Happy New Year!

Ha! I'm getting caught up finally:) This makes me so happy. Also, I just ordered my Christmas New Years cards...so those will be getting out. Hooray! This is all extra wonderful as I am the current victim of what has been a quick but not fun flu-like illness. I should be in bed, but I am going to power through this quick post and then hit the sack. 

The week after Christmas Dave had committed to working in Clinton, Iowa as a "locum tenens" at a surgery center. It is basically free-lance work that he gets paid well for, he actually enjoys it and it helps us accomplish some things a little faster financially (this week paid for our new windows and door coming for the sun room - yeah!

Anyway, he had to head down Sunday night (Dec. 29) and wouldn't come back until that Friday night. Though, I know I can handle the kids by myself for five days....I mean, it's not my MOST fun way to tackle that:) In the past, I have escaped to Burr Oak to have some help and see some other people and I didn't want to go for the whole week, but it worked out that we could come down New Years Eve and stay through January 2. I was so happy because it gave me someone to be with on NYE, someone to watch the Hawks with on New Years Day, gave us an opportunity to see the Peterson's and check out the Jan Brett exhibit at the Vesterheim (I had wanted to do that since it came!) Score!

New Years Day!

Adorable. Vests from Andrew and Kylie:)

So, we drove through some snow and snow-covered roads to get to Burr Oak, set up camp at the house and waited for Mom and Dad to come home from work. The kids went to bed pretty easily and then the three of us tried to stay up until midnight:) We were joking how crazy and rowdy we were...Mom and I had had a glass of wine earlier, but by the time we watching Ryan Seacrest, I was drinking water, crocheting and eating lefse. A very happy Norwegian New Years Eve:) I loved it. 

This was the first time Dave and I were not together since we started dating and I wasn't loving that part. But luckily (well, for me) Dave was stuck in Clinton at a hotel room and celebrated by grabbing some Chinese food, a couple beers and Facetiming with me at midnight. Well - New York's midnight. A nice option for us Midwesterners to go to bed early..watch the ball drop and call it a night! So, I Facetime kissed Dave at 11 p.m.:) and went in to sleep with Kate (actually in bed with me) and Collin (in pack-and-play in same room). Well, wouldn't you know, Collin wanted to experience his first New Years Eve, so after him waking around midnight, we rang it in together:)

He was up early the next morning and we had a nice lazy start to the day, watched the Hawks (ugh) caught up with Andrew and Kylie, and then I loaded up the kiddos and we drove down to Clermont to visit our beloved Peterson's. The roads were a bit slow-going, but we got there in one piece. New toys, old friends, burgers and fries...it was a great time. We have the typical issues that arise when preschoolers are playing together, but Waylon and Kate are just so adorable together. They did so well. Collin and Lawson did great too, Collin as the slightly more mobile one was pulling other kids' hair....okay, need to watch out for that. It was awesome to catch up and never enough time, but so glad we were able to stop by for the evening! 

My only pic of all four kids

These two can get a little crazy together!

A great pic of Kate and Waylon!

The next morning, we had breakfast with Mom and Dad before they headed to work and then I attempted to get us packed up, showered and down to Decorah for a few outings. I wanted to get to the Luther Bookstore, Oneota Coop for coffee and lunch and then the Vesterheim. Well, Collin fought me on his nap, I showered, but did I dry my hair?...I don't remember. It wasn't my smoothest morning along, but we made it to Luther to shop (Kate pushed Collin in an umbrella stroller, first time doing that - went pretty well!) I had wanted to make a separate stop to eat, but Collin was so sleepy, I decided to just eat in the Union. Luckily, Oneota (the other one!) was open with limited food. Very limited, but enough to satisfy us. Then we headed to the Vesterheim where Mom was able to meet us for a couple hours. 

Collin at the Vesterheim

We discovered it was better to hold her:)

Checking out The Tradewind

 It was awesome to be there! I love the Vesterheim and it was fun to see it through Kate's eyes. I should have done a little more prep on how to act in a museum, but we were able to wrangle her:) Thank goodness mom was there. I thought I could do it alone, but it would have been much harder! It was also during her nap time, so that is always a little more challenging. 

