Christmas 2022 (and a winter storm)

 Hello. I'm a little bummed because Christmas is officially over, Christmas music is off the radio, and I already miss the Christmas season. I don't know why, but I feel like Christmas just flew by this year, and I didn't even get everything accomplished that I wanted to. But, we did have a great Christmas, even though we had to adjust our plans. 

But, backing up a bit. The last time I wrote, it was the kids' Christmas program. They did a great job (like usual) and told us all the great Christmas story. It was great, and I was very proud of all the kids (but especially mine :) After the program, we took some great pictures, and then Jim, Barb, Katie, and the 4 of us went to Dynasty for supper. It was a delicious end to a great day. 

Last week flew by. I only had to work Monday through Wednesday, and then I was home with the kids, who had Thursday and Friday off from school. On Wednesday, all of us went Christmas caroling at Dow Rummel, and then we went to Janet's house afterwards for a Choir Christmas Party. It was pretty fun, and we all had a good time. 

On Thursday, we had a winter storm move in, so I was pretty happy to be able to stay home with the kids. We had snow, and then the winds blew around 45 mph, and we had some whiteout conditions and travel was not recommended across the state. We had some crazy weather, and people getting stuck out on the roads, and just some scary things. Travel was not recommended through Saturday morning, so the kids and I literally stayed in the house for 2 days. But, we had a good time. We crafted, watched some Christmas movies, played legos, played games, had reading time, and of course had some Ipad time. I also got some projects done, such as hanging a shower curtain, lots of laundry. defrosting our upright freezer, cleaning out our front closet and the Harry Potter closet, and a few other things. It felt good to get some things done. 

On Thursday evening, we opened gifts at home. The kids were super excited, and they made a good haul. They were totally spoiled, but they appreciated their gifts and spent a lot of time playing with them. They also bought John and I a couple gifts with their own money, and they were so excited to give them to us. They were so adorable. They were almost more excited to give us their gifts, then open their own, almost. 

Because of the weather, we flip-flopped our holiday plans. We were supposed to head to Minnesota on Friday, but we decided (actually mother nature did) to stay in town and go to Minnesota over New Year's weekend. So, on Saturday, which was Christmas Eve, we headed to Jim and Barb's house. We watched the Vikings play, and then we opened presents and had an appetizer lunch. After presents (which everyone got spoiled) and a last second Vikings win, we enjoyed just hanging out and visiting. We had an awesome nacho supper and then we headed to church at Grace Lutheran Church in Parker. It was a nice service, and we even lit candles during Silent Night at the end, and Elliott thought that was the greatest thing ever. 

On Sunday, John and I sang in the choir at church, and then we headed back to Jim and Barb's house for a ham dinner. The kids spent the night there from Christmas Eve, and had a great time. After dinner, John and Emma went ice fishing, while Elliott and I headed home. We all enjoyed our Christmas Day, and then ended it together at home with a Christmas movie. It was a nice Christmas. 

We all also had Monday off. We spent the day doing a little shopping and cleaning, and just spending the day together. In the evening, Jim and Barb came to pick up the kids who are spending the week on the farm. They are off school all this week, and John and I work, so they are out there for the whole week. We've been checking in with them, and it seems that they are having a great time. 

John and I are enjoyed some adult evenings, with errands, eating out, and just relaxing at home. I miss the kids, but it is nice to be able to just do adult things for a few days. 

So, we have one more Christmas to go. We will head to Minnesota this weekend, and do Christmas with my side of the family. It does not feel like a normal Christmas this year, but it's been great and we get to spend it with all of our family, so I would say we are pretty lucky. 

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Program ready 

Cousin Katie 

DQ after scoring 10 points at her Bball game!!

Spritz cookies

Opening presents!!

Elliott's haul 

Christmas at the Nelsons

Nacho bar

December Happenings

 This past week has been a crazy weather week. It started on Monday with freezing rain and snow. Then, on Tuesday we had more rain and wind, and then Wednesday was even more snow and blowing. And then it continued through Thursday and Friday. The kids had a late start on Wednesday, and then they had school called off on Friday. And out West they got like 2 feet of snow, so it was pretty wild. 

I also was feeling sick for a lot of the week, but we are so short on staff right now, I bucked up and went to work all week long, so it was a pretty long, crazy week. Also, on Friday, John brought the kids with him to the office for the snow day, so that was another things out of our usual routine. It sounds like the kids did well and enjoyed their day with dad. 

So, backing up a little bit, last weekend on Friday night, we got free tickets to go to a Stampede Game. It was actually pretty fun. It was the teddy bear donation night, so after the Stampede scored their first goal, everyone who brought a stuffed animal donation threw it out on the ice. It was pretty fun to watch hundreds of stuffed animals come flying on the ice. The Stampede ended up losing, but we had a good time and stayed until the end of the game. 

