Speaking of Halloween

The girls are both going to be butterflies for Halloween! Yes, the decision has been made and not be me! I figure I'd let them be whatever they wanted to be and just go with it the first year! Yes, butterflies. . . . . I confess I did not make them, I purchased them, but hey, there were 60% off at one of my favorite fabric stores!! It was a DEAL! Bayat will be a blue butterfly and Kidist a pink butterfly. Today we tried the costumes on and they fit just perfectly~ WHEW~ Trick or treating is actually on Halloween here in the big city, so I will post pictures after then! Be sure to keep posted for some more gratuitous kids pictures!

The Great Pumpkin - Charlie Brown

Last night we watched Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin. Of course we had to explain all the characters and why sometimes they are not always nice, but overall the girls loved watching; the costumes, listening to Charlie Brown say, "All I got was a rock!" after each house and especially the part when Lucy always entices Charlie Brown with the football. Both girls would say, "That's not very nice." They really liked the part with Snoopy (aka the Flying Ace) flying his dog house.

It's soooooo cool to watch all the firsts and the facial expressions!! They are adorable!

happy dog, happy dog

Update on Fenric: He is much, much better. The Vet MD gave him some anti-inflammatories for 5 days and he is back to his ole' self!! I'm very very glad because I didn't really want him to have to go through the whole "let's put him to sleep before we do hip X-rays" thingy!

Fenric, The Dog

ABOVE: Fenric nesting on Bond's side of the bed :-)

Fenric had his day at the vet this morning. Very much unexpected. . . . Tuesday night when we got home from church he was looking out of sorts. Cried with most movements, getting up, sitting down, going all the way up the stairs, stepping off the deck and jumping on his favorite sleeping place, MY BED. So we went to the vet today and he is on a course anti imflammatory medications for 5 days and then X-rays if necessary. So we are all feeling better that this morning he woke up a little more like his old self, his tail wagging and greeting us at the bathroom door with his toy!!

5 Posts, that's right

Ok, for you who give me grief about not posting. . . The girls are in bed and I'm putting off important work stuff to make sure I post. . . You all know I am the PERFECT parent (ha ha) and spend all my time shaping and teaching my children the correct ways of the world (another ha ha - I'll have to post the words to their clean up song sometime~). So I don't want any grief about not posting as I have put up pictures and have provided the world with 5 posts, yes FIVE posts!

Really, they are doing well, we are doing well and everything is good! Busy, but GOOD! They love being here, we love having them here and there isn't anything as good as that!! Thanks be to God!

NOW, I have to get back to being the PERFECT parent (ha ha)

Have a good week everyone!! Love to all. . . .

Art Fest 2008 (in Janesville)

The weekend of October 3 & 4, was ArtFest in Janesville. We went to the Friday night drumming/dance show the Ko-Thi Drummers/Dancers. It was a wonderful performance and the girls really enjoyed the show. It was two 45 minute performances with an intermission. See the link above to learn more about them. If you have the opportunity to see them, please do.

Before the performance, the girls and I walked around the hands-on exhibits and they right away saw Tony Morgan, a member of our congregation, carving wood. This is his craft and he is very good at it. Anyway, the girls saw him and right away wanted to say hello and did. Tony then let each of the girls carve a small piece of wood from a larger one and take it home. See pictures below.

ABOVE: Bayat carving with Tony


ABOVE: Kidist carving with Tony

Just a side note: Tony has provided our girls with wonderful instruments (noise makers as others call them) such as kazoos, slide whistles and the most odd toys, but the girls love them, play with them often and love to see Tony!

Got Baby Teeth?

Back to the Dentist we went! Last Thursday we went to the dentist to have teeth extracted! EXTRACTED!! Sounds painful doesn't it?? Well, Kidist was supposed to have 2 extracted, but she pulled one out herself, so that left one. Bayat was to have 1 pulled and she did.

The dentist, Dr. Tom, was great! He has these goggles with the cartoon channel that he gave the girls to watch and you got it! They were totally distracted. . . . Getting their little gums numb took longer that actually pulling the tooth! So another successful visit to the dentist. Both, K & B didn't like that we could not have dinner for a while, but they did enjoy the movie, The Chicken Run, that we rented on the way home. The movie sure did distract them enough to let their little front lips come back to life enough to eat dinner 1 1/2 hours later. . . . So we are done until the next cleaning.

Gratuitous Kid Pictures

If you notice to the right side of the blog, there is the Anti-Racist Parent Blog feed. . . Occasionally she has gratuitous kid pictures, so I thought I would just post some cute kid pics. . . . .


ABOVE: girls playing with their wagon. they love to pull each other around in it. today they were collecting leaves from up and down the street!



ABOVE: these are for you, kelly. this is the weeping mulberry tree that we have in our front yard. it is slow growing and as you can tell, maybe five feet. . . K is about 44 inches or so tall!


ABOVE: the girls first opportunity to wear both long pants and long sleeve shirts. . .let's see, i think it was about 40 something degrees . . just wait, it'll get lots colder. . . this is wisconsin and the long undies are a coming. . . . .

Recyclable Pet??

You ask?? What is a pet made of recyclables?? Well, Kidist has these monthly family projects. We don't know what they are until the project sheet is sent home. For the month of October we had to make a Recycleable Pet, OK a pet made of recyclables.

FIRST, we had to define "pet" and what kind of animals were family pets. Ok, that was pretty easy. Then we had to decide what kind of pet we were going to make and out of what recyclable materials we were going to make it!! That was a bit more challenging. . . . . . .

We decided on a FISH. . . A clown FISH. . . . From Finding Nemo! That's right!

Material List:
Dawn dish detergent bottle, empty of course
Red Baron pizzabox cardboard for fins
Adhesive: that would be good ole' masking tape in my house
Googly eyes: not recycled, but HELLO, Fish have eyes!!
Recycled art material: orange paper and some orange felt with glitter left over from mommy's art project from a few years ago!!

And VOILA~~ A CLOWN FISH


ABOVE: Kidist with recycled pet~

Pretty Cool HuH?? I know . . .I better stick to quilting. . . I do a much better job with cutting big pieces of fabric into small pieces and then arranging them and resewing them together to make something meaningful. . . .

Installation and Recognition of Baptism

Today was a big day for the Haldeman's. Bond was re-installed as Pastor at St. John Lutheran Church here in Janesville and the girls had their baptisms recognized.

In August 2008, Bond accepted a full time call here in Janesville where he had a previous 2 year term call. The congregation decided that he is an OK Pastor and that they would like him to stay. We also decided that this congregation is OK as well as a good place to raise children.
ABOVE: Grandma Nancy, Pastor Bond, Lori, Kidist, Bayat

We also had the girls baptisms recognized today. We figured since we had a special visitor from the synod office, Pastor Sara Yotter, assistant to the Bishop, we would take advantage of the situation and have her be Pastor so that Bond could be daddy. Let's see. . . . . I've been married to a Pastor for 14+ years (we are currently in our 15th year) and have watched oodles of baptisms. Today we were able to walk up and be in front and be with our girls for this special moment. It was very good!! I'm not sure the girls understood what was happening, but they wore their tradition Ethiopian clothing and a special necklace with a Gonder cross (the region from which they come) and their grandma came for the special event too!! (Grandpa was working, so unable to be there, but I'm sure he was thinking of everyone :-)) It was very good!!

Afterward, there was a wonderful luncheon prepared by members of the congregation and we were able to eat and fellowship with the congregation! The girls ate pasta with red sauce, hum. . . imagine that!! It's one of their favorites!! Oh, yes and cake afterward. . . . It was a good day!!