We saw the Jan Brett exhibit upstairs, did some of the scavenger hunt, made a craft, ate a snack, bought a new book...pretty nice. I again wanted to look at things more closely and for the hundredth time told Mom that I want to do some of these things without the kiddos (Luther Bookstore, museum, etc.:) Mom was sweet enough to walk us down to Java John's so I could get my first coffee of the day! Then we headed back to Wisconsin as she headed back to work. A very full but fun and relaxing trip. 

Thursday night, I was able to get the kids to bed on time (yes!) and get ready for a trip down to Madison to see our beloved Swoboda's the next day! However, Friday's plans changed when Kate got sick in the car on our way. Luckily, we weren't even out to the highway yet, so we were back home in a minute and just rested at home until Dave returned! What a joyous homecoming. Kate took his week away hard and she was so glad to have Daddy back. As was I! 

Red cheeks! (coming to get Mommy...:)

His new favorite place

PS - Did I mention that his new, first and only word is "Uh oh!" My days are filled with his little "uh ohs" all day, I love it. 

Fun in the Sun and Snow

We've had Christmas at our place for two years and we have truly enjoyed being home...but Dave was pretty sure someone else should enjoy it here too:) So, he insisted that people come up to relax and hang out the week of Christmas and Mom and Dad took us up on it! Later on Christmas Day, they drove up and stayed through the weekend! A much longer visit than we normally have, so that was exciting. The other main excitement was the snow! We had the best snow to ski and snowshoe in and inexplicably we had some nice "warm" temps as well. Perfect to get out and enjoy it! 

I love how this looks, so cozy!

This was exactly what we were hoping for. Some laid back time to play and enjoy the winter in our "cabin." Christmas night we just enjoyed a beautiful fire, Thursday we were up and ready to ski, we would take turns cuddling and playing with the kids and the others would play outside:) On Friday, Mom and I escaped for awhile to the outlet in the Dells and did a little shopping, such a refreshing experience without little ones! and we had some good luck:) Saturday was another snow day and we attempted to get a family picture and a kiddo picture taken...I will call it semi-successful (not going to post yet as it might....be coming as a Happy New Year card. If I can ever get that accomplished)

Grandpa and Kate snowshoeing
Kate got snowshoes from Gma & Gpa Lenninger and she is a natural!

Our winter front porch

The temps were higher on Saturday and the snow melted enough to make the snow stickier --we could finally make a snowman! I can't believe how much fun we had and how perfect the weather was. 

First time really playing in the snow!

Beginning the snowman..

Kate and Gpa made a heart in the snow (on the pond actually:) 

Playing out front, I think they were pirates?

Mom and daughter skiing:)

There is no complete snowman picture, unfortunately he was never completed! We were waiting on the carrot and stuff to make a face and then it got really cold...so, the poor thing is faceless, oops.

Kate Update!
Okay, I have been pretty bad at writing down some of the crazy/brilliant/sweet/ridiculous things Kate has said lately, but here are a few from yesterday...

We were in her room getting her dressed and I noticed her pajamas were way too short, no fighting it anymore, they needed to get moved to her "too small" bin in her closet. I wondered what she would think seeing her clothes on a sibling in the future and asked...

Me: Do want Mommy to have another baby? (assuming she would jump at the idea, she loves taking care of all her babies. And oh yeah, smothering Collin with love:)
Kate: No.
Me: Really?
Kate: Yeah. We should just have a garage sale. 
Wow, alright....

When discussing supper (a coworker gave Dave some canned venison and we were making it last night)
Kate: I LOVE deer! Wait, are the antlers still on it? 
and later: I want a real deer, not one in a jar...

I'm going to have to get better at this again, I'm positive that I will want to remember these things when I am old! 

As I try and write this, I am sitting at the kitchen island and Kate is on a stool beside me, in the pantry pretending to be a chef and talking. Non. Stop. Those of you that have been around us lately understand what I am saying. She never. stops. talking. As I think Andrew said, it is kind of remarkable that she can come up with something to say, constantly. In every moment. I know I can't really complain....hmm, some of you might say she gets this endearing quality from me:) And I can tolerate it better than Dave can. Though I suppose that could be because he is listening to two chatty girls! 

