Isaac's 5th birthday

Isaac is now FIVE years old!

How crazy is that?

He had a huge party (15 guests) squeezed into the little block of time between the morning and afternoon  sessions of conference.  It was absolute Chaos!  At least that was the opinions of every adult, especially Daddy... but the important opinion belonged to Isaac who thought it was the coolest party ever!  Isaac even thanked Heavenly Father, that night in his prayers, for blessing him with such a cool party.  I was so glad that he was happy, because he had been talking about his party since December, so I was concerned that he was going to build it all up in his mind and then it wouldn't live up to all of his expectations... apparently a 5 year olds expectations are not as extreme as I had assumed... thank goodness.

 Isaac wanted to have a pajama, monster party so he could wear his monster pajamas...lol

He picked the decorations from a company, we found online, called shindigs.  Like I said before he has been planning this party since December, that was when he picked the decorations out, and just about every day after that he would confirm with me that I understood what he wanted... he is so headstrong and determined. 

 I was very brave and let everyone eat their cakes on the floor since we didn't have 15 chairs at the table! Happily they didn't make any mess that wasn't easily vacuumed up later.

 What do monsters eat?  Mice of course.  Isaac helped me make these peach mice, they turned out really cute.  I remembered my mom making peach spiders and pear mice when I was a kid, so Isaac decided to try it out.  It was a big hit, the majority of the kids loved it.  I think Eden ate 4 of them herself.

We bought Isaac a big kid bike with training wheels, unfortunately he has only had 2 days since his birthday to ride on it.  Spring has forgotten that it is supposed to be here, so Winter is still going strong, We hope it will change soon! We want to go on a bike ride!

Happy Birthday Isaac

snowman

while getting together the pictures for the blizzard post, I came across these from a short lived snow fall back in December.  The kids helped me make this snowman.  It was kind of small but lots of fun.  It was gone by the next morning...

Blizzard

So we had a blizzard in Illinois.  Apparently it was the worst one in 25 years.  Everyone was all freaked out about it, but I must say that is was rather nostalgic for me, reminded me of winters in Idaho, only those were "winters" not just solitary storms.  Winter here tends to be icy rains, freezing winds, snow sometimes, but after 2-3 days the snow is washed away by rain or just melts, while the freeze remains...really nasty.  I will take a true Idaho winter any day.  Give me a blizzard, a fireplace and a good book, that's how I loved winter as a teenager.

Anyway, after this blizzard, I took the kids outside early and let them play on the drifts outside our house, while I shoveled our driveway.  Of course the plow came through and left one little path through the cul de sac, but that path was so far away from our drive that I had to shovel twice the normal length  of the drive to reach it.  I shoveled our drive, then helped some of the neighbors with theirs, then I had to  dig out my van from the parking in the center of the cul de sac.  I spent a total of 5 hours shoveling, it was good, hard work, that felt totally awesome while I was doing it and nearly crippled me for a couple of hours afterwards. ;)

 You can see from the pictures how high the drifts were.  One of the neighbors had her entire drive way and front yard drifted right up to the roof, she spent 4 hours just getting out of her front door, then all the neighbors got together after shoveling their own drives and cleared hers in about 30 minutes.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but my camera was already inside by then.  It's funny how no one on one side of the cul de sac knows anyone on the other, most barely even know there next door neighbors here, but during a situation like this, no one even hesitated to pitch in and help a neighbor/stranger.

 "I'm the king of Bunkers Hill!"

 This car belonged to another neighbor, he walks to work, so he didn't bother shoveling it out for a couple of days...

 Isaac kept finding snowballs almost a big as himself, then would carry them up to the top of the drift "mountain" and throw them at someone, usually me.

