Nate's First Bagged Lunch...

Nate had a full day of school last week for a "field trip" to the local Performing Arts Center for some dance show. I felt so PROUD of our little guy when I saw the bagged lunch that April put together for him. It brought back many memories of my own "bagged lunch" days, of trading this food for that, of drink leakage and soggie bag bottoms, and PB&J sandwiches smashed by an apple. The good 'ole days! Nate has lots of these to look forward to, but now he'll probably get a lunch BOX and save thousands of those brown paper bags. Enjoy Nate!

Seven candles?

Last week we had a small birthday celebration, just the four of us. April knows I prefer small celebrations. She made my favorite cake- chocolate applesauce cake- and she put in seven candles... I must be getting younger! Or easily out of breath. Or, since I turned 34 (yikes!), maybe the thought process was 3+4=7. I don't know... but the cake was good, and Elin couldn't get enough!

A difficult post to write

I kept putting off writing this post and I wanted to do it, not Jason. So here goes nothing. The Sunday after Christmas my grandfather, "Poppo" as we call him, went home to heaven. He had a stroke, held on so we could all say our goodbyes, and then he moved on to bigger and better things.

I have been so lucky to know my grandparents well and have them be here for so much of my life. My Popppo was larger than life. When he walked in a room you always knew it. He had a marvelous sense of humor and could always make people laugh. He made friends everywhere he went. Poppo could spend hours talking to anyone. He was always generous and much much more. I think the thing I remember about Poppo was how he had such a big heart. I watched him as a young girl serving on the board and eventually being president of the nursing home in which my great-grandma lived. The hours he must have put in to help people who could not always care for themselves always left an impression on me.

My favorite Poppo story relates to this. My apologies for my paraphrasing. Once my great -grandma was not pleased with something or another at the nursing home. She was done with it all and wanted to end it by jumping out of her second-floor window. If I remember properly, Poppo wheeled Grandma up four floors and said if your going to jump at least do it from where it will make a difference. There was a nurse listening in the hallway and she was appalled and thought Poppo was the worst son in the world until she heard Grandma Dick start laughing. That was Poppo.

I have a Christmas cactus that is a shoot from my Grandma Dick's plant. I have had it for years. Each year it gets one or two blooms, tops three. I have never gotten it to bloom fully. This year it has over 25 blooms all starting now. Perhaps it's a coincidence, but I like to think of it as a bit of a memorial to a son coming home. Good-bye Poppo, you will be missed terribly. Until we meet again . . . .

Chicago Christmas Trip

We had an interesting trip to Chicago for the usual Christmas festivities! As you may know from a previous post, our family all had the stomach flu over Christmas. Well, we thought we were over it when we went down to Chicago... wrong! Boy did we spread the love... it would be easier to list those who did not get hit than those who did. So, to all those who were recipients of our new family Christmas tradition... we truly apologize and hope you forgive us!

Somehow we were still able to fit in some good times during the trip. We spent a lot of time around my parent's house playing; we ran outside with the dogs and hiked in the woods; we spent a day for "Christmas time" with my parents and sister's family; we visited April's family while her brother, sisters and Grandpa were in town; April and I spent time with some good friends- Kerry, Dave, Travis and Britt- it was great to see you all!; and we took a train ride into Chicago and visited the Hershey Store and Navy Pier. Considering the circumstances, we got quite a bit in. Happy Holidays, family... we love you and hope you are feeling better!

Feeding the Ducks on the Fox River

They love cheerios!

This guy became my friend... apparently no fear at all.

Here we all are... freezing our tushies off!


My Mom had to squish in between the two car seats... not an easy task in our Ford Escape.

Our New Christmas Tradition

We are starting a new tradition in our home... stomach flu at Christmas time. Two years ago, April and I began the tradition while visiting our families in Chicago. We had such a wonderful time, we thought we'd make a tradition of it. This year on Christmas Eve we all came down with the stomach flu at the same time... like clockwork. While I was changing kid's bedsheets at home, April ended up going to the ER at 2:30 a.m. for some meds and IV fluids. I felt so bad that she had to driver herself there.

