The Stucki's: November 2008

The First Snow of 2008 ... Nov 24, 2008

It started to snow on Saturday Nov 22, 2008 and continued snowing off and on through Monday. This is now already one more day than all of last year combined. I missed this, unfortunately, as I didn't get home from work until too late, but they did surprise me with their beautiful snowman!

Christmas Ornaments ... Nov. 23, 2008

We have a tradition to collect an ornament for each kid for every country that they visit (obviously Ryan got a slow start compared to the girls). Most of the time we are successful in remembering this, a few places we admittedly forgot (France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Montenegro, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Fortunately we plan on returning to all but Montenegro in the near future, so we will pick them up on the next visit.
For documentation sake, we indicate which ornaments belongs to which country:

Croatia

Bosnia

Poland

Ukraine

Hungary

Serbia

Italy

Czech Republic

Romania

Germany

Russia

Switzerland

Austria

Belgium

Canada

Decorating for Christmas ... Nov. 23, 2008

Since Thanksgiving was so late this year and we were going to be out of town the weekend following, Heather agreed to break tradition and start putting up Christmas decorations a little bit early this year. Ashley accidently broke the first ornament that her Grandpa Larsen gave to her (a Christopher Radko), but fortunately just the bottom part broke, so it remains on the tree.

Halloween Trunk or Treat (AISB)... Oct 31, 2008

Katie, Brooke, Ashley, and Sydney

Ashley, Katie, and Whitney Gasser

Heather, Ryan, Aidan, and Mary

Katie's School Halloween Party ... Oct 31, 2008

Katie was Belle, Ashley was Snow White, and Ryan was a Lion for Halloween.

Quotes to Remember

We were in Munich and just checking into our Hotel and both the girls needed to go to the bathroom. We all ran upstairs to our rooms and they both bolted into the bathroom. They began to fight over which one was going to use the toilet first. They argue for a few seconds when Katie shouts, "Mom, which one of us do you want to pee their pants?!" (May, 2009)
We were driving home from church last week and I said something like, "We are going to buy a Toyota Sequoia". Suddenly from the back we hear our 4 year old, Ashley, pipe up ... "You killed my Father...Prepare to Die!"...somehow she confused "Toyota Sequoia" with "Inigo Montoya" from the Princess Bride! (May, 2009)
Ashley and I were playing a card game when she says to me, "pause the game, I have to go to the bathroom". This is when I realized the technology gap between my childhood and hers.
I asked Ashley what country she was born in (she was born in Canada). She told me that she couldn't remember, so I tried to give her a hint. I said, "you were born in Cannnn...". To which she immediately exclaimed in triumph..."CANDYLAND!!"
Katie woke us up this morning telling us we needed to get up. Heather told her that her head hurt and she wasn't going to get up yet. Katie responds, "But you don't WALK on your head, so get up!"