Christmas in Minnesota

Will and I bought our house in July 1999.  I think my family came out for Christmas that year or maybe the next, but it was the one and only Christmas we have spent here at home.   This year we stayed home and had a quiet, lazy day with Anders and Lucy.  Anders looked very cute in his Christmas outfit and SmartWool socks (our favorite infant socks - they stay on).

Here is Anders showing us his cute behind.  

Here is one of his new toys from his Colorado grandparents.  I noticed today as I dressed him that he seems to have several cow things.  I'm not complaining - it is just funny how that happens.

Every thing goes in his mouth now.

This is where he hangs out while we eat.  He smiles a lot, but when you put the camera in front of your face, it throws him off sometimes.  This little outfit is from Hannah Anderson.  We have an outlet here and there is a big part of me that wants to brave today's crowds and head up there, but I won't.  Sarah B. if you are reading this, don't be surprised if I try to rope you into going shopping in Albertville in a few weekends!  Anders spent the day smiling and talking and pooping - I think we changed 5 or 6 poopy diapers yesterday, it was crazy.  He also fought going to sleep all day until 9 pm, by then he wasn't in such a great mood.  

Oh! He is sitting in my lap as I type and just pooped!  Sometimes we call him McPooperton.

Since it was just the two of us eating dinner and since I don't eat turkey and since it is hard to find small turkeys, we decided to try something non-traditional for dinner.

Sorry if I shocked anybody with that picture.  It was actually a shock to me when it got downloaded from the camera to my computer as I didn't know this was on the card.  Will bought a live lobster Wednesday and cooked it, thankfully while I was at work.  I had successfully avoided seeing any evidence of the poor thing until now (not counting dinner).  We had a yummy meal of a lobster pasta dish from Julia Child, fresh homemade bread, salad and great wine.  It was very nice.  

After dinner, I kicked Will's butt in Scrabble with words like witty, jute, plover, dusk and booze.  They were all high scoring words and it might have been my best game ever.  We played it on this awesome rotating Scrabble game that I got from my grandparents' house.  It is very cool.

Ok, I better go change this diaper.  Except he just fell asleep in my lap, I guess the blog is boring to him.  So all you moms out there - do you wake a baby who is taking a very rare nap to change a poopy diap?  This is one of those dilemmas I have sometimes.

Hope everyone had a great day yesterday and I hope you are enjoying a white winter like we are.  Sandy

Update:  I didn't change the diaper, but instead let him sleep in my lap while I shopped at Hannah Anderson's website.  Bad Sandy!

New hat

Anders is modeling a hat I made for a friend's baby.  I'm going to have to make one of these for Anders because he looks pretty darn cute in it.  This is also his first time facing in the Moby Wrap - he loved it.  He especially liked standing in front of the mirror and smiling at me and that little person I had attached to me.  

Then and Now

We think Anders is going through a growth spurt right now.  He is going to be 16 weeks old this week.  Here are some pictures of him a few days old vs. now. 

Here he is on the ride home from the hospital vs. getting ready to go shopping on Sunday. 

His first time in one of his diapers - just trying it on for size.  And now - he is much cuter, and clasps his hands a lot.

 

He and Lucy like to watch us make dinner.  Also his hair is growing.

The week in Review

It has been a while since we have posted anything.  We've been super busy.  I was supposed to go to IA to make cookies with my sister the weekend before this past one, but wasn't able to make it.  Instead I took that Friday off anyway, and Will and I did some stuff around the house and town.  Anders had a big weekend, rolling over for the first time on Friday, but you have probably seen the video of that.

Anders napped some with his flipper slippers on.

But not for long - here is the look I was getting when I took the camera down from my eye.  

And a few minutes later I came out to the living room to discover one slipper in his hand and one on the floor.  
Here he is getting into the holiday spirit with one of his cousin Henry's fun onesies.  I love it. 

To continue on the holiday spirit angle, we made WAY too many cookies that Sunday - I wore an apron I found at my Grandpa's house for the festivities.  Here we are making some fudge, while Will mixed up quadruple batches of both Spritz and sugar cookies.  I also made 7 layer bars, which were delicious. 

I promise that I did not let the baby get too close to the stove.  

Then on Monday it was really cold, little did I know that less than a week later it would be 5 degrees colder as I left work!

This is how you stay warm when it is that cold.  

Those are my Mukluks - they are very warm.  I also have my fingerless mittens that Joyce made me under those mittens.  One of the cool things about that Monday (other than the fact that it was my sister, Sarah's birthday - happy b-day Sare!) was that there was a super cool sundog on the way to work.  One side of it was so bright it was like there were 2 suns in the sky.  Look up sun dogs on wikipedia if you don't know what they are - I had never seen one until I moved to MN.  

Things Anders likes to do.

Here is 3 1/2 minutes of stuff Anders is spending his time on these days.  This all took place yesterday, he's 101 days old today.

Drumroll please...