It was a beautiful morning, very crisp and clean, everyone ended up outside... most of my neighbors I had never even seen before, so it was nice to be able to talk to them and laugh about the blizzard, and see so many people at one time, at least 15 households were out at once, and everyone was cheerful and friendly and helpful.  I actually wish it would happen more often... a blizzard, followed by neighborliness, I mean.  That would be a good winter.  The only thing that would top that would be some "black-ops cookie deliveries" conducted the night after a blizzard!  Good times, good times.

late night snowball fight

A few nights ago, James actually got home early from work.  By early, I mean 8:30pm.  The kids were supposed to be in bed at 7:30, but as luck, and a serious of catastrophes, would have it, all 3 kids were still up.
So let me set the scene:  I had just finished cleaning up an overflowing toilet, and a mess consisting of every toy in the house being dumped out, by Eden, in the living room, when the doorbell rings.  I'm thinking to myself, "What now?!"
I open the door, and there's no one there!  It's very dark, and snow is falling in huge clumps.  It's a beautiful, crisp night, but I'm irritated that some kid is playing tricks...
Suddenly, a giant snowball comes flying right at my face!
I manage to get the screen door closed just in time... and there is James-big, guilty grin.
He says, "Where are the kids?"  So I call them and say, "Hurry, get your boots and coats on!"
We must have played for 30 minutes or more, the kids would have kept on playing if we'd let them.  Of course we had to come in and get hot cocoa, and we still had to brush teeth, but now we had to change into dry pajamas too.  So it wasn't until about 10pm that they finally got to bed.  Yes, and it was a school night too.  Oh, well, these kind of experiences are priceless, especially when the kids' time spent with Daddy usually consists of him sleeping in their room at night.

I was very glad that I had the camera charged and out on the counter, instead of put away in some inaccessible place...

Happy 3rd Birthday Eden

On January 15th 2011, Eden Caroline Bangert became 3 years old. Our little princess had received a little, pink, china tea cup set from a Sister at church around Christmas time, and James thought that it would be fun for her to have a tea party for her birthday.  


As Eden's knowledge of what a princess is happens to be limited to the fact that it's what she, as a girl, is; and she does not know who any of the Disney Princesses are - we don't have any of the movies, Jeremiah and Isaac have seen them from when we lived near Aunt Holly and Uncle Jon, but Eden somehow never has - this being the case she wasn't interested in a "Princess Party" in the everyone-dress-up-as-a-princess-and-everything-decorated-in-Disney Princesses style, like you might expect of girls her age.  Instead she wanted a butterfly tea party.  So I got her this cute little tiara to make her the hostess and sent out some cute little invitations: 

We invited some friends, the Campbells and the Arnolds, and everyone came in their best Sunday dress with their favorite teddy bear, or iguana or duck.  We had a blast practicing poise, playing hot tea cup instead of hot potato, and having an impromptu waltz.  We had some fancy refreshments, a fizzy lemonade koolaid drink in a little tea pot I had never used before, it had 4 matching green tea cups, so the two older boys and oldest girl used the green tea cups, while everyone else used Eden's new little pink tea cups.  And everyone "Attempted" to be well mannered and proper... manners and proper are all relative anyway aren't they? lol

Eden's daddy got to come home from work for a little while during the party so she blew out her candle and opened her presents while James was home to share it with her.
  

She received some doll clothes, a magnetic dress-up ballerina, a duplo blocks zoo, some My Little Ponies, and a new butterfly for her framed butterfly collection.  She was very happy with all of her gifts.  I think the idea that some of the toys were "Girl" toys appealed to her, and made her feel special.  She's so used to playing with her brothers and their toys, and up to this point hasn't really made a differentiation.  

But she is growing up, and at 3 she is quite pleased to be a Big girl.  James was leaving for work one morning this last week and said to Eden, "I love you Baby Girl!"  To which she replied, "I'm not a baby girl, I'm a Big girl."  

She also took it upon herself to be too big for diapers, and quit using them cold turkey.  She has been officially diaper free for 2 weeks now, even at night.  

And she has decided to learn her numbers and letters, so she likes to have her brothers practice them with her, mostly she pretends to know what she's talking about but she's excited to be trying.  

Eden is a beautiful, intelligent little lady, or as she says, "perfect and handsome."

Happy Birthday Eden.  

Christmas 2010 Newsletter

It's that time of year again, everything is white and cold with snow outside, and the Christmas tree brightens everything up inside.
The Bangert family has had a good year.  Not too boring and not too exciting, just the right blend to leave us laughing and happy and expectant for the new year.



