Christmas 2010

So of course what happens when the kids wake up MADNESSSS! So I did not take as many pictures as I wanted. The kids were so happy, that one point Becca started crying she was so happy. The best surprise of all the was Dedrick's gift from is parents- a set of long horns, real long horns. All the kids got what they wanted, so did mom and dad.

Then Dedrick and I made dinner. Of course we forgot to look up how to cook the ham the night before. So after breakfast we looked up how to cook the ham so we could eat at a normal time.

Update

So I have been neglecting the blog lately. It seems I have a lot on my mind and spending the time with the kids. So we been staying busy finding new places to explore and going to lots of parks. A new game we have been playing lately is hide and seek. The new house has tons of hiding places the kids find places we never know were there.

So Dedrick's co-worker told us about a castle in Lindsborg, which is about 20 mins from our house. We decided to go out one day and check it out. The castle is called Coronado Heights. We decided to go on a very cold day sunny day! It was a very beautiful place to go.











While the the oldest two go to school Kaliska and I hang out at home getting into trouble or having fun with Kaliska's different forms of art. This girl is very creative with anything she can get her hands on. This art is Puppy Parade!



We also decorated the Christmas tree and decorated dala horses for ornaments. Then the kids put all the wrapped gifts under the tree.

Family Christmas Letter 2010

For all our friends and family that I do not have addresses for, I did not want to leave you out. Everyone is special to our family know matter how far away we all are. I hope everyone will have a wonderful holiday season!



The Lund Family
CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER

2010 has been a good year for our family. In May we moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Galva, Kansas (near McPherson, an hour North of Wichita) to begin Dedrick’s second rotation in the three year engineering development program in Williams Midstream. It’s very different living in a town of 800 people.

Rebecca is in 3rd grade and Aidan is in kindergarten at the elementary in the next town over (the two towns together share a school district). Rebecca continues to do well in a mainstream classroom.

Damian is very involved in the parents organization for the school and handles all the box tops, etc., which have brought money to the schools. Kaliska stays home with Mom (until next year!). She is the artist of the family!

Aidan and Becca played baseball this summer. The kids love fighting with their foam swords, playing magnetic darts and jumping on their trampoline. Aidan is a fierce sword fighter!

It’s too early to say where our next move will be to. Farmington, New Mexico, and Mobile, Alabama, are two likely possibilities. We will all be glad that next near is the last year for Dedrick in the rotating training program for engineers. We look forward to putting down some roots after our wandering.


Uncle Lars
On February 3rd, Dedrick’s brother Lars took his own life, after suffering years of pain from Crohn’s disease and Hidradenitis suppurativa. He is greatly missed by family and friends.

Uncle Hans
Dedrick’s brother Hans moved from Salt Lake to live with us for a few months from May to August. The kids really enjoyed getting to spend time with their uncle and Hans helped us out a lot while he was with us. After a few months, Hans decided he was ready to start college and moved back to Salt Lake where he has his own apartment and is taking classes at Salt Lake Community College.

Finding the Right Vehicle
Our ‘98 Subaru sedan finally died and we bought an ‘08 Ford Edge, which was a good vehicle for a city job. After getting stuck so bad on a muddy road during work that it took a backhoe to pull him out, we realized it wasn’t the right vehicle for a field engineer and turned it in on a very nice ‘07 Ford F-150, which we hope will last a long time.

Best wishes for the New Year!

The Lund Family

Thanksgiving 2010

So this year I made my first thanksgiving dinner, I know very scary, right! Dedrick's parents drove up from Texas to spend a few days with us, which the kids loved. On Wednesday we had a ton of fun, the boys(Dedrick, Aidan, Grandpa) went shopping. The girls(Rebecca, Kaliska, Grandma,& Me) went to get last minutes supplies for dinner, got Becca's hair cut, had lunch, and then had the best treat of all to see "Tangled". Then came home and made the pies for dessert. That evening we all watched "How to Train your Dragon", since the grandparents never seen it.

