Ting Tong

Yesterday we visited Granpa Bob and Geri. They got a new ping pong table which Adam and Gerrit broke in. Gerrit enjoyed watching Grandpa Bob and Dad play but really loved it when he was able to

'play'. I use that word loosely because Gerrit's way of playing included a bounce on the floor before he hit it. Picture the ball bouncing numerous times on the table and then at least once on the floor before he would hit it (if he hit it at all). We were very impressed because he improved tremendously as the day progressed. I was thinking the whole time that this was a great hand-eye coordination activity for him (sad, but that is the PE teacher in me!). We had a delicious dinner before we headed back to GR. 

*why the name Ting Tong?

that is Gerrit's name for ping pong!

Emmit's Birthday Parties...

Its hard to believe that Emmit is one! Where has the time gone? It has been fun watching him grow and learn and become such a big boy! Not only did we have a few Christmas parties, we also had a few birthday parties for Emmit.

First stop, Grandma Marcy and GG's:

Emmit enjoyed trying out the cake thing and loved the frosting the best. I loved that GG bought a Bill Knapp's cake (haven't had one of those since I was a kid!) We spent the day with them and Uncle Travis before he headed back to MN. We had a fun time playing and enjoying everyone's company.

Grandpa Bob and Geri joined my family for Emmit's party today:

Gerrit enjoyed opening Emmit's gifts and then trying them out with Mia. Emmit again, loved the cake (especially the frosting) and even tried to give some to Uncle Jeff. Max got a bit too close and landed some on his nose! Max also was in charge of getting the gifts out of the packages and get them in working order (a job Dad was happy to hand over!).

Following the party, Emmit took a long nap and the rest of us geared up for the MSU vs U of M basketball game - in person! Pictures to follow...

Who's Behind That Lens?

GERRIT! He got a camera for Christmas...

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2010

We made it to Michigan and jumped right into the Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve. We hung out at my brother's house for the day and in the evening we opened presents. Emmit was a bit unsure about all the people and Gerrit loved playing with his cousins again. Gerrit and Emmit did quite well on the gift end but so did Opa - he got a few new golf clubs! The evening ended for Gerrit and I in the hot tub... a nice way to end a busy day (Dad was too busy playing video games with Max to join us).

 

Christmas morning Dad woke up not feeling well so rather than push it and try to visit with his dad, we decided to lay low at my parent's house. Cara brought over wedding stuff so I helped with that, Jeff's family stopped by to open stockings and Gerrit took to Mia's new ITouch real fast, Gerrit enjoyed playing Dr. to Oma with his new kit from Aunt Erika and he looked at his new book with Opa. Emmit enjoyed his bottles with Oma and even checked out her cane the only way he knows how - via mouth!

Even though Dad wasn't feeling well, it was nice to relax a bit after a busy week!

Look What I Learned!

Today I don't have students - its staff development day! We spent the morning with imovie. I don't really see an educational need for making movies but I could see using it for personal reasons: 

We were told to do a few things with it so here it is...we didn't have too much time to edit etc. but at least I know the basics. I look spectacular today because the alarm did not go off so a baseball hat was in order! Guess I'll shower tomorrow...enjoy my little creation.

Santa Visits Z-town!

This weekend was a busy weekend for us. Sat. morning Gerrit spent 2 hours at church practicing for their Christmas program, followed by a hair cut and then we visited Santa who happened to be in town:

 

I'm glad there was not a line, nor that we spent money on capturing this experience. Gerrit didn't want to leave the stroller, when I got close to Santa, Emmit squealed so loud all I could do was laugh. We knew he'd cry the minute we put him on Santa's lap but had to just to capture the moment. Gerrit finally got close to Santa as long as I was with him. We quickly took a picture of the boys and that is the best we got! Santa didn't seem to thrilled with our children, but he was a good sport. 

We reminded Gerrit that if he was good, Santa would visit our house when he was sleeping tonight! He liked that even if he didn't want to get close to Santa in person. He left a few cookies out for him before he went to bed. (I think holidays are so much more enjoyable with children!)

