Happy New Year!

Well, the snow is all but gone. Only the lonely snowmen are left in our yard. Of course, that was a few hours ago and it's 52 degrees outside, so they may be gone by morning. Back again next year? We'll see.

Danelle took Kristin bowling today during Kellen's nap time. Sounds like they had a lot of fun. Kristin bowled a 44 and a 52. She didn't seem too bothered that is was harder in real life than on the Wii. She was all smiles when she got home.

Later in the afternoon and early evening we watched the Cyclones win their bowl game. Way to go Cyclones! Danelle made a focacia bread with spaghetti that went over really well. Both of the kids wanted more.

Here is another picture from the snow and also of Kristin at the bowling lanes.

Snow?!

Yesterday afternoon I was awakened from my nap by Kristin saying "Mommy, it's snowing!" Kristin was so excited. It continued to snow and I would say we ended up with 2 inches. A lot for here. Once Kellen was up and also excited about the snow we got outside to play in it. It was the perfect snow for snowballs and snowman building. We had a lot of fun.

The snow did pose a challenge for getting to the Winter Hawks hockey game last night. Unfortunately, we missed the game due to traffic. The roads weren't too bad for the truck and 4 wheel drive, but with a mass of unprepared drivers on the commute home from work it was gridlock. We tried 3 routes into Portland and had to give up. When we got home we found out the game was delayed from 7pm to 8:45pm, so it would have been tough to make it through the game with the kids had we made it there.

This morning the snow was still outside, but melting. So, we bundled back up and got back out to make more snowmans and play in the snow. Both kids had fun and ended up eatting a good lunch. During Kellen's nap I helped Kristin finish her pillow that she had been working on in a sewing workshop at school. The workshop is over, so it came home to be finished. We will have to take a picture of that.

This afternoon we headed to the mall to check on our blinds order, since it isn't here yet (was supposed to be) and find some new jeans for Kristin. Found the jeans, but they didn't have an answer on the blinds. However, they called tonight to say they made the blinds but didn't get shipped and who knows where they are. So, they are making us a new set of blinds rush order... 2 more weeks. Ugh!

All the days run together...

We spent the last two days just hanging out and doing things as a family. We took a trip to Target on Sunday to spend the kids' gift cards. We split up boys and girls at the store. Kristin ended up with a Leapster game and Littlest Pet shop stuff I think. Kellen ended up with a cool windmill accessory for his Thomas the Train set and a couple new engines to go with it. Kellen was VERY excited about his new Thomas tracks. Choo! Choo! he says all the time now.

We've been having fun playing the sports games on the Wii. Kristin has the high score on bowling. 196 I think. Danelle is on her heals with a 194. I've yet to break 180. Even though Kristin has the high score, she somehow has trouble beating me head to head. Kristin has been trying to figure out the baseball game too. She is getting better at her timing learning when to swing.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a Winterhawks game. We've got tickets to the company suite again. We'll all go and I actually got all of the tickets this time so a bunch of friends will be joining us.

Play Time

Today was a nice day to enjoy all the new toys in the house. We if course played some Wii this afternoon. Kellen was happy to go outside and ride his scooter and play with his new soccer ball this afternoon too. It was another windy and cold day, so we didn't stay out for too long. Kristin spent time playing with her Barbies and her new camera. Once I got home from getting groceries (and batteries) both kids played with Kristin's new lego walkie talkies. They had fun with those, but Kellen still doesn't really understand that he needs to keep holding the button when he talks. ;)

Aaron is off at his first hockey game of the holiday tournament he is playing in. He has 2 games tomorrow and the kids and I plan to go watch his morning game.

Here are a couple pictures of the gingerbread house Kristin and I made yesterday.

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to everyone! Or as Kristin has been saying, 'A VERY Merry Christmas!'