Thursday, Janine and Me got up and started working on dinner. This turned in to a comedy show for the simple fact that we never wanted to make a whole turkey, so we made a turkey breast. When the turkey was in the oven, we made stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and salad. We were so glad we made the pies the day before, the turkey breast was not cooking right. So after some time trying to get the turkey fully cooked, we gave up on it. Everyone was getting hungry and we were getting sick of waiting. So when we got out the turkey we saw the red pop up was out. We were dying with laughter. In the end the turkey turned out pretty good and everyone enjoyed!

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Music Program

We went to Aidan and Becca's music program tonight at the elementary. The whole program was great, all the kids did wonderful! Sorry the video's are a little shaky, my wonderful husband tried his best:) Aidan sings three songs and Becca sings two!

Hope you enjoy!

Family Pictures

Here are the new family pictures for the year! The kids were so good and had fun! The very top picture of the kids is my favorite!

Halloween

The kids had the best time trick or treating this year. We went into the biggest town next to us for Main St. trick or treating. Then we had trunk or treat. Then we enjoyed our small town. We only had about ten kids come to our house.

Sunny Side Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we went a pumpkin patch about 25 miles from our house. We all had a blast! The kids had so much fun running around and playing with all the toys. There was a ton of stuff to do: horse-drawn haystack rides, hay bale slide, pedal cart track, mini children's corn maze, straw bale maze, giant gourd slingshots, see animals, golf, bean bag toss, tether ball, play sets, tepee and wagon display. Must not forget the most important pick your pumpkins! Then we came home and made Halloween cupcakes.

Fair

Sorry, meant to post earlier. This happened early October!

Dedrick called me about an hour before he left work this how the conversation went:

Dedrick: We are going to the fair!
Damian: Okay, when and where?
Dedrick: When I get home in a hour.
Damian: Why today, and not this weekend?
Dedrick: It will not busy because it is a weekday.
Damian: Okay, where is the fair and what do you want for dinner?
Dedrick: Hutchinson and let the kids decide.
Damian: Are you sure your my husband and some strange man!
Dedrick:(Laughs) See you an hour or less, Bye!

So I told the kids were we were going and they get to decide on dinner. The kids were so happy! The kids decided on IHOP for dinner, who doesn't love pancakes for dinner! After dinner we drove to the fair grounds and it was very busy. I just kinda looked at my husband like not busy my butt! When we got the sales window we found out why, it was free if you had a Dillon's saving card or just a dollar per person. Then inside all the rides were just a 1 ticket and not the post number. The kids had a BLAST! Glad my husband told us we were going to have fun for the night, before all the madness of Dedrick being gone for two weeks.

Wonderful Dad

Dedrick has been working for 12 hour days for two weeks. He comes home to eat and sleep. So we have not had time to spend time with him, except to say good night. The other night when he came home and before crashing. He took the time to sword fight with the kiddos. He works hard for his family and we love him very much!!!

Third Time is the Charm

This summer we decided to take the kids fishing! There are lots lakes and ponds around us. Dedrick and I have not been fishing is awhile, so it took a few tries to make sure we had everything together. So the first time we go fishing we do not catch anything, but loose several hooks. The second time we caught a craw fish and some clams. The third time all three kids caught a fish, they weren't very big but the kids were in heaven.





Then after fishing the third time we stop and have a dinner picnic and the kids had a race rolling down a hill. So we enjoyed fishing even with all the up and downs.

Haunted Houses

I know this might be strange, but I love old house that have been abandoned or destroyed by humans and/or nature. I also wonder what happened, why it was left to fall apart, why not rebuild. Each old house tells us stories if we care to listen. The other day I came across two. So I decided to take pictures and see if any ones wants to see what I see. I told you this was strange, but I love the old and abandoned.

