A Merry Christmas - one of the best!

Our little family enjoyed the holiday very much. It played out so different from past years, for many reasons, but I wouldn't have changed much about it at all.

(Conrad, dressed for church and carrying his gift for Gr. Marge)

Christmas Eve day started with a yummy breakfast of french toast and fruit, then the boys went out to play while I straightened up and got everything laid out for church and visiting Grandma Marge. We left plenty early for church for two reasons - 1. nap (for the kids) and 2. seating is tough for that Children's Mass! As expected, the kiddos fell asleep before we even got on the highway. Once we got to the parking lot, I sent Tim inside to save seats and I sat in a quiet truck and read for nearly an hour. When it was time, I woke the kids up and carried both inside. (Norrie in her carseat, Conrad on my back - the looks I got from others were comical!!)

After church we asked Tim's co-worker to take our picture since this was the first year ever we attended church on Christmas Eve without other family. Norrie was extremely interested in the creche. And the co-worker wasn't trying very hard to pull her attention towards him either.

After church, we took a driving tour of Rochester looking for holiday decorations. Not many homes lit up, but the popcorn I had packed was really tasty. At Marge's house we had some more snacks and visited, opened gifts. The kids fell asleep on the way home which gave Tim and me some time to get the place warmed up and a few things put away before carrying them to bed.


Christmas Day

Here's where our best holiday memories occurred. At home, all day, great snow, little to no wind. During breakfast we had discussed several options and skiing seemed to be the favored course of action. While Tim and I cleared the table and changed our clothes, CW rushed out to play with his skis and wait for us. Shortly after I took this picture I peeked out at him again and I could tell he was growing impatient. He had pulled all of our skis and poles out of the rack and had them all lined up waiting for us to step into!


Unfortunately, just before I stepped out the door he was coming in saying his thumbs were cold and he had to go potty. Then before going out again he announced he had changed his mind, he didn't want to go skiing anymore. Ugh. I convinced him it was indeed time to play outside since the rest of us were already bundled up and going out. In the end, Tim took Norrie skiing so she could nap, and CW and I grabbed a sled and trekked to the other side of the valley to the sled run. It was great! After about an hour we were ready to go inside. Conrad and I had hot cocoa and a snack and then started prepping ingredients for chili. From across the way, I spotted Tim so took this picture....

side note: just that morning Tim had said something about how cool it would be to actually SEE a coyote on the prairie. Than just hours later he did!




By the time Tim and Norrie came in, Conrad and I had the chili simmering on the wood stove. We decided it was time to pull out the presents. Conrad enjoyed his first two gifts so much, we never even got around to playing the third one. Maybe during this upcoming holiday weekend??

It was such a quiet peaceful day. Finally the smell of the chili lured us to the dinner table and afterwards we geared up for another outside adventure.
This time we all agreed on skiing. Conrad was pretty tired and it wasn't long before he decided to join his sister in the chariot though.Tim and I skiied up and down the driveway, through the cornfields and around the prairie. As long as the kids were sleeping, we didn't see any reason to quit. Until it started getting dark and a bit colder anyway. We stopped, took our skis off and I opened the chariot only to be asked if we could keep going. Conrad wanted to go back to sleep :)

The rest of the evening was quiet and we were all in bed quite early. It was great! The next morning we went to church again and then had brunch and Christmas at my parents house. Mid afternoon we shifted to Tim's dad's house to visit our friends from Duluth (who happen to be related to us now that her mom married Tim's dad!) And then home. Ah...good weekend!

And more snow

The snow is so light and fluffy, even I could jump off for a soft landing. (and I did, several times!)

It's been so nice and "warm" for MN winter. Although it was kind of late when we got home I know that it's just a matter of time before the extreme cold and wind return so we play when we can outside. Even if it is dark. Good thing it's not really too dark though because of ....

Ta- Da!! Look mom, we finally got a "porch light". Or rather, lights.

Tim and I like coming home to our "ski hut". It's like being on an extended vacation at a snowy resort, complete with ski rack and snowshoes!

more snow

yeah for a tractor and snowblower!

too bad Tim has to do all the work of moving snow, he didn't get to play in it like us! This is a drift, conveniently located, right outside our "front door". CW and I put in some stairs and a chute. Great fun.

