Catch up: February

February started with our little boy turning 2. He really is such a doll. 90% of the time, he is the best kid a parent could ask for. He talks a ton, and has a bigger vocab than I remember my girls having at this age. He loves his sisters and wants to do what they do. He loves cars, planes, trucks, tractors, etc. And he can run...fast. Keeping up with him at church/store/park is almost impossible for me. I usually have to send Hattie to chase him down and tackle him before he gets himself hurt. He certainly can throw a decent tantrum, but hopefully we can nip those in the bud before too long.

The girls enjoyed frosting the cupcakes, but sadly, the frosting recipe was kind of gross, so we mostly just wiped it off and ate the very yummy cupcakes.

Niels loved the attention and the gifts.

 And still loves to close his eyes while smiling.

 He is also a book lover. I don't remember my girls loving to read books when they were two, but this boy could be read to for hours...as long as they are truck books or rhyme a lot.

 I hosted a valentine's day party for some friends at church...they decorated their mailboxes, then cupcakes. A big mess, but lots of fun. Don't worry...I didn't make the frosting this time, so it was yummy.

 Like I said in my post about California, Paul had a lot of vacation to use during January, February, and March, so we took off on a Sunday afternoon for Wisconsin Dells.  It's the indoor water park capital of the world. Our hotel had 4 indoor water parks we could use (and in the summer there are numerous outdoor ones as well) and admission is included in the room rental rate. We loved it. We went last year for one night and we are definitely going every winter. It's a great getaway, because you get to swim, be warm, stay inside, and you almost forget how cold it is up here.

 Paul and the girls did a ropes course. The girls were pretty nervous, a few tears were shed, prayers were said, but in the end, they didn't hate it...and it was a good experience for them...I think :)

But of course, the highlight was the endless swimming and slides. It would have been nice not to be pregnant, but it was easier than having a newborn with me!

Anna and Hattie did these slides a million times it seemed.

Niels was on cloud nine...

...and they couldn't get enough of the wave pool...you can see Anna in the distance in a purple suit and Hattie in a red on. All in all, a great family getaway!

Catch up: January

This is a short post...mostly because January was relatively calm, and because I'll be posting an entire post about Paul and my trip to So Cal without the kids :)

My sister Laura lives in Iowa, just 5 hours away, so she and her 5 youngest came to visit during the end of Christmas break and spent New Year's with us. We had a fondue party, played with Legos, and shared the stomach flu among the cousins. 

 It was ridiculously cold. Paul and his buddy Dan decided to run around outside when it was -40 degrees just to see what it felt like. I think school was cancelled 4 or 5 times due to cold temps, not snowfall (even though there was plenty of that too).

 The girls brought me breakfast in bed again...

 ...and I flew out west (without kids) for a quick trip to Idaho Falls for my brother Spencer's wedding. So happy for him and Keeley, and happy to be together with all my siblings for a quick weekend.

Catch up: December

And December. A wonderful, busy month. This is the second year of our 8 years of marriage that we had our own Christmas tree...we were always traveling in the past, or didn't have the money for a fake one. (FLASHBACK STORY: You may ask, "Why not buy a real one?" Well, when Paul was a child, he and his family went to cut down their own Christmas tree. They brought it home, set it up, and once in was warm inside their home, hundreds of spider egg sacks hatched, with thousands of tiny spiders inside. Paul was traumatized by the cloud of spiders in his living room, and swore, at the age of 7 or 8, to NEVER have a real tree in his own house.)

 The girls LOVED decorating it, since the one other time we had a tree they were too small to help.

 The girls did ballet...

 ...and Anna filled my phone with selfies.

Niels got his first haircut. I was just about to whip out my scissors to clear up a few rough spots when Paul said, "Na, we'll just use the trimmers." We immediately regretted it. With his hair, he lost his curls, and his baby-ness. It took me about 3 weeks before I wasn't sad every time I looked at him. I'm used to it now, and am feeling the need to trim it again...just not so short this time.

Best purchase of the year: the snow-blower. This was its inaugural use, but I used it probably a dozen times over the winter. We have a 3 car garage, therefore a wide driveway, and there was no way I could have shoveled it 7 months pregnant with as much snow as we got this winter.

 Paul liked trying to bury the kids more than anything.

