the Story of 24 hours

First - a picture of progress. Almost time to put that wind turbine up!

Now, a story about "24 hours". Monday evening was a doesy complete with getting the car (that we're borrowing from my parents) stuck in a snow drift on the driveway. Gearing up and hiking home only to find the place was 30-some degrees inside. Tim then had to spend over an hour getting the tractor started, clearing the driveway, and pulling the car out. (Time he would have rather spent working on that wind turbine project!) Since it was so cold inside, I figured there was no point of sitting around waiting for Tim to do it all, so CW and I pulled the ice fishing sled down to the garage and hauled up some firewood for the night. Since it takes awhile for the stove to radiate heat, I put Conrad in bed early with the promise of LOTS of stories. We snuggled up and read and read and read. One of his favorite books currently is "The Secret of St Nicholas". I bought it in early December to help bring a little more meaning to the season for him. One of his favorite parts in the book is when the boy Nicholas is learning about Christmas from his parents and decides 1) God likes surprises and 2)some good deeds should be done in secret

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Fast forward to Tuesday morning. It started well enough, and then at 7:30am I got a call from Tim that the car we are borrowing needed a new alternator. Really? What is it about cars this month!?!? Trying really, REALLY hard to be optimistic I tried to see the good. Tim knows enough about cars that he recognized the warning signs as opposed to being halfway between the prairie and Rochester in sub-zero temps when the car could have died on us. Admittedly, it was still a downer for me though - would this mean another night lost from working on the wind turbine? And another day away from Tim having time to look and maybe fix our car?

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So here is where the story changes. Tim was able to take a half day, NAPA had the part in stock, and the car was fixed by mid-afternoon.

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Then he checked our mail while at his dad's house. We had received a gift and a note from an anonymous sender. We have had quite a rough month and getting a note like we did was so encouraging. Knowing there is someone out there thinking of us in this way gives us strength and a bit more confidence that although things are really, really hard right now, we'll pull through. And I can't help but reflect on that childrens book.

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It's amazing that in a short 24 hours so much can happen.

project day

We were thrilled by the calm, sunny day over the weekend, Tim made some excellent progress with the wind turbine! My parents stopped out after Conrad's nap and not only helped Tim with a few key steps of installation, but also got Conrad and I to bundle up and get out on the prairie for the first time since this snow season started.


Tim is adjusting the guide wires

a little adjustment here, a little there

putting the blades together

And while Tim worked on parts he didn't need help with, we got to play!

Christmas Eve Day

Last week we packed up again and moved into Rochester for the second time this month. We stayed with my parents Wednesday night through Christmas Day. I always miss being home, but in many ways it was a blessing to be in town for those few days. Thursday morning Tim had to work so CW and I just got to hang out - no firewood to haul, no early commute to make, even brushing teeth is easier with a sink and running water.

My niece and nephew spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's as well since their parents both had to work. Conrad was thrilled to see them show up that morning (I had been hesitant to tell Conrad to expect them because with the weather forecast we couldn't be sure anyone would be making it into Rochester that morning). Show up they did and we had a good time.
Here's Jordyn and Conrad in their baking gear...

And here's Alex reading stories to Conrad. I wonder how many times Conrad convinced him to read Polar Express?

And here's a quick picture of us after church.

And this picture was taken not before Christmas, not even on Christmas, but the day after. And he's not taking DOWN the tree, he's putting it UP! Hey - I figure we can enjoy it for 12 days, right? The tree thing had been put off for lack off space, we were waiting to get some of the wind turbine components off the floor and onto the wall before adding more stuff to the room.

The projects we had hoped to have finished by Halloween were delayed first by CW and I getting so sick that month. Then thankfully we were blessed by pretty decent weather in November, so some progress was made before the other setbacks started. I think things are starting to look up though.

**The convertible is running again, and I think Tim got it dug out of the snow last night.

**His computer is back in mostly working order (computer viruses are evil!) and that computer was necessary for scanning the jetta to determine what all was going wrong that the car wouldn't start after patching the fuel injector.

**We ordered (and now received!) a replacement set of specialty tools for adjusting the timing belt that the computer mentioned above is showing isn't adjusted correctly (I wonder when/where we will find the original set of tools??)

**the "entryway" is patched up well enough to get us through the winter. The storm two weeks ago caught us not quite ready and we ended up with snow drifts inside. This last storm though it was ready.

**the tractor started after this storm and we were able to "move home" right away, as opposed to the storm two weeks ago...

