Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

We finally have experienced what we thought would be a typical Minnesota winter. We have more snow than we know what to do with! And we are expected to get a bit more over night! It's getting dangerous because you can barely see around corners there is so much snow. Here are a few pictures of the house and the amount of snow:

The pictures of Gerrit have a bit of a story behind them: (the one of him laying down was taken one night when he helped Adam shovel - they made snow angles in the front yard and he was showing me how to make a snow angle in the driveway.)

One day after daycare he asked to shovel. I said that was fine but I would have to be inside watching because of Emmit. Next thing I know, the shovel is on the ground and Gerrit is stuck in the front lawn! He picked up where he left off with Adam - making snow angles. He didn't have his snow pants on because I thought he was going to stay in the driveway! I had to go out and help him get up because the snow was soo deep. When he finally came in, he was covered in snow - hence the 2 pictures of his clothing and the one of him by the swing.

A Glimps At Michigan

Gerrit and Emmit on the airplane. I didn't have a lot of time so this is the best I could do:

Ella in her glory with Emmit. She did very well with him:

Gerrit and Mia are two peas in a pod. You'd never know they don't see each other very often. They play so well together. One of the days Mia came to my parents' condo and played with Gerrit. Notice the jammie picture, they all have the same print. We tried to get a pictuer of all the cousin's together and this was the best one that I got (my brother took some too - hoping he got a better one!)

Emmit being passed around the family, getting to meet everyone. Aunt Erika reminded us of the pinky finger as a soothing technique (seeing he doesn't like the pacifier, yet). She was a big help in giving us tips to help calm his tummy (and meds!). The family as we opened presents at my brother's cottage; they left the tree up so it could feel a bit more like Christmas even though it was the end of January. A great shot of Gerrit outside, compliments of Aunt Erika. Finally a shot of Opa and Emmit - must've been a day when Mia was around to distract Gerrit!

A visit by Grandpa Bob and Geri was nice to get in despite their busy schedule. Of course, the 3 generation photo. Visiting with Grandma Marcy and GG (great-grandma) before we headed out of state. Gerrit loved to look for the cat too. He finally warmed up to sit by him and pet him.

It was great to introduce Emmit to the family and see a few friends as well as shop a few local places too. Relaxing was squeezed in as well as a ski trip for Adam. We are home again and getting back into our routine (shoveling snow these days!). We look forward to seeing some of the family Palm Sunday weekend for baptism. Until then, the blog will have to do! Thanks for a great week!

Photos By Bill

My soon to be brother in law (Jan 2, 2011) took some pictures when we were at my bother's cottage Sat/Sun for my family's Christmas celebration. Here are a few favorites of our family:

I have more pictures to post from these 2 days, but I'm using my Mom's computer and don't have them downloaded yet. Before we opened presents, we were able to play outside on the lake. My brother's family loves hockey so of course, a bit of skating and shooting was involved. We didn't take skates due to flying, but Gerrit and Adam still enjoyed themselves (and saved their ego as they don't skate quite as well as our 3 yr old niece!).

Name That Tune

"Twinkle, twinkle, star...
who you are"*

*Gerrit's version

Sledding

A few weeks ago Adam, Gerrit, Luke, Paul, Anne, and Abby went sledding at the golf course. I went to take pictures. This was Gerrit's first time really sledding. (He has been pulled around our yard but nothing with a serious hill.) He loved it! We first had to switch to the next size up in winter gear before heading out. Sad to see Max's snow pants too small but thankful that Luke's fit now!

Top left: Gerrit gets the best end of the deal, not having to walk back up the hill!

Top middle: Gerrit enjoying the toboggan, refusing to look at the camera, of course

Top left: side angle of the sled (compliments of Rockne's)

Bottom left: Adam and Gerrit on our sled

Bottom middle: Another great thing about being small, you can get a ride up the hill too.

Bottom right: my attempt to get a picture of the boys on the sled together. (Anne and Abby stuck together as they didn't want to go down the jumps like the boys.)

Gerrit had a blast and talks about sledding again soon. We here Oma and Opa have a nice hill outside the condo that Gerrit and Adam will have to check out next week.

The Family

I never thought I'd dress my kids in the same clothes (I grew up with having similar outfits as my sisters), but I couldn't pass up matching jammies. Gerrit loved the fact that they matched so maybe they will have matching or coordinating outfits from time to time...

You can tell that the picture of me and the boys was taken when Emmit was about a week old as he still had his 'tan'. The picture of Adam and the boys was taken this week and Emmit's color is much better! Gerrit is a pistol these days when it comes to looking at the camera for a photo!

Oma and Opa

I realized it has been a while since I last wrote and posted pictures...and tomorrow we are off for MI so I thought I'd take a quick minute to post a few pictures. We had a great time with Oma and Opa. They let me sleep often and took care of the kids as much as possible, plus cleaned part of the house and ran errands. I think they should've stayed another week (I could get a lot more done then!) Here they are doing what they did most of the time they were here:

Oma held Emmit as much as she could...

Opa wasn't allowed to hold Emmit - Gerrit insisted he play with him! They played bouncy ball, baseball, basketball, Noah's ark, and some sort of combat/army (top photo). Gerrit came home from Luke/Paul's house with the GI Joe helmet (my brother had one growing up too). I laugh every time he puts that thing on as it reminds me of my childhood. He uses it more for his batting helmet and football helmet than combat which I laugh at too.

We are excited to be going to MI to have Emmit meet the rest of his family.