The Baker Blog

We joined some friends for bowling, turns out the boys really enjoy it.

Evan is already perfecting his form.

Eliza tries really hard to get through one round, but where she decides to stop her brothers take over her turn.

Final scores

Reading time with daddy is not complete without big fuzzy slippers.

Eliza decided she wanted to start learning cursive. She can already sign her name.

If you ever wonder why I like daylight savings, this is why. Alex is in both of these pictures, but left is before the time change and the right is after.

Mike loves his burgers, and this place Top Up Burgers does not disappoint.

Breakfast with Uncle Geoff before Lego League.

The kids all worked on this sign

We had the cul-de-sac over for a chili cook off party at our house. Most of the neighbors were able to make it which was really nice.

Kids table

Lots of chilis to try

We were picking up Alex from Lego League and the boys gave us a tour of their school

Evan did the orange cat in the background that was on display

Alex made a skeleton, can you figure out which one? I'll give you a hint... his name is part of it.

Evan had a playdate with one of his new friends at Roosevelt. His name is Alex, and we call him Alex with Glasses so we don't get him confused with our Alex. He a really great kid.

Alex went to his Lego League local competition and were one of the 10 teams to qualify for State Finals. I believe his team was #3 for points.

My goofy girl and her creative personality.

Headlamp wolf hat.

I helped hand out blizzards for one of the fund raisers at the boys school. I got to see both of them at lunch which was an added bonus.

Waiting for the cousins to come for Maggie's birthday. This is why all our cushions on the couch are flat the wrong way and my windows are covered in finger prints.

Arm Wrestling before cake

Happy Birthday Maggie! Alex showing off his birthday song skills.

What did you wish for?

My first attempt at a bread turkey for Thanksgiving.

The kids have decided they want to have a tree fort, so now we've added a rope ladder to the tree for easy access. They stayed up there most of the morning sketching what they needed like a pully system and such.

Thanksgiving with Mike's family

Tree is up and this year we have a train going round the bottom

More fun with bread

Someone has strep throat.... out with the toothbrushes!

Digging up my root crops, parsnips and carrots were hard to get out this year because the ground was already starting to freeze

Not too bad of a pull this year

We were invited to the Keego lighting of the trees. It was so pretty, and they had a game of candy land on the ground you could play.

Always a good time with the Douglass family.

3rd place Lego Trophy, so proud of this guy.

Crazy hair day at school, and only had about 10 min to get it up and going.

She makes a lovely Elsa.

Evan measuring all the rocks he found outside in grams. Very scientific.

Ernst Thanksmas was wonderful as always. Most of the family made it and we got to catch up.

Mike was a great sport for the game we all played.

My two toasty cuties.

State Finals for Lego League near Lansing. They didn't move on to the World competition, but that's ok. They did great and learned a lot.

Got the kids out of school early and we were waiting for people to join us at Red Lobster for Mom Baker and Mike's birthday dinner.

These two got a bit older, but they look just as good.

The kids kept having the marbles roll away from their Lego tower, so they built a containment area out of magnatiles. :) I love these kids.

Eliza helping me make graham crackers before school.

Chill the dough

Finally convinced Mike we needed to do a puzzle. We need to do another one now.

We are blessed to have a great group of friends that Eliza made in Kindergarten. We were able to have a Thanksgiving party and a Christmas party together.

The parents of all the great kids.

A birthday party for a classmate at a skating rink. Alex got to try out his skating skills.

Breakfast with Uncle Geoff, we had to go to plan B because our plan A was closed, and I guess now turning into a Jax carwash.

Eliza didn't want to get dressed for breakfast.

Secrets are so much funnier when whispered directly into your ear because it tickles.

Uncle Dave got all the kids drones for their Christmas gifts. They were so happy!

Nana enjoying Christmas with us

Aunt Jamie got some amazing glasses!

Merry Christmas!

We went to the Henry Ford to hang out....

and see Polar Express 3D, which we highly recommend!

Then off to Frankenmuth to spend time with the Carter family at the Bavarian Inn

and walk around all the little shops together.

Alex enjoying the drift bike the kids got for Christmas.

I made punch this year for Christmas, Alex very much enjoyed it.

