Ornaments

Putting the ornaments on the tree was a bit of a challenge this year. All the soft and unbreakables are hanging low and all the fragile and 'ball' looking ornaments are high.

Gerrit tried putting this ornament on his head:

He took a liking to all the bicycle ornaments. He took this one and has been playing with it most of the afternoon.I had to have Adam take Gerrit downstairs so I could continue putting ornaments on because as soon as I put one on, Gerrit took one off! I was ready to leave the tree with just lights this year but knew how much I enjoyed putting on the ornaments I have collected over the years. I think putting the ornaments on is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

It could look better but with a 19 month old, I think it looks pretty good. He hasn't been near the tree since I finished it so we shall see how it looks after Gerrit checks it out again. (The pointy needles don't seem to bother him - nice idea Omah)

Oh Tannenbaum

Like my use of German? I still have it after all these years. No, actually I cringe at the thought of German class (sorry Joy), but thought it made a good title....

We went on our yearly afternoon excursion to get our Christmas tree on Wed. I didn't post pictures because I was waiting for the final product, here you go:

The hayride out to the trees:

Attempting a family photo:

Debating whether the tree is actually a white spruce (last year we cut a Fraiser Fur thinking it was a 'beautiful spruce' - it was in the spruce section):

One reason I liked this tree was all the pine cones it had! After they shook the tree, most of my pine cones were found here:
The final product:

An Early Homecoming

After a bit of a rocky night with Gerrit - he slept with us which is always a peaceful sleep - NOT!, we headed off to the races. Because Gerrit was up at 5 and didn't want to go back to sleep, he decided the car was a better place to continue his slumber. So he slept the 1st hr of the races which meant I stayed in the warm car and watched out the window. In the meantime Adam woke up to his stomach issues which wasn't fun. He tried to grin an bare it but couldn't. So, after starting his first lap he quit (he's never quit a race so he must've been feeling icky!). No, I didn't get him sick, its just a 'flare up' if you can call it that.

We headed back to the hotel and were on the road by 2 this afternoon instead of 2 tomorrow. Bummer we missed out on swimming and hanging with our friends as well as another day of races but it was for the best. Adam is sleeping peacefully on the coach and Gerrit is sleeping peacefully in his bed. :)

Gerrit did surprisingly well on the way home too seeing he was in his car seat for 7 hrs in a matter of 24 hrs! By the end we were getting desperate - but taking shoes and socks off and putting them back on is still fun for him so it worked. (Omah, thanks for the singing Rudolph - Gerrit knows how to turn him on and it kept him busy quite a long time and now we can sing Rudolph in our sleep, but it was worth it).

As much as we would've loved to have stayed, its always better to be at home when one feels ill. I can use tomorrow to get the rest of my Christmas decorations up - bonus day in my book!

Seeing last year I got sick at Jingle Cross and Adam got 'sick' this year, does that mean its Gerrit's turn next year? (Adam said we aren't going!)

Iowa Here WE Come!

I wasn't planning on joining Adam and Gerrit to Iowa due to my illness yesterday but I seemed to have kept the food that I was eating in long enough to feel it was safe to travel 4 hrs in a car. So, we are in Iowa City, along with 3 other families from Z-town. We had a rat race of a time finding the restaurant, which seemed to be out of business - why didn't either of the guys working at the gas stations I stopped at to ask for directions tell me this? Thank goodness for cell phones, we all made it and had a nice dinner.

I am currently sitting in the dark listening to Gerrit page thru his book as that seems to be a new nightly habit of his. We have limited it to a Curious George book because he tends to trash the pages. I think he finally put the book down and fell asleep. :) I can't complain, he took a 2 hr nap in the car - which was needed seeing he was up at 5 this am. (Snuggling with dad isn't quite the same as mom, I guess).

The weather tomorrow should be decent - in the 40s which will make being outside all day tolerable. We have 4 people racing in 3 different races plus the pros so it will be a long day. Hopefully Gerrit will make it and squeeze a nap in at some point too. Till tomorrow....

The FEAST Must Go On

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner today by having a few friends over. Everyone brought part of the meal so it wasn't totally on my shoulders. I did cook my first turkey ever but unfortunately wasn't able join the group in the feast. I got the flu this morning! I thought it was food poisoning because I felt fine, despite the vomiting so I continued preparing for lunch. I kept saying that the feast must go on and it did. I even did some cleaning once things were in the oven. But around noon (when guests were suppose to arrive) I felt the signs of the flu - tired, and just icky, so I passed the baton off to Adam and went to bed. Luckily all the food I touched, the bacteria was cooked off in the oven! Adam said it was a great meal; the turkey was moist and all the other fixings were yummy too. The only thing he messed up on was making the gravy (I probably would've too seeing I've never made it before either). So my Thanksgiving meal consisted of jello and saltines around 6 pm watching the Spartans lose big time to Maryland (that in itself made me sick again! - just kidding).

I did try a few bites of turkey and must admit it is pretty good. My brother had given me a turkey recipe 10 years ago and I've always wanted to try it but never had the chance. It called for a lot of garlic! I think I used a whole head of garlic - my kind of turkey! And another 1/2 a head in the mashed potatoes.

I felt bad leaving Adam to finishing the meal and deal with the clean up on top of watching Gerrit. He handled it all like a pro. Gerrit knew I was upstairs so while Adam was busy, he'd sneak up stairs and open my door real hard; I wasn't sleeping so it didn't startle me. I felt bad as he wanted me to play with him but I tried to stay away.

Tomorrow we are suppose to head to Iowa for Adam's last bike races of the season. We went last year and had a blast. One other family went last year, and we were able to convince 2 other families to join us this year! But, I think I will be staying behind. The idea of getting others sick or still being sick myself in a hotel doesn't excite us. I give Adam credit, he will be a single dad this weekend and I can lay low and get better. We shall see how I feel in the morning before we make our final decision. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Never a Dull Moment

I don't often write about school but as I sit here an knit, I am reminded of some things that happened this week (note: we only had 2 days of school this week) and felt like sharing them:

A 7th grader, during a volleyball game, said he "lost his mo-jo" when he lost his serve.

A 6th grader taped a sign that read "kick me" to her teacher's back! (I didn't think kids tried that trick anymore - especially on a teacher! bold move - made me laugh too)

A 5th grader tried to tell me (and the class) that you must win by 2 in basketball! Yikes, I've got my work cut out with this one! He did explain himself and say that is true in a basketball video game.

And people think I'm crazy for teaching middle school!

We've Entered A New Era

As much fun as Gerrit is becoming the older he gets, the more difficult he is also becoming. Tonight for example...he was into throwing things - especially items that are not suppose to be thrown like the coaster holder (solid wood). He threw it when his father had told him not to so he got a 'talking to' at least 4 times. He was in a time out of sorts (held tight by dad on dad's lap) and even I had to talk to him after he threw it again.

As Adam was giving Gerrit his 'talk', I looked on from a distance and saw Gerrit's eyes - looking everywhere but at Adam and showing Adam that he could care less about the lecture Adam was giving him in a stern voice. I wanted to laugh but of course didn't but it was very obvious Gerrit knew what he was doing and that he wasn't suppose to be throwing the coaster holder.

At one point, Adam was so frustrated/mad that he said I had to put Gerrit to bed - he was too upset with him! (Adam had agreed to put him to bed so I could continue knitting) Again, I wanted to laugh at how upset Adam was.

We both have come to the conclusion that we are entering the 'terrible twos' a bit early and we've heard from some friends that the threes are worse! Man, its going to be a couple of long years! :)