's A Boy!

2011-01-10T12:40:00.000-06:00

Well, the verdict is in --- Higglet #5 is most definitely a boy. The ultrasound left no doubt --- in fact we had to be careful which pictures to send in for show-and-tell...

Here's the latest preview:

Needless to say, Mike is particularly delighted -- he is already talking about how he and "brother" will share a room and such... Natalie's excited, too, and Emily's only regret is that this means we can't name the baby "Lily." (Esther, of course, remains completely clueless about the upcoming changes in family dynamics....)

Well, see you in another 20 weeks little guy!

Quick Note to Primary "Followers"

2010-12-13T13:57:00.000-06:00

Over the summer/fall, I posted a few of my ideas/plans for LDS Primary "Sharing Time" activities. I've been released as a counselor now, though. I'll still get to stay in Primary - co-teaching the CTR 8 class, starting in January - but will not be doing Sharing Time anymore...

My thanks to those who left kind comments --- and especially to those who shared their own ideas! Hope you all keep having great Primary experiences!

In Case You Haven't Heard Our News...

2010-11-28T14:53:00.004-06:00

If I haven't run into you in a while and/or otherwise neglected to mention it, we are expecting another "Higglet" in the Spring --- in the vicinity of May 25th, most likely.

Yes, this makes 5. And yes, we are delighted! The kids are excited, too, but took the actual announcement rather coolly --- they had been saying they wanted us to have a baby, so in their minds, it was just a matter of time... :-)

The kids all think we should have a boy this time but I have kindly informed them that:
A)Heavenly Father gets to decide and
B)It will be a while before we know... and, last but not least,
C)Baby girls are fun, too --- just look at Esther (who is now two and prone to screaming if the older kids infringe on her personal space but still loves to run up and give them "loves" when they come home from school)

They take these reminders/cautions in stride and then reiterate, "yeah, but we Want a Boy!"
(If they do get a boy, I suppose we know who to send our next Christmas Wish Lists to!)

Here's a little preview:(Higglet #5 at 12 weeks)

So, that's it --- real "news" for a change :-)

Primary Sharing Time - 4th Week of August, 2010

2010-08-20T12:47:00.011-06:00

My turn for Sharing Time again :-)

This week's theme: Miracles come to those who have faith

Once again, the official Sharing Time Outline is pretty clear and full of ideas/suggestions. I will pretty much be following that:

First, start of with D&C 63:9: “But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.” (Explain that the word signs in this scripture can also mean miracles.) Points to mention:
- miracles are not always dramatic events
- we must first have faith, and then we will recognize miracles
- even though we have faith, we will still experience sorrow, pain, and suffering, but God is aware of our needs and will care for us.

For the next part, the outline uses the story of Moses and Pharaoh and the plagues to illustrate the point that witnessing miracles does not make someone a believer. (It is suggested you can have the kids do actions along with the story to go along with the afflictions --- croaking, buzzing, scratching, moaning... but I figure I'll play that by ear depending on how wound up the kids are that day...) I figure I'll wrap it up by reading or having an older child read:

Exodus 11:10 And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

As an additional "bad example", I may mention Laman and Lemuel... I mean, how many times did those goobers see angels and yet they still did not believe... (Like Pharaoh, they only ever relented out of fear, not out of faith or any desire to repent.)

Contrast this story with an example where faith produced a miracle The Outline suggests Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, Daniel and the lions, the brother of Jared, or Nephi and Lehi in prison. I'm going with the story of the brother of Jared. I'll show the kids where the story is locates (Ether chapters 1-3) and give a little background --- it was the time of the tower of Babel, the Jaredites were spared the confusion of languages and told to build barges to sail to the Promised Land, etc. (I didn't come across any good "Jaredite barge" pictures so I'll probably just draw on the chalkboard). I'll explain the dilemna about light in the boats and I have some little glass "gems" to show what the stones the brother of Jared made might have looked like... I also happen to have a little LED "dome" light to set next to them as an example of a tiny light being sufficient in an emergency...

In the "Encourage Application" section of the Sharing Time Outline, it suggests asking a couple families to come in and relate stories of faith and miracles in their lives. I haven't been in town for the last two weeks to line anything up, but our Bishop may come in... If he's not available, or gets held up with other things, I'll fill in with a story of my own or with a couple more scripture stories. (Probably Daniel & the Lions' Den for the Junior Primary, maybe Nephi & Lehi in prison for the Senior Primary).

So, hopefully this will do!

P.S.

My preview shows my fonts on this post are acting weird and I can't seem to figure out why or fix it... Ah, well --- Sorry!

Vacation was Great!

2010-08-19T21:41:00.002-06:00

We just got back from 2 weeks in Pittsburgh --- staying with my parents, of course!

It was great fun, and I have lots of pictures to share, but that will have to wait a bit...

I'll come back and "edit" this post later to include fun stories & photos... but now I've got loads of stuff to unpack and a "Sharing Time" to prepare...

Primary Sharing Time - 1st Week of August, 2010

2010-07-31T20:00:00.001-06:00

I am doing Sharing Time again this week --- we're juggling schedules a little to accommodate vacations (including mine)...

This week's theme is: Jesus Christ is a God of Miracles

The (official) Sharing Time Outline is pretty simple and clear this time, so I'm pretty much following that.... (Guess the word "miracle", define it for the kids, tell 2 stories of miracles, let kids act out/do actions to stories....)

Two cool ideas I'm swiping from other people, though:

1) To go along with the story of Jesus Calming the Storm, Amy Gerber on Sugardoodle had a neat idea for actions, etc.

2) Deborah Raymond had the idea of using fish as a tie-in to the two stories suggested in the outline and a couple other miracles, including feeding the multitudes and walking on water... She's making an incredible little craft to give her Primary kids --- which is way more ambitious than I would ever be! However, she also designed a simple handout (and even thoughtfully provided it in black-and-white) and I think I'll probably go ahead and print that (or make something similar).