ON Chrismas Eve we went to the 4pm mass and got there at 3:30. A good thing too since it was standing room only by 3:45. The kids were good and Santa even paid a visit at the end of mass to say a prayer with Father Dave in front of the Nativity scene. That sure got all of the kids attention. We then headed home for dinner and exchanged presents. Here is Danelle showing her excitement over her gift from Kristin:

Kristin has been so excited all week in anticipation of Santa. She wanted to skip bedtime reading so she could go to sleep faster. She was convinced that Santa would come sooner if she did. She's not short on reading, so I obliged and wouldn't you know it, she was right! ;-)

The kids actually slept in this morning. We couldn't believe it when we heard Kellen rolling around in his bed and it was 7:45. Merry Christmas to us! The kids got up and dove in to See what Santa had brought. The scooters were a big hit with each of them.

After breakfast, it was back to opening presents from the extended family and friends. Boy was there a lot of them! We sure are fortunate!

Kristin was all about it. She passed out the presents and read the tags and told us who it was from. Kellen was into it for a little bit, but after the third present or so he was pretty overwhelmed. He just wanted to play with the new toys, he'd had enough of opening. Lets play already he seemed to be saying!

We were happy to have Danelle's uncle John over to spend time with us as well.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Day 3

Whew! Boy am I glad that the drainage work is done. The contractors finished at about 2:15pm today. They did a good job and even cleaned up pretty well. I vacuumed really quick and got Kellen down for a late nap. He was asleep within minutes. Unfortunately later when I tried to wake him up he wanted to stay in bed and was very cranky for about 45 minutes. I was able to get the floors all mopped tonight too.

Aaron came home early today. Sounds like his office was turning into a ghost town. Hard to stay motivated to be at work when everyone else is leaving.

Kristin had her friend Courtney over this morning for about 4 hours. The girls get along great and Kellen really likes Courtney too. They kept busy making crafts and playing in Kristin's room. Kristin is SUPER excited that tomorrow is Christmas Eve day. She can hardly stand the excitement. :)

Day 2

Wow, Danelle managed our two kids plus two more this afternoon while the contractors were busy working under the house. Kristin had a playdate with two sisters who are in first grade and kindergarten. Sounds like Kristin had a good time. Understandably, Danelle needed to get out of the house this evening so she stepped out to run and errand sans kids.

Kristin and Kellen played pretty well together for me. They were pretending to be ghosts by putting blankets over their heads. It was cute for a bit, until Kellen tripped on the blanket (it was too long) and smacked his nose square on the coffee table. It didn't look bad but after a few minutes of him sobbing on my shoulder I figured I should take a look since it was taking him longer than usual to calm down after a bonk or a fall. Turns out he had a bloody nose. Poor kid. As far as bloody noses go, it wasn't a terrible one. We were able to get the bleeding to stop pretty quickly and then he was off and running. And climbing. On the side of the wooden rocking chair. Which then fell over on top of him. That wasn't as bad as it sounds either. He was fine physically but pretty scared. He ended up cuddling with me for five minutes or so before bath time. We kept an eye on his nose and even let us touch it without flinching. He's a tough one.

The Beavers had their bowl game tonight. They got pummeled by BYU. Kristin was disappointed, but she didn't take it as badly as when they got beat by the Ducks.

One more day of work for me (Wednesday) and then I'm off until the new year. I'm looking forward to spending time with the family. It's supposed to be dry, sunny, and in th 40s to 50s for the next week or so. No white Christmas this year.

Day 1 of 3

First day done with the contractors under the house fixing our drainage problem. We only have a small lake under our house, so they are digging trenches and getting the water to stay out. Kellen is a bit cranky with all of this since the crawl space entry is in his room/closet. For a 2 year old this must be hard to understand and a little scary. He is a bit on edge but trooping through it. However, no nap today. I tried having a camp out in the living room for nap but that didn't work. The tent was more fun to play with. Tomorrow I may try moving his bed to Kristin's room for nap.

Kristin has a couple playdates coming up this week. She is pretty excited about that. In all the playing with Kellen today she did find some time to sit down and read some of a chapter book. :)

Here is a picture of the kids playing in the tent this afternoon.

Hooray, a New Post!