Don't worry Norrie, when you're bigger you'll get to play too.

out come the sleds...No, you can't pull sister in one (I can just imagine that ride!)

Conrad? Where are you? Oh, there you are - in the driveway. Geez, much more snow and I really could lose you!

Preschool Christmas Program

Last week Conrad had his Christmas Program at school. Most of my pictures turned out a little fuzzy - it's hard to hold a 9 month old and take pictures, Norrie was constantly trying to grab for the camera. The program was great though, and Conrad did a fabulous job smiling, singing, doing the motions.

Stone Soup

We had a stone soup party this month. I hope it's the beginning of a new winter tradition. We started with a reading of Stone Soup. There are several versions, my favorite so far is the one by Heather Forest. After story time, we moved into the kitchen to prepare our own stone soup. Each family brought a few ingredients to contribute... (just like in the story)

Then while the real soup was cooking, we did a little craft, creating and coloring a pot and ingredients for the kids to make soup.

The littlest ones weren't very involved in any of the above activities, but they enjoyed each other's company!

And the tastiest part of the evening? Eating the soup of course!

SNOW!

These are from the first or second big snowfall. How many have we had now?!?! And more is coming I've heard.

It doesn't show so much in the picture, but it was snowing hard the afternoon my dad took this picture for us. She likes it!

holiday traditions

We start preparing for Christmas the first day of Advent. Out comes the Advent calendar and the Advent wreath and

even some gifts. Through out Advent they get "new" books. Some really are new, others they have seen before but they've been put away for 12 months.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

(Conrad and Norrie opening their first book of the season)

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Someday I hope to have a slightly larger nativity set. In the meantime, I use this little ornament. Noah's Ark is our Advent Calendar - each morning CW gets to open a door to see what animal is waiting to come out.

We also celebrate St Nick's day in early December. We read about St Nick and how he saved three daughters from being sold into slavery by secretly leaving gold in their stockings. Instead of gold, our kids get little things like chocolate, oranges, new markers, a sippy cup. :)

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

New this year is our gratitude journal. We started it on Thanksgiving and try to add something every day. We've missed several days due to being "snowed out" and there's also been a few days missed when Conrad falls asleep on the way home. It's great practice for both drawing and writing, and it's good for both of us to be mindful of all we can be thankful for. (in this picture, he was drawing the earth)

change of scenery

And sometimes we do appreciate a change of environment (different faces, different toys, more space). A couple weeks ago we stayed overnight with some good friends. Their first son is 6 months younger than Conrad and their second son is 5-6 weeks older than Norrie. Not only do the kids all have someone to play with, when our 4 year old melts down and has a total fit over something stupid, our friends TOTALLY understand because they have been there too.

Sadly, I only have pictures of the babies. I don't remember the older two boys slowing down long enough for a picture...

more time at home

We often get asked how we live in such a small space. How we could possibly survive, what the heck do we do in the evenings? Well, first of all, there's not a whole lot of "spare time". We get home, make and eat dinner, do dishes and go to bed. I can't figure out how anyone can spend 2+ hours a night to watch tv, and still get the day to day stuff accomplished and get 8 hours of sleep. I've been told it's usually the 8 hours of sleep that doesn't happen. I guess I like my sleep too much. But maybe it's convenience foods, or a dishwasher, that helps add hours into an evening for some?

Anyway, we do make it work living in a small space. We read, play pretend, work with play-doh, get out some toys, games, puzzles. There's plenty to do!

days at home

I came across this draft from last month. I had the pictures added but never posted.

these pictures were obviously taken before we were slammed with snow. Last month we got an extra "stay at home" day because Tim was scheduled to work really early. Rather than all of us have to get up and into town before 6am, or my struggling with both kids on my own and still making it to work before 7am (which would include a 20 minute drive, then dropping kids at daycare, then catching a bus) I opted to take the day off and just enjoy a lovely day. We stayed in our pajamas all day, just because we could. Conrad and I played school, colored, painted and stacked blocks for Norrie to knock down. Then we loaded up in the chariot for a walk. Really, I just wanted some time alone and this is a surefire way of getting it. They zonked out rather quickly. By the time we got down to the river they were both asleep so I parked the chariot and had a nice quiet moment. Or 30. It was lovely.