Two!

Somehow, two years have quickly passed by since our darling Ella joined our family.  I can't remember life without her...what joy this little one has added to our family.  We enjoyed celebrating her birthday with just us on her actual birthday and then with extended family the following weekend.  We also had her two-year-old well check which confirmed her suspected better than average height (90th percentile).  Her favorite parts of her birthday were blowing out candles, eating cake and singing happy birthday (and continuing almost every day since).  It was a great few days of celebrating our "baby"!  

Christmas

I guess my trend lately has been to do a once-a-month recap.  Basically, the holidays are busy for us (like everyone).  We had a fantastic December full of concerts, lights, baking, snow, traditions old and new, and all things Christmas-y.  It is so fun now that Miriam and Abbie remember what Christmas was like before and eagerly anticipate all of the things we do to celebrate.  Some of our favorite traditions are decorating the tree together, baking cookies, driving to see Christmas lights, watching Christmas movies, baking a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and opening one present on Christmas Eve.  We always celebrate Christmas with our families after the actual day because Matt works up until Christmas Day.  We have come to enjoy that because we get to celebrate as "just us" before the busier celebrations with our family (even though we always love those, too!).  So, here's a snapshot of our December...mostly around Christmas.

after griping about the snow...

The girls all had a fun time playing out in it yesterday afternoon. Miriam told us recently that we don't have any pictures of them out in the snow this year, so I wanted to make sure I got some before it hopefully melts soon!

the winter that never ends.

I'm not sure if it's just because the calendar says spring starts next week or the fact that last year was unseasonably warm for all of March, but I am sure longing for spring more than ever this year. Cabin fever has set in big time. I've tried to get out when possible with Abbie and Ella while Miriam is at school, but sometimes it just seems like so much work to bundle them up and get out the door. But we try. We have frequented the library, the children's museum and stores. I also have a Bible study Wednesday mornings and Abbie plays at someone's house Friday mornings. So I feel like we've attempted to get out despite the massive amount of snow and struggle to get into the 40's. My birthday is the end of this month and I told Matt that all I want is spring. We'll see if that wish comes true! I am thankful that Miriam and Abbie have gotten many opportunities to sled and play in the snow, but we're all ready for family walks, parks, and no snow!

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of some of our indoor activities....

um, it's march 22nd...

not December 22nd.  This picture isn't as clear as I wanted it to be, but it was snowing hard for awhile here.  The weather in March is so bizarre sometimes.  Well, happy snow day I guess!

amazing chocolate chip cookies

Today winter decided to remind us that it is, indeed, still winter by dumping several inches of snow over our freshly melted snow (or grass we finally could see after a few months).  So, similar to our last huge snowstorm, I decided to stay inside and bake cookies!  I wanted to pass along this recipe for chocolate chip cookies someone shared with me in college.  Every time I make them, people comment on how wonderful they are.  It's a simple recipe, but these are the best cookies in the world.  

Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2	cups butter or margarine, softened
1 1/4	cups granulated sugar
1 1/4	cups packed brown sugar
1	tablespoon vanilla
2	eggs
4	cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2	teaspoons baking soda
1	teaspoon salt
1	package (24 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (4 cups) Heat oven to 350ºF. Mix butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs in large bowl using spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool. The recipe is from Betty Crocker and, just like the name says, calls for a lot of butter.  Probably why they're so good.  One of the tricks is to use a wooden spoon to mix it all together (like it says) because I think that helps the butter not get so broken up and make the cookies taste yummier!  I also bake for just 11 minutes because I like my cookies a little on the softer side.  Enjoy!

caption needed

Earlier this week, I walked into the living room to find this:

It gave me quite the laugh.  Then I showed Matt and he grabbed the camera.  I'm still not sure how it ended up that way, but we both found it humorous.  So then he posted the picture on Facebook this morning with this explanation:

We honestly have no idea how this grandma ended up in this position--either the cats, Miriam, or Abbie. However, part of me wonders if it was the grandma herself avoiding the car roll-over that you see in the background--Matrix-like.

I thought that was quite clever!  But, I thought it would be fun to see if anyone else could come up with a clever caption to this odd photo.  Ideas?

In other news, I will just jot down my top ten events/thoughts from the week:

1) We all had the flu starting with the girls last Saturday.  It has lingered on through the week and we are extremely thankful to be at the tail end of it.  Yuck.

2) Abbie is walking EVERYWHERE.  I love it.  Some moms dread when their kids become mobile, but I so enjoy it.  I think they are happier, too, because they can get to where they want to be (and sometimes in some clever spots!).

3) Cooking has gone downhill this week.  Probably because we've all been sick and not really eating much anyway.  I'm hoping to resume a meal plan again soon.

4) I am ready for winter to be done.  I typically love this season, but this year has seemed to drag on.  The forecasted 40's for this next week have me so excited!

5) My "read through the Bible in a year" has been going really well!  I am so thankful to be in the routine of reading Scripture again.

6) I have started up rehearsals with the symphony again.  Enjoying that.

7) I can't wait to go outside for a walk soon.

8) I don't mind doing laundry.  I just don't like folding clothes and putting them away.

9) I can't believe Abbie's birthday is coming up so soon!

10) Did I mention I can't wait for spring?

winter beauty

Sometimes during the cloudy, gloomy and pre-snow late fall and early winter days, it is hard to find beauty outside.  But I do think winter can be one of the most beautiful seasons.  Sometimes you just have to do a little more searching to find it.  But yesterday morning we woke up to the trees with a frosty layer from the fog that had set the night before.  It was just gorgeous!  Matt and my dad were able to go outside and take a few pictures.

snow day!

