Christmas Day- take two!

Bianca, Eric, Seo-Young, Peter

Katie with "Josephina"
Elysa with "Liz Grace"

The Stoermer Christmas Tree 2008

December 25, 2008: Christmas day progressed to Granny and Grandpa Gene Stoermer's house for homemade cinnamon rolls and more family and presents! We were fortunate to have almost the entire family there for the feast of presents and turkey. My 101 year old Grandmother, Sylvia Ryder, was even able to come up from Florida to celebrate with us- she is a real inspiration!

Christnas Day- take one

Before




After

December 25, 2008: I woke the kids up at 7:00a to start our Christmas day (why wake them up?! To get to the cinnamon rolls at my Mom's house!). Santa had definitely come-- there was a little concern about him possibly NOT stopping at our house-- and there were plenty of gifts to open! Seo-Young and Bianca received t-shirts and other teenage girls paraphenalia. Katie and Elysa each received an American Girl Doll (Josephina for Katie and a "Just Like Me" doll for Elysa) and lots of little girl stuff including sparkly shoes, books and a snowboard!

Let Christmas Begin!!

December 24, 2008: The festivities began Christmas Eve at the Grandparent Grossman's house. Our whole "clan" was there plus Susan, John , Barbara, Erin and Johnathan Baughn. We all exchanged gifts first and then sat down to dinner together. The evening was ended by attending Christmas Eve candlelight service at Webster Church. Brian and Elysa called it an early night and went home when we all left to go to church. It was an interesting service with an international flair-- many of the songs were sung in different languages including Hawaiian, Phillipino, and Spanish.

More Christmas Preparations

Bianca, Seo-Young, Katie, Elysa, Ethan

December 24, 2008: Last week we went to my parent's house for dinner and decorated the tree that we helped pick out earlier this month. It is HUGE! The kids also had a lot of fun decorating sugar cookies. Which, of course, ended in everyone eating Christmas cookies!

Christmas Preparations

December 24, 2008- Our house has been all about Christmas these past few days! There has been a flurry of decorating, wrapping and threats to call Sanata to report bad behavior! It should be a lot of fun tomorrow!! Happy Holidays to all!!

Beautiful Girl

December 14, 2008: My dad took this picture of Katie at the Santa Brunch.

Christmas Brunch

Karla, Brian

Bianca, Seo-Young

Katie and Elysa

Sunday, December 14, 2008: We met the rest of the Stoermer family for a brunch with Santa out at the Portage Yacht Club. Great food, fun conversation and photo opportunities galore! This is a picture of the our expanded family.

Picking out the Christmas Tree

Seo-Young, Elysa and Katie

Most of the Stoermer Family

Back to Front/ L to R:

Eric, Brian, Karla, Gene,

Kati, Tracy, Bobbie

Ethan, Katie, Seo-Young, Elysa

Missing: Peter and Bianca

Katie (6yo) and Elysa (4yo)

December 6, 2008: We continued the Stoermer Family Christmas tradition by meeting at the Lion's Club in Dexter to pick out my mother's Christmas tree. She always gets a 12-14 footer and then everyone else gets wreaths, roping and/or smaller trees.

Thanksgiving with the Stoermers

November 27, 2008: We had our "second" Thanksgiving at the home of my parents. We had a full house with my brother Peter, his wife Tracy, her brother Gary, Tracy's mother, my parents, my grandmother (101 yo!!), and the 6 of us. Both Bianca and Seo-Young seemed to enjoy the meal. It was wonderful having everyone there to share the Holiday!!

Thanksgiving with the Grossmans

December 1, 2008- So, I kind of forgot about Thanksgiving! We had a lot of time with family and food! It all started on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We joined Brian's family at his parent's church for a community Thanksgiving. In the top picture you can see Brian, Katie and Seo-Young and in the bottom picture there is Erin, Johnathan, Ellen, Bianca, John and Barbara.

Ballet and Ballerinas

December 1, 2008: Elysa loves her ballet class! She really pays attention and knows most of the "moves" by their proper French names even! It is a neat class in that they alternate with tap dance-- also thoroughly enjoyed!

Our newest addition

November 26, 2008- we have another addition to our family! Seo-Young Choi is a 17 year old foreign exchange student who is Korean born, but living in Germany. She has been with us for a couple of weeks or so and seems to have made the transition well. Of course, the girls have totally accepted her-- they love having two older sisters! Notice the squished car conditions? We can no longer transport everyone in one car!!

The Newest Thing in Computer Accessories.....

November 13, 2008: I found Akane warming her tushy on my computer! My computer was making a lot of funny sounds.....which didn't seem to bother the cat at all!

Riding Again!

