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?)

Catch up: November

Ah November...when the leaves all fell in two weeks and the first snow hit. My parents came out for a quick visit and caught the BYU vs. Wisconsin game. We tailgated for the first time and froze our buns off more than we did at the Packers game the week before. Sad we lost, but still fun to cheer for the cougars.

                            

Grandpa helped rake the wet leaves...they were a little tough for this pregnant momma...and the girls were great at helping us bag them. I can always count on my dad to help me out with projects when he comes to town.

 And he's great at entertaining the kids...with his iPad :)

 We got our first taste of a very long, cold winter...

 ...and made even more pumpkin cookies.

At at the end of the month, a party began. All of Paul's family came to our house for Thanksgiving. All 23 of us, with 4 of us pregnant. We smashed one family into each bedroom, threw Christina in the basement, and had a party. I never take enough pictures when family comes to town, but we had a great time together. The 11 grandkids played, the pregnant moms folded moravian stars, and plenty of root beer was drunk. 

We even went on a Sprecher factory tour, where the root beer and soda tastings are bottomless. Sprecher is an Iverson family favorite, and generally accepted (at least in these parts) as the greatest root beer in America.

What's Thanksgiving without tons of food?

And a family photo! Grateful to photoshop to knock out the water treatment facility in the background, and turn a few baby heads. It was about 30 degrees outside that day...hence Anna's open mouth smile.

Another Iverson family obsession is Moosejaw. No, not the city in Canada, but the quirky outdoor equipment store. Erika sent this picture to Moosejaw last month and it was featured on their Facebook page for a week, and all 23 of us...well, 27 of us since there are 4 new babies counting mine...got free t-shirts for next years' photo. No wonder we love this company! The Moosejaw photo will be a new Iverson tradition.

Catch up: October

October...the only real month of fall in Wisconsin. We made batch after batch of pumpkin cookies...

 made the annual visit to the pumpkin patch....

 made ebelskivers for breakfast....

 got ice cream after getting shots at the doctor...

 and enjoyed breakfast in bed from my sweet, thoughtful girls. Being in the 1st trimester in October, I often lazed about in bed for a while in the morning, procrastinating the start of feeling nauseous.  And my girls were great. Love them.

 We took a weekend trip out to Minneapolis to visit Paul's brother Aaron and family. Apple picking was awesome and beautiful.

 Niels loved being pulled by the tractor.

And Paul and Aaron enjoyed purchasing 48 bottles of root beer in preparation for Thanksgiving, when all Iversons would gather together at our house. I still don't know why we are such root beer fanatics, but we are.

 And what is fall without playing in the leaves?

 Of course there was Halloween...and how could Paul be anything but Wolverine? Hence I was Rogue and Niels was the Beast...at least for a few minutes till he wiped all the face paint off.

 Hattie as Nya, the Ninjago Ninja

 Anna, the fairy princess

Catch up: September

Paul started the month off with a thick set of Wolverine chops, and a Tough Mudder race. I was only slightly tempted to join him, but being 2 months pregnant and feeling lousy, I opted out.

He loved it, even though he pulled a muscle somewhere around mile #8. But he's gearing up for this fall and other bout of voluntary pain and misery. And the chops stuck around all fall and into winter...

The girls did soccer....they both liked it...neither of them is a natural, but nor do they hate it so we will keep them signed up as long as possible.

Hattie even scored three goals during the season.

 But this is how our Saturday's usually ended.

 Paul turned 33...

 And Hattie turned 6. Hard to believe she is growing up so fast.