Rock Climber

Not really rock climbing, but gate climbing is more like it! Gerrit can climb over his gate so we decided to raise it. (Its our way of keeping him in his room at the beginning of bed time.) We thought we were pretty creative in raising the gate...well that lasted a few days because Gerrit was more creative (or daring).

One night he climbed over the raised gate! He hurt himself doing it but made it and was proud to be on the other side of the gate. During nap time today, I raised it higher - well he went under! So much for that idea. So I put 2 gates up which didn't last long because I noticed the top gate laying on the floor when I went up to check on him! Luckily he gave up and didn't fight trying to get 'out'!

Multitasking

Facelift

Gerrit thought we needed a little pizzaz in the bathroom:

Thanks Aunt Cara and Uncle Bill!

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