Merry Christmas!

No, this is not our Christmas letter.
Yes, you will still get some kind of poetic concoction in the mail.
No, I am not pregnant. Even though that is the reason for the only other 2 times we have sent Christmas cards late.
Yes, I am sure.

But we do hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! May God bless you and your families in the new year!

Boy in a Blizzard

We had our first blizzard of the season a few weeks ago. The snow started falling in the afternoon and was supposed to be heaviest overnight, followed by strong winds and below freezing temps for a day or two. I decided that if we were going to enjoy the white stuff, we needed to get out there early. Especially because the forecast called for the snow to come up to Eli's chest by the time it was all said and done. So after a good nap, we all went outside to get a head start on the shoveling and enjoy the nice temps while we had them. Eli had never had all his snow gear on all at once so he was quite reminiscent of the boy in A Christmas Story.


He teetered between the edge of the garage and the edge of the snow for quite a while, not sure what to make of it all. I wasn't sure his feet were all the way in his boots so I don't think he could walk very well.

But he was happy to watch his sister enjoy the fun.

He eventually made his way out in it. I had already shoveled about 4 inches off of this part and you can see how fast it had filled up again.
Finally he gave it a go and decided to head for the drifts like his sister. With weeble-like quickness he made his way to the end of the driveway, only to be carried back to the top over and over. Finally it was too dark and cold to stay out any longer, so we reluctantly headed in and enjoyed the rest of the storm from our living room window.

Now any time Myka gets ready to go out and play, he goes to the laundry room and finds his snowpants. It seems his time is coming as another big storm is on the horizon and he's guaranteed some time outside when there is enough snow to shovel. (And yes, I mean me. I don't make the kids do the shoveling. Well, most of the time, I don't...)

Santa Claus is repelling into town

Downtown Cedar Falls is a happening place.

They have all sorts of events throughout the year that draw people downtown to mingle and shop and celebrate the effort that has been put into making it a fun place to be. We decided to head out as a family the Friday after Thanksgiving for some "Holiday Hoopla". We weren't quite sure what to expect but I had heard there would be tree lighting and music that night. We bundled up and made three mugs of hot chocolate to go and had a fantastic evening. There was live music and some kind of Santa's Village that we couldn't really get to because of the crowds. We bumped into some friends and enjoyed the carols and atmosphere together. Myka and her friend Kate (you may recognize the hat...) had a great time dancing around and being silly together.

As the music was nearing an end the emcee kept saying a special visitor would be "dropping in" soon. We were looking for wires or a fake chimney for Santa to fall out of but couldn't find any hints as to how he was going to show himself to the crowd other than to appear at the window of the second floor dance club shaking his booty with an egg nog in hand. (I was really hoping for that as I had such an awesome picture in my mind already, but I guess that might have scared the children a little bit...)

Finally the music ended and our host told us to look up at the building behind us.
And here is what we saw.

It was the first time I was truly scared of a live "stunt" in the way that if somebody we have never heard of or seen before would slip off a rope and fall off a building we would be concerned, and even sad, but would be able to move on. The thought of it being Santa, however... Well, I just don't even want to go there.

The good news is he made it down, um, safely, we think. There was some kind of board that fell when he was about two-thirds of the way down, but we think it missed him. He also didn't have the softest landing, but he waved to the crowd after and all were satisfied that Santa was finally here!

Somehow everyone knew that they were supposed to head to the end of main street for the big Christmas tree lighting, so the crowd started heading north but we hung out for a minute to finish up with our friends because we were planning to head home and get the littlest one warmed up. The girls got tired of our talking and took a seat on the curb to rest for a minute.

It was a cute little moment between them and I didn't want to miss it so I got set to snap one more picture just to be sure. At the exact moment I hit the button, fireworks went off about two blocks behind us. I'm sure the blurriness is due to me jumping at the sound and Myka looks as if she is just about to ask what that was, but Kate's reaction is my favorite. Her eyes were about twice the size they usually are.
Since the sound was coming from near where our car was parked anyway, we went around the building and watched the display before heading home. It was quite a fun way to start the Christmas season.

And a week later, as we were watching some Christmas special where Myka was quite concerned as she saw Santa fall down a chimney and land with a hard thump, we were able to remind her that he really doesn't fall like that.

He lowers himself down with a rope and a harness and tries to avoid the debris from the roof falling in after him.

Nothing a little plastic surgery won't fix

We'll, we made it almost four and a half years without a family trip to the emergency room. I mostly attribute that to the fact that our first child was a girl and our second child only started walking about 6 weeks ago, but our time has finally come. I have only been to the ER two other times in my life, once when I was 2 and fell off some porch steps, and once when Kurt opened the car door into his face. (Sorry, honey. It's funny now.)

This time, though, it was Eli's turn.

