O' Christmas Tree...

Today we took the annual trek over to WI to get our Christmas tree. I know many would think we are nuts traveling that far for our tree, but it is the 'experience' that makes it all worth it (and a happy hubby).

We road the wagon to the location of the trees. Gerrit liked this part of the whole day. He even liked 'carrying' the measuring pole. (We smartened up and no longer 'eyeball' the height of the trees - our ceiling appreciates it!) Wearing dad's gloves was another favorite - he even wore them around the house when we got home.

We had the privilege of 'shopping' for a tree for friends. It was fun to find one according to the specifications. Luckily they wanted a Frasier fir as well so we could get both in the same area.

All we had to do was cut the trees and get them back to the wagon area. From there the workers did the res! They were shaken, drilled (the best part of this farm), bailed, loaded on wagon, carried and tied to our car. Talk about no hassle!

After a quick stop for lunch, we headed home. It was a beautiful day, even if we didn't have snow to enhance the whole experience. The tree is now in its stand and ready for decorating. Tomorrow...

Thanksgiving 2009

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Gerrit sporting his hat he made at Julie's yesterday. He didn't want to wear it, or get his picture taken, but with a little help from Adam, I was able to get one!

We had a low key day and all were healthy! (I was sick last year and didn't get to enjoy the time with friends.) I made the same recipe for the turkey (Jewish turkey - it looked better in person than the photo) as last year seeing I didn't get to enjoy it. It was juicy and tasty I must say. Twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and rolls rounded out our main course. Joan brought a yummy apple pie for dessert.

We debated going out for lunch today but figured most places would have a buffet and we didn't want to deal with that and a 2.5 yr old. So we hung out at home and our friend Joan joined us as her family was out of town. Following lunch we took naps and we all slept quite a while too. Watched a little football and then the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving rounded out Gerrit's day.

The Christmas decorations are out of storage and will be slowly put up this weekend. Tomorrow morning we make our annual trek to WI for our tree. Anticipating a busy tree farm but it works best in our schedule so we'll deal with it. No major deals have tempted us to brave the crowds this year so we will stay away from retail shopping tomorrow (I might go out on Sat - we'll see...there are some good deals to be had).

It was great to relax and enjoy the day together (especially healthy!). And not needing to pack for Iowa (bike race) is a welcomed change this year. Here's hoping we have a great rest of our weekend.

We have so much to be thankful for and it is great to take a day and reflect on all the goodness that surrounds our lives.

Good Intentions

Tonight was the annual Thanksgiving Eve service in which our church joins four other local churches in one location (ya, you'd think it was a dutch community with the number or churches we have compared to population). It was held in the church behind our house - a long way to go! We have not worshiped in this church before and was glad we had the opportunity. It is on the historical registrar and is beautiful - we did get a tour our first year in the house. However, it is not quite our style, we'll leave it at that.

We were welcomed by all - even if we were one of the younger couples attending. Many members of the church commented to us about our 'long commute' to church. Adam and I didn't realize we were that well known by the church! I guess when our backyard backs up to the sanctuary windows, we're quite noticeable. (We better mind our Ps and Qs from now on!)

Anyways, we sat in the back in the small pews which are upright and you can only enter from one side - way old school! As the service began, we learned that the pipe organ is the 2nd oldest pipe organ in MN and the oldest one used on a regular basis. Pretty neat to think its in our little town. The service was neatly put together integrating the pastors (Presbyterian, Catholic, Wesleyan, Lutheran, and Congregational) as well as some of the choirs (the Congregational choir has 8 members - quite good for so small). The offering was given to 3 local organizations which help the needy in the area and each organization had a representative speak about the organizations. I liked this because it gave a good perspective as to what the money would be going to.

Why do I say good intentions...well, Gerrit had his own agenda for church tonight. He got the idea that we were going to the one next door and thought the small pews were neat. At one point Adam was worried he was going to launch himself forward at the next pew so he made him get down (he was standing on the seat). Gerrit realized that when he jumped on the floor, it echoed (very old church) and thought that was neat too. He wants to hold the hymnal now too which is quite heavy for him. It was the only one in our pew so we had to share, he didn't like that b/c he wanted to turn the pages himself instead of letting us sing. Adam would hold him during the songs so he could see when we were all standing and Gerrit decided it was fun to hit Adam and even slapped him on the face. He colored a bit until he started putting the crayons in his mouth. We gave him his 'treat' - fruit snacks which didn't take long for him to spill and then pick off the floor and eat. Adam helped him find the ones he dropped and Gerrit either found a fruit snack Adam missed or he found something and decided to eat that too! We are not sure on the last item that went in his mouth. This was all before the message! Adam said at one point that he didn't think Gerrit would make it and was ready to pack up and walk him home. He even suggested letting Gerrit play in the baby's room and crack a window open so he could hear the service. Gerrit played with his magnet book until he started throwing the magnets on the floor and needing to go get them. Luckily the message was short and we did make it through the service without too much noise. During the last song, Adam was distracted and was ready to sing the 1st verse - which was in German!

