Weekly Review: December 20 - 26

With our bags packed and everything loaded into the RSV (red sport vehicle), we were ready to start out on our big adventure! Over the river (the Mississippi river that is) and through the woods (which on this trip is also known as the Wisconsin Dells) to Grandma and Grandpa's house in South Dakota we go!





















We spent the night at our half way oasis - otherwise known as Great Grandma's house in Clear Lake Iowa. Since Great Grandma is spending the winter in Arizona, she missed out on the organ concert Spencer performed in her living room. His show stopper was The Itsy Bitsy Spider - classic entertainment!










We arrived in South Dakota on Monday and it's a good thing we have GPS because we may not have recognized the place! Grandma and Grandpa have been hard at work doing a little home remodeling project. I use the term "little" loosely because what they have done is nothing short of amazing! They nearly doubled the size of their house and gained an additional garage! All of that extra space got put to good use when Mommy's brother (Uncle Seth) and his family came over Tuesday. The weather forecast for Christmas was not sounding very "travel friendly" so we celebrated Christmas a little early. The boys had a blast playing with their cousins Nolan and Lauren, its too bad we aren't able to see them more often. The icing on our Christmas Cake was that Great Grandma was able to share our early Christmas with us! Last January she moved so that she could be a little closer to family. The apartment she moved into is conveniently located just a couple blocks from Grandma and Grandpa's house!










Wednesday evening we decided to go out for dinner. With the weathermen predicting that we were in store for one of the worst Christmas storms to date, we thought this might be one of our last chances to get out of the house for awhile. By the time we had finished dinner (and some quality time in the arcade), there where already several inches of fresh snow on the ground and no sign of it wanting to stop in sight!















Christmas Eve came and along with it........snow and snow and more snow! A little snow storm certainly didn't bother the boys. They got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa, play with some new toys/games and due to the house addition, they had a LOT of room to run around in. We brought the Reindeer Food that Brian had made at school. Before bedtime, the boys spread it outside around the house in hopes that Santa would be able to find them. The snow may have cancelled nearly all of the local church's services for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but that didn't stop us from celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus at home. We were all safe, warm, cozy and best of all, together. Oh.....and we can also report that when we woke up on Friday morning, amazingly enough, Santa was somehow able to make it through the storm and find us!









Our original plan was to start for home on Saturday but one look out the window confirmed that was not going to happen. The weathermen were anticipating that the snow was about to stop falling but that the blowing wind was just getting started. That was fine with us, it just gave us more time to bowl!!!!!

Weekly Review: December 13 - 19

We recently put our Christmas decorations up throughout the house. Mommy got a good start on the process while the boys were napping but there was still lots of tree decorating to do when they woke up! One of Daddy's all time favorite pieces of holiday decor is this little St Nick, or as he is affectionately known around here, Santa with a nervous tic. (He has a defect in his mechanical arm that makes him snap a little with each arm movement.) Apparently Spencer shares Daddy's fascination!

These boots were made for walking.......er......Daddy's shoes were made for goofin' around in!

Each December, our family as well as several of our friends families all get together for a group outing. Like last year, we decided to take in the Zoo Lights at the Brookfield Zoo and we had a blast! It was a cold evening but with lots of indoor exhibits to visit, we had plenty of opportunities to warm up. It wouldn't have mattered if it was 50 below zero - there was no way we were getting out of that zoo without the boys getting a ride on the carousel! Once we had taken care of that request, it was off to Portillo's for.............

.......SPAGHETTI!!!!!!!!

Weekly Review: December 6 - 12

Great Aunt Judith and Great Grandma passed through Illinois a few days ago on route to their winter oasis........sunny Arizona! Since we never know how frequently we can made it to see them in Iowa, we always look forward to their visit on the annual trip down south. This means in a few months, we will get to see them again when they make their homeward journey next Spring! Contrary to how it appears in this picture, Spencer was unharmed! :-)

A couple days after Krista and Erika (as well as their parents) were over to see Great Grandma, Haley (and her parents) came too! Spencer insisted that before she went home, she had to come play in the back yard for a little while. Daddy and the boys have been working away at converting some of our yard toys into amusement park rides!

Spencer is quite the little music man! Whenever Brian comes home from school with a new song, within a very short period of time, Spencer is singing it too! His all time favorite tune at the moment remains The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He will generally sing it on request - complete with all the hand gestures!

Weekly Review: November 29 - December 5

It's Boars Head Festival time at our church which means everyone is busy! Grandma is the head of costumes. In addition to ushering, Daddy is in charge of making sure the stage gets set up and taken down safely. Grandpa is a wise guy.....er......one of the Wise Men in the cast. For the past 2 productions, Mommy played the part of Mary since first Brian and then Spencer each played the part of the baby Jesus. Since we are contributing no further baby Jesus's, Mommy signed up to help Grandma on the costume committee. The boys came with Mommy to a costume fitting day and "helped" out for a little bit until Daddy finished an appt and was able to come pick them up. They had a blast! In addition to getting to play dress up, Daddy also gave them a great tour of the school hallways. They ran and ran and eventually ended up in the gym where the playing continued!

Before they headed for home, Spencer (and Brian) noticed the schools playground and insisted that they try it out. Spencer gave the equipment high ratings for fun-ness!!

This was the week that Spencer decided that he could no longer be confined to his crib. Physically, he has been able to climb out of it for a long time - he just hasn't had any desire to do so.......until this week that is! Daddy converted the crib to the toddler bed but he wasn't interested in staying in that either. After a couple frustrating nights, Daddy uncovered the mystery. Spencer wanted to sleep and nap like his big brother - on the Big Bird bed! Brian takes all his naps on this bed and then sleeps in his big boy bed at night. We have two of these beds but we had never thought about using the other one.......until NOW that is!