Update

I've been slacking, I know. I keep thinking I'll download a few pictures but the camera is never near me when I think of it and I'm too lazy to get up and get it. So here I sit, once again without my camera to download the pictures. Oh well, I've got some time so I'll update you on the latest.

Gerrit loves the 'Kissmas tree' and lights (that is how it sounds when he says Christmas). He turns them on in the house and will point out other homes that have lights. For a while there he liked to look at my nativity set by Carol Roeda. He likes looking at baby Jesus. Hopefully he'll get the whole idea of celebrating baby Jesus' birthday as the season progresses. He likes the big blow up Santa that is across the street from daycare and thinks Santa is sleeping when he's not inflated. He made a cute little paper Santa Christmas countdown on Dec. 1 and each day he glues another cotton ball on Santa's beard. I don't think he understands what happens when the beard is full, but he knows he gets to do it every day. Also, the advent box we have as a family is a big deal for him. He knows that after dinner he gets to open another door. Its been a nice way to get him to eat a bit more at dinner too! (He's not a huge dinner fan - more into breakfast.) I have a little tree in his room that has to be lit before he can go to bed as well. Its mostly decorated with sports ornaments which he enjoys looking at and pointing out the various balls/sports. I've enjoyed watching some of the Christmas specials with him too. I don't recall ever seeing the 1970s Santa is Coming to Town special that was on last night so that was fun for me too.

I currently am in the cities at my friend Sue's. We are getting hit with a blizzard in Z-town so I stayed here for fear I wouldn't be able to make the drive in the morning. I have a dr. apt tomorrow afternoon anyways, so even if we get cancelled (here's hoping), I would still need to get up here for the apt. So Adam and Gerrit are bachin' it tonight. I was able to take care of a few Christmas errands and then met up with Sue for dinner. Now we are just hanging out and watching all the school closings. I'm sure Z-town won't have school and can only hope it continues north to call off some schools in the metro. Adam took work home so he doesn't have to do the drive as Rochester is also under a blizzard warning. He can take care of the walks in the 'theater district' as a neighbor calls our houses. Basically, Adam will be doing our driveway as well as our side walk (which is a corner) and the walk of the 2 houses next to us - he can try out the 'new' snow blower we inherited from my parents. We now have 2 snow blowers so the neighbors think he can do all the work!

I'm feeling ok. The baby seems to be sitting on my bladder so I frequent the bathroom or at least have the sensation to go! I'm progressing fine and no signs one way or the other if I'll be going early. Adam has a big meeting on the 7th and a bball game on the 9th so he'd prefer not on those days! I would like a few days of my winter break before the kid comes if I have my way. I head back tomorrow to the dr. as I'm on the every week appointment schedule now.

I'm looking forward to watching Gerrit play in the snow - assuming the temps aren't too low!

Christmas Spirit

The tree is up and decorated as is the rest of the house. Gerrit finds the ornaments fascinating and wants to touch all of them. It took me a bit longer to get the ornaments on this year as I had to strategically put the soft ones near the bottom and make sure all the balls and bicycles were out of his reach! I first tried to decorate the tree with him around and soon found that it wasn't going to work. He broke one ornament and found another one that looked like a ball and thought it was fun to throw it at the tree! So I waited until nap time to finish!

When we came home yesterday, I was busy getting dinner ready and hadn't had a chance to turn the Christmas lights on in the house. Adam was home and I thought he had plugged in the Christmas tree and thought to myself - wow, he's in the Christmas spirit this year. Normally I am the one that is in charge of turning the lights on. This morning the tree was lit again. I thought, wow, Adam must really be in the spirit if he's going to take the time to light the tree in the morning (we are not awake and home long in the mornings to enjoy it).

I finally asked him if he plugged the tree in and I wanted to say how impressed I was that he was doing it lately. He said no. He unplugged them last night and that was it. We both started laughing....our little Christmas spirit is Gerrit! He figured out how to plug the lights in - we witnessed it finally when Adam unplugged the tree and Gerrit didn't like it. Here's hoping the kid doesn't electrocute himself before January!

PS - I have pictures of the tree but didn't download them yet to the computer. I thought I'd try writing this post a minute at school and it worked! (I've never been able to do it at work for some reason... probably b/c its personal and not school related???) Maybe tonight.

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!