...still waiting

So Dan should be here within the hour but I thought I'd take a second to throw the last few pictures of our time without him on the blog. Last night I took the boys to watch my dad's hockey practice, with promises of a zamboni cleaning the ice. No zamboni show so after 30 minutes I was freezing and the boys were bleacher hopping-time to go! This morning I took them to the local Y becuase the have a huge indoor climbing thing and I thought they would both love it. Liam is about 3 months too young and Connor didn't like the net bridge they had as the only means across the ceiling high tube towers...again, 30 minutes and we were off playing in the gym. Lastly, tonight I was straightening up and had the boys in the basement toy room. Bragging bc it had been about 15 minutes without any word from them I quietly crept down to check in...and found the toy room in shambles! Ha, oh well. That's why the floor is the way it is.

15 more minutes and Dan should be here...YES!!!

Star Wars Day

Not sure what he was doing in this

picture but its AWESOME!!

Today I put the boys in their Star Wars t-shirts. Both love pointing at their favorite character, Chewy(is that how they spell his name?), and Connor had a blast saying, "We're twins...same shirts...star wars shirts...daddy loves star wars!", all day. We had a lot of fun playing outside in the 55 degree weather, visiting Menards, backyard projects, and hanging out with my sister and her daughter Emily.

Tonight I'm heading heading to our long time family friends house to show off the boys and have dessert.

We have had so much fun updating this everyday so Dan isn't missing out on all the fun.

2 more days!!

**Dan, check out that lymph node in our group picture. Pretty sure we'll be back in the doctor office next week-ugghhh!!!

Boys will be Boys

We miss you Daddy and can't wait to see you Friday night. The boys have learned so many new things and are eager to share them with you. This week we have played outside with the Claussen boys, spent the morning with Jenny and Emily which included cafeteria and recess duty and played hockey on the back deck.

(pictured is the boys, "waiting for the zamboni to clean the ice." -connor)

A few new things we are eager to show you:

Liam knows more animal sounds and words

Both can manage the ice rink on shoes, Connor on skates!

Their new cement mixers

The dinosaur magnets we painted that glow in the dark

Ya, three more days!!!

24 hour Skate-a-Thon

1. My mom and I working one of the hourly shifts, early in the morning!
2. Liam and I messing around on the deck

3. Connor and cousin Emily warming up with a book

4. The "kids shift" doing the Cha Cha slide this morning

5. Connor and I during a break

6. Although they aren't skating, they still count as on the ice!!

7. The boys in the warming hut

8. My dad finished up the last seconds of the final hour on the ice with Connor. He did it all by himself almost the whole time!!

Last night at 6pm we kicked off the 2nd annual Skate-a-Thon to raise money for Parkinson's research. My mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's three years ago and is having much success battling the disease with a low dose of medication, lifestyle and diet changes and regular exercise which include cardio, weights and yoga. Although she is winning the battle there will always be a need for funding the research that she, and the thousands of others, count on to one day find a cure.

My dad floods our backyard every year so the event was hosted at our house. The weather was not kind this week leaving the ice a bit soft, thus post-poning the start by two hours. Friends and family gathered to watch my parents take the "first skate" and from then on there was someone on the ice, almost always with a drink in hand, until 6pm tonight. Donated pizza, coffee and bagels kept the night crew awake(so did the donated keg and Jager!), the crowds shuffled in and out morning, noon and night, and in the end we surpassed our goal of raising $4000. Thank you to all who supported this event with food, money, skating or stopping by.

More pictures and one sad mama!!

So last night I cut an extra tempurpedic mattress pad that my parents had to make a pak n play pad for Liam. Making him sleep in a pak-n-play for two weeks makes me feel bad for him so now he sleeps on a nice 3 inch thick, hundred dollar mattress pad. He crashed hard but woke up last night around 2:30 so I brought him into bed with me, ended up falling asleep for I don't know how long and woke up to a loud crash and Liam screaming. He rolled off the bed and hit the tote of toys on the floor with his face. His face was instantly swollen, black and blue and has a nice L shape bruise tos how for it this morning. I felt terrible, and still do, but luckily he has forgotten and is fine.

Other pictures are randoms from the trip thus far.

