Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad!!! We miss you!!!!

Christmas Vacation – George

On the 27th, we loaded everything up and headed to George. We stopped in Emmetsburg to see a friend, so that helped the break the trip up a little bit. That night we celebrated Christmas with my Dad’s side. Noah got a little farm set and Faith got a cookie jar toy and they both got an ornament with their pictures on it. It was also Ryan & Dee’s 7th anniversary!!!

The 28th we headed to Ryan & Dee’s farm to go sledding!!! Noah was actually more interested in seeing the cows, so after a couple of trips down the hill, Rick and Noah went to look at the cows. A few days before we came back to Iowa, he said he wanted to see Reid and Ryan’s cows and that it was cold so we needed to cover the cows up with blankets. So maybe he was concerned about them! Here’s a picture of Renae and Noah coming down the hill…Renae said she was trying to be dramatic for Noah’s sake!!

That night we had Christmas with my Mom’s side. Mom vetoed my vote to not dress Faith in her Christmas dress. So Faith got to wear it one more time! The grandkids sang “Jingle Bells” for everyone…at least they attempted it!!! It was pretty cute. Noah got a game and Faith got a sippy cup with her name on it.

The 29th was spent as a little more relaxing day, but I did get my hair cut…7 inches cut off!!!! It really needed to be cut…I haven’t had a haircut since a month before Faith was born (and she’s now 9 months old)! That night, we had our family Christmas!!! Noah got a Thomas match game and a bath towel and toy. Faith got a pink tea set and a glow worm (this brought back memories for Renae and I because we each had one when we were growing up).

That night, Noah didn’t really seem to be himself and after everyone was getting ready for bed and leaving, Noah threw up all over me – I’m not good at handling puke!! We thought it was too much junk food over the last week mixed with being on the go so much. Well, after throwing up a few times, we figured it was probably the flu. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep that night. Faith also got sick during the night, but we figured that they’d be better by the morning for our trip back to Kansas. They seemed to be fine for the first 4.5 hours, but then it all went down hill after that. First Noah was sick a couple of times…and we only were 1/2 successful at getting the bucket to him soon enough. We pulled over at a gas station to “get cleaned up” and to empty the bucket. Once we were back on the road, he’d do it again and then Faith decided she wanted to join in a few rounds. I’m just surprised I didn’t join in…it took about everything in me to keep from throwing up.

As soon as we got him, I started the bath and just let them soak for awhile while Rick cleaned out the car. I’m just glad that Rick can handle it!!! I’m not sure what kind of bug Noah picked up, but he’s still throwing up every once in a while and now we can add diarrhea to the list! They both seem to have that right now. I’m really hoping that they get over this bug pretty soon…I think I’m doing laundry non-stop right now.

Besides getting the flu, it was great to be back with family over Christmas! It was nice to get back to a little warmer weather and not see any snow!!! I’m pretty sure we decided on the way home that Christmas needs to be at our house next year! I’m sure we’ll change our mind and forget about the car ride back…eventually!!!

Christmas Vacation – Mason City

We headed for Iowa a day earlier than planned, so we could beat the snow coming in. We didn’t make it back to Iowa last year because of the weather, so we were not going to miss it again!!! We got to Rick’s parents on the 23rd and the kids traveled great!!!! We stopped in Des Moines to eat and to let Noah run around for a little bit. I think Faith was just as excited to get out of her car seat because she crawled all over the place when we stopped! We opened presents that same night. Here are the presents the kids received:

Here is also what Faith accomplished while we were in Iowa. Rick seen her climb a couple of stairs while we were still at home, but when we were at his parents, she climbed all the way to the top! Once she got to the top, she would pull herself up at the windows and look outside. I think this is the favorite place in the house for the kids. Noah loves looking out the window, watching the cars go by.

On Christmas Day we played outside for a little while in the snow. Okay, so it was mainly Rick and Noah outside! They went for a sled ride down the sidewalk and played in the piles. We also got to meet up with Renae and her family as they were headed to her in-laws for Christmas. We met up at a hotel and the kids could run around. I think Noah liked playing with his cousins because all he talked about after leaving them, was Kahle and Bodee. We couldn’t see them soon enough again!

The 26th, we spent just relaxing. Rick was in bed most of the day, but not really relaxing. He had the flu, so he was pretty miserable. He was in Noah’s bed, so at nap time, Noah didn’t have his bed to go to. I tried to tell him that he could sleep in my bed, but he decided that he was going to sleep on the floor outside his room. I guess whatever works!!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with Rick’s parents. They ended up coming down on Tuesday so they could beat the weather. I never did check to see if they got anything in Mason City or not, but there was a chance, so they thought they would rather be safe than sorry. Rick’s dad spent the majority of the time in our basement putting up walls!!! We want to finish the basement, but we are not in a hurry to get it down, so whenever they come down, his dad does a little more. We now have the bathroom all framed in and half the bedroom is done. That was the hardest part to try to figure out, now the rest should be pretty easy! Rick is pretty proud of himself because he moved our water heater and installed a toilet! Now he doesn’t even have to come upstairs – he can stay in the basement and work. I’m just supposed to send food down every now and then for him!

On Thanksgiving Day, Marie was up and at ‘em pretty early to get that turkey in the oven. I had called my family to wish them all a Happy Thanksgiving and when I talked to Reid, he wanted to know if we did “the whole turkey thing and the ceremonial cut at the table with grace and everything”. I told him that we usually just pick everything up and then sit down, but maybe I could talk them into it this year! So guess what? We did the whole traditional “as seen on tv” thanksgiving dinner!!! We put everything on the table and I made Rick say a prayer and then he cut the turkey!!! I think his parents think I’m weird, but I know they enjoyed it too!!!! I even pureed some turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing and gravy for Faith! She couldn’t get enough of it!!!

After nap time, we built a Gingerbread Train. Noah had a great time putting the candy on the train. He was/is pretty proud of his work! He still checks on his train everyday! A lot of candy did not make it on the actual train – he just wanted a clump of candy! I was actually surprised that he didn’t try to eat all of it! Guess he doesn’t really like hard candy!

Great Grandparents

While we were back in Iowa last week, we tried to take some pictures with the great grandparents. We are so lucky to have such good grandparents for Noah and Faith!!!!

Great Grandma Schultz

	Great Grandma Krull & Faith
	Great Grandma Krull & Noah

Great Grandpa Timmerman & Noah

Great Grandma Timmerman & Noah

Great Grandma Timmerman & Faith