You might be a Minnesotan if......

You bundle up your 5 year old and 2 year old, put them in the double stroller, and walk a mile each way to the neighborhood grocery store when the temperature hits a balmy 15 degrees just because you need to get out of the house!!! Yes, you're indeed a true Minnesotan if you've done that.

Happy Birthday, Jeff!!!

My dear husband turns 35 today. So to celebrate his birthday I have written a list of 35 things I love about him.

I love....

1. The way you make me laugh
2. The way you play with our kids
3. the way you can get tangles out of Abby’s hair better than I can
4. watching that strong bond become stronger between you & Noah
5. looking in your eyes
6. going on dates with you
7. just sitting on the couch chatting
8. cuddling up to watch a scary movie
9. falling asleep in your arms
10. the way you reminisce with me every year on our anniversary – even if you don’t want to
11. hearing you say "I love you"
12. the fact you never hold any "I love yous" back
13. the way you can say "I’m sorry" – even to the kids
14. your hugs – no one can hug me like you do
15. how the kids jump up and down and yell "DADDDDYYYYY!" when you come home from work
16. your competitiveness equals mine
17. the way you do "Mystery Science Theater" with dumb movies
18. the way you love me for who I AM
19. the way you call me "sexy" no matter what my weight is
20. how you thought of me on our 1st Valentine’s Day as a married couple by getting me my favorite candy bar (Peanut Butter Twix) on the way home from class -- it might not have been a huge present but it meant the world to me because you thought about me.
21. the way you make ramen noodles and cream of wheat a lot better than I do
22. How fired up you get listening to talk radio
23. You got your hair colored once
24. You’ll try anything once
25. Worshipping at church with you
26. You listen to Hannah Montanna & The Cheetah Girls in the van
27. Watching you put the kids to bed at night
28. The way you loved me through post-partum depression
29. Your perseverance
30. How excited you have been everytime I’ve told you I was pregnant – don’t worry I have nothing to tell you. :)
31. The way you and your dad quote movies and laugh hysterically
32. Your laugh
33. That you planned our "surprise honeymoon"
34. The way you wave as you drive away
35. That you make everyday better for me because you’re in my life!

I love you so much, hon! I hope you have a very happy birthday. MWAH!

A picture is worth a 1000 words

This was the sweetest sight to see after baths tonight. Noah (8 years 0ld) reading a book to Joey (5 years old) that he picked out. No fighting, no arguing.....just love.

Now THIS is cold!

This is what we woke up to this morning. This is the REGULAR temperature. The windchills are in the -40s.....and they didn't even delay or cancel school in our district. Global warming????? Hmmmmm.......

2 years ago -- January 11, 2007

My precious little Eli,

How quickly the past 2 years have gone. But I remember the day like it was yesterday.

Daddy & I knew you were a miracle from the moment we found out we were expecting you. I started bleeding very early on and had some blood work done. My midwife called on a Saturday morning and told me to get to the pharmacy and pick up my progesterone prescription and start it immediately. She said she'd talk to me more about it the following week but it was very important that I start on it right away. I did, of course. When we met together the following week she told me about my blood work. When a woman miscarries her progesterone level is usually at the lowest 11 and mine was at 5! She was shocked that I hadn't miscarried and said that you were really meant to be! I agreed and thanked Jesus right away for keeping you with us.

Fast forward 9 months....I had a routine doctor appointment that morning and I didn't expect too much to happen since it was still 2 weeks before you were due. Much to my surprise, and the doctor's, my blood pressure had gone up in 1 week and I was retaining water enough to cause them to worry. I was beginning to dialate so my doctor went ahead and called the hospital. They had a few open beds and told me to come on down!

I went home and woke Daddy up. He had worked almost all night so he was catching up on some sleep. I told him that you were coming today and he just about flew out of bed. While Daddy was getting ready, I called Gramma Theda and asked if Noah, Abby, & Joey could spend the night because we were heading to the hospital. Of course she said "yes" and asked if we could stop by the tell your brothers and sister.

When we got to Gramma's house, your siblings were THRILLED you were about to be born. Noah wanted to come to the hospital with us but we told him that he could meet you first thing in the morning.

We got to the hospital and filled out lots and lots of paperwork. After about 5 hours of waiting, the doctor came in and broke my water. It was 5:00 pm and I was only 3 cm at that point. Things went fast and furious from that point on. I got very frustrated during labor with the blood pressure cuff that they insisted I keep on my arm and with the monitors they kept re-positioning to keep tabs on your heartrate. At 7:38 pm I told the nurse and Daddy that I had to push. At 7:39 pm I started pushing and at 7:40 pm you were born. Pretty good!

You were a beautiful sight! You cried briefly and then settled into my arms. Our eyes met and I fell in love with you.

Today you are running, climbing, saying a few words but communicating with us in your own way, playing with cars, building with Legos, coloring with crayons, dancing, pretending to be a t-rex, playing with your siblings, and laughing a lot! I cannot imagine our lives without you. You are definitely a miracle and God's precious and amazing gift to us.

I love you, my sweet boy!

Cheetah Girls concert -- December 2008

For Abby's 7th birthday, she got a ticket to go to the Cheetah Girls concert from our neighbors. She was SO excited about it! And as a special bonus, I got a ticket too! So she and I went with our neighbor, Betsy, & her 2 daughters Emma & Hannah to the concert. It was the first concert for all 3 of the girls so everything was brand new to them.

A young group of 3 girls opened for the Cheetah Girls. They called themselves the "Clique Girls". They were pretty good for being 12, 14, and 14! They had sparkly shoes, belts, microphone stands, and stools. That's what really stood out to the girls.

Then the Cheetah Girls came out. There was constant screaming and pandemonium. But it was such an awesome time Abby & I had as mom and daughter.

Joey & Eli at a play area

Joey & Eli have developed a very close relationship while Noah & Abby have been in school full days. They love to play together and especially when they can go to a play area. Here are a few pictures of them right before Christmas. Ah, the bond of brothers!

Abby & Eli

I caught a couple pictures of Abby & Eli playing in the snow. Abby is so good with Eli and Eli reacts to her as his 2nd Mommy. You can really see a special bond between those 2 -- especially since they still share a room. Abby is the one who gets him out of his crib in the morning and on weekends will race me to the bedroom when we hear him wake up from his nap! She loves helping take care of him.

Catching up!!!

I have not been doing well posting pictures on this blog!!! I am sorry about that! My camera was missing for a couple weeks because Eli got ahold of it -- my little climber!! -- and hid it somewhere. We couldn't find it anywhere! One morning, it appeared, of all places, in the middle of the kitchen FLOOR! I laughed out loud all by myself in the kitchen. I still don't know where he had it hiding.

I'll start with the latest adventure for Noah, Abby, & Joey: ice skating lessons!!! For having never been on the ice before, they did great! First of all they were in the wrong class. Who knew that "beginning skating 1" wasn't the first class. But they stuck it out and were determined to stay on their feet. We found out that the very beginning class ("snowplow") was meeting 40 minutes after the class they were in finished. We asked the kids if they wanted to stay and go through another class or if they wanted to just start it next week. They had a unanimous "STAY!!!" Their determination was amazing.

The 1st picture is Abby, the 2nd is Noah, the 3rd is Joey, the 4th is Joey falling -- they ALL fell quite often but I only got a picture of Joey, and the 4th is all 3 of them. It was a fun morning.