Somehow we made it through the night. Neither April or I slept at all, but the worst part for me was that I was headed to a 24-hour ER shift that morning. So when I got to the ER, the nurses were kind enough to hook me up for IV fluids and Zofran (anti-nausea). It was enough to get me through the day, but some patients were wondering why I was working with an IV in my arm.

So I am happy to report that we have left it all behind us... for now... but I'm really looking forward to next year for another round!

Our Early Christmas

Because I had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus was kind enough to come to our home a couple days early. On our "Eve" we put our cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer, which were all chomped up in the snow. Then on Christmas morning we all had hot chocolate and sat by our tree to open gifts. Nate and Elin had a blast and Nate was very grateful to Santa and to his Mom and Dad for his gifts. I think his favorite is his new art easel from Grandma Jan and Grandpa Zan.

Figuring out how things work.

Nate has found a renewed interest in Legos.

Tower building.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round."

New warm slippers!

April's stocking full of goodies.

Nate had to dig out a treasure chest, this didn't last very long.

More cans than you can count.

Picasso hard at work.

Kid's Pics

We have a local friend who took some Christmas pictures in our home, and here are a few of them. Now, I don't know how everyone else fares with their young ones during pictures, but I've learned that I still have a lot to learn about "patience". I definitely prefer spontaneous pictures.

"Daddy... you didn't see me do that, right?"

"Who said he could kiss me?!!"

"Mom! Quick... I have a surprise for you!"

My two girls.

"I know I can get whatever I want with this face..."

Christmas Decorations...

April and I both love Christmas decor... almost as much as fall decor. Here is our family room. Our stockings were hand-knit by April's Mom, Janet, and we've had the same tree since we first got married... a Target special!

And here is the exterior decor... very festive at night with the lights on!

Elin in her winter hat and gloves... she loves her hat and gloves, and she'll let us hear it if we try to take them off.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

The real snow has arrived! We've had 3 snow-storms now, but the last one was a real snow-storm. I shoveled about a foot of snow off the drive, and the snow hill on our driveway is already above the mailbox. The worst part... the 2 feet of heavy snow that the city plow leaves at the bottom of the drive... I was having chest pains heaving that to the sides. Nate loves it, though. Here's a picture of him soaking in the rays on his lawn chair...

Construction at the Foreman's

Well, I won't quit my day-job, but I really enjoyed putting up the dry wall in our garage last week. For some reason, our builder only insulated and dry-walled half of our garage, so finally we got to the other half (a 20 degree difference in the winter). It doesn't take much thought and is good exercise. Our friend, Peter, assisted in the process... a good thing, too, since the 12 x 4 sheets were so heavy I would definitely get a hernia lifting them alone. It turned out well, and now our cars will actually turn over when we start them.

Apple Juice Anyone?

Nathaniel has been coming up with a lot of interesting questions lately. For example, a couple days ago I got a succession of questions including "Dad, does space go for infinity?", and "Where does all the water in the world come from?" Then an easier question came, "Dad, how do we make apple juice?" (He'd recently learned how to squeeze oranges for orange juice). I explained that there a large machines that press the juice out of the apples. But he believed we could also suck out the juice with a straw, so I suggested we try it. He did, and it didn't work very well. So he ate the apple, and that was that. Now on to the other questions...

Nate's Gingerbread House

Over the Thanksgiving weekend Nate was given a gingerbread house kit from his Mama and Papa. Now, I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, there was no such thing as a pre-made kit. All we had were graham crackers, homemade frosting, red-hots and M&Ms, but it was enough. And we had fun, darn-it.

Anyway, it was the only thing we heard about until we finally busted it out the next day and put it together. Nathaniel was very particular about decorating it (where did he get this from?), and in the end it turned out great! Thanks Mama and Papa!

Yummy...

One of our traditional favorite weekend breakfasts is Swedish Pancakes. This is a specialty I first learned from a friend in college, but April grew up with it, also. Nathaniel is the biggest fan, now able to down 5 pancakes in one sitting. The only problem... as the cook, I don't get to sit at all as this is a high-maintenance breakfast.