Pictures for Daddy

Connor and his Godmother Erin-they haven't seen each other for about 6 months. He gave her Valetine's and ate M&M's with her, read her favortie childhood book together and had lots of laughs, as always! We love you Erin!!!


"GOAL!!!" Liam loves playing on the back deck with the big hockey sticks and throws a fit when I try to bring him inside due to the cold weather. Guess it's in his blood!!

We miss you Dan!

We found a camera!

Omaha Update

We are in Omaha for two weeks and so far the trips been a bit rough. Mary and I packed the car, kids and all our stuff, minus my camera(ya, what was i thinking!), to head back Thursday. During the ride Liam's cough turned to labored breathing, fever, lethargic and dehydratation. We ended up in Urgent Care that night with an ear infection and a pneumonia/RSV diagnosis. Friday we got 8 inches of snow but still managed to get him back to the doctor for another check up with results of a second ear infection and confirmed RSV. We got all the antibiotics and a breathing machine before braving the weather once again to head home for the night. He responded well immediately to the meds and treatment, slept all night for the first time in a week, and was back to his bubbly self by Saturday afternoon. He still has a nasty cough but is eating, drinking, sleeping and playing just like he used to. Connor has a cough but nothing as bad as what Liam battled. It has made things a bit stressful with a lack of sleep on my part, whining kids and lots going on in this house besides us....but we hope the rest of the trip is a lot less congested(haha!!).

On a good note, my parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary this weekend with a huge reception with lots of friends and family. They totally did the slow dance thing that cuts out and the Evolution of Dance starts playing...it was hysterical to see them bust out to Ice, Ice Baby and Billy Jean!! We had a great time and I couldn't be more proud of them and their many years together.
*No camera=No picutres!

More Winter Memories

Warm weather in early February is hard to come by so with the recent "heat wave" we have found ourselves outside most evenings and weekends. We took the boys to Bayfront today for some skating, sledding and park play. Connor is getting stronger and more confident on his skates! Connor also gets to play out back with our neighbors almost daily. Although we can't throw Liam out back for hours on end he enjoys being pulled in the sled and playing on the swing set. Connor recently discovered the movie Charlottes Web and has been asking to watch, "just a little bit" every night for about a week(chillin' in his pull up before bed). Its cold and snowy way up here but when you get out and enjoy what God has given you, the memories are priceless!!

Update:

(Afraid of jinxing us I have not mentioned anything of the sort before today, so here goes...)Connor is potty trained!!! We started mid January talking to him about going on the toilet and jokingly saying, "February 1st = No more diapers" and he started to buy into it. Mentally I knew starting a young boy was a bit risky but I alotted 6 months to accomplish this task in my mind. Much to our disbelief he picked it up in no time and is regularly going on the toilet throughout the day and dry for naps. He has even been dry 12 nights in a row!! I'm sure a regression is in our future, as is always expected, but for today...having one in diapers is amazing!!

He also has learned his shapes, can count to 20(thanks to Dan removing the toilet tank lid one day when Connor asked what that was and then counting how long it takes for the water to fill back up-whatever works!!) and is mastering a new "stay in bed" tactic at night-wish us luck!!

Liam is the cutest thing ever right now! He always has a hockey stick in his hand and loves watching/seeing/reading about and playing hockey. He freaks out when Connor gets something and he doesn't so we are already packing two of the same sippy cups/snacks/toys whenever we leave. He adores Connor and is never too far behind him. He understands verbal commands like, "go down in the toy room with Connor", "put this in the trash", and "want to jump in your cribby?". He is all smiles and loves to be busy. For now he still takes 2 naps during the day and has one bottle(all milk!) at night before bed. What once was our sleepless child has become our routine, easy sleeping child!

Saturday Sledding

This past Saturday we took the boys sledding with some friends. Proctor golf course offers a long, smooth sled hill that the boys loved! Other than the snow in his face Connor had a great time and went down several times with both Dan and I. We hesitated to send Liam down the hill but then remembered he's the dare devil of the two. He had a blast!! Smiling from ear to ear he went again and again with both of us. One of the greatest joys of having children: sharing the things you love with them!! Gosh, I love sledding!

We entered one of Liam's picture into a "Cutest Bundled Baby" contest. Wish him luck!