Kristin had her Christmas party at school on Friday afternoon. Danelle, Kellen, and I were all able to attend. I mostly chased Kellen and Danelle worked at one of four stations that the party was broken out into. Her station was a relay race with M&Ms and oven mitts. Fairly entertaining that one. Kristin had a good time at the party and seemed happy that her whole family could attend. There was only one other little sibling there - a four year old brother of one of Kristin's friends. That little boy wasn't very much bigger than Kellen. He's still our big boy.

At the party, one of the moms was explaining how the room would be broken out into four groups. She asked the class "There are twenty students and there will be four groups. How many will be in each group?" The kids were silent for a few seconds and then Kristin's hand popped up. "Five." Nice job Kristin!

Saturday... hmmm, seems like we were busy, but darned if I can remember what we did. I had a hockey game in the evening, which we won. No more league games until Jan 9th. But I did find a tournament to play in the week after Christmas.

Today was busy in the morning with church and donuts afterwards. Kristin helped me wrap Danelle's presents while Kellen was 'napping'. He did fall asleep eventually and was ornery when we had to wake him up. That didn't last too long though since Parker, Steve, and Megan came over for dinner and to exchange Christmas presents. Kellen was all about unwrapping the gifts. He also approaches each new toy with the following three questions. 1) Does it make noise? 2) Can I break it? and 3) Can I use it to break something else?

Here is a picture of Kellen riding his dump truck. He was bound and determined to figure out how to ride it in the forward direction. Mission accomplished.

Busy Nights

Last night Kristin had her 2nd Girl Scouts meeting. They worked on the Girl Scout promise and law and made holiday cards. They had been working on being responsible for the past 2 weeks. Responsible things for the girls were making their beds, picking up toys, etc. The group did well so they got their first petal to the daisy that goes on their vest. Kristin had a lot of fun.

Tonight we watched Ames High boys basketball team play Waukegen, IL (sp?) at Hilton on ESPN. That was cool and Kristin got into rooting for mommy's high school. :) Kristin is excited for tomorrow at school with it being the last day before break. They have an assembly, workshop (she is in a sewing workshop and making a pillow), and a party at the end of the day.

Tuesday

Tuesdays seem to go by very quickly. The kids were pretty wound up this evening, lots of energy. Kellen ran away from getting his teeth brushed before bedtime. He knows how to work it though, because he ran to me saying 'I'm all done.' and 'I want a daddy hug.' After I figured out what he was up to, I carried him back to Danelle. Then he ran for Kristin - again wanting a hug.

Kristin had a pretty good day. She said goodbye to her main teacher Miss Amy at daycare, who is moving to Utah at the end of this week. Danelle and I will miss Amy as well - she was probably in the top two as far as Kristin's teachers over the years at daycare. Kristin was a little on the sad side today as a result. But she is looking forward to her second night at Girl Scouts on Wednesday.

#400

This is officially our 400th post! Wow!

Today Kellen helped me run some errands in the morning. We stood in line at a Post Office for about 15 minutes... though I thought it was going to be worse. Kellen didn't nap today, he just jabbered in his room for about 2 hours. :) Oh well, I was able to get some things done all the same. We figure Kellen is becoming affraid of the dark. He always wants to turn on a light if it is at all dark and he is now saying danger or no danger in relationship to a dark room. So, we got out a night light for him tonight. Between no nap and a new night light he was out pretty quick. Sounds like he was just waiting for Aaron to come in and say goodnight after finishing reading with Kristin.

Kristin had a good day at school. She got another Eagle Eye today. She had gym class today and she said she almost got all the way up the rope. Kristin has been working on this (new goal) to try to get to the top of that rope. I am sure it won't be long.

The rain came back today and so conveniently right as Kellen and I picked up Kristin this afternoon. HA!

Low Key Day

We seemed to avoid the ice storm, at least in Beaverton. The storm missed us to the east. They closed I-84 east of Portland in the gorge, but we had higher temps and hardly any rain. Lots of fog in the morning though.

Pretty low key day today. More errands in the morning. I had a hockey game early this evening and Danelle surprised both me and the kids by taking them to an early dinner at McDonalds and then to watch my hockey game, which we won.