Right now, I'm supposed to be making my debut playing French horn with the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra.  But, a blizzard has blown through the midwest and has shut down pretty much everything within a one-hundred mile radius.  And my parents made the trek over from southern Minnesota to watch me play in my concert tonight.  Alas.

Despite our change of plans for the evening, we truly have enjoyed our snow day.  It's one of those blizzards that you wished for every winter as a kid, but never got.  There's just something about an epic snowstorm that brings you back to your childhood wishing and hoping school just maybe would be closed for the day.  Maybe that's just me?  Either way, it's just been fun watching piles and piles of snow adorn our sidewalks and driveways (and watch Matt and my dad shovel and snowblow four separate times throughout the day).  We've also been able to bake cookies, listen to Christmas music and spend time together.  It's been wonderful!

And, on an unrelated note... we were blessed to have someone gift us with a Christmas photo shoot for our family and I got three of the pictures in my email today (a mom of triplets from our church did the shoot--check out her blog and photo blog).  There should be more coming soon.  The girls did pretty well for the whole shoot and I'm just so excited to have some great pictures to choose from for our Christmas card now!

musings on moving from montana

My last post about Montana was sort of left "to be continued," so I thought I best continue a bit on our very quick jaunt out to Montana to move Matt's mom back to Wisconsin.  For lack of time to write a completely detailed post about everything that happened while we were there, I am going to make a list of some of the more noteworthy things that happened, or things we noticed and/or discovered along the way:

*Spending hours upon hours in a car calls for a lot of food.  We had every junk food imaginable: chips, cookies, candy, and cupcakes (I guess all of our non-healthy food started with 'c').  We had a few healthy things, too (apples, carrots, and sandwiches).
*iPods, a sermon series, Christmas music, movies and chatting will help pass the time driving.
*Seeing the mountains always makes me so in awe of our Lord and His creation.
*It takes a lot longer on the return trip when you're hauling a massive trailer and driving through a blizzard.
*November in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota and Wisconsin is cold.
*Gas mileage is cut in having when you're hauling a trailer.  That's important to remember when it's 9* and the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.  You may be very, very close to running out of gas before you find a gas station and may call 911 because you were really that close to running out.  God provided us with gas when we literally had none.
*It's always good to have friends in Fargo who are willing to house three very tired people at 3:00am so that you can catch just a few hours of sleep before continuing the last five or so hours of the trip.  Thanks, Ryan and Emily!
*God answers prayers.  We know we had so many people praying for us on this trip and we could see how He watched over us the entire time.  We were able to leave early and got ahead of a big snowstorm that we didn't even know was coming (although we did go through part of it).  We were safe through the storm.  We made it back in good timing.  We fit almost everything into our trailer.  And, we did have some fun times together despite a lot of things that were potentially stressful!

a Black Friday find

My mom and I have gone shopping on Black Friday for several years now.  We don't ever get up extreme early for the really big deals, but just shop during the day and see what we can find (or look through whatever is left).  This is all very unlike my brother, sister-in-law and sister who were up at 2:00am standing in line at Target in 8* weather.  From what I hear, my brother sprinted through the store when the doors opened and walked away with a new tv.  If we ever need a new tv, I'll know who to send on a mission on another Black Friday!  So anyway, my mom and I enjoy browsing through a variety of stores and seeing the great deals we can snatch up.  I think after today, I am almost complete with my Christmas shopping!  We also were able to get a lot of fun clothes for the girls.  These pajamas were some of my favorites from the day.

Perhaps another possibility for a Christmas picture?

the best $26 I've spent in a long time

A few weeks ago, I was out looking around at Walmart for a winter coat for Miriam.  She had outgrown her coat from last winter, but I still had a few sets of hats and mittens that she could still wear this winter.  Many of the hats and mittens had purple in them, so I was looking for something mainly purple.  And then I found it --an adorable purple down coat with polka dots.  And it was only $13!  Couldn't beat that.  

Fast forward a week or so and I realized that Abbie would be needing a winter coat this year, too.  We will soon be switching her into her convertible car seat and won't be taking it into the store with us anymore (where we used to be able to throw a ton of blankets on her and just leave her in the car seat).  So with that, a coat was needed.  The winter coat I had for Miriam when she was littler was an 18month or 2T size and I knew Abbie would be drowning in it (one of the downfalls of having completely opposite seasons that the girls were born in).   So I ran to Walmart again.  After looking around for a few minutes, I happened to find a rack of the exact coat I bought for Miriam.  And sure enough, they had one in a 12month size (and only one left!).  I was so delighted to find the same coat and for so cheap.

Fast forward again to today.  Our gorgeous November weather disappeared and we had a gloomy, rainy/part-snowy day and needed to run errands.  So, I pulled out the coats and think this was the best $26 I've spent in a long time, if I do say so myself.

{I probably should have taken Miriam's snack away before taking pictures.  But it was enough to just get them sitting in the same place and partially looking at the camera.} 

about that goal of blogging more...

I haven't done the greatest job of keeping up with blogging this year (as I mentioned I would at the end of last year). I often get so caught up in reading everyone else's blog, that I neglect writing on my own! On that note, enjoy a few of the latest pictures of Miriam (half of them were taken by Grandma because I've also been neglecting the fact that I own a camera, too).