Let's see, a little update on Collin...
Umm, Collin "Mischief" Lenninger is doing quite well:) He is eating with gusto (well, compared to his earlier months) and I love it! I love the mess, I love his face, I love having to make the food and grind up our supper. I know this may not last, but I guess I was pretty worried about him not eating before! 

As babies do, once he learns something he can do it with lightning speed in about three days. He crawls quickly! He pulls up and gets back down with ease and reaches way further than we give him credit for. We ended up blocking the Christmas tree with our ottoman and a tub that I put a bunch of toys in. The last few days, he will cruise over in his walker and reach for ornaments. 

He has a great laugh. I mean, I know you are all on the edge of your seats, waiting to hear if (terrified that) he gets Dave's laugh:) We get lots of giggles when changing his diaper, throwing him in the air, peekaboo, etc. Last night, I was chopping vegetables and he ran over in his walker, when I looked at him, he just started laughing. I would turn away and then turn back and he would just lose it! Apparently, Mommy's face is super funny! Awesome for me, I love hearing that sound:) 

Collin wears 12 month and 18 month clothes, he is pretty long but the 18 month pants are still a bit long, which is kind of a hazard when he is pulling up and cruising along the furniture! He is starting to fill out in the middle more, I guess makes sense as he is eating way more food now! He has a lot of hair, by Kate standards, and it seems to be coming in mostly on top of his head, kind of looks like a mohawk sometimes. He also just started getting bed head:) When he wakes up, it sticks up all crazy, super cute but hard to fix! I'm going to have to douse him with water to get it to stay down. I was having some flashbacks to my little bro - Tony's spiky hair in the mid 80's, we are not quite there, but I would love to spike it like he did:) Doing anything with hair before the age of 2 is foreign territory to us here!

We are sleep training Collin, which means that I officially hit a wall and had to do something. I am planning another post on this and it is very much ongoing. As I felt like I tried everything else, I did a modified Cry It Out, the same as we did with Kate. It worked so brilliantly at the beginning...I was just in shock. We have taken some steps backward and messed it up a bit with traveling, but I have hope. I hate it - I don't like him crying, but it seems to work, so I just focus on that. Bedtime is no longer super stressful for me, I put him down awake and he goes to sleep without a fuss. We are just still working on the waking in the night, it varies, but he is still getting up a bit. I'll write more later on that (hopefully!)

Merry Christmas!

Whoa!! I thought I was going to post this on Christmas Day...yeah. Why do I even think these things?

The weekend before Christmas we traveled to Mom and Dads to celebrate. Dave worked late (what is new?) and we had a late night drive in icy conditions to make it there. Dave and I have never shirked from making dangerous drives, especially when coming home for Christmas! But I have to say that we were both a little more wary having the two kiddos in the car. I am a little more hyper-sensitive to all those worst-case scenarios that could befall us. We saw three cars that were freshly in the ditch on the interstate to start our travels - not encouraging!  

It was a slow drive, but we finally made it to Burr Oak around 9 p.m. Mom, Dad, Andrew and Kylie were there waiting for us and after unloading and hugging, we moved the presents down from the new loft Christmas tree to the living room. We had Collin open first so that we could get him to bed (sleep training!! trying not to mess with it too much:) He did really great for a 10 month old and did a little opening and the playing with what he received. Lots of trucks and tractors for this little boy, something he really hasn't had much of at all until now. He loves anything with wheels and got lots of great gifts! Then off to bed for him and a little time out for everyone else...

Getting ready to open!

Figuring it out...

After going to sleep without any crying!! (Mommy's best gift of the season?), we settled in to go around and open from youngest to oldest. Kate did pretty good for a 4 year old, she was pretty anxious to keep opening hers, but did great. We had a fun time, I love giving gifts and watching people be surprised. We would stop to talk about a gift or test something out, but soon we noticed it was past midnight and we were getting tired! So, after a little bit of cleaning up, we headed to bed. 

Add caption

The next morning, brought guests - the Brown side of the family! Mom and I snuck in a walk outside and then Mom was busy making ham, mashed potatoes, meatballs, etc...it was a great meal and so fun to visit with family we see only about twice a year. Sam and Charlie let us know when it was time to open presents:) and that was fun as well. The boys like to get gifts for whomever they drew and you can tell how much thought went into it. 