Lots to do yet getting ready for Christmas but we are getting closer. Here are a couple pictures of the kids playing in one of the boxes that presents arrived in.

Box

Yesterday we got some boxes of gifts. One of the boxes (from Brett and Sam) ended up being a toy. Thanks! It has been a boat, a Wubb Club (from a show Wow Wow Wubbzy), a chair or carseat, and whatever else the kids can think up. :)

We were supposed to wake up to snow or ice this morning and we saw neither. Kristin was a little sad that there was no snow. It did drizzle some today... enough to make the pavement wet. If it drops below freezing tonight we will have lovely icy roads. Kristin had a birthday party today. It was at a gym that was mainly for gymnastics. She had a blast, especially showing me how she can flip on the bars. Kellen was a busy boy today with trains, cars, and legos. He is really starting to sit down and try to build things (towers mostly) with the legos.

Shots Complete!

Danelle was Johnny on the Spot earlier in the week and noticed that our pediatrician received more doses of the flu shot for H1N1. She made an appointment for today and took them in for their booster shots. Kellen got his in the leg and Kristin was able to do the mist again. Hooray! The kids are now done with shots for the winter season.

Danelle was also a sweetheart this morning. I left my work laptop at home this morning and she was kind enough to drive all the way in to Portland to deliver it to me after she dropped Kristin off at school. So Danelle and Kellen got to see my office. I don't think Kellen had ever been there. He was curious as ever running up and down the halls and saying hi to everyone.

This evening the kids played with trains and pegs. Kellen doesn't like it when Kristin tries to drive his train, but he is getting a little better at sharing.

Visited Santa

Tonight after dinner we headed to the mall to visit Santa. We talked to Kellen and Kristin a little before hand to get them prepared. Kellen went straight up to Santa and was on his lap in a flash. Kristin got on the other knee and they both did great and had fun. Kristin asked Santa for SpongeBob stuff and girly stuff. Kellen asked for a choo choo train. :) They enjoyed their candy canes afterward that Santa gave them.

We got above freezing today (33 degrees) for about 1 whole hour. Back down in the teens tonight. Kellen and I have been trying to stay busy inside or running errands, since it is just too cold to really be outside to play... at least for very long.

Goose Egg

Danelle said that Kellen had a good drop off today at day care. First time in a long time for that. He had been crying and throwing tantrums when Danelle dropped him off. He had a little too much fun today though and fell while he was dancing and bonked his head. His version of dancing is pretty much spinning around in circles, so I'm guessing he got dizzy and fell down. He's got a big goose egg on his forehead now.

Kristin brought home her first report card of the year yesterday. She is excelling at reading and math and needs to focus more at listening and following directions. It was a pretty good overal report card.

A quite evening at home tonight. It never got above freezing today, which is very cold for here. No snow though!

Brrrrrrr!

Okay, it may not be as cold as it gets in Iowa, but for here this is cccc..oold! Highs hovering around freezing and lows in the teens. This morning the wind chill was 10 degrees. We are not used to this weather anymore.

Yesterday at church school the kids got to take off their shoes before class. When class was over they discovered that St. Nick left them some goodies (candy cane, chocolate and a maganet) in their shoes! Kristin thought that was neat. After lunch Kristin and I ran to the library for some new books. We decided to get a Junie B. Jones chapter book since her teacher is reading these books to the kids in class. She read the first page to me out loud in the car and I checked it when I got home and she read it correctly. She has since been reading it to herself and is ready to start Chapter 3 already! Way to go Kristin. Her reading goal for the end of 1st Grade was to be able to read a chapter book and she is already reaching this goal.

Later in the afternoon the kids and I headed to see a friend that lives out on a farm. Kellen likes that, but it was too cold to be outside and we didn't see any of their cows. They were probably huddled somewhere to keep warm. Aaron had a hockey game and they won.