**the wind turbine is getting SO CLOSE!

And here's Conrad enjoying one of his Christmas gifts.

another milestone - ASL style

Yesterday over breakfast Conrad signed to me "What's your name?". I responded by spelling out my name and then he prompted me to ask him the same question. So I signed the question and then almost fell off my chair when he signed back "C" "o" "r" "a" "d". Notice he missed the "n"? But wow! I was so impressed! I asked if I could sign his name with him and gently reminded him there's an "n" before the "r". Of course, then he signed a "t" instead of an "n", but it's darn close. The next time we signed together I corrected his "n" sign and now he's got it down!

In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Last week several times he climbed onto my lap asking me to sign his friend's names. He didn't show any interest in signing the names himself, just wanted to see me do it. It wasn't long before he was recognizing "Cole" and "Ellen", then it was "Roman", "Isaac", "Braden". Signing with Conrad has been so much fun, and I get more and more encouraged when I see him signing back to me!

Last night it was daddy's turn to read to Conrad before bed. I wasn't paying much attention so I don't know what preceded the "silly" but Conrad must have signed "silly" to Tim. Tim responded by agreeing it was silly and made two Y hands thinking he was returning the sign to Conrad. This is about the time I tuned in because I heard Conrad correct his dad, telling him to brush his nose with his thumb. (I'm guessing anyone who doesn't know the signs is getting lost at this point!). Tim then turns to me and asks if that's right. Yep, Conrad is right. Next question from Tim then is what does this mean (the sign he had been making, because he's seen us use that sign too). CONRAD answers him, "play". Tim looks at me, I nod. And then for good measure, Conrad teaches his dad one more sign. "And this means 'fun' ". I'm still smiling thinking about the whole exchange!

winter nights

The cold and snow have begun. Conrad doesn't seem to miss being outside...

He's been really interested in painting and cutting and glueing and glitter. St Nicholas left some fun painting supplies and glitter glue in Conrad's "boot" over the weekend.

This is Conrad fixing the tractor.

Lincoln logs and trains. It's nice to see him still playing with the toys he got last winter!

And now when we do go outside, since it's almost always dark, Conrad has his own headlamp. (Also found in his stocking over the weekend).

my little yogi

I've started waking up a bit earlier most mornings so I can get some quiet alone time before the boys are awake. I usually get a few stretches in, but some mornings it's just too darn cold or I'm too tired and instead I just sit on the floor in front of the stove with a blanket around my shoulders.

Conrad has woken up a few times, confused as to why I wasn't next to him. At first he would crawl to the edge of the bed and ask what I was doing. Once or twice he joined me, but only for a few minutes because he would get cold and decide to go snuggle with daddy. Now with our holiday decorations up, I've taken my yoga mat and bag down and they lay on the floor next to CW's bed. At random times he has decided to take the mat out and stretch (like mommy does). So to encourage his curiosity, I found a book at the library with pictures of kids doing yoga. It's fun to watch him flip through the book and pick out the poses he wants to try. Some he skips because they "look too hard", other times he'll ask me if I can help him and then I end up down on the floor with him.

holiday season!

Sunday was our day for decorating - we started with a nice meal and our Advent candle lit. Then CW helped Tim put up the ornaments and helped me put up the stockings. My mom made us a really nice set - Conrad is especially pleased with his!

And here's Conrad with his new baby doll. He's brought random dolls home from daycare at different times and late last week Tim and I were both at the storage unit so I asked him to help me get down my memory trunk. I knew I had my doll stored in there from when I was a little girl. He was thrilled! It's even gender neutral so he gets to decide if it's a baby girl or baby boy. I love seeing him be so tender with it - he even sings rock a bye baby and cradles her/him. He gets very concerned about how baby doll is wrapped and asked me if maybe Grandma could make a hat to keep her head warm this winter. I hope he's this sweet to his new little sister when she comes!

gobble, gobble

For Thanksgiving this year, we reserved the group shelter at a state park so we would have plenty of space to eat, play, string popcorn, and get outside hiking.

It was nice having so many tables; three were assigned for dining, two to three for games and crafts, and two for the buffet set up. And there were still tables leftover for whatever other use.

Here's CW and I chilling by the fire. For a child that loves his naps, he did really well staying up all day. He was a little upset at 5pm when we loaded up into the car and he realized it was getting dark and he had never got a nap, but he fell asleep before we were even out of the park and snoozed the hour in the car. When he woke up, he informed me he was hungry. Really?!? I was hoping to not have to cook after the enormous meal we had earlier. I offered him a banana or crackers and he informed me he didn't want a SNACK, he wanted 'real food, a dinner'. Thank goodness for mac n cheese - everyone was happy with that option.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

I don't remember the last time I actually took pictures three days in a row (maybe while traveling?).