 We started a new Christmas Eve tradition: Chinese take-out for dinner (and mac-n-cheese) for the kids. Everyone was pretty happy about it, despite Niels' grouchy face

 Christmas  morning lacked a lot of photos...suffice it to say, everyone was too spoiled, but very happy.

 I made the easiest, and one of the best, apple pies I've ever made...

 ...the girls played with their Frozen castle constantly...

...and Anna and Niels helped themselves to cookies whenever they pleased. This, by the way, is how Niels smiles when you ask him to smile for the camera. I love him. (And don't you agree that his baby-ness went away with his long curly locks?)

Spring might finally come

I thought I was prepared for the cold Wisconsin winters. I love snow. I love bundling up in scarves, hats, poofy down coats, boots, and gloves. And with a good road crew, the roads aren't too bad. I was ready for it. 

I was not prepared for winter to last 5 months.

So although 'spring' is already half over, the trees are still leafless, there are no flowers in bloom, and nothing is green. When the daily high is 39 degrees, what else can you expect? So we have remained indoors while the southern part of the country enjoys a cool, green spring spring. 

During the end of March, with snow still on the ground, we were first starting to feel the itch for spring to come. The girls wanted to throw a "spring surprise party" for Paul when he came home. We spent the day making flowers and butterflies and bunnies. When he walked in, we held up our flower masks and danced to the song "It's spring, spring, spring again," a terribly cheesy song that the girls love. It was definitely a surprise for him.

We pretty much stayed home and enjoyed this cute boy...

...who likes to perch on the ledge to watch TV, turning on and off the Blu-ray player, cable box, and XBox.

And Anna is my precious middle child. She is a snuggler. And when I told her to pack her panties for our trip to Minnesota and Iowa, she got to work organizing them all. Love her.

February came and went...

How has February past already? Not that I am complaining - Paul has been on a month of internal medicine, being on call every 4 days with no Saturdays or Sundays off. So I am glad that this month is 3 days shorter than the other ones. Here's a little of what we've been up to...

Okay, looking at this picture I forgot that Paul did have one Saturday off, during which we went to Home Depot for an ice spreader. It happened to also be the free craft day. The girls had a blast building their own Valentine holder. They can't wait for this Saturday - going back to see what the St. Patrick's Day craft is :)

Disaster struck. We have had 5 or 6 decent sized snow storms this winter and it finally caught up to us. Apparently the gutters around our entry way were rather clogged, not allowing all the melting snow to drain properly. So when the melted snow froze again at night, it back up UNDER the shingles. Something called ice damming. Then when it melted, it entered our entry way. This has made me VERY ready for spring so we can get a new roof, a snow and ice shield, and repair whatever damage has been done in the attic (possible mold, etc.) It also damaged the electrical circuit to the front of our house, so we don't have any light in the entry way or kitchen. Gratefully, our kitchen outlets are on a different circuit, so I can still cook dinner.

Paul had Valentine's day off, so as the extremist that he is, he created quite a party for the girls. Between Party City and WalMart, we had flowers, balloons, heart-shaped pasta, and red velvet cupcakes. He even bought a kit to make chocolate covered Oreos. The girls loved it, and I was glad that his day off we were able to do something fun with the girls.

 Anna sneaked Oreos all day. Every time I saw her, she looked something like this.

I took them to see Disney on Ice...of course, they were in heaven. Paul later took them to the circus...sorry, no pics.

With the cold, snowy weather, we really stay home most days and try to stay warm. Niels loves the dishwasher - standing and taking all the silverware out that he can, and banging all the dishes together. My chubby boy is nuts, but I love him.

Despite our leak, I love all the snow! I just need a snowblower so it doesn't take me more than an hour to clear our driveway (it has been snowing for the last 24 hours...I'm going to have to shovel again.)

Typical silliness...Anna was "ice skating" on wet wipes.

 

And we whipped out our St. Patrick's Day decor...the girls are already planning our trap!

 Anna has joined Hattie in the creativity department. Here she wrote her name...right letters, wrong order. (Couldn't get the images to upload in the right direction)

And here are her first stick figures :) Love the huge grins.

And to conclude the post, I just wanted to highlight my very annoying "new baby growth" hair. Anyone else hate this as much as I do? Getting tired of trying to tame it down every day!