fa la la la la

it's time to deck the halls and for us that means get the tree decorated, do some holiday baking, and wrap the presents. it's an exciting time in our house; one that brings back precious memories for me. I am doing my very best to continue old traditions and create new ones.

old tradition #1: LEFSE

lef·se

  [lef-suh]

–noun

a round Norwegian flatbread resembling a tortilla, made with mashed potatoes and flour.

read: a little slice of heaven on earth sprinkled with brown sugar. mmm-mmm-good!


my grandma greseth has passed this tradition down from our long line of norwegian ancestry. let me tell you, nothing beats homemade lefse, nothing. sure they sell it in the grocery store, but it sucks. I guess it'll do in a pinch if you are desperate for a little taste in, say, july. but it doesn't even come close to the real thing.

my generation is now learning the art of making lefse. it's not exactly difficult, but it certainly is time-consuming. extra hands and company are certainly welcome! and why not make it into a lovely way to spend time together with those you love? priceless. 

this year's lefse baking day was nearly sidelined by yet another december blizzard, but we plowed our way over to my parents' house and made it happen. it sure was worth it!

old tradition #2: TREE DECORATING

I'll admit that there is definitely a martha stewart wannabe living somewhere inside me and she sneaks out every now and then. keep that in mind as you read about decorating a tree with children. small children. you know, the ones who do a much better job of undecorating the tree?

growing up, we always got to put our own ornaments on the tree. I remember the excitement we felt when mom handed us our big box of ornaments - complete with a handwritten list of each ornament and who gave it to us. we took great pride in placing each ornament on its own special branch. so I started a list for miles and let him hang up his ornaments.

he was precious. he put up the gold balls first and the entire two boxes worth were hanging in a two-square-foot area on the front of the tree. the martha in me cringed, but the mommy in me rejoiced! I silenced the martha and went with it...of course I have since spread them out a bit.

last year miles' ornament for us was one of those recordable little hallmark keepsakes. it plays Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, which is followed by a message from me saying, "merry christmas miles! mommy and daddy love you!" henry and I heard it at least a hundred times that day. it was awesome!

old traditions #3: BAKING
pretzel dipping was the extent of our baking this year. we had every good intention of making lefse in the morning and baking all afternoon. but old man winter had different plans. the massive amounts of snow on saturday made it impossible to get to the grocery store and the need to plow out on sunday scratched our original start time. so we didn't get to enjoy the mile high stacks of containers full of cookies this christmas. I'm sure my waistline is thanking me!

miles and I did do some pretzel dipping. he was such a great little helper! I'm happy to report that more pretzels made it to the freezer than went into his mouth and we only needed to wash the top of the sprinkles a few times.

miles' attention span is quite a bit longer than the average two year old, but when he spotted the iPod, I was doomed. what can I say when he sweetly askes, "can I watch Sound of Music on the iPod mommy?" sure thing little buddy...do-re-mi!

henry napped while we chocolated. he sure was happy to see his big brother when he woke up!

let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW

the snow totals here have been historic. I did a great job of making sure that my children are outfitted with warm winter gear that is appropriate for all things "snow" - sledding, shoveling, snow angels, rolling down the hill, etc. however, I failed to outfit myself beyond a new down jacket, boots, and some mittens. my frugal side has me waiting until the after-christmas sales to snatch up a yummy deal on some great snow bibs. in the meantime, we were blessed to have uncle brian and auntie blair offer to take miles and cousin josiah out for their very first sledding adventure! miles kicked the day off with a little pre-sledding shoveling with daddy and snow angels 101 with auntie blair.

henry bug stayed warm and cozy inside with mommy. smart boy.

somehow the hill at my old elementary school seemed a lot larger when I dug into my memory. I guess I might disagree with that statement when I try to haul a bundled up two year old up that hill. especially since the ride down takes no longer than ten seconds. but...to that two year old it was ten seconds of pure bliss.

josiah was less impressed. I'm sure the inability to move in his snow suit or walk in the boots weren't helping to sell this "super fun sledding adventure" to him. and the face full of snow a la brian's boots probably sealed the deal. after his second run down the hill he decided he was a-ok to hang in the sled and watch.

thank you for taking the boys sledding. we'll have to make it a whole family affair next time!

when mom is away, (some of) the boys will play

while Robin, Brian, Blair, and Beth took Miles and Josiah sledding, Henry stayed home with dad.  Robin said that Henry was working on how to use the pinball machine but he perfected it while mom was away.  i figured this would keep people entertained until Robin's next update.

the tenth month

technically this is henry's eleventh month, but that just confuses me when I'm actually posting his ten month pictures. so we'll just go with it, right? yes, I realize that he is nearly eleven months old, but I'm officially WAY behind on blogging and, to be honest, these pics weren't taken that long ago. it's not my proudest mommy moment, but oh well. henry bug is a busy bug. b-u-s-y. he's an absolute sweetheart and will melt your heart as soon as you hear him say "hi!"

a few weeks ago he decided that crawling up the stairs was easy peasy and has taken quite a liking to climbing on anything. in particular, the little picnic table. it's hard to already be saying "no" to the little guy, especially when he just scrunches up his nose and laughs at you!

he's taken quite an interest in talking these days. I remember that miles was talking a little at this age too, but for some reason I thought that henry would let miles do the talking for him. not so. he has LOTS to say and we are thrilled to hear him learn new words or watch him bust out another new sign. the favorite words: daddy, momma, hi, oh-oh, papa, nana, puppa (puppy), ah-duh (all done), and my personal fave - uh dat? (what's that?). oh and he's signing daddy, cookie, more, and all done. genius - I know.

during our latest trip to the ER for an ear infection (on friday night no less), henry weighed in at a "whopping" 19.75 pounds...fully dressed. miles weighed more than that two months earlier! he's still our little peanut. a brave and sometimes bucky little man. his spunky spirit and darling personality are the perfect combination.