I'm so glad people are willing to share their ideas!

Oh, and thanks to whoever put my link for the last Sharing Time I did onto Sugardoodle --- I'm flattered!

Primary Sharing Time - 3rd Week of July, 2010: Results

2010-07-18T21:27:00.004-06:00

(This is the follow-up to my previous post about planning this week's Sharing Time)

Well, I think my attempt at actually presenting this Sharing Time went ok; my one problem (as is often the case) is judging how long activities will take... With this particular one, my timing mistake was basically that the songs are too long to have the kids to hear/sing the whole thing - or even the 1st verse, really....

For both Junior & Senior Sharing Times, I set up by placing the various posters all around the room --- propping them on chairs, the chalkboard, the windows, etc. I also had a cd player set up for the music.

With Junior Primary (ages 3-8) I read the scripture to them, showed the picture of Christ's example, then let them pick a "modern" equivalent picture. I played the first bit of the corresponding song, having them raise their hands when they recognized it. Then I played the rest of the song and talked a little about it --- or at least I did that for the 1st set! Then I realized my time was already half gone... For the rest I mostly had them match the pictures and played only a couple of the songs they were most familiar with. (My apologies to the teachers for going over, though!)

So, for the Sr Primary kids (ages 9-11) I read the scripture, had them find both pictures, and then played the instrumental version of the song, only --- again having them start singing (or at least raise hands) when they recognized the song. I left the song playing while I summed up each topic... I did get through 6 of the 7 that way...

The (official) Sharing Time Outline suggested splitting the kids up and having different groups/classes look up the scriptures, match the pictures & songs, etc. I couldn't see that working with our particular Primary group at this time, though. We have a fairly large and extremely "lively" group of Juniors, and most of them are under the age of 6 and can't read much, etc. It isn't easy to get them focused in the first place, let alone splitting them and then bringing them back together, etc. For the "Senior" group we might have been ok, but we only have them split into 2 classes....

Anyway, I think it worked out ok....

Thanks to all who left kind and encouraging comments on my initial post! I don't know if/when I'll have anything particular to share in the future, but I'll certainly be more likely to post ideas when they occur! In the meantime, I plan to lurk around eclaires singing and sharing time blog now and then because I like what she did with this one, too! (She commented on my initial post and then posted her own "results")

Good luck to you all with future Sharing Times! Oh, and if you are inclined to post/share your own ideas/experiences with Primary on your own blog (or whatever), feel free to leave a comment telling us where to look!

Primary Sharing Time - 3rd Week of July, 2010

2010-07-14T10:12:00.000-06:00

I'm second counselor in our (church's) Primary these days, and working on a Sharing Time for the upcoming week. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it --- I'll soon go back to yapping about my kids' Birthdays and other earth shattering family "news"... or, you are more than welcome check out the 2010 Outline for Sharing Time page on the official LDS (aka Mormon Church) website!)

Anyway, the theme for this coming week is: Jesus Christ’s Example Teaches Me How to Live. One suggested activity is to have kids match up pictures of Christ setting an example of a gospel principle (such as prayer, baptism, etc) with Primary Songs about the topic and, of course, with related scripture references. There are four suggestions for "matches" in the outline and I thought of a couple more. I also decided I want to use two pictures on some examples - one of Christ and one of "modern" people doing the same thing. The pictures I'm using are all in the Gospel Art Book (GAB) and the songs are from the Children's Song Book (CS). Here's my list:

1. Christ's Example: praying, praying with family
pictures: "Jesus Praying with His Mother" (GAB 33) and "Family Prayer" (GAB 112);
song: "A Child's Prayer" (CS 12-13)
scriptures: Matthew 19:14 and D&C 112:10

2. Christ's Example: studying the gospel
pictures: Boy Jesus in the Temple" (GAB 34) and "Joseph Smith Seeks Wisdom in the Bible" (GAB 89)
song: "Seek the Lord Early" (CS 108)
scripture: Luke 2:42-49

3. Christ's Example: being baptized
pictures:"John... Baptizing Jesus" (GAB 35) and "Girl Being Baptized" (GAB 104)
song: "Baptism" (CS 100-101)
scripture: Matthew 3:13-17

4. Christ's Example: calling apostles (their example of willing service, etc)
pictures: "Calling of the Fishermen" (GAB 37) and Any picture of the current apostles (out of the Ensign or whatever you can find --- our library has one)
song: "Come Follow Me" (Hymn 116 --- regular adult Hymn book)
scripture: Matthew 4:18-20

5. Christ's Example: sharing/teaching the gospel
pictures: "Go Ye Therefore" (GAB ___?) or "The Sermon on the Mount" (GAB 39) and Pictures of Modern Missionaries (GAB 109 and 110, or photos from own ward if available)
song: We'll Bring the World His Truth (CS 172)
scriptures: Matthew 28:19-20

6. Christ's Example: healing, serving the "afflicted", loving regardless of physical condition
pictures: "Jesus Healing the Nephites" (GAB 83) and Any poster/picture you can find with kids helping each other or visiting sick or such (I ended up with a poster showing a little boy helping a little girl ride a trike --- it's all I could find so far...)
song: "I'll Walk with You" (CS 140-141)
scripture: 3 Nephi 17:7-9

7. Christ's Example: His continuing love for us and His promise to Return
pictures: "The Second Coming" (GAB 66) and "Christ and Children from around the World" (GAB 116)
song: "When He Comes Again" (CS 82)
scripture: Matthew 16:27 (and Matthew 19:14 again!)

Just to be clear, #2, 3, 5 & 6 are the ones mentioned specifically in the official Sharing Time Outline, the rest were what I felt good about after looking through the various songs we are using this year and paging through the Gospel Art Book.... If you thought of some I didn't, PLEASE SHARE!