I had a hard time containing myself tonight. I thought the whole thing was funny - from the loud slap, to the constant stomping on the ground, to the mysterious piece of fruit snack... The idea of being next door to our house and worshipping - the convenience of being so close yet having a child so out of character and trying to get something out of the service just didn't happen. We probably could've left Gerrit at home and went to church and all would have been fine. Or, we could've let Gerrit take his DVD player to church like he asked and he would've sat like a gem.

I think we did walk away gaining a bit more from going to the service and we were glad we went, even if it didn't turn out like we had hoped.

We have one friend coming for lunch tomorrow and that is all we have planned for the day. A little parade watching in the am and Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving in the evening with a little football in between will probably take place too. We are just thankful to be home, healthy, and have some time to rest and be together as a family.

Confirmation

The doc confirmed my feelings...the babe has dropped.

So the next question was: does this mean I'll go early?

Doc: nope

False Alarm

Today Adam picked up Gopher basketball tickets for Jan. when my parents come. He got 2 tickets (Opa and him) and was pretty proud of where the seats are located. [We looked online in Oct when my parents were here and there were not very good seats available at that time.] He lucked out going to the box office. I'm pretty jealous myself, but excited for my dad to finally get to experience a game in 'the barn'. Its against Ohio State which will be a nice change for my dad as he has season tickets to MSU. Anyways, I told Adam to call my dad with the good news before dinner. Its not very often when Adam calls my parents - usually I'll call and he'll talk to them or when they call, he talks to them.

So you can only imagine what went through my mom's head when she answers and it's Adam! He had to quickly explain that there was no baby or one coming in the near future!

When he talked to my dad, my dad said he had to pick my mom off the floor!

We all had a good laugh and I'll laugh even harder if Adam doesn't get to go to the game but my mom does! Either way, my dad will experience the barn on Jan 9. They can come to the hospital after the game if necessary and I won't be offended!

So There ARE a Few Out There

When we found out we were having another boy, I was a bit disappointed - for selfish reasons of course. Having a girl would be easy b/c we had a name, plenty of cute hand me downs, and I had a slew of great patterns I'd been 'saving' to knit for my little girl (and not use as gifts for others). I am ok now with having another boy and realize for many reasons it will be easier having 2 of the same. I was able to find a few new knitting patterns to make for the new guy and the above is one of them.

What little boy doesn't look cute in Chuck Taylors?

The other items I made will have to wait till the little tyke can model them himself! :)

A Step Closer

Tonight before Gerrit's shower, I asked if he needed to go potty (my lame attempt at potty training) and he said yes. So he sat on the toilet and went a little. Then he hopped down and said he had to go - standing up! It cracked me up - he could barely get his penis above the toilet let alone aim properly! (He didn't end up going, but at least knows what he needs to do.) We may not need to work on sitting and going potty - he'll just go straight to standing up. Now if only he would tell me when he had to go....

PS - sorry no photo of this incident - I'm not that mean of a mom! (Deep down, I did want to grab the camera, I'll admit. Plus, I still have the above photo which I'm sure I'll hear about when he's older and cares.)

Seasons Change

Most people know the seasons changed based on the temperature, and nature - leaves change color, snow falls, thunderstorms, etc.

In our home we know that the season changed in a different way:

Yep, we had to bring the basketball hoop to the basement so Gerrit could shoot hoops while watching a game on TV. Yes, football is still on and depending on what is on TV at the time Gerrit will tend to want to play that sport. I am pretty excited bball is starting so we watched a lame OSU game to get us in the mood for the season and Gerrit followed suit.

Photo Update

I posted a few entries last night but it has been a while since I had posted pictures. Here are a few from the last week or so:

Gerrit is into 'coloring' as he calls it. He is very particular how he holds a pen and scribbles quite small. He often says he is writing the letter "A" - it looks nothing like an A though.

{Somehow when I went to make the collage the above photo wasn't included.}

Top left: The gift Gerrit was given from his sponsors on his baptism 2.5 yrs ago. Its Playmobile's Noah's Art - a reminder of the promise God made to us. We left it in the box until tonight. Gerrit saw it and wanted to play with the animals. It says for age 4+ but I opened it anyways and put it together. It was like Christmas - he didn't want to eat dinner and played with it all night - even fought off bed time. We decided we would open presents on Christmas morning so we don't have to fight him to go to bed!

Bottom left: he has show a lot of interest in his Little People's farm. He often lines up the animals so they are looking out of the window and are "looking at Gerrit" as he says.

Middle: Sat. Gerrit spent the day at Dahlen's while Adam and I helped the Rockne's move. Gerrit fell in love with this car (sorry Uncle Jeff - you'll have to get him an F1 car for Christmas!). He took it to Rockne's at the end of the day where we all met up for dinner. He insisted on taking it home too. (The boys didn't care b/c it's broken and they really don't play with it anymore). From there it had to go to bed with him. This is what we saw when we went to check on him before we went to bed.