Orchids and Anders (for Joyce)

So this post started out just as a picture of the following orchid for Joyce. This orchid is in the guest room that Joyce slept in the week she took care of Anders.  It opened a few days after she left and she was hoping to see it. So here it is Joyce.

But then all of a sudden I found myself taking pictures of all of my orchids are currently in bloom.

And here is what I go through during the winter when I water them.  It takes about 15 gallons of water (I use old fish tank water) and I have about 3 tubs worth of orchids - bathtub that is.  Some of the orchids are not in pots, but are on bark instead and they have to be soaked.  Notice the bathroom floor (the baseboard tile is done too, but it is black glass, so you might not be able to see it). 

In the summer I just haul them all outside and use the rain barrels to water them or if it is raining I get them out for rain (that is my favorite way to water them).  Here they are back in their places.  In the dining room in the Wardian case that Will built for me a few years ago.  Ever since we moved the orchids to this, they bloom a lot more.   Thanks Will! 

In the living room window seat.  Notice the stained woodwork - thanks Dad!

In the guest bedroom.

I'm not sure how many orchids I have - something around 30 or so and I just added 2 more orchids to the collection. This first one is in Anders' room - I've been wanting to get him an orchid for quite a while.

This next one is very fragrant - kind of vanilla-like (which, by the way, is also an orchid). I got this one because I want Anders to enjoy smelling it. Not all orchids are fragrant, in fact I think I have only 3 that are.

Ok, here is Anders. We are doing some of our yoga moves - they make him smile and almost laugh (I'm not sure if it is laughing or not - his whole body kind of gets in to it and he makes this kind of breathy laughing sound). I'm looking forward to full belly laughs from him.  Ok and for the record, I don't dress like crap all the time now.  We just keep getting shots of me in hanging-out-at-home clothes.  

And here is Anders after his work out. 

Thanksgiving in the Woods

The last time we were up at the cabin Will discovered that the old foundation that our shed was temporary sitting on is very close to collapsing.  Some of you know that Will built this shed with the intention of moving it up the hill on our property some day - the shed is actually designed to be moved.  I just asked Will why we didn't just build it where we want it, and he says because the ground isn't level, but I think it is because we had our huge burn piles in that spot (I'm sure there is a blog post with the burn piles somewhere on this blog).  Anyway, we are pretty sure that the combination of the weight of the shed and all the stuff we have in it along with the several feet of snow that will likely fall this winter would lead to the final demise of that foundation.  So, we went back up to the lake over the holiday to move the shed.  Here is the shed - this photo was taken from the warmth of the cabin.

This will be the last time we drive in to the cabin as the road isn't plowed in the winter.  Since we can barely make it up our road in the summer with our VWs, we rented a big truck to both get us in and out of the property and to pull the shed.   Before moving it, Will had to empty it out - it is amazing how much stuff we had inside of this shed, which is the same size as the cabin 8x12'.  Will had to empty it by himself, because Anders wasn't interested in sleeping, so I was babysitting (although one of my employees informed me today that it isn't babysitting when it is your own kid). 

Ok, here are a few shots of the great shed drag.  It went very well, but we couldn't put it exactly where we wanted to because the ground isn't level there (still) and we need to build some sort of foundation for under the shed this next summer.  

Here is what the shed was sitting on.

As you can see there is snow up in northern MN.  We had about 2 inches when we arrived and I suspect it snowed another 2 or so before we left to come home.  The fresh snow was very pretty on the trees.  

And on the Hardy Boys boat...

And on our steps...

And on Will's wall.

Here is how we got water for the few days we were up there.  At the end of that path on the ice is a hole, which I dropped the lens cap to Will's camera in right after taking these pictures.  Luckily it floated.  

Here is our lovely Thanksgiving dinner.  Will had chicken and I had soup.  We both had mashed potatoes and wine and for dessert had some tasty Oreos.  

Anders, Lucy and I spent a lot of time hanging out inside.  I got out a bit during the cat naps Anders took.  Anders noticed his hand and could be found staring at it, while giving a black power salute.  He also seems to have discovered his ears and finally seemed to notice Lucy, who made him smile a lot.  I have no pictures to prove any of this stuff.

  

I knitted a baby hat and this hat for my mom (I like the pattern so much, I need to make one for myself).  

We have a few tightly packed groves of spruce trees, so we cut our own Christmas tree while we were up there. 

 

Notice my lovely outfit.

I chose a Charlie Brown tree - they are so packed in there that one side has barely any branches.  Oh well, that will be perfect for against the wall! 

Will went ice skating and made this cool pattern on the ice.

Finally, we ended our trip with a visit with OB, Kathleen, Hazel, Cy and 3-week-old baby Graham.  We are hoping that Graham and Anders will have lots of fun together growing up.  The baby hat was for Graham, but I didn't take a picture of it.  These are a couple of great pictures - Graham seems to be busting some moves, I think he will be well known for his dancing.