Also, since I figure our Primary Chorister is plenty busy already --- and since she goes into the Nursery and such while we are doing Sharing Time, I am just putting the songs I need onto a CD... The MP3s are all free to download from the church website, and, in fact, from the "Songs for Use During Sacrament Meeting Presentation in 2010" page, nonetheless :-)

Oh, and although I'm having the older kids look up the scripture references in their own Bibles, etc, I also printed them off in larger type for the younger kids --- very easy to do thanks to the church's online scriptures!

Hope this saves someone some time --- or that I get comments suggesting more!

- Jen

Emily's (Birthday) "Garden Party"

2010-07-13T13:33:00.001-06:00

We had the idea for Emily's birthday party way back in April, and I'm very glad she didn't change her mind.... When I saw a bunch of cute little Easter hats in the dollar bins at Target, I thought it might be fun to let the girls decorate them with fake flowers, etc. Then, because we were shopping for birthday presents at the time, I realized that might be even more fun for Emily to do with her friends. So, I introduced the concept of a "Garden Party" - and told her that's like a Tea Party except with lemonade and ice cream.... The important part is you still get to "dress up"! Fortunately, she thought that sounded great --- and even more fortunately, she stayed enthusiastic about it through the ever so long months until we finally reached her Birthday!

We sent out invitations to 3 girls from church and 4 from school (2 of whom are twins, so Em got around my usual guest limit - you can have as many guests as the age you are turning). I experimented with how to attach the flowers and reluctantly settled on hot glue. (Luckily the low-temp kind held ok so I escaped without any blisters this time!) Many thanks to Julie and Cheryl for lending me glue guns!

When the guests arrived, the girls took turns playing some little card games and such in the front room and coming back to the kitchen to decorate their hats. I thought it would take me half the party to glue them, but my aunt, Jana Boschi, came to join the party and jumped right in to help! One of the little girls' grandmothers, Barb, also stayed to help, and I'm glad Natalie and Esther took an immediate liking to her!

After the hats were completed, we took the young ladies out front to play (an extremely simplified version of) Croquet. When they tired of that, we came in to open presents, and then have cake and ice cream. Then I herded them back outside to play until their parents came. I had wanted to teach them Bocce, but didn't find a set in time, so we just used the croquet balls again and bowled them at one of the posts...

All in all, I think things went quite well! (No tears, at least, which is saying a lot for 6-yr-old girls!)

Here is the little "scrapbook" we put together about the party:

This free digital scrapbook generated with Smilebox

Michael's Treaure Hunt

2010-05-08T21:00:00.001-06:00

For Michael's 6th Birthday, he decided he wanted to do a Treasure Hunt. We decided not to really do a Pirate theme, but be Explorers, instead. So, after much pondering (and countless lists), Mike finally invited one boy he knows from church, and 3 boys and 2 girls from school. (I've imposed the same rule as my Mom did - you can have as many guests as how old you are turning... and after age 8 or 10 it will theoretically turn into just a couple friends for a sleepover or equivalent activity)

So, guest list made and invitations sent, we eventually came up with several "adventuresome" games: an obstacle course, "Sinking Rocks" (a cross between musical chairs and a cakewalk-type game), "Storm" tag (like freeze tag except you "sink"), and "Don't wake the Guard Dog" (which is like Red-Light Green-Light --- trying to sneak up on someone without getting caught moving). Unfortunately the weather was nasty so we had to build an indoor obstacle course, which I (of course) neglected to take a picture of... We also swapped the tag game for a signal flag matching game (with international nautical flags copied off the internet).

Instead of individual prizes, the kids earned pieces of our "Treasure Map", and when they put it together and figured it out, it led to a group reward: little treasure chests Mike had helped me paint, filled with glass "jewels" and very shiny pennies. There were also candy bags for each of the kids, too. (The map was a simplified diagram of our house that Matt drew for me and the big treasure box was in the oven.)

Fortunately that killed enough time to move on to presents and then cake & ice cream. Matt had been entertaining Esther (and keeping her from getting trampled) for most of the party, but he joined us in time to offer to help cut the cake --- with his chainsaw!

I think the kids had fun --- they certainly were Loud Enough! Sheesh! I guess I should have expected as much... So, here is a little collage of the whole shebang....

And this (just for fun) is the really cool e-card I wish we'd found in time to send for an invite:

Natalie's "Super Why" Birthday Party

2010-02-22T11:42:00.005-06:00

Natalie loves the PBS kids show "Super Why" and we decided that would make a fun birthday theme. The show is about kids who live in "Storybook Village" and turn into Super Heroes to solve problems. They go into storybooks to find the solution by using "Alphabet Power", "Spelling Power", "Word Power," and, of course the "Power to Read." Throughout the story of the day they find "super letters" that spell out the solution to their question/problem.

With that general structure in mind, I made a super-computer cake with a cardstock screen that I wrote the "problem" on: "Natalie is 4 today, What Should we do? _ _ _ _ _ !"

To start off I had the kids color and draw pictures of themselves as Super Heroes while all the guests arrived. In attendance were our cousin Evie (and her mom and little sis & baby brother), a friend from our old ward, Carissa, and the little boys Natalie plays with when I go up to the school, Joseph and Ethan (and their mom). Michael and Emily weren't officially guests, but they were my super-helpers, guiding the younger kids through the games.

Our first game was an alphabet treasure hunt. I hid prizes around the room, stuck letters near the hiding places, then had the kids draw letters from a hat and match them up to find the treats.

Then we played a letter "bingo" game. I made 9-square grid cards with various common letters and bought some cute party favors for tokens. Instead of saying the name of the letter for them to cover, I showed a picture and had them decide what sound/letter the word started with... It went pretty well!

By then we had discovered our five "super letters": P-A-R-T-Y
That meant time for presents and cake!

Here's a collage of the festivities:

All in all, I think it was a success. The cake turned out ok, the games held the kids attention and we wrapped it all up in two hours. Guests went home with a small bag of candy, a set of magnetic letters, and a copy of the "bingo" game board and tokens. (Hopefully the parents won't silently curse me for the number of small pieces this ended up being!)