Pumpkin Log

For the Pumpkin Mix

3 eggs
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. pumpkin
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 c. flour
chopped nuts

Mix together. Spread onto 15x10 sheet lined with foil & PAM. Sprinkle chopped nuts(if you want). Bake at 375 for 10-12 mins. Turn out onto a dishtowel dusted with powder sugar. Roll up.

Filling

8oz cream cheese
2 tsp marg/butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. powder sugar

Beat till smooth. Unroll log. Spread evenly on log. RE-roll. Chill for 4 hrs or over night in foil.

*Just FYI-the small can of pumpkin makes 3 and the big can makes 5*
*Will freeze up to 6 months*

Night Time

So if you have know us for awhile you will know our children our night owls. For the longest time our children would not go to bed when we told them. Becca would fight us all the time, and since we could not understand her it made it 100 times harder. Then we had Aidan and he came to us 6 weeks early. I was at the hospital on and off for three weeks. So our sleep habits were still crazy. About that time we were blessed to get Becca into a wonderful school for three years. She started to calm down a little and communicate more. Then came our little Kaliska and me being in the hospital on and off a few weeks. My wonderful husband was a full time student doing this whole time.

So we have had a hard time getting a bed time routine for about 6 years. I am happy to let everyone know we have a bed time routine that has worked for the last 6 months. The kids do not fight us any more and enjoy getting ready for bed. My kids are so great with the new routine. I love them for trying new things all the time! So we have been getting better sleep and happier in the morning. I hope we can keep this up, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Trade

So in May right before we moved to Kansas, we had to buy our first car. So we bought a 2008 Ford Edge. We loved it, we loved how bright it was, gave us more room for everyone to enjoy together. Dedrick was to get a work car, but they ended up hiring a new guy and gave him the work car instead. So Dedrick was driving his car to all the job sites.

A few weeks ago we had a down pour of rain, Dedrick had to drive to one of the field location and got stuck. One of his co-workers tried to pull him out, the poor guy got stuck also. So he unhooked from Dedrick and got himself unstuck. His co-worker went to grab someone with a back hoe to come and help. They were able to get him unstuck finally. When he called to tell me what had happened, I started to think the new car was not going to work come winter.

When Dedrick got home we decided that we needed to trade in the new car for a truck with 4 wheel drive. So Friday we went to the Ford dealer in town and trade our 3 month old car for a truck. So we got him a 2007 Ford F-150! The truck has 5 seats, has four doors and a full truck bed.

So here is the new Truck. I wish my husband would have taken pictures of the car after getting unstuck by the back hoe.

Back to School

Becca and Aidan went back to school on the 19th of August. The school is in the next town over about 4 or 5 miles from our house. The school houses grades Pre-K to 3rd, the class sizes are about 16 kids. They ride the bus from the Middle School in town to the Elementary. Both of them seem to enjoy the new school! My kids are so brave with all the new schools and making new friends. I love them for being who they are!

The school they go is Canton-Galva. How the school system works is that the Elementary and High School is over in Canton, the Middle School is in Galva. So as you can see we live in a very small town.

Back to School Pics!

Summer Ends

With the close of summer, we start the year. We have been busy this summer with Becca & Aidan in baseball for the month of June. Swim lessons for all three kids in June, July and part of August. We have gone fishing, to the library, to play grounds, water parks, the zoo, drives to Tulsa for the day, movies. Do I have any pictures, NO, I seem to forget it or do not take any when I have the camera. The kids got a surprise on Friday, Grandpa and Grandma came to visit for a few days. It is so nice to have them with us. I am going to miss them when they start school on Thursday. Becca is going into 3rd grade-regular classes, Aidan will be in Kindergarten. We have had a busy summer, but all good things must come to an end.

Aidan's 5th Birthday

My little Rock Star is five! He wanted to out, by 6 weeks. He came into this world early and fighting. He makes me laugh everyday, and loves to play with his sisters. I am very grateful to have him in my life. We enjoyed his birthday at home with cake and ice cream with just the family. Happy Birthday Aidan!!!