November 9, 2008: Katie is really enjoying her horseback riding again. We had about a 6 month period of time where she was struggling to get over her fear of cantering after falling off of "Big Mack" during a show. We changed barns in October and it seems that the change in environment and teacher has really made the difference! She cantered on "Buckey" (above) on her first lesson with David Peters at "Hedge and Turf" ! Now she is cantering without stirrups and actually jumping cross poles! UNBELIEVABLE!! Sorry about the quality of the photos-- they were taken with my iPhone which doesn't do as well with low light and movement.

Fall is here!

November 8, 2008: The seasons have definitely changed! It is a lot colder here in Michigan finally- and darker. Which means, of course, that the leaves start falling! Our house has quite a few large trees so the task of cleaning the yard took two days. Brian did most of the work with Bianca helping out quite a bit. I helped out with cleaning out the gardens and sucking up leaves with my dad's "machine." Thank goodness we have family in the area and they have cool tools! Katie and Bianca enjoyed the piles while Elysa was at a friend's house playing.

Halloween 2008- Trick or Treat!

October 31, 2008: All three girls got dressed up this year. Elysa (4) went as "Dora the True Princess," Katie (6) was Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), and Bianca (16) was Hannah Montana. My mother made the girls' costumes-- which were really beautiful! Both Katie and Elysa also collected for UNICEF. Katie came up with a whole "opener" to ask for donations (totally on her own): "would you like to donate to UNICEF for my sister and me? I can wait while you go get some change"-- this just came tumbling out of her so sweetly-- no one could resist!

Philly Trip-- Riots and all!

October 27-29, 2008- I received a travel scholarship to the CHEST Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Travel there was horrible-- plane delayed, 30 minutes or more of serious turbulence-- but the trip overall was a lot of fun. I finally got to go see Independence Hall (middle) and the Liberty Bell (bottom) which was really exciting. I would have definitely learned/remembered more history if this trip was included in my education. I also got to experience the "excitement" of Philadelphia winning the World Series-- which ended up in what I would call a riot-- tons of people out on the streets (top).

Kalamazoo College- Visiting the Alma Mater 2008

October 25, 2008- It was old home week at Kalamzoo College! My 20th college reunion-- completely throws me off thinking that I have been out of college for 20 years! I can't be that old!! Wasn't high school just yesterday? The top picture is of Ann Fildew, Kim Barrow and me during the Class of 1988 lunch. The other shot is one of the chapel. The campus has chnaged a LOT since I was there last! But, it is still beautiful and I am glad that I went. It was fun catching up with Kim Barrow while carpooling and hanging out!

Dexter Homecoming 2008

October 11, 2008: Bianca and I had a lot of fun shopping for a dress for her to wear to Homecoming. She went with a group of girls- some of them are YFU students that either live in the neighborhood or who are also going the Dexter High School. Parents drove them to Creekside Restaurant for dinner and then another set of parents drove them to the school for the dance and then home again. Bianca reported back that they had a lot of fun!

Dexter Apple Daze- October 11, 2008

October 11, 2008: Dexter Apple Daze was a lot of fun this year. Elysa and Katie enjoyed getting their faces painted and listening to the great music! It was a beautiful fall day with lots of sunshine. Elysa was all smiles on the pony ride! We might have another rider on our hands!!

Webster Fall Festival 2008

9/27/2009: We all went to the Webster Fall Festival for the afternoon today. Katie and Elysa enjoyed making crafts, riding on the hayride and the lawnmower "train" made from old barrels.

First Trip to the Cider Mill

9/21/2008: We took the girls to the Dexter Cider Mill and had, of course, cider and sugar doughnuts- YUM! You can't see it, but Elysa had sugar all over her fingers and face! Bianca seems to have settled in well- the girls absolutely love her!

Things are falling out!

Katie was really worried that her teeth would never fall out! She has lost 6 over the past two months and still has two more to go! Her First Grade teacher is keeping a "Tooth Fairy" log to track the progress of all of her students. Katie posted this picture in the log and wrote: "I have lost 6 teeth. I pulled all of them out."

Bianca's First Day of School in the USA!

We were lucky enough to get a YFU Foreign Exchange Student this year from Hungary! Bianca is 16 years old and will live with us for the school year! Her bus stop is right next door so she didn't have far to go for her first bus ride. All of the parents were out to take pictures-- the kids tolerated it for a little bit! Bianca has blended into our family well and we are really looking forward to the rest of the year.

Elysa's First Day at Preschool- 2008

This is Elysa's second year at her preschool. The transition went much more smoothly this year! She was very excited about being in the Pre-kindergartner group and loved to see her friends from school again!

Katie'sFirst Day of School- 2008

Katie started First Grade this year. She was really excited about starting school. All day school is a big change, but she seems to be adapting pretty well!

Summer Fun

August 18, 2008

We went to Portage Lake with one of Elysa's friends from Sunshine Special Preschool (Sasha). They had a great time playing on the sand hill and swimming in the lake! The girls have had a fantastic summer-- lots of time spent at the pool and lake, playing with friends and just having fun outside!