We were able to spend some time with the Wade family over break. Got to play some new games....

and open gifts. Evan got this amazing telescope that he LOVES from Oma.

Evan also got a mini-machine set from the Wades that he's been enjoying. He built a vacuum in this picture.

My lights in the kitchen were falling down and not working, so I was cooking in the dark. Mike thankfully is a handy man and got right to work.

After a few tries and a few adjustments we have light again in the kitchen!

The Wade family joined us for a chicken nugget dinner and a Chicken Run 2 movie one evening.

Everyone joined Daddy on his step to put their shoes on for church.

We finally got out the fireworks we bough ages ago and lit them off.

The kids enjoyed boxes of sparklers!

My new solar lights, I have more to put out in the spring.

I made Devonshire Splits, which I baked sweet rolls, made strawberry jelly and whip cream... they tasted kind of like a strawberry short cake. Almost everyone asked for seconds.

Eliza hanging out before school.

The crazy snow we got. It was like a blizzard all day.

Covered coming back from the bus.

The kids spent all evening out in the snow building a fort.

Alex's snowmen.

Eliza set these up in the bathroom to watch people pee, I found them fun so I took a picture of them.

Shopping for Beyblades in PJs.

Working on IXL (math games)

Everyone wanted to do Kindles one morning in Mommy's bed.

We did get a D&D session in over break.

Alex has started lessons for Trombone and he's really enjoying it.

Evan reading Eliza the story he wrote about Pickles the Cat.

We had a few days off school because of the bitter cold, so we decided to make the best of it and spend 2 hours at the library sledding hill.

The hill was too much for this little one. She needed a rest.

A special treat, we got invited to the Wade's house to sled. Thankfully we had the day off and the roads were clear so we could go.

Always a good time with the Wade family. Made even better by celebrating James' birthday with pie!

A picture of the moon that Evan got with his telescope. We've found that it's really cloudy here in Michigan. Evan is having a really hard time having clear skies when the moon is out.

We surprised the kids on a half Friday off school with a trip to the Bavarian Inn. They had no idea and were so happy and surprised.

We played Putt Putt.

And did LOTS of swimming. They swam all weekend.

Lunch in the room is way cheaper and everyone enjoys PB&Js with crackers and veggies.

We visited the House of Mirrors.

It was a nice break from the cold and pretty fun as well.

A cold walk down and back to town for dinner with the Carters.

Highly recommend Tiffany's if you visit Frankenmuth.

These pictures perfectly sum up the weekend.

Swim hard sleep hard.

Alex won the wishbone contest this year, but there is always next year.

My cousins all got together for dinner and to go through my Mom's families pictures and memories.

Some of the pictures date back to my great great grandparents. There are Christmas cards in German and letters that my grandparents wrote to each other. It was a really nice evening.

Eliza and Evan playing on the floor a church in their dress clothes.

Alex made Toads in the Hole all by himself. These kids are amazing!

Crocheting at church keeps them busy as well.

The sunrise after getting the boys on the bus one morning.

It was a rough week last week at the Baker house. Alex stayed home on Thursday with COVID and slept the whole day.

On Friday Mike and I woke up early to get Mike to surgery (Thank you Clara for staying the night and getting the kids on the bus and driving the neighbor to school that missed her bus).

Mike had two bone fragments removed from his wrist that were giving him issues.

Friday night Eliza came in at 3am because she had thrown up, so I cleaned that up and put her and I on the couches down stairs. At the same time my dad was at the ER with abdominal pain, and on Sat. he had his gallbladder removed. He's doing ok now.

On Sunday Evan had a fever before bed and didn't feel well. So he and Alex were home on Monday from school. They were both feeling fine on Monday they decided to play outside in their PJs, cause why not.

Throwing footballs back and forth.

I had an Eliza date on Tuesday which was nice for us to have some time together without the boys.

Reading with Daddy.

On Valentine's day the only kid party I could go to was Eliza's so I helped out there scooping ice cream.

I got to see Eliza play some of her class games. This was kind of like Family Feud where the teacher asks.... "I wear this on my head and it rhymes with cat". Eliza got hers right and was the first to ring the bell.