We were spending the day with Kurt's mom's side of the family at a CampFireGirls camp that most of the females on his side had attended as kids. It was a fun day of hiking, remembering, reconnecting, and eating. Myka found a lovely little girl her age to play with and we hardly saw her. Eli had two other one year old boys to play near and was happy as a clam once he knew we weren't leaving him there.
The main room had a large stone fireplace in the middle to help heat the building. We had just decided it was time for us to head home for the day and Kurt was loading the car while I was making sure we had remembered everything we had brought. I was standing near the fireplace in a circle of adults chatting about whatever when Eli spotted me and came over to check in. He was grabbing my legs and walking around and between them. Someone had just commented on how that reminded them of their own kids doing that at that age, and then I felt him slip right between my legs and heard a thump behind me that I immediately knew was his head hitting the fireplace. However, that thump wasn't nearly as loud as the audible gasp from everyone else in the circle who actually saw him hit the fireplace. I'm pretty sure my ability to stay calm through the cleaning up and calming him down process was due to the fact that I was not on the other side of that circle when it happened.
We got him cleaned up and determined he needed stitches only to remember we were nowhere near home. In the time we spent figuring out where the hospital was and trying to say our goodbye's, Eli happily trotted around the room acting like nothing had happened. I just kept thinking, "I'm glad you're happy now, because what's coming is not going to be a good time for you."
Lucky for us the Boone ER was only slightly busier (3 other patients) than the Montevideo ER (0 patients, lights off, Doctor sleeping) so we were able to get right in. The doctor who saw us let us know she was going off shift but would see us quick and seemed to have no desire to put stitches in a 1 year old's forehead before she left. She got a little overexcited as she explained to us that "a little glue should work". I'm guessing I had a questionable look on my face because she went on to explain how it is the plastic surgeon's tool of choice and she wasn't a believer until she saw it used on a cut twice this big and it closed right up. I wasn't going to argue and I was all for avoiding the shot of Novocaine that needs to go into the forehead (by far the worst part for Kurt) before stitches can be given. So they glued him right up, slapped some tape on there to hold it together and sent us on our way. And while I know I can get a bottle of glue and roll of tape for about $1.79 at the store, I'm guessing the bill we are going to see in a month may be a little more than that.

Triathlon Training

Throughout the month of October, Myka joined me in my evening journey to the UNI pool where I have been a part of the master's team for 3 years. For the first time since we've been here, they offered swim lessons (for current students and alumni) during the week. Since she is 4, I felt comfortable getting her started with her lesson, and then going to the big pool to do my workout. When she was finished she sat at the end of my lane and ate her snack and yelled at me to "go faster" and "get the lead out". Since I didn't get to observe her lessons, we don't have any pictures this time, but on the last day I had Kurt come with us to snap a few for posterity. We didn't realize that the last day was "fun day", so there wasn't much floating or backstroking going on. But when we got home and I looked to see what he did capture, I saw a future triathlete in the making. Just picture a few hundred other people around her and a horn going off at the start.

And of course some swimming after the entry.

And maybe not a suit with a skirt on it.

But otherwise, she's ready to go!

Pink Princess and Scary Spider

We have had quite a Halloween celebration this year that lasted the entire month of October. When Myka asked to be a princess for Halloween my hesitation mostly revolved around the weather. However, when she was invited to two inside parties before Halloween was even near, I decided we could get our money's worth out of a princess costume even if we had to find something warmer for the official event (and by "finding something" and "warmer" I mean "digging out" last year's "poodle costume"...)
We had a fun time finding a princess outfit (forget the Halloween costumes, we headed to the dress up aisle in the toy section), finding something to go under it to keep it from being too scratchy(first pair of long underwear), curling her hair (for the first party at least), wearing earrings (for the first 3 minutes of the first party) and dancing around like a princess (always). And all were happy with the results, especially the princess, who is, of course, the most important.

Eli's costume ended up being very easy, as a friend loaned me her son's spider costume from last year so he could move on to being an octopus. (She has a thing for toddlers with lots of legs...) But catching the spider for a minute so I could get a picture was kind of like when a real spider finds that one spot in the corner where your shoe just doesn't quite fit and you can't squish it no matter how hard you try. So we have a few shots on the run and many memories of his 8 legs flailing about as he went about his business oblivious to the fact that he just sprouted 6 extra appendages.And as I predicted, the weather was no where near the 80 degrees we had last year, so we were all very bundled as we headed downtown to do the Main Street Trick or Treat before the real event around our neighborhood.

Myka was good at remembering her "Trick or Treat"'s and "Thank You"'s this year which was fun to see, but was a bit put off that most of the merchants were too cold to care or remember their "you're welcome"'s.


Eli just didn't really care in general...

And for the 3rd time in this house (we closed on the house November 3rd of 2006, so we just missed Halloween here that year) we have our picture by the tree before Kurt and Myka headed around the loop for "more free candy". Again, these pictures are getting harder and harder to take...

