Christmas morning

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas! Santa came to our house for a visit, VERY exciting.  He feels at home here in Grand Forks, due to the frigid temps and tons of snow --- it's virtually the North Pole, lucky us!! Soren was in complete shock that Santa was inside our house, but as you can see Ingrid was a little less impressed.  

We are feeling very blessed this Christmas to be in our cozy home with our healthy, beautiful  children.  Much LOVE to our wonderful families and friends- God Bless Everyone!

Mailman

Soren has many jobs...firefighter, hockey player - and now, mailman.  We have had to get pretty creative around here over the last week because, well, it's cold...not just a little, but very cold - basically hovering around negative 10 degrees over the last three days.  So, we've been stuck indoors.  We also experienced our first blizzard, which was kind of exciting actually and gave us the opportunity to finish up those christmas cards.  These pictures show Soren pretending to be a mailman.  In the picture where he's sitting down, he is sitting in his "mailtruck" and driving with his steering wheel (a.k.a. my pot lid).  He is cleaning his mail truck in his other picture.  I set up a bunch of boxes (or mailboxes) with various shapes on them and then he would "deliver" my letters and packages.  He loves going back and forth and putting things in their "proper" locations.  Anyway, I have felt myself going stir crazy once in awhile with this weather, especially when I consider the long winter ahead of us.  My strategy is to stay in the moment with Soren and really engage in his play - when I do this time flies. 

my little beauty

Isn't Ingrid beautiful!  I just can't take my eyes off of her.  These pictures don't show it so well, but her hair is just crazy, it sticks straight up into a large poof.  People comment on it ALL the time.  The thing that I find so endearing is that she has no idea that her hair is such a riot, it's just her!  She is such an easygoing and sweet little person- and so funny, I don't remember Soren laughing like Ingrid can laugh.  She can really crack up.  I like to blow zerberts on her belly and she just hoots and  hollars, she's a real good-time girl.  That's not to say that she doesn't cry or get angry - oh my, she can get very upset if I leave the room, especially if she is in need of something.  It always amazes me that someone so small, with no words, can really get her point across.  This last month Ingrid has grown her two bottom teeth - so we had a could rough days when they were cutting thru the gums, but overall she did well with this.   I also included a picture of Ingrid's Christmas present, we bought her a "tree" - it's actually a sticker mural for her wall.  It really brightens her room up.  You can see her sleeping in the corner of the picture, so cute. 

Baking cookies with a curious monkey

I made an attempt to make cookies with Soren... this was not as easy as I had hoped, he was more interested in throwing the dough, rather than making fine round balls for the cookie sheet. We had fun though, especially since it was a snowy day and we were cozy inside.
Last weekend Chris took Soren to meet Curious George at Barnes and Noble - Soren LOVED it!

rest time

Practicing hockey

Soren has moved on, for the moment, from being Fireman Frank, to Hockey player Hank. He went to a hockey game with Chris and learned all the lingo that goes along with it. He wears his "sweater," plays with his "stick" (or baseball bat), wears his "skates" (rainboots), and hits his "puck" (ball)... he is using his toy cars as his "zambonies" and calls the floor his "ice." My laundry basket his his "goal." He can be at this for a very long time!

Ta Da!

Ingrid is like our own little Christmas ornament!  She enjoyed watching us run around, putting up lights and hanging the decorations. Soren is at the best age for enjoying this time of year. This morning I found him sitting at the tree gently touching and turning the ornaments he likes the best.  It hasn't snowed yet here, but I was thinking to myself that now that our tree is up, it can get cold and snow - we're cozy inside and can sit around our tree and enjoy the sparkle. 

Oh Christmas Tree!

We got our Christmas tree! It was quite an ordeal getting it inside (as you can see).  We had numerous pine needles to clean up, but it's totally worth it - I love how it smells and makes the house so cozy.  Soren and Ingrid are waiting patiently here for the tree to get inside, Soren is ready to help us decorate!

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We're missing our families today and wishing we could be with you.  We're THANKFUL for you : ) 

Grandpa Don and Grandma Kathy visit

We had a great visit with Grandpa Don and Grandma Kathy! Grandpa Don helped Soren build a football goal post at a Lowe's clinic for little kids - Soren enjoyed holding onto a hammer and wearing all the "worker" gear.  

Bumble-bee Coat

I'm putting this picture up of Soren, a.k.a Fireman Frank, wearing his firefighter costume (yet again!) as evidence that he is STILL wearing his Halloween costume every day, pumpkin bucket included.

Cold weather has officially arrived (at least to me!).  So I put Ingrid in this marvelous car coat... designed by my friend Erin McSparron.  I think Ingrid looks quite comfy and I am at ease knowing she is snug as a bug. 

Baby books

I found these baby books for Ingrid, but Soren has enjoyed looking at them too.  He likes to "read" them to Ingrid, and she seems to enjoy his attention.  Observing their relationship develop has been a huge joy to me.  I did not expect this. Ingrid lights up when Soren enters the room, she literally bends over backwards to watch his antics.  And Soren is so protective of Ingrid, when she's taking a long nap, he'll perk up and say, "where's Ingrid, should we check on her?" (He's parroting me here, I am often "checking" on Ingrid.) It may sound corny, but sometimes I feel like they knew each other in a previous life, they are so familiar with each other.  Of course, I know they will have their challenges ahead (what siblings don't!), but for now, they love each other unconditionally, innocently, as only little children can. 

Miss Giggles

Ingrid was laughing so hard at me, I quickly took this video to capture it.  I think she wore herself out with this laughter, because she fell asleep soon after.  Enjoy!

videos of Ingrid

 Ingrid has officially moved off of her play mat, she simply rolls all around the living room floor.  She sticks her legs straight up into the air and then flips over onto her tummy.  She doesn't mind landing on her stomach, she seems to like the change in scenery.  

waking up

These are pictures I took Ingrid greeting me after a nice long nap.  She was smiling so big, I thought her cheeks were going to burst.  

a bookworm is born

Ingrid has recently taken an interest in her books! It's so fun to see her look so studious, she really examines the pictures.