Continued Update Efforts

2010-01-21T21:14:00.000-06:00

Note to anyone who has been (patiently?) checking our blog now and then:

Well, still slogging along and adding in posts full of pictures/projects I never got around to finishing up with....

(I am forcing posting dates that match the events, rather than having everything stack up at random)

Thanks for your patience!
- Jen

List of add-ins as of 01/08:
Mike's Bday in May
Em's Bday in July
First Day of School in Sept
Trip to the Domes back in March

01/13: Easter Activities (in April)
01/14: Tea Party at Jana's (in August)

(01/18-20: everyone is sick again! sheesh!)

01/21: May in PA --- our trip to my parent's house in Pittsburgh

Christmas Preparations

2009-12-14T20:51:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday, Dec 5th, we put up the Christmas tree after dinner, but then it was time for bed... We didn't want to decorate it without Daddy (who was in Korea for work for the week), so we waited and hung the ornaments last night....

Our friend, Claudia, was over for dinner and got a big kick out of watching the kids... (She is widowed and lives in a group home --- but she raised 5 kids, back in the day, so I'm sure this brings back some fun memories!)

(Esther, 1yr, showing Claudia the reindeer Jen's Grandma made)

Esther's First Birthday!

2009-11-16T15:39:00.003-06:00

Hard for us to believe, but our little Esther is one year old! We tend to keep baby/toddler Birthdays fairly low-key, just getting together with family, but I do like to try for fun cakes. Feeling somewhat uninspired, I turned to her older siblings for cake/theme ideas...

I asked the kids, "What does Esther like?"

Emily giggled and said, "Peas!"

We all laughed, because it is very true --- One of Esther's favorite foods is frozen peas (and she eats them while they are still frozen). We joked around a bit about decorating the top of a cake with frozen peas and decided it would be icky when they melted. (Eeeeew!) I had been expecting the girls to say "princeses" or "fairies" (because that's what they like), so I combined some ideas and decided to make a "Princess and the Pea" cake!

I wanted to use fondant (smooth playdough-like frosting) to make blankets, but I'd only used the store-bought kind and it tastes nasty. Fortunately I found a recipe on the web for making fondant at home from melted marshmallows (and lots of powdered sugar). The project was still kind of tricky, since this is only the 3rd time I've worked with fondant, but I think it turned out ok:
On the weekend, we got together with family over at the Boschis, since Esther shares her Birthday with Uncle Dennis (as well as my sister Lisa and Matt's dad!). Katie made a really yummy chocolate cake for Dennis.

We had all had a good time. I think Esther quite enjoyed destroying (her part of) the cake and ripping into presents!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Ready for A Grand New Adventure: School!

2009-09-03T21:13:00.001-06:00

Well, it's official: Mike and Emily are now "kindergartners", and quite delighted to be heading off to school each day. We met their teachers at the school open house last week, and I think they will both get along just fine. They are also excited to be riding the bus, and hoped right on the first day with no worries. Fortunately, the bus stops right across the street from our house, so by winter I can just watch from the door :-)

Anyway, here's a little collage of the first couple of days. (Hit "play" of course, then when the project is loaded up, you click the different pics at the bottom to see them "full size" in the frame.)

"Tea" Party is a Relative Term...

2009-08-17T22:51:00.001-06:00

One of Emily's Birthday presents this year was a "tea" set and some other toy cooking items from Aunt Jana (Boschi). The kids had played with tea sets at Grandma Higgins's house and at friends' houses, but we only had generic cooking/serving toys at our place. Needless to say, Emily loves it, and the Mike and Natalie are right there with her! (Although I think Mike's favorite is actually the toy blender --- he makes "milkshakes" for the tea parties....)

Jana has wanted for a while to have the kids and Evie (our cousin, Jana's granddaughter) over for a little tea party at her house. Carmen (Jana's daughter) wanted to be in on the fun, too, of course. The problem is that she's getting married in just a couple of weeks; so they had to squeeze the party in amongst the wedding preparations!

Being LDS, none of us actually drink tea, but that's no reason to miss out on a chance to dress up and eat fun treats! Jana's teapot was filled with milk, and the "creamer" contained chocolate syrup, and as an added touch, the "sugar" bowl was filled with Hershey's kisses.

A good time was had by all, and, most miraculous of all (to me), I didn't end up scrubbing chocolate out of the party dresses, either!

Thanks Jana and Carmen!!!

Catching Up...

2009-07-30T13:53:00.004-06:00

Well, it's been/being a fun summer! That said, I have lots of photos and related projects I've gotten started and never finished or that I finished and then didn't get around to posting here...

Anyway, over the next couple of days I am posting the finished project and (hopefully) finishing and posting several more. I will back-date them closer to the event(s) featured, and hope this will not be too confusing...

So far I have put in:
2 from our trip to PA in May
1 from the 4th of July

Hope you-all are having a decent Summer, too!

How Much Fun Can We Pack in One Weekend?

2009-07-18T19:57:00.002-06:00

In May I was delighted to re-connect with a friend we'd lost track of almost 10 yrs ago, Shae (Shauna) Johnson. Come to find out, she's been living only about 5 hrs away from us for several years now! Of course, now she's working on moving back to Idaho/Utah... It just figures, doesn't it!

Anyway, in the middle of July we loaded up the family and went down to see her and another "long-lost" friend, Meg Dolan, before they headed westward. It was great fun to catch up with friends (none of us had any kids the last time we talked!)and we made sure we planned activities the kids could enjoy, too. On Saturday morning, we went to a local Farmer's Market with Meg and her 9-yr-old, 'Becca. Then we met up with Shae and her crew that afternoon and we all went to a neat little Children's Museum built in an old theater...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The trip was tons of fun, which now means even the kids are sad "mommy's friends" are moving so much farther away!

Good Luck, though, Guys!

It's Finally Em's Turn to Party!

