Olivia +piano = Christmas cheer

Olivia's piano teacher, Ms. Lora recently hosted a piano Christmas party for all of her students. Olivia played for the crownd, "What Child is This? and Jingle Bells".

Olivia's Christmas concert

Although a poor image, if you could have seen how many people there were at this concert and how far away I was from the risers, you would be impressed I was able to get a photo at all. Olivia is in the middle row, two over to the right from the boy in the striped shirt.

Everyone loves Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

Naomi's Christmas concert

From left: Campbell, Lars, Naomi, Archer, Audra sing at the MTU Preschool Holiday Concert on Wednesday. What cuties!

What is sweeter than a passel of 4 year olds singing " Jingle Bells"?

It's difficult to hear, but this song is all about Christmas trees waiting for a family to come along and violently CHOP them down and carry them home. It was hilarious to watch the kids pantomiming wielding an ax. Obviously, Michigan is an forestry/agriculture friendly state!

The sun came out today!

After a week of thick snow and bitter cold, God sent us a wee bit of sunshine. Hello, blue sky!

I could feel the Vitamin D synthesizing as I took this picture of our back porch. Thanks for the beautiful Christmas wreath, Adrienne.

I'm thinking of grilling some snow....

Our back yard, a winter wonderland. Every snowflake was sparkling with life and zest. I felt so energized just breathing in the stinging cold air and tracing squirrel tracks with my eyes. What a lovely gift, this day. I was so glad for the tea in the thermos waiting for me inside.

Church Christmas program

This weekend was the annual Children's program at church. While Chris was in Pennsylvania at Mom-Mom's memorial service, we made memories for him via this website. I'm glad all of you can benefit as well.
Olivia and Chloe sing for the Lord!

Naomi did not care for the idea of photography at this particular moment, but I wanted to show off the beautiful dresses Nanna sent.

With Olivia and Naomi up front singing, Chloe could not resist the urge to leave the pew to join her sisters. She bravely walked up there and her big sisters welcomed her with hugs and smiles.

Naomi came back to me during a break in the singing. What a joy-filled face compared to the previous grumpy Christmas tree photo!

Here is a clip of the girls singing, my batteries kept dying and I kept pulling them out, rubbing them and warming them so that I could squeeze a few more shots out of them. It worked long enough to get this video. The zooming did them in, however!

Grammy and Gramps in Hawaii

Grammy and Gramps are off in Hawaii for a visit with Erik, Lisa, Evan, Owen and Ericka. I feel envious!

Erik and Gramps ran a race yesterday. Gramps came in second in his age bracket and Erik came in 78th overall! Wow, those Hauptmann men are athletic!!

It's going to be a long winter....

This is the photo we chose for our Christmas card, enjoy your preview!

With 48 inches so far and 18 on the ground already, we predict the groundhog won't see his shadow until May! Good thing we love to ski, sled and play in the snow

Our snow baby, Chloe

Grammy sends Christmas dresses

Grammy made the girls coordinating Christmas dresses this year. They have bells!

Having a jolly time at church. The girls have quite a reputation for beautiful homemade frocks.

Chloe,2, Naomi, 4.5, and Olivia, 7

Olivia turns 7

We celebrated Olivia's seventh birthday last week with a sleepover birthday party. Gia, Geneva, Lily and Maria came over for games, treats and fun.

Thanks, Nanna for the new party dress!

Art supplies are always a huge hit in this house.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Snuggly sisters

Olivia, Naomi and Chloe snuggle down to hear some stories, including Chloe's new birthday books, Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, and Goodnight Moon. \

Snack time with Daddy before bed.

Olivia'a first piano recital

Olivia was very nervous prior to the recital and begged to be released of the odious task. When her turn arrived, however, she bravely stepped forward and confidently, perfectly, played her pieces. Mom and Dad were bursting with pride, how could our little person be so grown up?

Here is a pre-recital photo of Olivia and Chris thumb wrestling to reduce nervous tension. Olivia retains her champion status, she whooped him in rock-paper-scissors, too.

Olivia wanted to use the camera as a reward for playing today, so she took my photo and a shot of her new snow boots whilst on the way home. It snowed about two inches today.

Chloe turns 2!

Our happy tradition of sharing birthdays with our best family friends, the Archer's, continued with the recent celebration of Chloe's second birthday. Here you see Chloe and Courtney opening the generous gift of a cross necklace from Chloe's godparents, Ruth and Glen.

Chloe enjoys a snuggle from her "Grandma Ruth"

Chloe loves an adventurous piggyback ride from Olivia.

The birthday girl contemplates her wish before blowing the candles out.

Naomi was a little sad that it wasn't her birthday, too. A chocolate cupcake eased her ruffled feathers.

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, Olivia's class had a costume parade. She went as a butterfly. Here is a shot of Chloe at Naomi's school. They had a costume party as well.

Chris and the girls on our way to trick-or-treat.

Self-portrait!

Naomi dressed as a lion this year. Note the dark windows. The sun does not rise until 8:30 these days, oh and daylight saving time ends tonight. Don't forget to set back your clocks.

And wear sunscreen, Hauptmann's.

We had a lovely night and garnered enough sugar to last a year.

Naomi's first day of school

Here is Naomi, her friend Campbell and little sister Chloe on the first day of preschool. Naomi goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday for three hours. This is our fourth year of attending MTU Preschool and now Chris is the president too. We LOVE MTU Preschool!

Backtracking to catch up from missed blogging opportunities

Olivia's first day of school, thanks for the new summer clothes, Nanna.

Olivia came home from school today, eager to teach us the Chicken Dance. It is the thing to do on an afternoon of blustery snow.

Here is a sampling of our family....

Welcome to our new blog! We are a crazy, happy family of five living way up North in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

We try to live life all the way, serve God every day, love one another and live in amazement of our many blessings! Thanks to Tanya and Lisa for their blogging inspiration.

You'll probably need to pester me to keep this thing updated, I promise to as soon as I can get my uncooperative photo program to run properly!