Catching up. Winter in Madison.

As winter draws to a close (yeah, right), it's time to write a bit about what we have been up to. We will be leaving for a summer internship in Minnesota in about two months, so we need to get in the habit of updating more regularly.

Fall was wonderful, and the weather was really nice literally until December 1st. Since then, we've had a couple blizzards (one canceled church, the other canceled school for Spencer & Kate), -25 degree wind chills, 18" snow storms, freezing rain, normal rain, etc., etc. (said like Yul Brynner).

The following pictures are in no particular order of importance or of chronology.

We both had birthdays, this is Spencer's cake & cupcakes

Remnants of the blizzard. No, we don't disrespect our bikes like that.

Digging out.

Roux came to visit! Twice!

The girls loved the snow. 

They got tired pretty quickly.

At our birthday dinner.

Lisa.

Yummy pan-seared whitefish. Whatever that means. It was good. 

Kate has fun on the sewing machine.

So happy!

Kate is really learning at school. She is so smart.

Her first violin lesson from an AMAZING artist.

Jess started preschool. She won't go to kindergarten until fall 2013. Long way off. 

Jess' rosy cheeks after playing outside. 

Some Christmas fun.

Ice skating!

Watching the boys play hockey

A Bobcat with rotating brush to clear the snow.

Kate is learning to balance well.

Sledding across the street from Kate's school.

Our nativity. What a mule.

Grandma Di came to visit for a month or so. Something like that.

She spoiled the little princesses.

We took a trip to the Chicago temple. This barn was along the way. Lisa's favorite. 

Chicago temple.

Christmas tree support. It's a rear bike rack and a ratchet strap.

We went to the children's museum. They have so many fun things for the kids to do.

Kate was kind of freaked out by this.

Our new year's eve celebration. It was 8 PM or so. 

To the movies w/ Grandma Di.

She failed the entrance interview. Beyond their skill set.

Yummy food from Monty's Blue Plate Diner.

Kate's spotlight day at school. She wanted to show everyone the "silly" bike.

Breakfast at Wisconsin Dells.

The pool at Wisconsin Dells. We'll be back.

Kate loved the slides.

So much fun in February!

Spring break is next week, and we plan to go back to Wisconsin Dells for a couple days, then on to Minneapolis to explore where we'll be living for three months during summer. Oh how we long for Spring!

We are holding on to autumn as long as we can.

Some of our Autumn-time adventures.

This is along the ride out to Picnic Point. Such a beautiful view across the lake. 

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Ye olde capitol building.

Just a hint of color change. 

The girls took off their jackets and socks and shoes. Up went the pants and right into the water for the last time this season.

UW's marching band. When I say marching, I mean military-style marching. They are extremely fit. Their practice field is along the bike path, so we are treated to their practices regularly. 

A nice little shot of the neighborhood around Kate's school.

Lisa and the girls are making quilts for some girls at the Children's Hospital. 

One down, two to go. 

Jess is such a funny kid. Lisa caught her making faces in our reflective microwave door. 

Working out in jammies and velcro shoes. 

Protecting Hello Kitty movies from rain?

Playing Go Fish. Kate is really good and wins a lot. 

Lisa decided to take Jess on a bus ride. The bus that runs past our apartments is free and goes around campus. Why not? 

Jess was so excited! This is one of her more normal faces. 

They stopped off at Babcock Hall, UW-Madison's dairy store. Ice cream and cheese. Hard to go wrong there. 

5 Days of Halloween

Halloween has to be one of the best holidays. It's the time of the harvest, with pumpkins, apples, and all sorts of the earth's wonders. Yum. The weather turns a bit colder, the leaves let go of their chlorophyll--then fall, wassail and hot chocolate are especially welcome, as are warm pies and treats. Cuddling is more necessary, and, of course, we get to imagine and dress up in whatever bizarre way seems the most fun and/or clever. With Jess' birthday about one week before Halloween, we do our best to start the celebrations early. Here's a taste of what we did this year:

Can you tell from this what the girls are dressed up as? They chose the same costume this year. 

Fun fingernail polish. The yellow glows in the dark. 

Bzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

No stinger, but darn cute. 

Our neighborhood had a Halloween party at the community center, where kids and parents gathered for good times.

Coloring midget pumpkins. 

This is our Halloween "Tree." We'll have a full-sized one once we have the space. 

  Our ward also had a Halloween party at the church, with trick-or-treating and games and such. 

We just love this picture. 

Trick-or-treating in the Bishop's office.

The Elders in the library. I think they may sleep on cots in there.  It is a down economy after all.

Middleton, Madison's "Orem," hosted a Halloween extravaganza in a shopping center. They had hay rides, face painting, balloons, caricatures, pumpkins, and trick-or-treating to local businesses, among other things. 

Kate's photography work. Decent. 

Jess in character as a bee. She should wait until Spring to pollinate more effectively. 

After about 1 hr wait, it was their turn. Their drawing turned out so cute. It's cause they are cute. 

You probably can't tell that Kate was trying to run away and there were like 50 people behind Lisa waiting for their own photo op. We do what we can. 

 Skyping Grandma Jean and Granpa Bob and Grandma Di and Grandpa Morse to show them the girls costumes

What exactly is Jess doing?

How cool it is for our kids to SEE their grandparents as they live across the country!

Cute little bees!

Trick or Treating around Eagle Heights

Trick-or-treating around the apartments. 

The "haul." We tried to keep their sugar intake to a minimum. 

Kate likes to take pictures of her movies. This is Wizard of Oz. 

Rosy red cheeks from the aforementioned chilliness. Cuddling is indeed necessary.

We had a great Halloween, and Jess had a great birthday. Hard to believe she is three already. She was born during Spencer's last semester at BYU,  and here we are in our first semester at Wisconsin. How was your Halloween?