2009-07-14T18:11:00.002-06:00

For Emily's birthday, she had a "Princess and Pony" Party. This pretty much just meant that the girls were invited to bring their "My Little Pony"'s over to play with for a while before the festivities...

Fortunately, Em didn't request a Pony cake --- that would be a bit beyond me! She giggled and said she wanted "bugs", so we made ladybug cookies and put them on a field/flowers cake....

One of her friends, Ainsley, couldn't come, but Emily had a good time with Cassie, Emma, and Gwen. They played a while, then we went out on the back patio for cake, ice cream and lemonade. Back inside for presents, and then the girls stayed and played a while...

Independence Day Celebrations

2009-07-09T19:30:00.001-06:00

On the 4th of July this year, the Bullough Family invited us and the Henries over for a picnic and then we all went over to the New Berlin Independence Day Parade. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad they included us!

Unfortunately, Natalie did not like the 100 or so Harley Motorcycles that preceded the parade... She never has liked loud noises, and while she probably could have handed a few of them, she was crying and shaking long before the actual parade started. Poor kid! After that, she was hyper-sensitive to everything, and, as a result, spent most of the parade whining and asking to go home. She did finally perk up a little by the end, thankfully! I think next year we'll be "late" on purpose....

Later, we got a call from the Banks Family asking if we wanted to come cook out and go over to the fireworks near their house. (We went to the fireworks with them last year and the kids have talked about it ever since!) The Grips were over, too, although they had to go home and put their crew to bed before the fireworks.

This "Smilebox" only covers the first bit --- my camera stayed home for the second round of festivities....
(This one is another scrapbook, click "play", it will open in another window, use the little round button(s) to pause and/or "turn" the pages)

Pittsburgh Adventures: West View Firestation

2009-05-24T20:30:00.002-06:00

My brother Joe's wife, Mary, is from the Pittsburgh area. Her family still lives there, and her dad, Ed Glatz, is a volunteer firefighter. He arranged a tour of the firestation for the (older) kids while we were out there....

(Once again I was home with baby --- many thanks to my Dad for escorting the kids --- and for taking these great photos!)

Note: this "Smilebox" is a postcard-style creation; click play, it will open in a new window, then you can click on individual photos for a close-up)

Pittsburgh Adventures: Going to the Zoo/Aquarium

2009-05-23T12:00:00.002-06:00

One of the super-fun activities we like to do in Pittsburgh is going to the Zoo. This time, Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Joe & Aunt Mary (my brother and his wife) took my three older kids, and Riley, my sister Lisa's oldest. I stayed home with baby Esther, since she and I were both still sick. (Lisa was home with her littler boys, too.) The kids had a blast, of course --- and I confess I'm a little jealous!

(This particular "Smilebox" is a digital scrapbook, click on "play", it will open in another browser window, use the little round button(s) at the bottom of it to "turn" the pages)

Bye, Daddy --- We're going to Grandma's!

2009-05-22T20:22:00.002-06:00

We've wanted for a while to go out and visit my parents and sister who live in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, not only does Matt have little vacation time to spend right now, his job keeps sending him to Seattle --- And no way was I going to drive 10+ hours with 4 kids all by myself!
Well, in the meantime, my brother, Joe, and his wife have been wanting to see everybody, too. So, it finally occurred to us that these were highly compatible goals: Joe flew into Chicago, the kids and I drove down to meet him, and we continued on to Pittsburgh together! (There's only so much room in the van, so Joe's wife, Mary, flew out directly to PA.)

We got there just in time for "Mothers' Day", which was way cool. We spent a fair amount of time just hangin' with the grandparents (and often my sister Lisa and her boys), but also had a few fun excursions. (I'm making separate "Smileboxes" for a couple of the fun outings --- the Zoo and the Fire Station)

Anyway, it was all very fun (except baby Esther and I having a cold) and I very much hope to do this (at least once a year) in the future!!!

Thanks Again, Joe!!! (aka "Uncle Funny!")

Mike's 1st "Boy" Birthday (Party, that is)

2009-05-04T16:00:00.002-06:00

Well, in our excitement about going to Grandma's, we almost didn't end up throwing a party for Mike. We figured we'd celebrate with the family while we were out in PA.... However, upon contemplating the fact that his sisters had/would have "friend parties", too, we kind of threw one together last minute for him... We decided we'd call it a "train day" and just invite a few kids.

This is the invite I helped Mike make and email (and we printed out a couple for those whose emails we were uncertain of):

I came up with some (good?) ideas about how to make a train cake --- but it was Matt who made it work. Mike was surprised and pleased when he saw it in the morning!
Two of Mike's friends from church, Nathan and Will, along with their little brothers (Eli and Isaac), came and played trains and had lunch. Later, Aunt Jana, and cousin Evie came over, too. The kids enjoyed the cake, played with presents, and generally had a pretty good time.

Easter-Time Festivities

2009-04-13T22:30:00.004-06:00

Easter is a very important religious holiday, and I don't like to detract from its importance with Bunny-talk... However, bunnies, eggs, (and chocolate!) are fun and pretty harmless. We've worked out the conflict by arranging for the "Easter Bunny" to deliver baskets on Saturday, so the kids can have their fun and then (theoretically) settle down for Easter Sunday....

This year the kids "rolled doubles" --- when we went out to join the Boschi's for dinner, they had more fun stuff planned for the kids. Aaron & Melinda were there, of course, with Evie (3) and Lizzie (1yr), who were just beside themselves with excitement. Aunt Jana, Uncle Dennis, and Carmen had baskets of treats hidden around the house for all of us, including the grown-ups! Once we had our baskets, we took the kids out to hunt eggs in the yard....

Mike's "Book"

2009-04-08T15:12:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm sure it's obvious by now that I/we are enjoying the "Smilebox" program! Last week while Matt was gone, I let the kids each take a turn working on a project with me. I'm still finishing up the girls', but Mike's is ready for launch...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

This one is a scrapbook, again, so you have to click the little buttons underneath (after it loads into its own browser window) to "turn" the pages...