This is what the boys woke up to this morning. Gerrit was pretty excited to see that Santa ate his cookies...(the camera is not broke, just really bad shadows from where I was sitting this morning).

Gerrit's favorite gift:

Gerrit received some other gifts too, but this by far was his favorite - and Santa brought it! We now have 'one of those kids' because he wore this all day - even in the car when he went to Dahlen's. He tried to get us to let him wear it to church but we had to draw the line somewhere!

The helmet even fit dad - guess with a short hair cut you can fit any kids helmet/hat on!

Emmit wanted nothing to do with the helmet

Emmit cracked me up. We came downstairs to a bunch of gifts by the tree and he went right to the push toy (top left). Even when Gerrit put a gift in front of him (top middle) he didn't know what to do with it. We tried to show him how to rip the paper but he was into Gerrit's Dairy Queen play ice creams to care. Once Gerrit helped him open his gifts, he seemed interested. He loved to try them out - in his mouth of course!

 

After our family Christmas, it was time to head to church for Gerrit's program. We were not expecting much from him but knew he knew the songs because we had been practicing them at home as well as in Sunday School. Of course he didn't want to wear 'all that stuff' - collared shirt, tie, church shoes, and when I asked if I could put a belt on him, it didn't surprise me that the answer was NO! I didn't push it, I thought getting him to wear his gingerbread tie was enough (I doubt next year I'll get away with insisting on the outfit). Before we left, Gerrit was very upset because he couldn't play basketball in that shirt!

The program was very cute and he made us proud. He held one of the teachers' hand as he entered the sanctuary but then he was fine on his own. We sat in the back but thanks to a zoom lense, we were able to get a few shots between people's heads! And Gerrit was front and center which was even better! 

Adam asked why Gerrit was in the front like that and I said I didn't know, but I liked it that we could see him. Adam responded by saying Gerrit was front and center because his dad is on council!

The program started at 10 30 and finally at 11, Emmit fell asleep for his morning nap! The program ended at 11 15! Ratz. The morning ended with a stop at Bridgett's for breakfast.

Gerrit's Conversation...

My mom is in the hospital with a blood clot. She went in today after they discovered it at PT. We decided to give her a call and say hi. Gerrit wanted to talk to her and here is what we heard from him (talking to Oma):

How are you feeling?

What's the Dr. doing for you?

Can I talk to the Dr?

It made her day to hear him ask these questions - which were not prompted by us either. He is very perceptive even if he doesn't understand everything!

Blizzard 2010

We are alive and able to get out of the house. It was a busy 24 hours around here - we added about 16" to the already 11" we gained last weekend. Snow started at 10 30 Friday night and it didn't let up until 10 30 Saturday night. I was able to run a few errands in town early in the day and Adam took Gerrit to Dahlen's for a bit in the afternoon. Other than that, we stayed home and watched the snow pile up.

Gerrit wanted to go sledding so just before dark we decided to go as a family. We walked a block to the church behind us and Gerrit sled down the hill in their parking lot. Adam and I each pulled a kid and both loved the sled. Adam helped me get over a huge mound of snow at the edge of the street and then he went back to pull Emmit over it only to have Emmit tip over - face first! He was stuck because he was strapped in and we both froze for a second looking at him trying to push up out of the snow. Once I wiped the snow off his face with my scarf, he stopped crying.

I took a few pictures then walked Emmit home. I decided to take the street because the church sidewalk wasn't cleared off. I didn't realize how much the wind had picked up and it was coming directly at us and it was cold! As I was nearing the sidewalk by our house (which was semi-cleared off), a man in a pick up pulls up next to me and offers me a ride! Only in a small town! I'm sure I looked silly walking in the street with a baby - there was no one out on the roads, let alone walking! I pointed to the house and he waved and continued on his way.