On Saturday, John delivered the kids to Jim and Barb's house on his way out to go ice fishing. The kids were going to attend the Marion Hometown Christmas festival with Jim and Barb, and then they just wanted sleepover at their house. They also got to make some Christmas pots and they went to a movie in their Christmas Pajamas. They had a great weekend. 

While the kids were doing Christmas things, we finished up some shopping and did some wrapping. Then, we attended a Urology Associate's 50th Anniversary Christmas Party. It was at the Icon, and they had a live band and some snacks. It was pretty fun. After a couple hours we were over it, and we headed home for the night. 

On Sunday, we met the kids at Church for the late service, and then they had practice while John went ice fishing again (and didn't catch a thing). We spent the rest of Sunday just relaxing and preparing for another week. 

This past week was busy, weather crazy, dealt with some sickness, and of course the homework stuff. So, it flew by pretty quickly. On Wednesday evening, we got to go to a Matthew West Concert at the Washington Pavillion. It was really fun. It was Christmasy, and jazzy, and entertaining and everyone had a great time. Elliott kept telling me he couldn't believe he was seeing Matthew West in real life. Matthew West played all his radio hits, and then all his Christmas hits, and the kids were loving every second of it. The concert went until about 9:30pm, so it was a late night for us, but it was so much fun. We will definitely go to another concert by him in the future. 

This past Friday evening, we made a Walmart run to get secret santa gifts for the kids for school, and then we ate supper at the North Star Pub and Grill, which was actually pretty good. After that, we decided we better see the lights at the falls. So, we drove through Falls Park and enjoyed all the beautiful lights. 

Yesterday, we finally did our Christmas baking. Emma and I made the cutout sugar cookies, and then Elliott helped us decorate them. It went pretty well, and we all had a good time baking and then sampling our creations. After the cookies, we cleaned up and then dipped pretzels and oreos in almond bark. We also had fun doing that. We listened to a lot of Christmas music yesterday!

After all the baking, Emma and I went to the Augustana Girl's Basketball game at the Pentagon. It was ugly sweater night, so we wore our ugly sweaters and enjoyed some good basketball. After the game, we enjoyed some free hot cocoa and sugar cookies, and then we watched the first half of the boy's game. We were having a good time. When we got home, we all watched Elf, and then went to bed. What a great weekend. 

Today, the kids have their Christmas program at 4:00pm. I can't wait to watch them, and then we are going out to eat with the Nelson clan afterwards. 

Merry Christmas!

New glasses for Emma 

We got gray scrubs at work, Very exciting. 

Ready for Matthew West

Twinning with Emma 

Christmas Baking 

Augustana Basketball Game 

Elliott's 8th Birthday Party

 The first weekend in December, we had Elliott's friend birthday party. We rented out the gym at school, and we threw a Nerf birthday party for Elliott. We made sure to buy Elliott a nice Nerf gun for his birthday, and then we bought little one-shooter nerf guns for all his birthday party guests, along with safety glasses, and homemade bags to hold the nerf bullets. 

We ended up having 11 kids (including Emma and her friend Liana) and they all seemed to have a really good time. We had some organized games, one actual Nerf war (which ended with a kid crying) and then we ended the party with some Dodge ball. 

Overall, his party went really well. The kids all had a good time. After a while, they seemed to tire of the nerf guns and started arguing, so we had to get creative. But, it was fun. 

After all the action, we had a cookie cake break, and then Elliott opened all the gifts from his friends. He made a pretty good haul and he really enjoyed himself. 

After the party, Elliott got to pick where to eat. So, Jim and Barb joined us and we ate at Fizolis of course. We were all ready for some peace and quiet, and some good food. Elliott ate like 4 breadsticks, he was starved. 

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. The kids had Christmas Program practice, so John and I snuck in some Christmas shopping, and then we just enjoyed laying low for the rest of the weekend. 

Elliott's party was fun, but it really made me consider just skipping the big birthday parties in the future, and maybe just having a friend or two over instead. More thoughts on that for next year. 

Hung new photos and had to admire all the old ones 

Lewis picture pose

Birthday party mayhem 

Found Santa at Hy-Vee

Elliott is 8.

 Somehow, we are 18 days into December, and I haven't even done a proper birthday post for Elliott yet. To be fair, work is crazy right now, and I spent this whole last week not feeling the greatest, so things have been pushed back a little. 

Elliott officially turned 8 on Thanksgiving Day. He got multiple parties, and plenty of gifts, and is pretty spoiled. Overall, 8 has been treating Elliott pretty well. He does well in school, he is nice to his friends and willing to help others, overall he listens to us and respects us, he loves Jesus, and he still gives great hugs. He loves soccer, nerf guns, Roblocks, and legos. He has become pretty independent with most things, and makes being his mom pretty easy. 