...I'll be sure to let Mike know if anyone leaves comments for him/us about his "book".... :-)

April Fool's Fun

2009-04-01T19:47:00.003-06:00

In honor of this day of silliness, here's another "smilebox" creation --- this one is a slideshow:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Also, if you want a fun song for the day, check out the April Fool Song.
I learned that song in Kindergarten and hadn't heard it since! (I could only remember the opening line and the part about the pig in the parlor and was delighted when Google "found" it for me!)

Esther's 1st Four Months

2009-03-19T22:38:00.006-06:00

***Update - I decided to do a "trial membership" on smilebox, so this shouldn't have ads anymore and be viewable full screen and such... ****

Just for fun, I'm experimenting with a couple of "digital scrapbooking" programs... Here's one I made on smilebox.

The "album" will open in a new window. It is not a slideshow --- you have to "turn the pages" via the tiny little arrow button(s) under the pages....

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Note: smilebox is free --- hence the ad banners when you view the albums... But I guess that is fair, after all! (Also, I do have the option to actually "buy" the design for a few bucks or get a paid membership on smilebox, and either way the ads would disappear and the album would be printable and such.)

"Legoland" at the Mitchell Park Conservatory (Domes)

2009-03-18T17:04:00.003-06:00

One of the coolest places in Milwaukee is the Mitchell Park Conservatory, which consists of three huge greenhouse domes full of gardens. One is all tropical, one is arid/desert, and the third has different themed gardens throughout the year. Every year after the holiday display is packed away, they do a model train setup in the Show dome, but each year is a different theme. Last year it was "Lilliput" (from Gulliver's Travels), this year was "Legoland."

Monday mornings are free to county residents, so we try to go every year... This year the Boschi's came with us, too, Jana and Dennis, and Melinda with Evie and Lizzie. It was really fun (although I think they could have done a lot more with the Legos!).

Re-Reading "The Gift of Fear"

2009-03-12T15:18:00.007-06:00

Well, I suppose this is my first non-family post, but it's about family safety --- something increasingly on my mind as my kids are rapidly approaching "school age"....

A tiny bit of background: Our R.S. book club read "The Shack" a couple months ago. I didn't get to go to the discussion, but did read the book. The core tragedy in the main character's life is the abduction of his little girl. The book is about him supposedly meeting with God and learning to have faith/forgive, etc. (I didn't really like the book, to be honest; the author's version of spirituality has little in common with my beliefs and feelings, especially since he is very anti-church/organized religion.)

Reading that, however, reminded me of a couple books I read quite a few years ago: "The Gift of Fear" and "Protecting the Gift", both by Gavin de Becker. The tagline for the first of these books is:

"True fear is often a signal that can save your life. Are you listening?"

Basically, the author makes the case that your intuition is a lot more reliable than you think; if you feel uneasy around someone, chances are that your subconcious is picking up on very real clues to a potential danger. His books both go through a lot of ways to assess risk (deciding if threatening behavior is likely to escalate, etc), but he explains that all this information is just to give your subconcious more to work with so that you are more likely to notice a threat, and, most important, so that you don't brush off your own fears. If you are informed and confident in your own intuition/fear, you don't need to worry or be constantly afraid.... (He makes it clear that the "fear" he is talking about is your "gut reaction", not just worrying about stuff in general.)

Anyway, the first book, "The Gift of Fear", is about risk assesment and such in general and as applied to stranger-on-stranger attacks, domestic violence, workplace violence, and stalkers (of celebrities or exes).

The second book, "Protecting the Gift", is specifically targeted on keeping your kids and teens safe and on teaching them to keep themselves safe. (For example, teaching children to ask a woman for help, rather than just "look for a policeman" since kids can't tell a real cop from a predator with a toy badge...)

Both books are interesting and very thought-provoking, to say the least! I am actually ordering the second one - it has really good info for parents, including sample questions to ask about your kids school(s), potential babysitters, and so on.

Now, this guy is a genuine expert and all - he has lots and lots of experience and data to back up him up when he tells us to listen to our instincts.... However, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I personally believe that in addition to our "subconcious mind", we are warned/protected by spiritual means as well. A lot of the concepts he talks about in relation to acting on intution, such as it is more important to be safe than to be polite, could/can really apply to listening to the Holy Ghost, too! Perhaps that is why his ideas seem to me to have particular merit....

Well, I could go on an get really philosophical about all this, but I shall spare you all! I do, however, recommend these books - particularly the one directed at parents!

(BTW, I am seriously thinking of recommending the second book to our Relief Society book club - anyone have thoughts on this?)

Daddy is Oooollllddd!

2009-03-06T16:17:00.009-06:00

Matt's Birthday was this week... I won't say how old he is, but his parents sent him this giant cookie...

He had to travel for work this week, so we celebrated last Saturday. (Many thanks to Jen's Aunt Jana for last-minute babysitting!)

The kids "helped" me make a cake on Friday, and I hid it in the oven (off, of course!) and crossed my fingers Matt wouldn't be seized with some sudden urge to broil something... Saturday we surprised him with the cake and a couple of presents... The kids gave him a "nerf" dart gun, I gave him a really neat book he wanted. The kids were lots of help -trying out the gun for him and helping blow out the candles....

Esther, of course, was the biggest party animal... well, maybe just the cutest...

Yippe! Yipee! Natalie is Finally Three!

2009-02-21T23:57:00.006-06:00

Well, we not only survived but enjoyed Natalie's action-packed third birthday... Of course, I use the term action-packed rather loosely --- based on the age of the participants it was plenty of excitement for one day!

We started off the day by having my aunt, Jana, and our cousins, Melinda and Evie (3 yrs) and Lizzie (10months) over for breakfast. (Aunt Jana and Evie are two of Natalie's favorite people.) The tots snarfed down a pile of muffins and some toast and ran around a bit before we called them back in to unwrap presents. Evie just had her third birthday a couple weeks ago, so she was a little confused and rather disappointed that none of the presents were for her (and Natalie was reluctant to share at first). Poor Evie! Being a toddler is tough!

