SNOW DAY!

Whelp, it had to happen eventually right?!?  My first official snow day of the school year (and Jon's 2nd).  At first site of the alert, I have to admit I was disappointed.  Now I must return to school for one day in June (only one so far...).  But, it was a good day.  A VERY good day.  So I will not complain.

We had a perfectly delightful and lazy morning, complete with a french toast breakfast while listening to Cities97 on iHeartradio.  Next came play time, an escape attempt, more getting into trouble, then some lazy cuddling before lunch.  Lunch was a delicious frozen pizza, carrots, and a pear and after lunch Vinnie enjoyed a long nap while mom and dad did some cleaning and got some work done.  After nap it was time to venture out in the snow.  We enjoyed dinner, a bath, and wrapped up the night with a little Wild Hockey.  Does it get any better than that?!?

Plus, mom documented the whole thing...  Enjoy!

Morning play time...

More play...

"How do I get out there?!?"

"Hey Mom! Come and get me!"

...a little light reading

Time for some tv.

Finally made it outside!

SLEDDING!

I like snow days!

...and wrapping up the day with some hockey.

Snotty-nosed...Keimigs!

We have been a little MIA lately...so sorry!  The past two weekends we have been dealing with gunk...THE gunk.  We are the hacking, sniffling, snotty-nosed family these days!

Our sweet little Vinnie tries so hard to make it through the week, not wanting to miss a moment of times with his pals at Daycare, but when the weekend hits, he goes down, and usually goes down hard!  He had a fever upon picking him up from daycare last Friday, and declined from there.  After a rough night we decided to go into the pediatrician, fearing he had caught RSV that was going around his room at daycare, or even the flu.  We spent several hours at the pediatrician, and even headed to the hospital for X-rays, to determine it was some virus, and be given a potent shot of antibiotics.  The shot got him up and going and by Sunday he was fever free and more himself.

Throughout the week at school, my (mom) little sniffles and tickle turned into the full blown gunk and by Friday I was feeling down-right miserable and ready for a weekend on the couch.  Vinnie seemed to slow down too...and we later found gunk around his ears, a sure sign of an ear infection.  Fortunately, the tubes are doing their job and draining all the nasty stuff out.  We are on our second day of drops, and he seems to be doing better.

Fearing that we were just re-infecting ourselves in our very own home, Jon spent a good portion of today sanitizing and cleaning.  I stripped beds and washed sheets, and Vinnie and I both took a fantastic nap this afternoon.  We are feeling good...just in time for the work week.

Now if we could only stay well to and THROUGH next weekend! :)

The Frigid Lull

Whelp, it is that time of year.  The holidays are over.  Christmas is packed away neatly in boxes (this just happened yesterday). We are back in the swing of things at work...and we have moved onto the quiet times that occur between January 1st and about March 15th.  It is our quiet family time in Iowa.  Unless there is a wedding calling us North, there is no travel and no big events or festivities.  The past two weekends we have been in full swing of this frigid lull.  While we love the time with family that the holidays bring, it makes this quiet time much sweeter, because we need the time at home with nothing but a house project, a batch of cookies, or a load of laundry on the schedule.

This weekend has fit perfectly into that routine.  As I sit writing, Jon is in the project sanding a quilt rack we found at Goodwill last weekend.  It cost us just shy of $5 and with a screw tightened here and there, a good sanding, and a fresh coat of stain it will perfectly display several beautiful Grandma quilts that a currently stored in closets.  I am beyond excited!  I have even started a board on Pinterest called "Jon Projects" at his request.  Looks like he's hoping to get a little handy around the house this winter.  One project on the new horizon is sprucing up our tiny basement bathroom.  While we did an overhall on it shortly after moving in (stripping layer upon layer of wallpaper), we are hoping to pull up the carpet and put in new tile flooring, replace the goldenrod toilet and spruce up the shower.

We also just returned from a morning of errands (fun for mom and dad) and a trip to Playstation, an indoor playground.  Vinnie (and Jon) climbed through tunnels, went down slides, and had a blast in the ball pit.  After enjoying the indoor playground we visited in Edina while home for Christmas, we figured it couldn't hurt to check this place out, and we are glad we did.  Vinnie played himself exhausted and is now in the midst of a fantastic nap!