I'm not sure if it was the weather or the flu but we had a much smaller contingent than normal come by our door this year, and I'm sure the rest of the neighborhood noticed the same thing. That might be why it appears that many of the houses were a little extra generous this year as they tried to get rid of their candy to whoever may be coming by. As I was putting Eli to bed and Kurt and Myka started inspecting/sorting the loot they had literally dragged home, this is what I found when I came back downstairs:

I'm waiting for the day when she remembers counting exactly 7 packs of skittles but has only eaten 4 and there are no more left. Or snickers. Or m&m's. Or peanut butter cups...

Carving Time

We saved our annual pumpkin carving party until the week before Halloween this year so the little jack-o-lanterns would make it to the big day. Eli still didn't get to participate as the only time we had to work was his naptime, but it was fun watching Myka help out a little more this year and react to the gooey goodness that comes with the process. Two years ago she was all about it and last year she would barely touch the seeds let alone the guts. This time she was somewhere in the middle, as she was our main seed sorter and did get herself a little bit gooey when the job called for it. Grandma and Grandpa Bates made the trip for the second year in a row so we had quite a gang of jack-o-lanterns by the end of the day.

And they seemed to have quite a range of personalities as well...

A Craft for a Craft

A good friend of Myka's turned 4 in September and had decided that she must have a pinata at her party to rain down candy for all of her friends. Her mom and I discussed the one I had made for Myka's party a few times and I told her I would be happy to make one for her if it involved some kind of roundish shape. The problem was that the theme of the party was going to be "circus" and all I could think of to make was a giant clown head. And of any of Myka's friends, Kate would be most likely to be freaked out by a giant head on a string hanging from a tree in her front yard, no matter WHAT kind of candy was coming out of it. So I stretched myself a little bit and made a square shaped pinata this time. Here is the progress as I recorded it:

When it came time to settle the bill, it turned out I made the entire thing from scraps around the house (even cheaper than Myka's 50 cent pinata!) and to pay me for my time would have cost twice as much as pinatas cost in the store. Since it really was my pleasure to do it, and my friend has quite a talent for knitting, we agreed to a cute little hat and mittens for Myka in return for the pinata. And while candy may not be falling out of them, I think we got the better end of the deal...

Boys, Bow-wows, and Balls

I don't really have anything interesting to say about this so I'll let the pictures and video speak for themselves. Basically, Eli loves any kind of ball and walks around holding one almost all day long. He'll say "ballballball" when he sees one and giggle with delight when we hand it to him. If a ball isn't in his hand it is because he is clutching his "bow-wow". The puppy stays close for the first 5 or 10 minutes he is awake, then he is on to rounder and bouncier things.

Sorry for the neck ache...

A little freedom

Sorry for the delay. I'm not even going to try and make an excuse, but I will try to catch up. So please know that when you see pictures of my kids dressed in shorts and t-shirts posted in the middle of October, I am NOT abusing my children...

The last of the warm weather brought on a new stage in Myka's life. She was allowed to play outside in front of our house by herself and with the neighbor kids. I would leave the big door open and crack the living room window so I could see and hear her from pretty much anywhere on the main floor of the house. She stayed busy picking the berries off the bushes and making homes and swimming pools for ants. Since the door was open, Eli would wander over and keep an eye on things as well.

And occasionally she would check in with us and say "hi"...

...and probably "naa na na naa na."

Park n Ride

On Labor Day we all took a little bike ride to a park for a picnic. We have tried to do this every Labor/Memorial Day we have been in Cedar Falls except for when I was too pregnant to ride or Eli was too little to enjoy the bumpiness of the road and pokiness of his sister.

We ended up at one of our favorite spots. The pictures on the right side are of Myka on our first trip to this park more than two years ago. This also would have been Myka's third birthday party location last year except it was underwater at the time. We aren't sure which park it is, so because of it's proximity to the river and wild life it attracts we have named it Goose Poop Park. But we like it because it has some fun climbing things for little folks as well as a really big slide and some other equipment for the older ones. And because we like the effect the orange tunnels have on the pictures we take.

Play with me

Deep Thoughts

"If we put a magnifying glass on another magnifying glass, would the magnifying glass look bigger?" -Myka, age 4

14 months, 16 days

That is how long life with two kids has been pretty peaceful.

The end is very, very near.

How do I look?

Myka came up and joined me as I was finishing getting ready one morning during Eli's nap. She decided she would take some time to fix her hair as well, so she rounded up every clip she could find in our bathroom and put them in her hair. She kept mumbling how she would be beautiful after she was finished. I of course told her she was, but I'll let you decide for yourself.

Let him eat cake

We celebrated my birthday a few different times last week (it's amazing how I keep turning 29...) with dinners and desserts all around. So for the first time we let Eli try some cupcake since on his birthday he was only eating Cheerios and wanted nothing to do with the stuff or the ice cream that went with it. I only gave him part of one and he picked it right up and took a bite. The reaction seemed a bit mixed, but not too bad. He ate what was given to him so I gave him a little more but he gave it back. I guess I know now these strange eating habits didn't come from ME!