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.}

No Choir for this Kid

Today the Sunday School kids sang at the second service. This threw off our typical Sunday schedule as the second service is during nap time, but we all adjusted so we could see Gerrit make his first debute. We debated taking the video camera so you could see the big debute too but we knew better....

Gerrit did not want to go up front and only went because Luke was up there. Luke had to hold him (luckily it was 1 song) and Gerrit did not sing. He made Luke laugh because he kept asking where Dave was. 

I should back up and tell you all that before church, Gerrit threw a tantrum because we forced a sweater on him (Adam said he was acting as if we put a straight jacket on him!). So we changed his shirt, then he refused to wear shoes and a coat but we got that on him before he realized it as Anne was picking him up for Sunday School. I'm assuming Sunday School went well - he had blue hands which ended up on his face b/c he would wipe his eyes after crying during rehersal! He took his shoes off during the service (which we got back on just in time for singing), Adam spent 10 min. and 2 wet wipes trying to get the blue off his hands, and Emmit finally fell asleep 1/2 way thru the service (thankfully I didn't have to hold him too long as he is getting heavy!). Plus, it was packed but we got there early, knowing this would be the case! Uncle Travis showed up so he joined us at church. Luckily we have a few weeks before the Christmas program because he is going to need all the help he can get! 

(Or, I'll have to pay Luke to be by his side!)

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like....

Aunt Cara's wedding:

 and

Christmas!

Gerrit's suit came this week so we had him try it on. Looks like it will fit him fine, we will work on the smile next!

Saturday morning was pretty exciting for Gerrit (as well as dad). He loved the sight of snow and insisted in helping shovel (note: he is on the grass where most of the snow was). He was out with his jammies still on and I had to find his boots in the basement. Gerrit wanted to go snowshoeing since September and did not quite understand that there had to be more snow in order to do that. Luckily he forgot about it and now the snow is pretty much gone. 

Even though we didn't get any pictures of Adam racing, we did get a few of Paul. You can see Paul
in the middle of the picture trying to stay up. He was the 1st race of the morning and conditions didn't let up until later in the day! (He took 2nd in his age group and loved the race as much as Adam!)