AfterSchool Drawing Class has started again

Lesson: Drawing people in proper proportion and having FUN!

-8

It's noon, and temperatures have risen to, if not to a tropical at
least to a sub-tropical, negative 8 degrees.

Ice Skating Lessons

A video of Grace at ice skating lessons.

(Why is she skating around and peering into orange cones? They set out a bunch of cones, and put pictures at the bottom of the cones. Then they give each child a picture. The children skate from cone to cone trying to find which cone is hiding the match for the picture they are holding. If they find it, they get another picture. The whole purpose is to keep them moving so they'll keep practicing their skating. Grace seemed to love this game - she was really having fun searching for matching pictures.)

Windchill

Just finished my coldest walk home this year - it was at least a -30
degrees with wind chill. Maybe closer to -40 degrees. It was cold.
Sorry, Heather - I know it was cold on the Friday night when we went
out for dinner, but it's colder than that today. Perfect weather to
welcome Bill and Isabel into Minnesota tomorrow.

First Spaghetti Dinner

Look, I'm A Deer!

Bedtime Avoidance Strategy

A simple straightforward strategy to avoid bedtime. Largely ineffective. Also used to avoid other unpleasant activities. With an unanticipated outcome: Holden thinks it's great fun to join her under the desk.

Lauderdale Snow Commotion

We walked to the Lauderdale Snow Commotion yesterday, which included a ride in a horse-drawn wagon. Here are some pictures of our epic journey through the snow-covered city:


Matt and Grace tucking Tovah into her reverse rickshaw.

Four adults and four kids set out.  Julie took 3 kids, pushing through the snow on the sidewalk.

and Matt relaxed.

Playing with hockey sticks (Matt and Tovah) - Grace is standing there in the blue coat on the ice.

Grace playing hockey.

Grace, Aimee and Tovah on the horse-pulled wagon.

Holden all bundled up and incapable of sitting up.

Grace & Tovah doing an art project.

Negative Thirteen

Degrees, that is. The temperature when we woke up. Add in the windchill factor and it's about negative twenty outside. The cold snap is still here, but ends today. By this weekend we'll be seeing low-30s.

Holden says Thank You

Holden says Thank You for contributions to his new high chair, which he will be able to use for many, many years.

Holden Birthday Pictures

Heather and the Birthday Boy.

Tugging at Aunt Sara's ear.

His first cupcake.

Birthday guests hopped up on sugar.

In the playroom.

Mom and Little Boy.

Dad on the phone with Grandpa Loren.

Uncle Bill talking with Tor.

Not all of our guests were enthused about the party.  

Camera Retrieved From Jan. 20th Celebration

MULTIPLE SIGHTINGS OF CASE DESIGNATE "HOLDEN"
CAMERA RETRIEVED AT INCIDENT SITE U.S. 221
AREA FORMERLY KNOWN AS "BURNTVEDT APARTMENTS"





What am I talking about? Click here to see what I'm parodying.

Refrigeration

The advantage of zero degree weather is that, if you happen to have a
small refrigerator, which we do, and you stock up for a birthday
party, you can put the items that don't fit in the fridge outside the
front door to keep cool.

Breakfast Party

We headed out for breakfast party this morning - negative ten degrees, in our pajamas, walking down two buildings to a morning party of pancakes, coffee and orange juice. We want all our visitors to experience a Burntvedt Apartment party - two dozen people in a standing room-only apartment. It's an essential seminary experience.

The boy with two front teeth

The Cup and Muffin

Our friends, Mark and Amy, have bought a coffee shop in Kingston, Washington - they are renaming it the Cup and Muffin. Click here to take you to some pictures of the shop they bought and a photoshopped image of what they plan to do to it.

You all are, of course, required to stop there for your Kingston coffee whenever you take the ferry to the peninsula.

What's the weather where you're at?

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and negative 14 degrees.
(Heather's wondering why in the world she came to visit us in
Minnesota in January) What's the weather like where you're at?