This morning Kellen asked to go to a hockey game. :) Later he asked where daddy was and I said work. Kellen said "no, daddy play hockey game." Aww... I think Kellen wanted to go watch Aaron play hockey. ;)

Cold Spell

Well, like true Oregonians, we've been here long enough to consider a day with a high in the 30s as 'really cold'. We've been dry for about a week and looks to stay that way until Friday. We'll take the cold over the rain. Danelle helped keep the house warm today by baking peanut butter blossoms. Yum.

Seems like our weekends are packed this time of year. Kristin had the busy day today. Her friend Ella came over this morning for a play date. I kept Kellen out of their hair by taking him on a couple errands. While we were out and abotu, we saw four policemen on horseback. Kellen thought that was pretty cool. He really wanted a ride on one of the horses and didn't understand why he couldn't have one.

After Kristin's play date was over she and Danelle were out the door to a birthday party for one of her friends at Out of This World. This evening the kids kept busy playing with the kids kitchenette while Danelle was baking the cookies.

Here is a picture of Kristin from her first night at Girl Scouts. Looks like she was having a pretty great time.

Zoo Lights Round 2

Yesterday Kristin woke up so excited for the Beavers vs. Ducks football game. She is quite the Beavers fan. She went to school in her Beavers shirt and got to have a Beavers colored cupcake at lunch. When she got home she kept asking if the game was on yet... it started at 6pm! :) We let her stay up and watch this historic Civil War game. Unfortunately, even though they had the lead most of the game, the Beavers lost. Kristin took this hard. She seems to have rebounded today and is happy they are going to a bowl game even though it is not the Rose Bowl. Who would have known we would have such a football fan in our 6 year old girl!!!

Aaron was able to make it home early this afternoon and even picked up Kristin from school today. We packed up and headed to the zoo to ride the Zoo Train for Zoo Lights. This ended up being great as far as no big crowds and we got to ride on the first train at 5pm! It was pretty cold though. Hovering around freezing. Brrrrr... especially the metal seats on the train! We had a lot of fun though and afterwards we stopped at Red Robin (burger place) on the way home for dinner.

Girls Night and Boys Night

Kristin and Danelle went to Kristin's very first Girl Scouts meeting this evening. Though at this age I guess they call them 'Daisies'. Sounds like they both had a really good time and that Danelle is going to be a co-leader for the group. She was excited to get a package from Nana and Papa in the mail today that contained her vest with badges from when she was a Girl Scout. I'm looking forward to the Samoas. :-)

Kellen and I hung out together and played with his train set. Usually he is pretty territorial about the trains, but tonight he let me play with the big green one named Henry. Kellen had a big long train led by Thomas of course. It was a trian-themed evening as we read three books about trains at bedtime.

Funny story: a couple evenings ago at bedtime I went in to say goodnight to Kellen after reading to Kristin, which is the normal routine. As I leaned over to give him a hug he pointed at the wall and said 'what's that?' I saw my shadow from his nightlight as said 'that's my shadow'. Kellen said, 'No dad, that's the wall.' Sometimes the wall is just the wall.

Oregon State Beavers vs the Oregon Ducks on Thursday for the rights to go to the Rose Bowl. Kristin decided sometime in the last year that she is a Beavers fan, so that's who we'll be rooting for.

Christmas Decorations

It took 3 days in a row to get the Christmas tree decorated this year. On movie night we got the tree up. The next night I got the lights on and yesterday Kristin decorated it. Kristin decorated about 90% of the tree as I was tired from not sleeping well the night before and laid down during Kellen's nap time. By the time I got up Kristin had the tree decorated... except for the tip top. She did a great job and is very proud of her tree!

Kellen found out what "swishy" pants are on Sunday afternoon. Swishy pants are those sweatpants/warm ups that are made out of slick material on the outside and make a swish sound when you walk. Aaron put a pair on him Sunday afternoon and he loves them... he had to wear them again on Monday. This morning he wanted these pants again, but they were in the dirty laundry. I was able to find another pair in his dresser in the 3T pile of clothes and they fit. He was excited. Now tomorrow... no swishy pants, we will see what he thinks of that. In the picture he is wearing those swishy pants (ISU of course!).