Some Disassembly Required

I used to think I'd have to fight the "Some Assembly Required" battle with toys. If only it were that simple. Getting the toy out of the package is the ultimate challenge. Cut through the tape, tear the cardboard back, untangle the twist ties, remove the retainer clip, remove the twist ties from the toy....It's almost as if some factory worker in China was thinking "Sure, they can have the toy, but I'll be darned if they'll be able to play with it! Ha ha!" Lucky for me, I own bolt cutters. Twist ties are no match for a pair of Christmas-red bolt cutters.



We saw Santa Claus on the pedestrian bridge over I-94 on the way to church on Christmas Eve. We honked and told Alison that it looked like he was on his way to our house. When we got home from church, Santa filled the stockings and put a couple of extra presents under the tree. We had a light dinner of little smokies, "krab" salad, crackers and cheese spread then got to work on opening presents.

Eli was quite pleased with his gifts. His thought process seems to be "Hey, that's cool. Can I eat it?"



We woke on Christmas morning with nothing to do but play with toys and have breakfast. After french bread french toast, sweet potato pancakes and mimosas, we started scooping the rest of the packaging and wrapping paper into garbage bags and playing with toys. A great way to spend Christmas.



Alison had a lot of fun playing with the play-doh set from Aunt Betsy. It's got a press, and a canister of brown play-doh. Ew. Maybe we should use a different color next time.




On the list for next year: bolt cutters, 55 gallon contractor trash bags, and wrapping paper.

Drifted

We had a small shot of snow last night driven by some pretty good wind. There wasn't a lot on the ground in the morning, but what had fallen drifted across our driveway and sidewalk. After driving into town to get gas for the tractor and a couple of mochas from Caribou, I spent about a half an hour plowing out the driveway. Alison has been asking to help plow lately, so I left a little bit in the driveway to push around with her while Jennifer did laundry inside with Eli. After we finished plowing, Alison wanted to help clear the snow off the sidewalk. I grabbed a small scoop shovel and she started clearing the drift.

It was a nice relaxing day at home. Jennifer did laundry all day long and I worked on some cleaning. We alternated playing with the kids. It seemed to work well.

Eli was very easy today - he only fussed when he was tired, hungry or wet. Other than that, he was a happy camper all day.

Buddies

Alison had her Christmas Program at day care today. She was excited for it until the time came to perform. She got very nervous and just wanted to go home. Eli was still over in the infant room, so I asked Alison if she would smile and sing if I brought Eli over. She smiled right away and took her chair. I walked over and got Eli, and when Alison saw him she just beamed. It's great to see how these two get along.

I took the kids for a little last minute Christmas shopping tonight. I think we're all done now.

Night Train

We had a pre-Christmas this weekend in Lake City. Betsy was in town from California so we decided to head to Mom and Dad's for an early Christmas. Karen and Greg made it up from Iowa with James and Samuel. We decided to try something a little different this time and took Amtrak from Fargo to Red Wing. The time in transit was about the same as if we drove, but theoretically we could have slept on the way. The eastbound train arrives in Fargo around 2:30 am and arrives in Red Wing at about 9:00 am. Alison did alright with the sleep interruption, but she was too excited to sleep much on the train.



Grandpa met us at the station and brought us to Lake City. The return trip went much better, with the westbound train leaving at 9:00 pm from Red Wing and arriving around 3:30 am in Fargo. Both Alison and Eli slept nearly the entire time. I wish I could say the same for Jennifer and myself, but we were able to catnap on the way.



Eli's working on teeth now. It appears his bottom right front is close to popping through, but until then he's a chewing, drooling, fussing machine.



Alison was very excited to meet her new cousin Samuel this weekend. She got to feed him a couple of times and did really well. She used her new "train pillow" to support Samuel while she held the bottle.


Since I picked up the kids a little early from daycare today, I actually got to see the sunset on the way home. And finally, I had my camera with me. I don' t know what it is, but I absolutely love winter sunsets. It must be something with the color of the snow. I think I found a new spot to take sunset pictures just southeast of the house. There are no power lines and little in the way of buildings. Some might call it desolate, but I'd say it's "roomy".

Slippery when wet

It's funny how the idea of "party" changes once there are kids around. Our friends Jeremiah and Lisa hosted a Christmas party at their house last night. Most of the attendees were part of a gourmet club started a few years ago for young couples with no kids. Last night's soiree consisted of 7 couples with 9 kids. The oldest kids recently turned 4.

And that is why parties have changed. Start the party around 5, that way everybody gets their nap. By eight o'clock everybody is heading for the door to meet the scheduled bedtime. Polite conversation has changed slightly as well. I found myself having an in depth conversation in the kitchen discussing the finer points of diaper blowouts, different colors and consistencies of poop.