In January, Eden had her 2nd birthday. Isaac turned 4 in April. And in May, Jeremiah turned 6.

Jeremiah:

Jeremiah graduated from Kindergarten, at Howard A. Yeager School.  His school had a big graduation ceremony that was a lot of fun, and the kids put a lot of hard work into it.
Jeremiah loved his Kindergarten teacher, Mrs Criswell.








Now Jeremiah is in 1st grade at Forrestal Elementary.  His teacher this year is Mrs. Sabor.
He is doing a great job in math and science, but his best subject is reading.  He's in the yellow group, which is reading chapter books!  At home he loves to read all kinds of books to his brother and sister, as well as reading the Book of Mormon for family scripture study.  He loves getting up in Fast and Testimony Meeting to share his testimony and does so almost every month.  He also enjoys superheroes, action and comedy movies, gymnastics, Wii sports and Lego games, and anything he can do with his dad.  Jeremiah also lost his first 2 teeth this year!  He is a great helper, he keeps the toys picked up and does the vacuuming as his regular responsibilities, and loves to find other ways to help his family.  His mom doesn't know what she would do without him.


Isaac:
Isaac finished his first year of preschool, at Howard A. Yeager School.  Isaac loved his teachers Mrs. Cress and Miss Habercamp, and happily, has been able to keep them for this, his second year of preschool.

He has learned so much this year.  He has learned to write his name.  He has learned sign language for all kinds of pets, and the first letters of the names of everyone in his class.  He memorizes really well (ask him what John 14:15 says) and remembers stories and lessons almost word for word, such as the stories of Jesus calming the sea, and the Good Samaritan.  Tell him a story once and months later he can repeat it back to you.  Isaac also loves to compose songs, they often sound like Mike Myers poetry readings from "So I married an axe murderer," but they are so creative, and they make his family laugh.  Isaac is a good friend and loves to make people happy.  He also enjoys gymnastics and loves riding the bus to school.


Eden:

 Eden has been tolerating being at home with her mom, while her brothers are in school.  She is hoping to be able to go to preschool next fall.

She has been learning everything she can from her brothers and considers herself fully capable of anything anyone else in the family can do.  She loves counting, and can count to 10 with or without her fingers.  She loves coloring.  She doesn't like to be helped with anything, I even caught her pouring her own milk (thank goodness the jug was almost empty!)  And she is an expert covert operative, she can sneak off with anything as stealthily as a pickpocket, she always remembers what she has hidden where, and she can stay hidden in the simplest of places for up to 20 minutes without being found.  But mostly she loves her brothers, they are her best friends.

As a family we have had fun this year.  Grandpa Bob came to live with us, in July.  He has had quite the adjustment coming to Illinois from Monterey California's climate.  (He got to throw his first snowball a few days ago.)

As a family, we have been on outings to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier, in Chicago;

 the Cottonwood Farm, in Crest Hill, Illinois;
 
as well as the Dinosaur Museum and Kenosha Public Museum, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.


We have also had fun doing science experiments, things like learning about magnets, building soda can robots, and experimenting with soda and Menthos.











The kids had fun riding their tricycle and big wheel when the weather was warm.

James has been very busy as a Recruit Division Commander at the Navy's Recruit Training Command (Bootcamp).  He is pushing his last division now, and looks forward to serving with Fleet Quality Assurance for the next year, beginning at the end of February 2011.  He looks forward to seeing more of his kids and getting a lot more sleep.  James has also been busy as the Elders Quorum President in our ward, and has been blessed in abundance by the Lord ever since receiving this calling, for which we are very thankful.

Leah has been busy keeping the family sane, fed, clothed, and relatively happy.  Leah is also pleased to report that she has lost 10 pounds this year.  It has been hard work and challenging, but definitely worth while.  Leah has also been accepted into a Master of Science program in Forensic Psychology, at Waldon University.  It is an online program and hopefully will take no more then 1 1/2 years to complete.  And at church she is enjoying her calling as a Relief Society teacher.

So now at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 we would like to wish all of our family and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.