Getting ready to open gifts with the Brown's...

It was so fun to watch Kate play with the boys:) Charlie and her have a special bond and he is so helpful and patient with her. I heard her say a couple times, "I'm a big kid!" she definitely wanted to be as big as her cousins and also had some cuddle time with them as well. She also went right up to Uncle Bob and talked and played as well as Aunt Marie, who got to read books and watch movies with Kate on her lap. It is pretty precious to watch your children get close to your relatives, especially when they have been shy in the past. 

Saturday evening brought some new games and "old" movies (Elf!) Collin cruised around in his walker, Great-Grandma and Kate sat near the sweets and chatted while sneaking chocolate:) 

Cruisin' around...

Kate and Great-Grandma had some good times catching up!

On Sunday morning, Sam scrambled everyone up some eggs - so yummy! We went to church and then back to relax at home. We started a puzzle, Kate played out in the snow, we ate more treats:) We stayed quite awhile and had a nice trip back to Wisconsin, it snowed but the roads were fine. We had such a great time with everyone, but it was wonderful coming home. 

Dave was on call Monday and I spent the day cleaning up, unpacking and doing laundry - I didn't want to be doing that stuff on Christmas! On Christmas Eve, Dave stopped in to work, picked up my groceries:) and did a little last minute shopping:) We tried to make a traditional holiday meal on Christmas Eve since Dave wouldn't be called in (on call Christmas Day). We made ham, cheesy potato casserole, green beans and cranberry salad. Kate and I baked cookies for Santa and then we had to get ready for church. We went to Bethany Lutheran in New Lisbon at 4:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, it was very full and we were just a bit late:) The kids were so stinking cute and did so well. Kate was beside herself as the ushers gave her a candle for the Silent Night at the end (and she did fine with that with heavy supervision from Mommy:) I said something to Kate about opening presents when we got home, she said that we had to wait for Santa to come. I informed her that we were going to open gifts from each other tonight, before Santa came..oops, I guess we didn't explain that very well!

Helping Mom make the holiday meal

After church, we came home, ate our yummy meal, cleaned up dishes (someone was starting to get impatient....and it wasn't just Kate:) tried to get some nice pictures in front of the tree and then finally sat down to open! We were home last year on Christmas Eve/Day and we were initially totally bummed to be away from family, but it turned out that we had so much fun, it was so precious to be in our home and watching our daughter experience Christmas. So, we were excited to be home again this year with both kids and hopefully have the same special time. Kate was a little more impatient, but it was wonderful. 

Collin trying get to Kate's gifts

Late on Christmas Eve...Santa had already come:)

Christmas Day brought Collin up first, I sent Daddy up to get him and sure enough I heard Kate's steps right afterward:) After opening gifts from Santa, we played, made waffles, Kate watched one of her new movies (The Little Mermaid!), played with her toys, we tried to take naps, Dave went out and used his new (to him) skis. Kate had asked Santa for one thing - Sofia's castle (from Sophia the First, a pretty big deal in our household:). It was so cute to hear her exclaim all morning, "Santa thinks I was good! He got it for me! I told you, Mom and Dad!" 

Finding gifts from Santa

We all received wonderful gifts and I would like to state my love (read sarcasm!) for all the tiny pieces that seem to make up Kate's gifts these days...how did we time that for when we have a newly mobile 10 month old?! I am constantly on high alert these days, did you know I can leap over the back of our couches? Sure can. Kate has been trained pretty well and my only complaint with her would be that she is overly zealous in her tiny toy patrol - yanking things out of his hands that are perfectly acceptable...well, part of the lesson is sticking!

I'm sure I am forgetting a ton of amazing, fun and memorable things I meant to write about but I cannot remember anything now:) It's safe to say that Christmas 2013 was a very joyous one and a great way to close out a very busy and blessed year.

Kate took this picture!

Kiddo Update

Time for an update! 