Zero Degrees

I just walked home in a rather brisk zero degrees. (-8 degrees with
wind chill - and there was plenty of wind to do some serious
chilling.) It hurt my face just to walk the short distance between
work and home. We're heading into Holden's birthday weekend with
quite an arctic blast hanging over the weekend. A good weekend to
stay indoors and watch movies.

Aimee's oldest friend, Heather, is visiting us for a few days. Well
- Heather's not Aimee's oldest friend - I should say she's the friend
Aimee has known the longest. Around 30 years and counting now. As our first official guest to stay in our luxurious guest room, complete with blank white walls and unpacked boxes, we offered Heather this special gift: the experience of a true Minnesota winter. To make up for the cold, Aimee's taking her to the Mall of America, which happens to be one of Grace's favorite places.

The Crown

I want to wear the crown.


I'm wearing the crown!

Training Wheels

ToothWatch

Grace is very excited to report that Tooth #2 has broken its planetary shackles and travelled to that distant land wherein dwell tooth faeries who offer monetary awards for small teeth left under pillows.

Did I sleep?

Grace normally crawls in bed with us. Last night, for the first time in a long time, she was so tired she never woke up in the middle of the night. At 7:30am this morning she came into the living room. I was sipping coffee on the living room chair. It was still dark outside (sun is rising around 7:45am). Grace said, "Daddy I didn't go to sleep." "It's morning," I answered. "You slept all night." She insisted it was still night and she had closed her eyes, then opened them. "I didn't sleep last night." She's still insisting she didn't sleep last night.

Walking?

Facing Forward

It's the little things in life - today, we switched Holden into to a new forward-facing car seat.  Holden was surprised and grinning as Aimee strapped him into his new seat and he found himself looking the same direction as the rest of the family: Boldly, into the Future.  Also: he sits higher so he can see out the side window better. 

Temperature

It's the same temperature in St. Paul as Seattle right now. I'll bet
we're having the opposite reaction to that 35 degrees, though. We're
pretty pleased how warm it is.

Princess and Belle

Grace's new pets, Princess and Belle:


Grace is enthralled with the two little hamsters.


"Belle is the one who is biting," Grace would like y'all to know. Which is true: Grace sticks her finger in the cage and one of the hamsters will nibble on it.

Grace is so excited she can hardly contain herself. Scratch that. I don't think I can argue that she is containing herself. She is positively uncontained, bubbling with rodent excitement, leaping and jumping and babbling. The side benefit is she is entertaining Holden, who finds her excitement highly amusing.

After the Carnage

After the carnage of 14 people opening presents on Christmas day, the home took on a more pastoral atmosphere:

Christmas Photos

Here's a sampling of Christmas photos.  I'm nearly recovered from Christmas, so I finally have the energy to post these.  Click here to see all the photos I uploaded.


Eric on Christmas Eve.

Cousin Jared, Nelson, uncle Roger.

Aimee and Nelson's Grandmother, Betty.

Aimee wondering what the heck this present she's opening is.

Jaime celebrating his Dukes of Hazard poster.

Knights of the round table.

Holden weaving his way through the wrapping and packages.

Holden's Birthday is Coming

January 20th the little guy turns 1.

We're sort of drowning in toys after the Christmas children's bonanza
of Santa loot - and there's a couple bigger toys we left in Seattle
that will make their way to Minnesota when guests come to visit. So
there's no need to shower the little fellah with toys this year. (In
15 years, he'll probably point to this as a defining moment in his
life when his Father betrayed him on his first birthday. For now,
he's sleeping like a baby, completely unsuspecting. Heh heh heh.)

If anyone wants to chip in for something, this is what we want for
him, a decent high chair:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009IMAY/ref=wl_it_dp?

ie=UTF8&coliid=IPMXHFTRU2Q1L&colid=3VCUGFFBBAESR