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Tim continues to work hard on his construction project. The walls are up, doors are in, first part of roof is done. He took a "break" last night and worked on the car instead. Changed the oil, and replaced the rear brakes. We're waiting for parts to come in to replace or patch the fuel injector.

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So while Tim is working on all these projects, it's just me and Conrad. Saturday CW was successfully pushing my buttons so I took him outside and had him help me move the leaf pile. A friend had dumped a truck bed full of leaves on the edge of the driveway because I didn't know exactly where I wanted them. I picked a spot near the new gardens and we started moving them. I used a wheelbarrel, Conrad used a little blue bucket. I was impressed how long he helped before losing interest. We had picked up 16-18 bags of leaves from my sister last week and those were still really dry so I started cutting open those bags and dumping the leaves for Conrad to play in. That kept him outside with me for another 40 minutes or so. Why so many leaves?? To make leaf mold - I hear it's good for the gardens.

On Sunday we went to church, met with 'new' friends for coffee, and then went our separate ways again. Tim to the prairie to work on, you guessed it, the construction project (thankfully he had a friend meeting him out there, otherwise I worry he's going to fall off the roof and no one will be around to know!) and CW and I to grandma's house to nap. After naptime I took him to a concert - this time it was piano and flute duets. I say "new" friends because it's a couple that Tim and I see every month when we meet with married couples from church so they aren't new to us, but Conrad had never met them before. He was so shy at first, would hardly look at them. By the time we finished coffee though they were being showered with hugs and kisses.

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That evening I introduced him to dominoes. Odd how things come up with a three year old. He has an alphabet puzzle and "D" is for dominoes. He was asking me on Saturday about the "d" picture so after I told him I promised him I would find grandma's dominoes and he could check them out. I haven't even attempted to show him how to play real games with them. Why bother when he can be so creative on his own? In the last two days we've built bridges, race cars, fire trucks, and trains; created squares, rectangles, circles, and flowers; and built 2D and 3D houses. And of course we've set them up to fall over in a line, over a bridge, in a circle, and as a snake shape (they ARE dominoes).

And last night I finally got around to doing a project I've been thinking about since August. We had Conrad's 3 yr pictures taken, and one picture of the family too. Instead of just giving the pictures to our friend Clara I thought it would be fun to give her frames too. We haven't been over to visit her in nearly a month (I don't want to be the one to give her a cold!) so tonight or tomorrow I hope we can stop over to say hi and present our masterpiece. See picture of CW and Clara at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgWb2AOUSoF4ZyjDTMb1jC8D1swu9fLiSZbsFjHiCijR-cbwMSpopK1jOl7UTL6ywR-6jAfto0O5HWsUFtrqBnA9dRdQWbcEQKy5AbhhYOVgMY4l7QmVoHH7LjAP3I0j4h8qzW_5YADlj/s1600-h/IMG_1184.JPG

lost time

Conrad and I were hit with a cold in October and it took until November to recover. I took nearly 2 weeks of sick leave, I don't remember ever having a cold like that before. We missed two birthday parties, a Halloween get together with friends, and Mass. There were babies born that we couldn't visit, one little girl was 2 weeks old before we even went for a peek (I still won't hold her though since I'm not 100% better yet).

Tim was a trooper and through it all continued to work on our current project - building an "entryway". We need a protected space to house our batteries, inverter, etc for the wind turbine that will be going up next. Ahhh....looking forward to all that electricity we'll have! We shouldn't ever "run out of lights" again (as Conrad describes it), we'll be able to move our chest freezer out to the prairie, we hope to even run some electric heat to supplement the wood stove. Someday in the future I'll even get an electric stove and oven. Looking forward to that!

Conrad continues to be a helper in the kitchen. He's learned a few new tasks even. Now he's the official egg cracker - he does great, I've only had to fish out egg shell one time! He's always been in charge of dumping and pouring the measured ingredients into the main bowl, but now he's figuring out how to actually do the measuring too. It's a little messy, but how else do they learn? I certainly don't want to discourage his interest. I'm looking forward to the day he will be cooking for me!

