Van Horn family Christmas picture - 2010

Christmas activities

Here are some pics from the past weeks Christmas activities. There should be some more soon. I didn't take these pictures and I think as the days go by more will surface.

Saul as a drummer boy -




Sydney singing her duet at the school Christmas program-


Saul on stage for his school Christmas program -

and so it begins....

my other not-so-favorite thing is when Sydney says, "yuck" when I give her a kiss. It's not even a slobbery one!

Thanksgiving with the Maillouxs

This Thanksgiving we drove down to Raynham, MA for Thanksgiving with the Maillouxs. We had a fun time eating a traditional "Polish" Thanksgiving and spending time with the Maillouxs. Black Friday we spent the day at the Boston Science Museum which was also fun. We got to watch an indoor lighting storm with the world's largest air insulated Van de Graff generator. Very Cool!

All the kids - Isabella was not really trying to hit Luke with the drum stick, but it sure looks that way!


Sydney at the Nativity - This is the day after Thanksgiving


Me and two cute boys!


Van de Graff generator - this pic is for Grandpa. It's a little dark, but I figured he would appreciate it -


Sydney putting her hand in a dinosaur track -


Auntie and Sydney - they better run there is a Stegasaurus behind them! Oh wait, it's just his bones!


Matt and Luke hanging out. I guess Luke thinks Uncle Matt's stories are boring


Luke- Man!

My Little Native American

Yesterday Sydney got to dress up as a Native American for the Thanksgiving Feast at school. Her class got paired up with the 5th graders. The 5th graders made and served the 1st graders lunch and the 1st graders made and served the 5th graders dessert. They spent lunch together enjoying each other's company. Sydney said it was a lot of fun. We have so many things to be thankful for.

Fancy Nancy meets the dollhouse

Sydney wanted to play by herself with her dollhouse. Saul was having a hard time letting her be. He's always up for fun even if it has to do with dollhouses, barbies, and ponies. Saul decided to decorate the outside of the dollhouse while Sydney played with the inside. One comment from me about the house looking like Fancy Nancy came to visit and both of the kids were playing together nicely with the dollhouse. I guess Sydney realized there is some value to her little brother's ideas!

Fall!

Here are some Van Horn Family Fall pictures. Matt is in the back yard raking them up so I hurried up with my camera. If I'd have waited much longer it would've had to be Winter pictures.

Random Pictures

I lost my camera battery charger so I was saving my camera for Kodak moments only. Well I found it right before Matt and I left for our getaway. So we are back into taking random pictures. Here are some of the pics from the last weeks. Most of them are Saul because Sydney is in school everyday so we don't have as much opportunity.


Saul helping me chop the chocolate for cheesecake -



Saul being a donkey -


Sydney after she lost her other top tooth -


Saul in the new-to-Matt tree stand -

It's been awhile...

It's been awhile since I've posted any pictures. It's not because we haven't been busy it's because I forget the camera. We actually visited a farm last weekend with all sorts of family fall fun, but like I said I forgot the camera. So here's a funny pic so you don't forget what we look like.

First Day of Four-Year-Old Preschool

Four-year-old preschool was a success. Mrs. Steimer opened the door, Saul turned around and said, "bye Mom" walked into the class flopped his folder on the counter and started working on a puzzle. When we got home he came in the house, sat down to take his shoes off and said, "Mrs. Steimer is awesome! Look how good she tied my shoe!" So I guess we'll go back on Wednesday. :)

Here are some pictures we took today





Saul and Mrs. Kent


Saul and Mrs. Steimer

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First Day of First Grade

Sydney finally had her first day of school. She stayed home sick for the first two days, but got to go today on the day they set aside to celebrate her birthday. Because her birthday is so close to the start of school, Mrs. Baker let her decide if she wanted to celebrate now or in the Spring with the rest of the summer birthdays.

Sydney's first day of school was Red, white and blue day to remember 9/11. I was secretly bummed that she didn't get wear the original dress we picked out...it was pink and purple.




The next two pics were taken on the day before school started. We got to "bring your stuff to school" that day so I took the opportunity to snap a few pics. I'm glad I did since she missed the first couple of days.


Sitting at her very own desk. One of the highlights of first grade if you ask Sydney.


Standing by her hook -

Happy Birthday, Matt!

It's been another milestone birthday for Matt. You might be thinking that 31 is no big deal or what is so milestone about that? BUT it was for us....Matt submitted his RAD on his birthday. RAD is the Navy way of saying he submitted his resignation papers. So now we wait and hope they accept them....they could say no and make him stay in, but that is HIGHLY unlikely. As much as we think Matt is irreplacable there is a 99.9% chance that the NAVY doesn't agree with us. So it looks like June 1, 2011 Matt will be a civilian.

Oh and if you are wondering what other life events happened on his birthday here is a list.


20th - qualified as a nuclear operator
25th - brought Sydney home from the hospital
30th - qualified EDO/EOOW
31st - submitted paperwork to get out of the Navy! ( I was thinking we were going to have to wait 5 more years before we had a notable birthday event, but Matt surprised us and it's a life changing event so we are counting it!)

On another note he got some cool new kickers for his birthday.

Meet Grace and Ruby!

Here is a picture of the newest members of our family. Sydney told me she is having a hard time remembering which one is which by just looking at them. I told her that once she gets to know their personalities it will be easier :)

Two Wheels!

Cousins!

One of the best parts of WI is COUSINS! Sydney told me the other day that her friends Matthew and Haley have cousins that live in New York like them and wouldn't it be cool if we lived in WI or our cousins lived in NY with us?

Taylee and Saul bonding. Saul loves babies and loved every minute of all the attention Taylee gave him....who wouldn't love a Taylee kiss?



Scout tolerates Saul for a pic




The Van Horn-Brainerd Cousins -


The meeting of the minds -


Scout taking a bath. After I took a few pics - she was taking a bath in a wash bin - I realized it may not be kosher to take a naked baby pic of someone else's baby.... o well she's too cute!


Try #2 for the Brainerd/Van Horn cousins - (This is smile you get when you ask Keith to smile)







This cracks me up...one big happy family!


The Manion/ Van Horn Cousins - all we are missing is Luke and he was surely missed!