On our way home Alison was playing with her VeggieTales nativity scene. It has a battery operated angel that sings "Jesus Our Brother Kind and Good." We were just about home when all of a sudden Alison blurts out "If you push her nose she says 'Jesus'!"

That in itself got me laughing, but then Jennifer turned and asked Alison "What do you say if we push your nose?"

Jennifer played in bell choir this morning at church, so I got the kids ready and went for the first service and the offertory of second service. The choir played a great rendition of "O Little Town".


Vision Bank had their annual picture with all the employees' kids to be published in the paper today. It's a small little Christmas party pretty much focused on the kids. Eli did great for the pictures. After the pictures were done, all the kids watched "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". When the show was almost over, Dan (the bank president) came out and gave all the kids stuffed Rudolphs.

Eli was happy to be along for the ride today. He traveled very well and was happy whenever he woke up.












We had to leave the bank party pretty quickly to get over to church for the Sunday School program. We made it just in time and Alison willingly ran to the front to sing. She stood right in front and at least tried to sing each song.
At the end, Jennifer met her at the front and brought her back. Alison came running to me, exclaiming "I get a wreath! I get a wreath!"

It was sunset by the time we got home, and there were four deer in the field behind the house. Alison and I went out to see if we could get a closer look, but they weren't visible by the time we got out. Alison made a couple of snow angels before we went back inside.

After Alison went in, I scooped some frozen dog doo out of the snow before going inside. Daisy seems to prefer to go over to the neighbors for business, so I try to get the evidence removed as soon as possible.

Shortly after I got inside, Jennifer hollered from the bedroom that Alison got sick and threw up. I came running in to help and saw Jennifer holding Alison's hair back over the toilet while trying to stifle her own gag reflex. I ran towards her in my sock feet and nearly wiped out when my foot slipped on an unnoticed puddle of recycled chicken mcnuggets on the tile floor. I laughed at the pure gross factor of it, but that just made Jennifer even greener. Alison seems to feel much better now, so I don't know if it was the same bug that got Eli and myself, or if it was just a hard day. After the mess was mopped up, I cleaned out Eli's diaper genie and took out the garbage.

I think I've come up with the next episode of Mike Rowe's "Dirty Jobs".

Betsy Blanket

Brrr...we woke up this morning to a -18° air temperature. It's now a sunny -8°. It's definitely a good day to stay inside.

I took Alison to a practice for her sunday school Christmas program today.

After we got home, she wanted to cuddle in her recliner with her "Betsy Blanket" knitted by Aunt Betsy.

We might make Christmas cookies today before we go to a party, but we'll see how cleaning the kitchen goes.

Winter Bugs

Winter's officially here. Saturday's snowstorm brought about 7.5 inches. We had a short break to dig out, then picked up another 5.5-6 inches on Tuesday. Another short break, and another inch on Thursday

I called Scheel's on Monday to find out if they had tire chains for my tractor, and they were able special order the chains I needed. I got a call on Tuesday in the middle of the snowstorm that they were in already. Got them installed on Tuesday night and wow what a difference!

Eli came down with a little stomach bug on Wednesday, but overall it wasn't too bad. It lasted a very short time and he was able to go back to daycare on Thursday afternoon. Whatever he had decided to impact me on Thursday night. I felt like more of a baby than he did!





Alison had her first dance performance a week ago at West Acres Mall. Her dance group did a tap routine to "All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth". There appeared to be over a hundred people watching, and stage fright kicked in. She was brave, and didn't cry, but those little tap shoes were pretty firmly planted in place. I can't say that I would have done any better.

Right now Alison is laying in bed singing Christmas carols. She's really belting out "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Jingle Bells", and "O Christmas Tree".

Rice and Snow

December came in with a couple changes. Eli had his first taste of rice cereal. It was met with a mixed reaction of "Hey that's cool!' and "What the @#$&!".
We tried again tonight, and he responded really well, but hasn't quite got the whole swallowing thing down yet.

I stepped on the bathroom scale with Eli today and then weighed myself. If my math is right, Eli is roughly 19 pounds!

We picked up about 7 inches of snow on Saturday - a harsh start to winter. I finally broke down and bought a 48" snow plow for my Husqvarna tractor. I still need to get tire chains and wheel weights, but the tractor did a great job on the driveway. I think it took about an hour to move all the snow.

After I plowed, I brought Alison outside to play in the snow while I shoveled the sidewalk. We forgot Alison's new winter boots and snow pants at day care on Friday and didn't think anything of it because we didn't expect so much snow. Luckily, her old boots still kind of fit and so did her old snow pants. She had a great time and loved to make tracks in the snow.