Adam decided to snow blow one more time after the boys went to bed. It looked like things were slowing down and the snow was coming to an end. He didn't want to leave it all till morning when church is at 8am. When he got outside, Gary was in the driveway as he had the same thoughts as Adam. So together they cleared East 4th St Heights at 9pm in the blowing snow.

Not a great picture, but you can see just how much we had gotten during the day (Adam had blown at 8am)

We didn't make it to church because we thought it was cancelled. I think we were the only church in the area that was still on! So we got Gerrit ready for Sunday school only to find out that was canceled. After Adam cleaned things up a bit more outside, we met Dahlen's at Bridget's for breakfast. 

After breakfast, Adam and Dave went to help Bryan shovel and checked on Matt's parents (Matt's dad had knee replacement this weekend). They then drove by Langley's and saw that their drive way had not been touched. So Dave fired up (mom and dad's Honda) and Adam checked to see if anyone was home. David was sipping coffee and reading the paper! David quickly got dressed and fired up his huge snow blower (so much for feeling bad for him) and the 3 of them finished up the driveway in no time.

I had sent Adam with the camera and asked him to take a few pictures of the area:

This is not a snow bank - the left pile of snow is in the middle of the street!

This is the same street, looking the other direction (the school is on this street).

 

We drove on this street this morning - Adam almost drove the wrong way because we didn't realize the big pile of snow was the middle of the street! Here they are snow blowing the pile into a dump truck.

  

For living in a small town, we have an amazing plow crew. The roads were great this afternoon! It is now bitterly cold so we will stay inside the next few days and play in the snow later this week when things warm up. Maybe we'll go snow shoeing seeing we have over 2 feet of snow. 

A few interesting notes about this storm:

Metrodome (where the Vikings play) roof collapsed

I90 was closed and were issuing $1,000 fine if you were caught driving on it

ZM is 2 hours late start tomorrow - I'm sure I will be on time as usual!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

I love Christmas time - lights, snow, tree, decorations, you name it! And now with kids, it is even better. When we pulled out the decorations, Gerrit was very interested in what was in all the boxes. He helped hang the ornaments, found ones he wanted to use to play 'football' or cars or cyclcross with and plug the lights in every time we get up in the morning or return home. We took out his Little People nativity set and talked about the people in it and the whole story of Jesus' birthday and how this time of year is the time we remember and celebrate. So while decorating the tree, Gerrit was singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus! I could only smile and hope he continues to see Christmas time as just that - Jesus' birthday party.

Disappointing Photo Shoot

Yesterday we had the boys' pictures taken in Roch. I thought I would get a bigger bang for my buck if we went back to Traci and paid for an hour and took home the CD of all the pictures taken rather than my cheapo route of JC Penny. I thought we could combine Emmit's one yr pictures and a few pictures of the boys and use it for the Christmas card. I thought I had everything laid out - their outfits, the chair, birthday cake, and I was finishing up a pair of socks for Emmit to wear in the Christmas photo in the car on the way down! We got to her house and realized we forgot the shirts for the Christmas photo. I was crushed! Here we paid a bit more to go this route thinking we were getting a few things taken care of at one time only to be let down. I had their outfits planned since Oct. when my parents came and had been knitting like mad to accessorize their outfits! Adam felt bad because he was in charge of ironing them and left them upstairs rather than bringing them down by the door so we wouldn't forget them. I couldn't feel too bad because we didn't pay full price for our sitting fee because I knitted her a hat and was paid for it! Yep, my first knit for profit item (well, deducted from what we owed her). Anyways, Adam was a trooper and helped me do a photo shoot when we got home (although we will try it one more time tomorrow because Emmit was bleeding on his face for some reason).  Here is a sneak peak of a few of the photos taken:

None of the pictures of the boys together seemed to turn out. Either they were looking in opposite directions or Gerrit had a stupid look on his face! (this is why we are trying the Christmas card shoot one more time as I was hoping maybe one of the pics Traci took would turn out) We lucked out at least in that the outfits the boys were wearing somewhat coordinated but seeing none of them really turned out, no big deal... I will post the rest of the pictures on Shutterfly in the next few days for those family members who wish to order Emmit's one year pictures.