Right: Friday he fell on some toy at Julie's. It was swollen all day Sat. too. He loved showing people and telling them he got hurt. He even scraped the tops of his hands in the fall. Luckily he did not damage his teeth or cause them to loosen either.

Why I Love My Job

Many people cringe when I tell them I teach middle school. Ya, they are hormonal and you never know what you are going to get, but they make me laugh! Here are a few examples:

1. I have a few siblings in various grades and at the beginning of the year I was the talk at the dinner table. At the beginning of the year, the girls couldn't figure out what was different about me. Finally a few weeks later, one of the sisters came home and told her mom that she figured out what was so different - I was going to have a baby (I mentioned it in class)! The sisters felt much better knowing they figured it out - they were a bit distraught as to why I didn't tell them though. (I thought the kids would figure it out when I was getting a pretty big tummy.)

2. At 6 months pregnant (and looking very pregnant), I mentioned to a class that I didn't do too bad at demonstrating the sit and reach fitness test for a pregnant woman. A 5th grade boy sitting near me said: You're gonna have a baby? I said: do you think I just ate too many Ho Ho?

3. Today I was talking to another teacher who became an Aunt last night to a new nephew. I asked about the name and mentioned a name I liked but Adam didn't. A student sitting in the principals office overheard our conversation and asked: Mrs. Stremler-Birr, did you get a new dog? I asked why? He said: well, what were you talking about names for? My response: I was talking about the baby I'm going to have! The other teacher, a secretary, and I just busted out laughing at the comment by the student! I thanked the student for giving me a good laugh today and he asked if he still owed me a pencil (he broke one of mine for no reason before taking a written test today). I said: yes, you aren't getting off that easily!

How can you not think middle school is fun? Such innocent comments/thoughts like the above few make getting up for work worth while (it has its bad moments too - but what job doesn't?).

Bedtime Nightmare

Gerrit usually goes to bed quite easily for us. It could be because he has a slew of toys/books that he has accumulated in his bed that he tends to play with until he gets tired. Tonight Adam put him to bed as normal and a few minutes later he was screaming bloody murder! (It sounded like bloody murder b/c he rarely cries at bedtime.)

Adam ran to his rescue to learn that he had broken his bike! He has a little bike (from Luke/Paul) that is in bed and the handle bars snapped off. Luckily they snap back on so Adam fixed it and all was silent once again.

We thought he was bit by something or seriously hurt the way he was crying! Thankfully it was just a minor issue but to him it was a nightmare!

Miles Apart But Not Forgotten

I was on the phone with my sister-in-law catching up as it had been a while and she told me a story about the kids:

Max and Ella asked Mia who her buddy was (referring to the older kid in school that is paired up with her to read and say hi in the halls etc)...

Mia responded with: GERRIT, (meaning, cousin Gerrit)

Oh, how we wish we could live closer to the cousins!

Lesson Learned?

Gerrit is getting rougher when it comes to playing "tackle" with Daddy. He think he can kick if necessary. We are working on eliminating this part of tackle and telling him its not a part of football either. In teaching him the lesson on not kicking people, he had learned that he is suppose to say 'sorry' and give a hug.

When Adam was reinforcing the lesson after Gerrit quickly said "Sorry"...

Adam asked: "Sorry for...."

and Gerrit responded with: "Five".

Hey, at least he's working on his counting skills!

Getting Ready for the Big Leagues

We've had some gorgeous weather the past few days, now that it is November. It had been a while since we played outside after work due to the weather. Seeing it was nice out, and Gerrit asked to ride his bike (shocker!) I said fine. He rode his bike and then wanted to play baseball. So we got the bat and ball out and headed to the back yard. Usually baseball consists of me trying to balance the ball on something that can act as a "T" and he can try and swing the bat and hope to hit the ball and not hit me. I decided that seeing the sun was setting, we were not going to be playing baseball very long, I'd just pitch him the ball and watch him miss. Well, surprise, surprise - the kid hit the ball! And it wasn't a fluke thing either - he did this multiple times! He knew how to stand side ways (a skill many of my middle schoolers still can't get right) and choked up on the bat ready for a pitch. He did miss and I threw some bad pitches, but still, the kid can hit a moving target at 2.5 yrs old. Adam came home shortly after we started and was impressed too. The only thing we had to do was remind him to stand sideways once in a while.

Adam and I just shake our heads. We have done very little 'teaching' when it comes to sports and Gerrit. I figured we have plenty of time in the years ahead to teach him proper techniques - plus, what 2 yr old is actually going to remember what he was told weeks ago, let a lone a few minutes ago!

Either we watch way too much Sports Center while eating oatmeal in the mornings or this kid has some natural talent. Either way, he makes his mommy proud. I'll try not to get ahead of myself and hope he can be potty trained and learns how to read and write in a timely manor.