Christmas Numbers Two, Three, and Four

After my parents divorced their placement agreement for us kids was Mom's house on Christmas Eve and Dad's house on Christmas Day.  The schedule has stayed with us.  So Christmas Eve my step-dad makes all kinds of munchies.  Taco dip, ham roll ups, cocktail wieners and meatballs, ranch mushrooms, and mom makes Grandma's fudge.  This year in honor of having two pregos (Amber and Heather)  Warren also cooked us a meal.  Marinated steaks on the grill.  Delicious doesn't even begin to describe it!  Heavenly? ..maybe.  After impatiently waiting for everyone to show up, we open presents.  We do a name exchange between us adult siblings and spouses.  Heather orchestrated the name exchange this year since we forgot to pick names on Thanksgiving.  Mom and Warren always get us little useful odds and ends.  The kids open their presents first.







I used my new skills to make Jordyn and Kolton some funky hats.  They didn't take them off for the entire night.  I'm assuming they liked them.





Two days before Christmas Eve I got a phone call from Amber. She said wouldn't it be neat if I could make a hat that had a scarf attached that she could tuck into Anabel's coat so she couldn't pull the hat off. She said THAT would be a great present! Yes people...two days. Being the amazing aunt that I am...I had to make that happen. I finished as they were walking in the door. I improvised the hat from a pattern I had and then used this pattern for the scarf.



Jake will never roam alone again.



Amber brought her fetal doppler so Heather could hear Baby Sims's heartbeat.



Christmas morning Ronnie (Landon's dad) dropped Landon off and Landon opened his presents.



Then we all got dressed and packed up and drove up to Dad's for Christmas number 3. Christmas at dad's is always tense. Dad's girlfriend always manages to make things uncomfortable...that is a story for another time. We'll just say we opened presents and had "lunch" and left fairly quickly. Christmas is a happy time and I want my kids to remember it as such. Unfortunately I think we're going to have to consider skipping Christmas at Dad's in the future if she's still around. That's all I have to say about that.





Opening presents really wears a girl out.



After leaving Dad's we head home. Santa's helper (aka Grandma) came over Christmas Eve and brought presents out of their hiding places, took care of Santa's cookies and milk and fed the reindeer the carrot Landon insisted I leave out for them. When we got home the boys were sound asleep in the van so Ryan and I came in and turned on Christmas lights and started a fire to get the house warmed up.



Then we woke up the boys and brought them in. They were so excited to see all the presents! From Landon..and I quote "See Mom, I told you we were good!"







After presents, Ryan's mom and "adopted" dad Victor came over and enjoyed Christmas dinner with us. We put the kids to bed early after they left and spent some much needed quiet time snuggling on the couch.

Daddy's Little Helper....

Fear?

She has none...

Ski-Don't??....

Ryan and I are both avid snowmobilers.  Well we were anyway but then we had kids which puts a wrench in taking off for a weekend or a day on the trails.  Now that we're all done having babies and Danica is easy enough to leave for more than a few hours we're getting the sleds going again.  The snow season has started off well and Price county trails are open.  We haven't started our sleds in two years.  The last time we rode Ryan hit a deer and a mile down the trail some corn that the mice in our garage decided to store in my muffler started on fire.  It was an interesting trip.  My mom has offered to take the kids overnight Tuesday night this week and Ryan and I are hoping to head up to Prentice on the sleds for supper and a few cocktails.  Two year old gas and a snowmobile that needed a tune up two years ago (let alone after sitting for 2 years in a dusty, dirt floor garage) makes for a lot of work to start.  Ryan's Yamaha V-Max started right up.  My Ski-Doo Formula 500?....well, not so much.

I really do love the smell of snowmobile exhaust...but not this much.





It did finally start and I got to take it around the field a few times but priming it constantly to keep it running was not my idea of a good time. She's headed to the shop for a tune-up before she sees any trails.





Ryan took Sawyer for his first snowmobile ride ever. He's hooked and its all he's talking about.

Christmas Number One

We had Christmas at Ryan's mom's house.  She made a turkey with all the trimmings.  It was very good even though there was a bit of a time miscommunication and we were a little late.  After lunch we opened presents.  Of course every ones favorite part.  Honestly, I like watching everyone open their presents more than opening my own. 

Great Uncle Gene playing with Danica



Sawyer helped Grandma and Danica open presents. A job he enjoyed very much.







Victor (Ryan's "adopted" dad and the kids "adopted" grandpa)



Danica loves stuffed animals and babies. I think its the faces. She loves to talk to them.





One Christmas down...three to go.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Landon was in a play at the Ogema Town Hall.  The kids from the elementary school do it and its separate from the school's Christmas program.  Landon played the part of Max, Grinch's dog.  He had two lines that we practiced all week.  He needed to wear all brown for the his part.  Do you know how difficult it is to find a completely brown boy's shirt?  In our area...very difficult.  I ended up buying him a white shirt and some brown Rit dye and dying it in the kitchen sink.  It turned out very well considering I'd never done it before.

Landon did an excellent job playing his part!  I was so very proud of him!

The Creek

I pronounce it crick.  Apparently its an up-north Wisconsin thing. This winter we're trying to keep it open for as long as possible to help with the electric bill.  The last 2 years its been almost $300 a month for December, January, February, and March between the house, the fencer, the lights and water heater in the chicken coop, and the stock tank heater.  During the summer months its less than $200 a month and the only difference is the heaters and the coop lights.

So every day I walk the quarter mile through the pasture down to our creek and break open the ice with a splitting maul. Sawyer went with me today while Danica was napping.







I am not a strong girl...my arms get tired fast swinging that thing.  Ryan makes fun of me because its a pretty light splitting maul...I think he said 15lbs when he was picking on me today. Usually the ice is pretty thin and it breaks through easily with one swing.  Last night it got down to 22 degrees below zero.  The ice was probably 3 inches thick on the upper side of the culvert today and it took more swings than I really cared for.  My arms are going to be sore tomorrow.

Top side of the culvert.




Bottom side of the culvert.




I could barely carry that splitting maul and hold Sawyer up through the deep snow on the walk back to the house because my arms were so tired. 

And of course, because I am not one of those people that was blessed with coordination or grace, I managed to slam my hand between the handle of the splitting maul and the ice during one of my last swings.  It feels amazing...really.

And We're Up!

She was pretty excited with this new "position".  She stood there a good 10 minutes and is now constantly trying to figure out what else she can grab on to-to get up.









She even showed off her one-handed skills.