We sang, of course, and let Natalie blow out candles on her birthday cake, but we only let the kids have one little cupcake (flower) each, assuring them we'd dig in to the big cake that evening. We had some cupcakes set aside to send home with our guests, too, of course.

After the kids played with the toys a while, we packed up and headed off to play at Betty Brinn Children's Museum. Our guests came, too, and Melinda actually snapped more pictures than I did (since I had an armful of Esther a lot of the time). You can see some on her blog: http://1lil2lilgirls.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-birthday-cousin-natalieat.html

Most of the photos I got were badly blurred - apparently the camera I'm using these days has almost no tolerance for motion; but here are a few that turned out:

We spent a couple hours at the museum before everyone went their separate ways. By the time I got the kids home, Natalie was pretty much asleep in the car and Emily (4 1/2) started crying and said she didn't want lunch, only a nap!!! Those poor kids dropped like rocks! (heh heh heh)

Well, they bounced back by evening and we went to McDonalds for a fun dinner. Natalie wanted to take her new (toy) doggie, but we convinced her that would be a bad idea... We suggested she take her ballons and some of the cupcakes, instead.

Anyway, quite a busy day for us! But, I think it was pretty successful: Nat loved her presents, got to eat food she actually likes, and got to "play" with some of her favorite people; And all of use enjoyed the activites --- and the abundance of cake!

Cake Time!

2009-02-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

Ok, I confess, I am fairly pleased with myself about how Nat's Birthday Cake turned out... Or, at least I like the flowers! (The caterpillar is a bit pathetic.)

The flower cupcakes were really fun, and best of all, really easy to make. The centers are sweet-tarts (smarties or whatever would work) and the petals are mini marshmallows cut in half (and pinched a little). We made extra cupcakes to share with friends. The kids were even able to help --- I let them eat their own creations, though, on account of contamination issues....

I found the flower technique on: http://www.cupcake-creations.com/

Party - Party

2009-02-08T20:20:00.006-06:00

Well, we had a lot of fun this weekend --- 2 birthday parties to attend!

First, Mike and Em were invited to a party for one of their friends from church, Nathan. His parents arranged for the kids to tour a local police department, and then everyone went back to their house for cake and presents and such...

The kids had a lot of fun - Thanks for inviting us, Nathan!

Later, in the afternoon, we went out to Aunt Jana's for our cousin Evie's 3rd birthday. The kids had fun sleddingand watching the Daddys fire off some model rockets (but I was inside with baby so photos are courtesy of Evie's mom, Melinda). When the kids were thouroughly soggy (on account of it being 50 degrees out!) everyone gathered inside for cake, ice cream, and presents.

Again, much fun was had by all! Thanks for inviting us, Evie! You make a lovely little Princess!

More Cute-ness & New (Book) Project

2009-01-23T18:29:00.005-06:00

Esther is about 9 weeks old now, and is starting to be quite "vocal". She gurgles and coos at us when she's happy, and is pretty smiley, too. (Of course, at this age even her "pouts" are awefully cute!) Here's a little clip of her "talking" to us (the other voices are mostly me and Emily)...

On a completely unrelated note, today I have been "playing" with a really neat website - its called "Shelfari" and lets you make booklists (in the form of virtual bookshelves) and share them with friends, etc. You can see one of my "bookshelves" at the bottom of this blog. The bookshelf is a full-blown "widget", so it updates when I add things on the Shelfari site. It also links to my profile on their site where I'm happily adding more and more books and reviews and such....

I've tried making booklist webpages before with minimal success, so I'm extra glad to have found this site! I have Melinda to thank - she has a bookshelf "widget" on her blog, too... Anyway, I highly recommend the site if you are looking to share booklists (or lots of other book-related stuff). I also recommend a great number of books, of course....

Let me know if any of y'all like any of my picks or have others to suggest!

Singing to Baby

2009-01-22T18:09:00.000-06:00

Having put up a couple of over-due posts, I can finally get to today's fun....

Over the last couple of weeks, the kids have really been into singing. This is something I've encouraged since I can sing with them while I'm rocking/soothing/nursing the baby. Now they like to sing to the baby... Anyway, I finally got my act together and filmed a bit:

Three-year-old Natalie singing "Edelweiss" (from the Sound of Music) to baby Esther... Hard to hear but awefully cute...!

...and the it was Em's turn, of course...

(A little easier to hear, I hope, and just as cute!)

Well, I really don't know what the kids' fascination is with "Edelweiss" - they've seen very little of the movie - but it is sweet to hear them (try to) sing it.... So there you go - a healthy dose of "cute" for your day...

Esther's Blessing Day

2009-01-22T17:07:00.000-06:00

The Sunday after Christmas, while Jen's parent's were still in town, we had Esther's blessing at church. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (commonly known as LDS or Mormons). Baby blessings are similar to christenings in that they officially bestow a name on the infant and enter that name into the records of the church. (Children are not baptized until they are at least eight years old, though). Infants can be given a name and blessing by any worthy male member of the church. As with our other kids, Matt gave our little Esther her name and a blessing. Here is our darling in her blessing dress:

Christmas!

2009-01-06T16:10:00.001-06:00

Christmas was great! (My mom) Grandma Haroldsen was here for most of September, and Grandpa came out the Saturday before Christmas. New House + New Baby + Grandparents = Merry Christmas Indeed!

We didn't do anything "spectacular" --- just enjoyed being family and having fun with the kids. Matt did take 4-yr-olds Mike and Em and 2-yr-old Natalie shopping at a dollar store to pick out gifts for each other and for "Mommy", and they thought that was a wonderfully "big kid" thing to do... It also helped make a grand stack of presents under the tree (without breaking the bank)!