In other news, we've discovered there is a castle in Rochester. Conrad has been pointing out in the mornings as we drive into Rochester on 2nd street that part of the hospital has a castle top. Good observation, certainly looks like one to me too. And he knows where the helicopter lands (on the hospital). That's just the west side of downtown. From that point until Tim drops me off at work he narrates all kinds of things that he's seeing or that he remembers. For example, Conrad and I attended a concert last Sunday (Trio Callisto) at a church downtown. Now when we pass the block the church is located, he shows me where that concert was, and what instruments we saw being played (harp, flute, cello).

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For as much talking as the kiddo does, he still does a fair amount of sign language too. This morning his mouth was full of cereal and instead of trying to speak I saw him sign to me "milk" and "drink/cup". I was a little surprised, since he doesn't usually initiate the signing himself. I asked him if he wanted some milk in a cup, and he nodded. Cool. As I'm pouring the milk he signs "pink" as he shakes his head. huh? He swallows his food and says, "no pink cup this morning". Oh right, no pink cup this morning, it's dirty from yesterday. I hope I can keep up with this child as he learns more and more signs!

life lessons

Monday was Tim's birthday. Since we still don't have an oven, I knew it would be a fun surprise for Tim to get a cake for his birthday. I asked mom to make the cake through the day Monday and I would frost it after work. So Conrad and Grandma baked it (Conrad called me about noon at work to let me know he helped make a cake for daddy - I love hearing from him when I'm at work!)

Then that night we took the cake home to finish it. Tim had the second car because he had to pick up wood in Chatfield before coming home so it worked out well. Thank goodness the cake was just for us - Conrad just couldn't keep his tongue off the frosting! We had a lot of fun decorating it....

Monday also happened to be the nicest day we've had for awhile and my garlic had conveniently just been delivered a few days prior. Conrad helped me dig holes to plant it, and then we pulled the last of the carrots. I absolutely love knowing that he is learning where food really comes from!

I love sign language!

Last Thursday I took Conrad to the mall after a busy day, close to bedtime. I know, it was a perfect set up for disaster. He hadn't even had dinner yet, so it was like a perfect storm waiting to happen. We did pick up some chicken teriyaki and rice from the food court - and he ate it. I'm don't know if he was just that hungry, or if my suggestion that it was like the food Kai Lin would eat. Sears was my destination and of course we had to walk right by the play area to get there. Darn it.

He was excited, asked to play. I said yes, but we need to go to the store first. He agreed with no argument. Cool. Got our business taken care of and back to the play area. He was having a great time, but in my head that clock was ticking. You know...the any minute now he's going to have the super tired meltdown. As he was racing around, making laps I caught his attention and signaled him to come over to me. He did right way (wow!) and I told him just two more minutes and it would be time to go. "Okay" and off he goes. A little time passed, and I was able to catch his eye. Without saying a word (he was half way across the play area), I signaled "time" and "go". He hopped out of the canoe and RAN to me. Sat down and started putting on his shoes. WHOA! That was awesome! No argument, nothing.

We use sign language for other things too - just recently learned how to sign the Happy Birthday song and used it to sign to Tim for his birthday. Good times.

Fire House Pictures

Here's the pictures from the fire station Tuesday night.

firefighting and apples

We took Conrad to a Fire Station openhouse Tuesday night. I didn't have a camera, but hope to get some pictures from my friend's camera today or tomorrow. The next morning this was Conrad...

Then on Wednesday it was the Quarry Hill Nature class. Once a month we go for an hour to listen to a story, do a small project, and go for a short hike. Conrad always looks forward to going to Quarry Hill, especially when there is class, and ESPECIALLY this time because two of his friends would be joining us. Each class has a theme, this month it was apples.

Here's Conrad sitting with Stella and Roman on the storytime rug.

We actually had two projects this time - first the kids were painting or making prints with an apple on a stick. Then we made apple juice using an old press. Not with the painting apples though! I guess a local orchard donates apples to Quarry Hill for these classes so there were plenty of apples.




After painting and making juice (and the juice was declared "Mmmm...delicious" by Conrad), it was time to go hiking. The group carried the apple scraps out to the apple tree near the pond for deer, racoons, skunks to snack on.

When class is over, the kids get to feed these fish. It's usually pretty uneventful, but fun to watch the fish snatch up the little worm things that are dropped in. This particular day one little boy got a bit of a surprise. After CW and Stella moved away, he was standing on the step where they are for the picture and this fish came after his morsel with such speed that a large amout of water sloshed over the edge. The kid was SOAKED. Really, soaked. Hair looked like he had stepped out of a shower. Jacket was dripping. Puddle on the floor. His mom took off her scarf in an attempt to dry him off. Comical.

We finished our morning watching birds. I think Conrad would love some really nice binoculars for Christmas! ;-)