Collin
There is so much to report on this guy! At Thanksgiving, we started seeing some real determination in his crawling attempts and Mom, Dad, Andrew and Kylie kept telling us that he was going to start crawling in Missouri. I actually didn't believe them:) He had been so close for so long without actually doing it. But, I was proven wrong as he most definitely did start crawling while down in Missouri! It started as an army crawl and was definitely a motivation to have presents under the tree - he always went toward them! He has since gotten up on his knees and done some regular crawling, but he usually needs to be on carpet. He just slides around on our wood floors!

Getting ready to crawl

He has started eating solids! Yay! He very much prefers to eat what we are eating. Since he has six teeth and I'm sure more soon, we are giving him whatever is appropriate from our plates. We try to sneak in some purees as well. Last night, he ate some venison roast and then an apple/cinnamon/oatmeal puree. I was so happy! Even though our pediatrician wasn't really worried - I was. Time keeps ticking away, how am I supposed to wean him in a couple months if he isn't eating solids?!! I have hope now:)

He loved these Magna-tiles!

Loves bath time!

As soon as he could crawl, he went over to the couches and pulled up to standing. He has been wanting to do this forever and in a matter of days, he is now cruising around all the furniture. It is a whole new world for him. And me. My days are drastically different than when I could set him down on a blanket with some appropriate toys and not worry! I think we may spend Christmas putting new childproof locks on our cabinets:) 

Cruisin'...

He finally is over his ear infections, thank goodness. He was weighed at his last ear check and I swear she said he was 21 lbs. 14 oz. That cannot be right, at the appointment just about two weeks prior he was just under 20 lbs. Same scale. When he wakes up, I'll have to jump on our scale with him and check it out. He is basically still very long and average weight. His hair continues to grow, the color changes with the light, not sure on the color yet. 

He seems to be a mommy's boy (not in the sissy sense, I hate the way that sounds!) Obviously, I have a slight advantage over Dave at this point:) but he seems to prefer me when upset and for awhile (too long!) he only wants me at bedtime. By the way, I am loving the fact that he seems so attached to me:) I hope it continues, especially since Kate seems totally content to be with Daddy.

He is babbling/talking and I think he has his first word (not sure if it counts?) He says, "Uh oh!" I say that every time I hear a toy hit the floor (which is pretty constant) and he has definitely picked up on it. He will say it on his own or mimic us when we say it. Other things he mimics are coughing (so funny) and singing. I LOVE hearing his little voice, it was one of my favs with Kate too, and as we all know, she hasn't stopped talking yet:) I am so curious to see how Collin fits into the mix. 

Kate
Speaking of our verbose little Katiebug....right now we are starting to get the extremes - "Mom, this is the best day of my entire life."  "I've wanted to do this my entire life." "I have wanted to do this for years." (referring to using her ink stamp on the log walls. Yeah.) She knows and sings a ton of Christmas songs, super cute. 

She was not too thrilled about Collin pulling up on the furniture, she would rush over and sit behind him, trying to bring him back down, "He might fall!" So we are working on her being helpful and around to monitor him, but not preventing him from learning/doing what he wants. He is starting to go after what he wants, so we will see how this plays out initially - she doesn't love that he tries to get her things, but does very well with swapping it out for something he can have. 

She got this cool Goldie Blox for Christmas - engineering toy for girls!

She loves school, is already talking about best friends...oh boy. She has a nice, boy friend named Gabe. Whom she refers to as "Gave. Gavriel Wolf." So funny. He is a little cutey:) 

She is so sweet and will compliment Dave and I, give lots of hugs and kisses. She will do it randomly, when she can tell we need it (if we hurt ourselves or seem sad:) or if she knows she is about to be in trouble:) 

She is a daddy's girl all the way and when I am done nursing Collin, I am hoping to reclaim some special Mommy/Daughter time. She wants to be like Dave when she grows up (can already say "anesthetist" better than most people:) she wants to wear camouflage and go hunting with Daddy (quite obsessed with hunting right now, not sure how much I love this) and usually prefers to cuddle with him in the evenings. She often wants me to read her books and do bedtime, mostly I think because I am committed to Collin right about then. But as Dave was gone so much last week and missed out entirely on some of their days, she was asking/crying for him a lot. She knows he helps people at the hospital and always wants to know who he is helping, "Did a mommy have a baby? Was it a boy or a girl?" The other day, Dave went it for a bone fracture and I said someone hurt their leg, "Was it bloody?" Umm, I'm not sure, probably not sweetie. "I think it was. I think they hurt their leg. And their arm. And it was bloody." Oh boy.