The kids had a good time posing in front of the tree to show off new outfits:

Mike & Em (4 1/2) and Natalie (almost 3)

3-week-old Esther

Christmas Eve we enjoyed the novelty of having a genuine fireplace to hang stockings by:

Chrismas Day we just took our time opening presents and watching the kids play...

...and, believe it or not, I (Jen) was terribly domestic and actually made rolls "from scratch"...

Anyway, we all had a great time! And just think - next year Esther will be old enough to enjoy everything, too!

Introducing Baby Esther!

2008-11-16T19:37:00.006-06:00

It has been brought to my attention that I never did mention on this blog that we have been expecting a baby (oops!) --- so, Suprise! There are now Four Little "Higglets"!

Little Esther made her arrival a few days ago and is now happily home and settling in just fine. Mike, Em and Natalie are fascinated with her and just love "helping"....

Here are a few pics of our little darlin's meeting for the first time:
And here is the little lady herself, ready for her first car ride (home from the hospital):

Costume Time!

2008-10-29T10:57:00.001-06:00

For Halloween this year, Emily decided to be a "pink cowgirl" (costume courtesy of Grandma Haroldsen), Mike changed his mind last minute to be a cowboy, too (his usual costume from Aunt Jana), and Natalie announced she was going to be a ghost: "Whoooo!"

"Can we go yet, Mom?"

"Yee-haw and Yippee!"

(Emily & Mike, 4 1/2 yrs)

"Whoooo!"

(Natalie, 2 1/2 yrs)

Our community trick-or-treat was Sunday afternoon, but it was "wicked cold" so the kids probably went to about 5 houses, total.... We have a ward party and "trunk-or-treat" on Friday night, though, so they will have another chance to dress up (and get more loot).... They are still at the age to be more interested in dressing up than the amount of candy they get, anyway, so they are having fun!

Where Did Our Summer Go?!

2008-10-28T22:30:00.000-06:00

Well, obviously the update-at-least-once-a-month hasn't been happening... However, in my/our defense, we basically spent the whole summer prepping our old house to sell (May-July), finally selling it late in July (yay!), house hunting like crazy, buying a house (Aug 29) and moving... I'm sure you can imagine the details have been tedious and wearisome...

Anyway, it really has been worth it --- our new house is wonderful! We finally have 2 bathrooms and enough bedrooms to go around (4, all upstairs). We also have a "living room" and a "family room" on the main floor, as well as an "eat-in" kitchen and "dining room". The basement is unfinished, but perfectly adequate for storage and laundry (and workshop space for Matt). The location is great, too: nice neighborhood, really good schools, 4 miles from Matt's job, etc. We did have to switch wards (at church), but we're still close enough to keep in touch with old friends, and the new ward has been very welcoming.

My camera disappeared for a while during our move, but here are a couple pictures outside the new house:

(Mike & Em (4 1/2) and Natalie (2 1/2) helping sweep up leaves, October 2008)

...In back of the house we have a nice patio (not pictured), a bit of grass, a built-in swingset (above) and a bit of a treeline.... (Our part of the trees goes back maybe 3-5 yards? I'm bad at guessing distances...)

2008-04-18T09:45:00.000-06:00

Hmm... suppose I ought to post an update at least once a month....
Here's a couple pictures from our latest "jaunt" to the Betty Brinn children's museum:

And here are the kids helping daddy get ready for my birthday:

And here's the grand celebration: The kids helped pick the balloons and they gave me a book and a "lovey" (big soft blue blanket). Matt supervised the chaos, od course, and also gave me a new bowl and pouring shield for my mixer (which is more fun than it sounds - I really wanted those!).

March12: Piggie Time!

2008-03-12T09:54:00.000-06:00

Natalie just turned 2 - and she Finally has enough hair for pigtails... she is quite delighted!

2007-12-02T17:26:00.000-06:00

Well - I guess we'll give this new site a try....
(We've been looking for a new free spot for a family web page because geocities is just way to limited for space, etc.)
So here goes nothin' !
- Jen

Here's Matt with our "Higglets": Mike and Emily are 3yrs old, Natalie is 20 months. This is last week after the first real snowfall here in Milwaukee....

Matt and Jen Higgins Family

Ben's first Month

Off to Grandma's!

School Review

Happy Birthday Grandma Higgins!

Happy Birthday Grandma Haroldsen!

Natalie's Birthday (including Castle pinata)

It's A Boy!

Quick Note to Primary "Followers"

In Case You Haven't Heard Our News...

Primary Sharing Time - 4th Week of August, 2010

Vacation was Great!

Primary Sharing Time - 1st Week of August, 2010

Primary Sharing Time - 3rd Week of July, 2010: Results

Primary Sharing Time - 3rd Week of July, 2010

Emily's (Birthday) "Garden Party"

Michael's Treaure Hunt

Natalie's "Super Why" Birthday Party

**Continued Update Efforts**

Christmas Preparations

Esther's First Birthday!

Ready for A Grand New Adventure: School!

"Tea" Party is a Relative Term...

Catching Up...

How Much Fun Can We Pack in One Weekend?

It's Finally Em's Turn to Party!

Independence Day Celebrations

Pittsburgh Adventures: West View Firestation

Pittsburgh Adventures: Going to the Zoo/Aquarium

Bye, Daddy --- We're going to Grandma's!

Mike's 1st "Boy" Birthday (Party, that is)

Easter-Time Festivities

Mike's "Book"

April Fool's Fun

Esther's 1st Four Months

"Legoland" at the Mitchell Park Conservatory (Domes)

Re-Reading "The Gift of Fear"

Daddy is Oooollllddd!

Yippe! Yipee! Natalie is Finally Three!

Cake Time!

Party - Party

More Cute-ness & New (Book) Project

Singing to Baby

Esther's Blessing Day

Christmas!

Introducing Baby Esther!

Costume Time!

Where Did Our Summer Go?!

March12: Piggie Time!

Continued Update Efforts