A Day for Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we made the trip around the lake with my (Jen's) side of the family to visit my sister (Katie) and her family who live in Neenah, Wisconsin - which is in the circled portion of the map above. We try to do this every other year for Thanksgiving. It's been about a year since we've all been together, and this year was special as it was our first year celebrating in their beautiful new home. We had a wonderful time, and truly, we have much to be thankful for.

Claire and Andrew in the toy room.

What started as a simple game of airplane between Grandpa and Drew...

quickly turned into a mini mosh pit.

(yes, that is our daughter laying on her Grandfather's face)

Andrew reflects on what he's thankful for.

Since we won't be seeing the Waurios for Christmas, we decided to celebrate early. Claire loves her new Toy Story 3 Mrs. Potato Head. And we've been enjoying our genuine Wisconsin cheese. Thanks Waurios!

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Left :: Shawn, Katie and Aaliyah
Left Center :: Mike, Laura, Sylvia, Gracie and Andrew
Right Center :: Dad, Mom and Kelsey

Right :: that's us - Claire's washing out the itsy bitsy spider :)

Big Sister!

When did our baby go from itty bitty...

to little lady...

And now, she's bound to grow up even more quickly

as she prepares to be a big sister...

Baby Puplis will be joining us May 2011!

Stay tuned to see how we've been getting ready for the arrival.

A Happy Halloween

Our Little Butterfly

Halloween became a weeklong celebration as we made the rounds visiting each of Claire's grandparents and great grandparents. Here are a few pictures - sorry we don't have pictures of each of the stops. I'm not always good at remembering to take out the camera.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Sternberg

Second Cousins Joselyn (butterfly) and Austin (frog) Paskvan

Second Cousin Avery Lanser (ladybug)

Great Grandma Puplis

Grandpa and Grandma Puplis

Cousins Sylvia (present), Gracie (lion) and Andrew (elephant) Sternberg

Getting ready to go Trick or Treating!

We bundled up Saturday evening to go Trick or Treating with the Sternbergs in a cute little subdivision called Knollwood. We all had a great time, but Joe and I remarked at how much fun Claire had. We cannot remember the last time she has laughed so hard, run so fast. If she could, I think she'd be counting down the days till next Halloween.

Lovin' the Leaves

Joe and Claire dive into the massive pile of leaves from our backyard.

Claire enjoys tossing the leaves into the air and watching them fall.

Claire and Grandma Sternberg go for a walk.

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We'll be back tomorrow to post pictures from Halloween

and the fun we had trick or treating.

Night at the Museum

We recently enjoyed an evening at the museum. It was opened specifically for educators with the NHA (National Heritage Academy).

First, we went to the Planetarium...and loved it.

Then we checked out some other exhibits.

Claire was a bit nervous on the carousel at first, but warmed up to it soon enough.

Perhaps her favorite feature of the museum was this model car that she couldn't get enough of.

Now, a brief quiz to see how closely you all looked at the pictures...

Did you notice what Claire was holding in her hand in 4 of the 5 pictures?

Yes, that is correct -- a plastic spoon.

One of Claire's endearing quirks. She loves to carry around her "poon" with her as often as possible. In fact, it's often the first word out of her mouth when she wakes up in the morning. She'd prefer her "pen", but I get too nervous watching her run around with that, so she has learned to settle for second best.