Christmas part 2

I may just finish talking about the Holiday's in time for the weather to warm up above -cold degrees.

So, there we were stuck at Grandmas (who didn't get run over by a reindeer but did hear the song sung to her for the first time by Tony)

I mentioned that we got out a lot, but so did others. My Aunt Jane was so stir crazy she was willing to shovel in her nightgown most days. Then a huge fight broke out between Tony and Jane when Tony stole the shovel and took over duties. She was not about to loose the one thing that got her out of the house each day. They fought, wrestled and eventually compromised. Tony got to shovel on the top of the hour, Jane on each 1/2.


Ok, none of that happened, but they did seem to duke it out a little to shovel.

I took a walk with mom one day. We waved to a passing truck on the country road. He being the typical nice farmer dude (and very good looking I might add) stopped his truck to see if we were stuck in the ditch. Although we appeared a little lost, we were also just trying to be friendly. Next time we'll act as if we are going somewhere.



We spent the rest of our days napping a lot, playing way too many hands of canasta (in which I highly recommend sitting next to those who don't know the game and throw you killer cards!) and eating a lot of turkey with a side of lefse.

Christmas eve I made my famous Caramel rolls that we baked fresh for Christmas morning. I also talked my mom and Ryan and Patrick into attending church with me. Benson church is always the same. Same candles, same hymns, same people sitting in "their" pews, and a dose of everything looking much smaller than you remember since you were small when you remember it.

We returned to a fabulous meal of turkey and all the fixings along with presents afterward.

Christmas morning brought us stockings from Santa, more presents and another day of naps and cards.

We didn't actually get out until Saturday, the day after Christmas in which we braved 35mph traffic for 4 hours with a toddler who didn't nap, but that is for part 3!

Christmas part 1

I'm not sure how many parts there will be, but enough to tell the tale of our travels this Holiday.

The storm of the year was predicted to hit on Dec. 23. This was the same day we were scheduled to leave town. Well we certainly didn't want to deal with bad roads and a toddler and night driving, so decided to take off a day early. We also decided to cut out one of our stops and go directly to the action. Grandma's house.

We snuck in about midnight and Patrick slept all night, which was just wonderful! The next day we woke up to snow and soon after Nana, GB and Uncle Tony arrived to join us in the fun.

In order to keep our sanity we ventured out a little each day to play.


The snow really was beautiful. Patrick enjoyed the farm, the snow and the barn kitties.

Look out below!

We enjoyed an early Christmas party with family this past weekend. The highlight was our little tubing party. I love having a fun hill so close to our house.







Ready, set.

go!

Patrick missed out on all the fun. Next year!

*Don't forget that at the very bottom of my blog are my flickr photos. There are usually more there than I post.

A Sledding Party!

Saturday morning I invited some friends over for a sledding party.

Addie and Patrick enjoyed eating the snow. We helped them learn the difference between yellow and white!

Danny and James came over from down the street.

The parents got the real workout getting the kids up and down the hill.

After sledding the kids made us some hot cocoa in Patrick's new kitchen. Ok, not really but they did enjoy some hot cocoa!

oranges and bbq?

Apparently that is all this baby wants. I can't get enough of either!

Gaining the freedom of choice

My boy made his first decision this morning. Ok, at least the first that he could verbalize. I started getting a bowl out for cereal and asked him if he would like cereal this morning. His dad came up and said, "unless you would like a waffle". Patrick nodded his head and said "wapple" So a waffle he got. So fun to see him making simple choices and verbalizing so we know what the heck he is trying to tell us!

10 weeks

So, I thought I would try to post some belly updates this time around with my head. I am already regretting this decision though, because who really likes pictures of themselves? While pregnant? At night before bed? oh well, I really couldn't tell what I looked like last time with just a belly to compare, so here I am in all my glory.


Here is a close comparison to Patrick at a similar time. Not even close! They say you show quicker with the second, but really? Oh well, I should be able to skip past the "she looks fat lately" stage and hop right over to "oh, you are big, are you due soon?"

With the exception of Monday, I've had a good week and had more energy, let's hope it keeps up!