However, there are still a few things we are working on with him. He really leans into being the youngest, and he plays the victim card a lot. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is ever his fault. He has a comeback for everything, and if something doesn't go his way, his immediate response is to cry and overreact. So, that's been pretty fun to deal with. He still asks to sleep in our bed with us sometimes, which we say no, and then he acts like he is suffering. And, in church, he likes to wiggle a lot, and cuddle in with us in the bench, when all we want him to do is sit still and pay attention. So, still some things to work on. 

He is really looking forward to Christmas and all the gifts to open. Today, we have their Children's Christmas Program and this is his first year taking piano, and he gets to play some pre-service music. I am really proud of how he has taken to the piano and how well he does when he focuses. 

I spend a lot of time working with reading and spelling with Elliott, and he is really getting good at both those things. I also sit with him through his piano practices, and it's really fun to watch him improve every week. 

If Elliott could plan his perfect day, he would play on his Ipad, while eating Doritos and drinking Hot Chocolate, and he would do those things for most of the day. Then, in the evening, he would snuggle with a blanket and watch a good Christmas Movie and then call it a day. When I can tear him away from his Ipad, he loves building with legos, playing with his nerf guns, crafting at the table, drawing and writing comic books, reading, explaining Pokemon cards or just playing a game that him and Emma make up together. They can really play nice together sometimes. 

If I'm being totally honest, 8 has started out a little rough. Elliott has a lot of emotions, and he is still figuring out how to deal with them all. Most days are great, but he has his moments and is learning new life skills every day. His teacher does say that he is becoming one of the leaders in second grade, so that is great to hear. 

Happy Birthday Elliott, we love you so much and can't wait to watch you grow and learn even more this year. 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2022

 Another Thanksgiving weekend is in the books, and man, did it fly by. The kids had Wednesday-Friday off, so I also took Wednesday off. On Wednesday, the kids went out to the farm in the afternoon for a sleepover, and John and I had choir and then church. Afterwards, since we didn't have kids we decided to stop for a beer at TC's Referee. It was a nice way to kick off the holiday weekend. 

Thursday we went to Brookings all day (see previous post), and then Friday, we had a nice day catching up at home. John got some ice fishing things ready and put up the Christmas lights. I cleaned the house, packed up for going to Minnesota, went to the gym, and enjoyed some time at home with the kids. We also took a trip to the Bethel Gym to work on some basketball skills with Emma, and then to spend some time shooting nerf guns in the gym with Elliott and Emma. Everyone had a really good time, and we burned off some energy. 

After supper, we headed downtown to Byron's office to a little gathering before the Parade of Lights. Then, at 7:30pm we headed outside to watch the parade. The weather was gorgeous (46 degrees), so it was packed downtown. There were 50,000 people in attendance. It was crazy! The kids were lucky enough to sneak up to the front, and then John and I just stood way back behind the sidewalk. The parade was pretty cool, and it lasted for an hour and 20 minutes. There were beautiful floats, the kids got some candy and coupons, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. 

By the time we left we were a little chilly, and really sick of all the people. It took a while to get out of there, and by the time we got home, it was time for bed. 

On Saturday, we got up at 7:00am, ate breakfast, and then packed up and headed to Minnesota. We were on the road by 8:00am and made really good time to Minnesota. We enjoyed a lot of wine and beer, and some amazing Thanksgiving food. We had the regular Thanksgiving spread, plus Ham balls, and it was delicious. Then, we played some games and visited with everyone. We were blessed with another beautiful day (54 degrees) so we also spent some time outside playing basketball, catch with a football, and just goofing around outside. It was really nice to get some fresh air, and to wear the kids out a little bit. 

Elliott got to open gifts again. He got some Pokemon clothes, a Clue JR game, Nerf Guns, a drone, and Pokemon cards. He was one happy little boy, again! 

In the evening, we pretended to be hungry and ate a little supper. Then, John and I met up with Steve and Samantha to visit with them and to give Samantha her baby gift. We also got a chance to check out the new brewery in Gibbon. And then we ran into Julie, Todd, and Kyle there, so that was really nice to catch up with them. At around 10:00 pm we called it a night. 

Today was another good day. We went to church, and then decorated the church for Christmas like we have the past several years. It went really well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Then, we went back to mom and dad's for lunch, and then some more visiting and games, before we packed up to head back home. 

We made it back home around 5:30pm. We finally got unpacked, and laundry rolling, and now we put the kids to bed and are trying to relax a little before heading to bed to start another week of work. 

It was a great weekend, but I can't wait to get back to the gym and back to a routine again. I love the holidays, but it's hard to sit around all day, and I am not used to eating so much food!!

And now, I can listening to Christmas Music and wear all my Christmas shirts, and nobody can tell me it's too early!! :)

Uncle Time 

Birthday Boy Again 

Twinning 

Giant CandyLand 

Family Time