Snow Plowin' Minnesota Style

We had our first snowstorm of the season this weekend. We were predicted to get between 4-8" but got about 11" in 12 hours. It was beautiful! The commute home wasn't too bad, we even ventured out to Paul's 8th grade bball game in Mezzep. before dinner. 

Here's the Trailblazer showing how much snow we got:

 

 Gerrit was very excited to help dad shovel - although Adam thought Gerrit was putting more snow back on the driveway and sidewalk than removing it!

 And to most people, the above photo is what snow blowing is all about.

Check out what snow blowing in MN is really like:

 Yes, that is a tractor, in reverse with a huge snow blower on the back of it throwing snow into a dump truck! There was so much snow (and when it snows in MN, it will stick around for a long time - unlike in MI when it will melt tomorrow) that they have to literally move it to a different location. There is not enough space to just use plows and make huge piles (at least in Z-town there isn't much space). So they use an empty lot on the outskirts of town and dump the truck loads of snow throughout the season.

Gerrit had been asking since August to try out the snowshoes that he saw in the garage. So I put them on him and set him in the deep snow. He couldn't quite figure out how to walk with them so I had to rescue him a few times as he tried to walk around the yard. Guess I'll have to strap mine on and give him a lesson!

Gerrit played outside a few times this weekend but now it is bitterly cold so he'll have to look at the snow from inside the house for the next few days!

Jingle Cross Rocks 2010!

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Iowa over Thanksgiving weekend:

 Paul and Adam raced both Sat and Sunday. Paul's races were cold as they were first thing in the morning and Adam's were muddy as it was warming up by midday. Paul placed 2nd both days in his age group and Adam finished middle of the pact. They were both happy with their results. They loved the fly over - a man-made bridge (just like in Europe!). Gerrit loved the hot pool as you can see by him w/ his floaty in the bubbles. Any time Gerrit can hang out with Luker is a good time - from riding on the luggage cart, to swimming, to hanging out on Mt. Crumpet. Emmit kept toasty warm thanks to cousin Max's hand me downs. Luckily he is an easy napper and took his naps quite well in the stroller.

Gerrit was excited because he was able to race one last time for the season. He fell asleep during Adam's race so we woke him up to see if he still wanted to race in the kids' race, and of course he did!

 

Until he saw this:

 

Then Adam spent 5 min. trying to convince him that the Grinch wasn't going to get him, he was racing too!

 He wasn't sold on it and wanted nothing to do with the race, so Luker raced w/o him:

 

At the end of the kids' race, each racer was given a toy from the Grinch: a build a bear! Paul took Gerrit back to the finish line to get his Husky and Luke took a Christmas moose and gave it to Emmit.  Gerrit soon forgot about the race and was too excited to play with his new dog!

Adam had the boys pose with Ryan Tribon - the #2 cyclocross racer in the nation:

It was a busy weekend and thankfully the weather was decent and Dahlen's were there to help with the boys (and Dave took the pictures). I remember the days of going to the races and knitting between races - not these days! There is already plans being made for next year's Jingle Cross as well as nationals - being held in Mad. WI - in JANUARY! Yikes!

Thanksgiving 2010

Uncle Travis joined us for Thanksgiving this year; it was nice to have real family (not just Team Beat). Everyone is all smiles as we are about to feast on a pretty good dinner, I must admit. I made my brother's Jewish turkey (lots of garlic and juicy), Martha Stewart's green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, and cornbread stuffing (which was my favorite and I usually don't like stuffing!). A little bread and cranberries topped off the dinner with pumpkin pie waiting for us later in the day.

Gerrit insisted on eating macaroni instead of turkey!

 Emmit loved the turkey the best with mashed potatoes coming in a close second (until he tried the pumpkin pie).

 Emmit was sporting his tie bib from Uncle Nick and Shorty

Following lunch and a little break to watch the Lions lose, Gerrit helped me decorate the tree. He helped put up a few ornaments until he'd find cool ornaments he wanted to play with as toys and took them off the tree. 

