Halloween!

We are all still alive although the absence of any posts here may suggest otherwise. Big changes have taken place around here: Will is cruising, Emily is reading, and Claudia is working on a career in stand up. All in all we are well.

Here are photos from this years trick-or-treat fest. I should note that when I just typed that I first typed trick-or-teat fest which, in all honesty, is what it was for Will.

Here is Will as Charlie Brown. Clearly it was homemade... hopefully is is less clear that it was made just an hour of so before we set out.

Here is Emily as Cinderella. I think her pose tells you pretty much what Emily is into in a nutshell. She is a very girly girl.

Claudia, on the other hand, is not all pink frills and that is a nice difference between them. She went as a dinosaur.

Here are all three on the front steps in our annual photo. We have yet to carve a pumpkin in any of their lifetimes. I'm not sure why that is. We collected a lot of pumpkins this year and not a one was gutted. New this year was the lask of random stuff leaning against the stairs in the picture.

After we went out begging we were treated to a tractor ride by or dear friend Ashlyn (and her mom.) Ashlyn was kind enough to trick-or-treat with us and we were thrilled to have her along.

The girls loved the tractor ride in a "I GOT TO DRIVE THE TRACTOR!" (Claudia) and "I GOT TO SIT ON THE FLOOR!" (Emily) way. Really? I'm not sure that I would think that the floor was as great as driving but I am glad for them that they did.

Loading up.

Emily, Claudia, and Ashlyn in the cab.

Claudia and Emily in the cab.

For Dean

For Janie I changed the answering machine message to include Will and now for Dean, since he called me to complain (and also to offer kids clothes) I have changed the description of the blog. In the interest of keeping things simple I will leave the address as simonsongirls (sorry, Will).

I am sure that this is just the first of many injustices Will will have to bear as the only boy in a family of girls.

Easter Pictures

Some of our kids are big fans of a local "get your photo taken with a real live bunny" tradition.


Although this is them without the bunny.

Here is the three of them with the bunny.

The girls have both decides that they want to grow out their bangs. Emily will not let me pin them out of her face during this awkward phase and it drives me mad. My mom used to always tell my brother and me that we looked like ragamuffins. I think this is the look she meant.

Claudia will let me pin hers back from time to time and it makes a huge difference.
William has no hair to pin anywhere. Plus, he isn't a real big fan of bunnies anyway. I think he may have been exposed to one too many Monty Python movies.

He's here!

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of
William Russell Simonson.

Monday, January 14, 2007, 11:26 pm
8 pounds, 12 ouncer, 21.5 inches long
Mom, Dad, baby Willl, and big sisters Emily and Claudia are doing well.

Our Year in Review

Another year has come and gone and what do we have to show for it? Well, a couple thousand digital photos that will never see the printed page, let alone some fancy scrapbook. In lieu of such obvious things to do with our pictures I decided instead to post some here for the world, or the six of you that read this, to see. Enjoy!

Some highlights:

Spring:

In April, Claudia turned two and she was thrilled just like she is in every other picture we ever take of her.

May was Cinco de Mayo time and our little town puts on quite the party. Here the girls are rocking out. Claudia actually looks happy in this one. She really is a very happy little girl but for some reason the camera brings out here serious side.

Summer:

Here is Claudia both serious and not on her Great-Grandpa Dale's horse farm.

While they raise Arabian horses there he also dabbles in other animals just for fun. Here Emily is riding one of his miniature ponies. It is only slightly larger than our dog.
While Emily was riding the Mama the tiny little baby just followed along behind.

Here Emily is peeking through a whole in the barn trying to see the sheep. She was both incredibly excited by them and a tiny bit terrified that they'd come after her. They never did, although she eventually worked up the courage to try to touch them.

In July, Grandma Marilyn took Our family and Eric's sister's family to Kansas City for a long weekend. The girls were giddy in the car the entire way there and home. I have no idea what got in to them but I wish that I could bottle it. Lately we can't get across town without them complaining that the five minute ride is too long. I have to say though, I'll take 1000 crabby 5 minute rides across town for the joy of two four hour rides to another state.

The girls loved watching the fountain outside our hotel room, if not actually playing in it.

What they did love was the party room our hotel turned into with the addition of their four cousins... and Eric.

Also in July, RAGBRAI (The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race Across Iowa, or something to that effect) came by our town. The girls loved watching all the bicycles going by... for about 20 minutes, then they'd had enough.

Luckily there were huge slices of watermelon to save the day.

Claudia and Daddy have a moment in the sunset at Aunt Lynn's house.

Autumn:
In September, Claudia was so thrilled to be at the ultrasound where we found out that we were having a boy that she fell asleep. Emily was so excited that she chose to go to a friend's house rather than come at all.

In October, Emily turned five and continued her love... um, obsession... with all things Curious George. I think that it goes without saying that I had no part in making this cake, unless you count picking up the phone to order it and writing the check to pay for it having a hand in making it.

Also in October, we took our annual death-defying ride atop a local fire truck in celebration of Fire Safety Week. It was freezing cold and as always, there were tree branches to hit the adults in the head at 30 miles and hour and daredevil kids hanging off the side.

Winter:
Here, in early December, the girls played for hours with a fleece blanket that we got last year as a gift at a grab bag Christmas party. Who needs a toy when you have a blanket?

And finally, earlier this month, the girls took a "Big Sister" class in anticipation of their brother's arrival. It is put on by the hospital where I will have my c-section and the girls learn such things as how to hold a baby and how to change a diaper. Even with their new-found skills I think I am unlikely to let either of the girls change many diapers, let alone do the babysitting that Emily is convinced that she is ready for.

The happiest kids in the world

I have uploaded the photo of the girls on Santa's lap for those that have been waiting on the edge of their seats. And really, when it comes down to it, who isn't waiting on the edge of their seats to see other people's children on Santa's lap. I know I am.

In any case, either scroll down the page or click here. http://simonsongirls.blogspot.com/2007/11/getting-their-requests-in-early.html

I swear to you they really did like going to see him.

Really.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

When a state-wide winter storm and ice warning is sent out many families decide to stay in for the weekend. Not us! In fact, there is rarely a weekend that you won't see us making the hour-long trek to Eric's parent's house for the weekend. This icy, cold one, where we fully expect that we might get stuck away from home, or even on the road, is no exception.


In fact, early this year Eric actually drove us here in snow that had piled up higher than the van and had been cleared only in a single car wide path on the highway. We, in our cruddy old van that held our beloved small children, ventured down this path only to come upon a car heading right toward us. After a small stand off we ended up backing up almost a mile, uphill, through blinding snow in a car wide path of six foot high snow. We are not the smartest people that you know.



Even still Eric and the girls are enjoying the icy covering in the backyard.

Ben, our dog, likes it too.