She is very good at writing her name and likes to write other letter now too - a lot of"C"s for Collin. She will "write" which means scribbling a line across the page, almost like cursive and say out loud what she is writing - so precious. She likes to play/pretend school and being a teacher, being a mommy obviously (was nursing her "daughter" this morning with a little receiving blanket she found as a cover-up), and is getting pretty good being the "big kid" to our friends with younger ones. 

Melting my heart...

We say it all the time, we can't believe how blessed we are, how we got such wonderful kids!  

A Busy Week!

After our tour of the Midwest, we were exhausted but so happy to be home. I did do a little unpacking that evening (always vow not too, but always do). But we were motivated because we were planning on getting our Christmas tree the next day (Sunday). I of course thought we would get up early and get going, but we went the slow and easy route:) 

We were excited to go back to Hilliker's Tree Farm in Tomah and by the time we left, it had started snowing. Of course, this adds to the beauty and magic of it all, right? It did! It was the frigid cold that was horrendous. I brought all I could think of for the kids to be warm. Last year, we were able to drive down and pick the tree, and one of the guys hauled it back up to the shaker thing. That is what I was assuming we would get to do again. I could always pop back in the car with Collin to warm up. 

Nope. You have to ride the wagon thing down there, so we followed and got on. As soon as we got on the road, I should have made him let me and Collin get off. It was SO cold. I couldn't force him to put his head or face on my chest. He kept wanting to look around, always in the wind. He started getting really red and I started to freak out. The wagon leaves you there! Down in these steep ravines filled with gorgeous trees. You cut your tree and wait for the next wagon. I told Dave I trusted him and said I was walking back to the hut thing. Well, then Kate freaked out and didn't want me to go. So she came with me too. Luckily, I caught a wagon - yeah! Not so luckily, a million other people wanted rides too. We stopped so many times, loaded so many people and took forever to get back. And oh yeah, Collin started to cry halfway through. It was kind of a nightmare. 

Very beautiful and I love their trees. Tall and skinny!

I started the Suburban, climbed into the way back (more room) and I nursed Collin while Kate had a snack (they don't have much of a building or hut at the farm and it was a very busy weekend day for them). After screaming for awhile, Collin fell asleep nursing. Finally, Dave returned with a tree, apparently, the one that Kate wanted before we abandoned Daddy:) We went and saw Santa (pretty good one!) Kate was shy at first, but then after getting the tree, was his best friend! We carefully drove home and started decorating! Not the easiest with a mobile Collin and 'want to help so bad' 4 year old:) But we did pretty good for a half day's work!

Well, I guess this is the year we are not too shy!

She was so excited to decorate

This guy helped from the sidelines:) 

As most of you know, it is almost physically impossible for her to look at the camera right now

It is quite cozy here now. Especially with a fire burning!

The week was quite busy with Dave's work schedule out of control and Kate having two dance performances right at supper time. I had to carefully plan out my days to make sure I had everything I needed, wouldn't be late and could literally handle it all by myself - my new best friend is a hiking backpack I got to be used as a diaper bag. That way, while all bundled up, I can hold Collin's car seat and Kate's hand when we are out and about. I was so glad that one of the days I decided to pack heavy snacks and all her clothes and we just killed time at the library before her performance (after picking her up from school). I knew we would be late if we went home:) We have so much fun at the library and I just seem to relax while I am there. 

Collin at the library, army crawling around!

It was the first time I allowed Kate to play the computer games,
she liked it for awhile, but then wanted to read books.

They do little Christmas dances and then start a new routine in January for the big recital in May. This year, Kate's song was Santa Claus is Coming to Town (she has been singing it ALL the time:) and her class got to wear winter/Xmas pajamas - perfect! This dance year is so different than last year. We went to the first performance last year and she wouldn't get changed into her outfit or line up, we ended up abandoning ship and leaving. So, we are pretty proud with how far she has come this year:) I'm so glad I recorded some video as Dave missed both performances this year because of work:(

They performed at the high school one day...

And at the "nursery" home in New Lisbon another day:)

How cute are these little gals?!