We ended our holiday by visiting Langley's for coffee and more pie (Adam had pecan pie which he knows I will never make, and I had apple which I would make, but we didn't need more than 1 pie for our little gathering this year).

The Tradition Continues

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to cut the Christmas tree. Many people call us crazy for cutting it down ourselves and even more crazy when they hear we go to Menomonie WI to do it! But we love this tree farm - hassle free (except for the drive).

We set off just after lunch with the hopes of beating the rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow - you know, the WINTERY MIX they were talking about all week. Well, just as we were leaving the rain started but that did not stop us! When we arrived at the farm, it was snowing pretty good which added to the atmosphere.

It took longer to get the kids bundled up and on the wagon than it did picking out our tree. Yes, we think we did it in record time, which was by chance. The first tree we saw we loved so we decided it wasn't worth looking around more.

Gerrit wanted to be held the whole time which was just the opposite last year - he ran all over the place and hid from us. Emmit just took it al in - he couldn't really move he was bundled up so much but was a trooper. We even dragged Uncle Travis along this year which was fun for us to have company. Gerrit loved the tractor ride and free popcorn. A quick stop for dinner in Red Wing and we are home, safe and sound.

The tree is in the house, bundled up and trying off before we decorate it tomorrow!

Mystry Solved!

Emmit has been a bit under the weather this week. He has had a fever on and off and a runny noise that hasn't stopped running (although this afternoon it slowed way down). After naps you could take a chisel to his nose to get the gunk off it! We debated taking him in but decided not to because the fever wasn't bad and his spirits seemed improved. Then he'd have a cranky spell and we'd second guess going in! The joys of a sick kid who can't voice what he's feeling. 

Tonight at dinner, with the help of Adam I was able to take a look in Emmit's mouth - 2 more teeth! 

That solves the mystery of him being off - he was working hard at getting those teeth to break through! Now he has 4 on top and 4 on bottom. Here's hoping for a better few days as we prepare to head out of town for the last bike race of the season.

Becoming Pros

We really don't want to say we are becoming pros at dealing with Croup but it seems that way this year! Emmit has it now, his second time since Aug.

I had a bad feeling last night when I returned from book club and he was coughing; he didn't cough at all before I left. I didn't sleep well due to waking up every time he coughed. It seemed to sound more and more like a barking seal as the night went on yet it didn't bother him. At one point Adam and I were discussing the plan of action for the day assuming it was going to get worse. I said I could stay home today so I was the one in charge of dealing with him as the night progressed. Sure enough, around 3am, he woke up coughing and crying because he couldn't breathe. So, I bundled up and with the help of Adam, got Emmit bundled up too. And at this time, Gerrit was up and insisted on coming down stairs with the rest of us. So off Emmit and I went at 3am for a nice walk in the neighborhood. I tried to sit down with him but he wanted to move. He was so cute smiling at me all bundled up and he enjoyed looking at the stars and breathing in the cool air. Following our walk, I tried putting him back in his crib and to my surprise, he fell right back to sleep! Yes, I could sleep too. At one point, I had Adam check on him because we hadn't heard him cough in a while - the cool air got us through till morning.
When the alarm went off, I took care of my sub sending emails etc. and while I fed Emmit, Adam called Aunt Erika to find out how much medicine to give Emmit. We saved the medicine from when Gerrit had it (they would use the same stuff, just different dose). So, now Emmit has his steroids and is doing better. He is very clinging and moody today (side effect of the steroid) but sounds much better. I was hoping to get more laundry done, but will do what I can while dealing with Emmit.  He should be back to normal and we are hoping that this is the end for both boys otherwise we have to look into why they are getting it 'frequently'.

{Gerrit had a nice conversation with Adam at 3am remembering when he had croup and how he went for a walk with Dad and how he didn't like the medicine John gave him - it was too spicy. (It was a pill we smashed up and put it with apple sauce.)  Bummed I missed out on the 3am conversation they had.}