In all our relaxing time at home, we have also discovered we have quite a talker on our hands.  At almost 18 months, Vinnie is repeating words left an right and has developed quite a vocabulary!  Words include...
Baby
Food (with a hard emphasis on the "f")
More (lots of "o" in that one)
Hat (obviously)
Cookie
Please
Thank you
Poopy (while pointing to his diaper, no less!)

He also joins us in our prayer before meals...although that is mostly babble, we appreciate the effort and are working on him folding his hands in prayer too.

Since Vinnie has come into our lives, we live for the weekends...and the quiet cozy weekends at home this time of year make us appreciate so much more his presence in our lives.  He provides endless fun and entertainment, and sometimes even motivates us to get out of the house!

Stay warm!!!

The hustle and bustle...

It has been quite a busy holiday season for our little family.  I don't think any of us realized quite how busy until we returned on Saturday 12/29, sat down on the couch in our Cedar Rapids home, and finally breathed! 

There was business leading up to Christmas which included gift buying, baking, cleaning, and celebrating in Iowa.  In a less celebratory manner, this business also included Vinnie's tubes surgery on December 14th.  Vinnie showed us we had nothing to worry about as he bounced back quickly from the surgery, and was his bubbly self by 10:30 that morning.  Since then we have had a bout of drainage from the ear, which actually occured while we were in Minnesota.  We assume this is what our new ear infection normal looks like...a little gunky drainage from the ears, a few days of drops, and moving on with life.  No more fevers or cranky little persons.  No more oral antibiotics.  So far, we are pretty pleased.

Just prior to embarking on our holiday travels north, Iowa experienced quite a snow storm.  My last day of school for the holidays was Wednesday, December 19th.  Jon was set to work Thursday the 19th, but due to the snow storm and blizzard conditions, we were all homebound for the day.  This gave us a chance to get one more load of laundry in before packing up and heading out Friday morning.  The roads did not provide the most ideal driving conditions; what usually takes us about 4 1/2 hours to drive took us 6 hours.  Upon arrival to St. Bonifacious Friday afternoon, preparations began to celebrate my dads retirement from coaching at Waconia High School.  We spent the evening at my former high school chatting with former players and coaches and celebrating the career of one classy and hard working football coach.

We spent the next few days with my family.  This included a trip to a fantastic indoor park in Edina, that Vinnie LOVED.  It also included some quality time with my sister and her family.  Vinnie absolutely loved all the entertainment, companionship, and business that his two cousins provide.  The were all on the go from sun up to sun down.  In our time together we managed to celebrate Christmas and two special birthdays, and enjoyed our time together.

Late Christmas afternoon we packed up the car and headed to White Bear Lake where we spent the next few days with Jon's parents, Jon's brother, and his wife and four family dogs.  Jon's parents had just returned from a trip to Denver to spend Christmas with Jon's sister, so we all enjoyed hearing about the happenings of their trip.  We spent the morning of 12/26 exchanging gifts and enjoyed a delicious breakfast.  While together we managed to find time to make a trip to the mall where Vinnie enjoyed a Carousel ride with Grandpa Norm, some live music at Manitou Station, and Jon and I even got a night out to celebrate our anniversary (a little early) while the family babysat and enjoyed some quality time with Vinnie.

One thing became very apparent this holiday, little ones make the season much more magical, and as we continue to celebrate with family and friends, and add new little ones to the mix (next year Jeremy and Laura's special addition with be with us) it just gets more and more special.  We so enjoy the relaxing time spent with family.  While we wish it could happen more often, we enjoy and look forward to these special times each year.

Now, as we say goodbye to the year 2012 and embark on this year of the lucky 13, I can't help but look back on all that has happened in this year.  It is amazing how much Vinnie has grown and changed in this time!  Jon and I have worked hard in our jobs, making professional accomplishments that we both enjoyed and are very proud of.  I saw a new transition center become a reality before my eyes and worked hard to transition into our new facility.  Jon was involved in a Presidential visit to Kirkwood...all things we will never forget.  Personally, I began singing again, taking on cantering 1-2 times a month and Jon enjoyed all the "work" work that goes with home ownership, improving our yard and house project by project.  Overall a fantastic year!  We are anxious to see what 2013 has in store for our little family.  One thing we know...we will share every bit of our adventures with you, our family and avid followers! :)  HAPPY NEW YEAR!