20 weeks.

January has been a little slower, expectedly so. We finally got enough snow to cover the ground, about 4 inches total. Nathan has been going out by himself at the end of his quiet time. He goes up and down the ditch in our backyard until it is dark and we make him come in. I'm glad that he obeys well and I can see him from the window so that I don't have to go out too!

Two weeks ago we did have our 20 week ultrasound. All of the kids were allowed to come watch -they even had a large screen television that showed everything the sonographer saw on her computer. The biggest news is that all the measurements and checks point to a healthy baby. (a "little big" as the doctor phrased it, but still healthy:)

I know it's difficult enough to decifer ultrasound photos in person, so I can't imagine a picture of them is any better, but just thought I would share anyways. In this top photo there is a 3D picture of baby (you can see the head and a finger doing #1), hands, an arm, and a leg.

This photo has 2 images of the head and chest, probably some arms and/or legs in there too, and 2 3D pictures of the baby's face and hand.

We had several discussions on whether or not to find out the sex of the baby (Ok, so mainly I talked about it, and Matt stated over and over again that he didn't want to find out the gender), but in the end Matt's feelings were stronger on the subject and we did not find out. The baby will just have to surprise us in May (or June). This pregnancy has seemed very simliar to my pregnancy with Nathan-with the exception that I don't plan to gain 60 pounds this time-so in my mind I've pretty much settled that it's a boy...but I guess we'll see. Right now we feel very blessed and humbled that we will be having our 4th healthy baby. Praise God!

2012.

With the new year upon us, like many I like to take at least a moment for some personal reflection and think about some "resolutions". I believe it's important to examine where I am and looks at ways I can continue to move forward. My primary focus is on my personal faith and relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, researching and living out a healthy, simple lifestyle, and creating a loving, educational Christ-centered home.
So, for the sake of archiving, I've decided to share a short list of some of my goals. I don't really make "New Year's resoltuions" mainly because the idea of doing something for a year seems less realistic and attainable for me...so for now these are my monthy goals. Each month I can look at ways to tweak them, adding or subtracting as it seems fit:)

1. Begin each day by getting phsycially and spiritually ready before the children are awake. (watching Micah and joining BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) have made this manageable and pretty much necessary!)

2. Work through and complete the 8 week Real Food Challenge from Vintage Remedies. I'm currently on week 2. So far, we've talked about drinks and sugar. It's interesting and challenging and good:) They provide foods to eliminate, foods to replace them with, recipes, etc. You can do it too! You can join any time of the year, and it's all free-just a weekly email.

3. Read at least 1 book per month (ok, I know to some this is completely lame). My focus here will be on classic literature, biographies, and Christian non-fiction. I'm currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and I have a few books on my "read next" list.

4. Eat (heatlhy) fish at least one time per week. So far, we've been enjoying some wild Salmon.

5. Meet with our refugee family at least once per week and commit to praying for them daily. (right before Christmas we began sponsoring a refugee family through Lutheran Social Services)

6. Map out homeschooling shedule for the semester, finding a good place to end before baby arrives.

7. Find a good exerice routine (right now I'm doing zumba but it's only 1x per week, and I would like to do something more often. Unfortunately, it just got too cold to be doing much outdoors).

8. Look for ways to bless and serve Matt.

9. Look for ways to teach and live out the grace and beauty of Christ for my children (little vague-this will need some tweaking:)

Ultimately my prayer is to strengthen my walk and grow closer to Christ, as well as see this for the rest of my family. I look forward to what 2012 has in store!

Movie Night.

The conclusion to a day spent with grandma and grandpa was spent doing every one's fave...watching a move. The video of choice (or in one case, protest) was Winnie the Pooh.

The following day was pack up, Key's Cafe for lunch, Dick's Sporting Goods to use a gift card, and off for home. We were thankful that we had the extended weekend, but as always it goes by too quickly!

Lebkuchenhaus!

Monday following Christmas was a day to just hang out with Grandma and Grandpa! As I alluded to earlier, we spent the morning at a water park in a hotel. The kids had a blast, except Addie, who apparently share my affinity for water parks:)

Following showers, we went back to the Kleins', had some pizza, and then made a gingerbread house (or lebkuchenhaus in German...correct me if I'm wrong). Here are some photo highlights. The girls were definitely more into it then the boys, Julia was definitely the most into eating the treats instead of decorating with them, and Addie was peacefully napping (or she would've contested Julia)! All and all, the end result looked pretty good.

Jammy TIme.

Matching p.j.s from Grandma Jan and Grandpa Joe!

They probably would have worn them all day if we let them (and if we weren't going to a giant indoor water park).

Addie got a pair also, but was not up for the photo. Normally she wakes up happy (Matt likes to say she wakes up sweet and then gets more and more ornery as the day goes on), but this day she wasn't having it.

Instead she opted for a little snuggle.

Christmas Day::Dinner & Gifts

Christmas morning we loaded up the mini and headed to Elk River to celebrate Christmas with Matt's family. We are so blessed that we get to see all of our family at Christmas, and this year it was great because Matt also had a 4-day weekend.

The drive can get long, but the kids travel well. Once we arrived it was all about Logan and Julia. Here are all the kids:
Logan, Nathan, Adeline, Ella, & Julia.

Dinnertime!

Uncle Josh and Aunt Angie were great hosts...and this year Grandpa Thompson made the potato sausage, and as usual Aunt Jodi made too many treats, including Matt's favorite (which I have no idea how to make) sambackles.

Besties, Ella & Julia.

They are only 3 weeks apart in age and love each other. It's fun too to see how unique each child is. Julia has an unforgettable voice that only seems to work at one volume: loud!

This year was particularly special because Grammy (Grandma Jan) and Grandpa Joe flew up from Arizona. All of the kids were super excited to see them and spend a couple of days together.

Ella received a pillow pet...a purple and pink unicorn. Of course is was "perfect" and "just what she wanted"!

Grandpa Bob.

It is a blessing to spend Christmas with him and see how the Jesus has blessed him since Marilyn's passing. "Grandma Bird" is greatly missed, and I know for many it was a challenging first Christmas without her. We take hope however knowing she is with the Lord.

But, I guess he will never get to out live the ol' bow on his head trick:)

Barbies and Grammy, what more could a girl want?

Like I said, we were in Elk River for the entire weekend. So, these are some highlights of Christmas Day. More pictures from the weekend to come!

Christmas at Nana and Papa's:: Highlights

I apologize because these pictures are completely out of order. But, here are some highlights of celebrating Christmas with my parents. One missing highlight however is the food. We had a fabulous prime rib dinner and too many good treats to list. Mom always out does herself, even when we tell her not to!

The Thompsons...this is about as good as we could get:)

I believe this is Addie trying to "share" the kiddie couch with Katlyn.

These next pictures are after most people went to bed. Matt, Amy, Brenda, Dad, and I decided to stay up and play "Minute to Win it". Basically you have one minute to complete some sort of challenge. I think it was a factor of the people playing and the overall tiredness, but it was hilarious.

Back to "normal" Christmas fun. Here is Amy and Mayah during a game the kids played.

(again out of order)::

Matt reading The Night Before Christmas to the children before bed time.

This is a shot I caught of Matt during the gift opening. It looks like he's just totally stressed out and tired. We like to think that he is "Tebowing".

Addie sang Jingle Bells with the karaoke mic. As an added bonus it changed the tone of your voice so that you sounded like an elf.:)

Nana with the current youngest grandchild, Jacob.

Addie on her mountain of gifts.

Micah on Mountain of Gifts...can you tell there was not a shortage of giving (or in the children's case, receiving)!

sweet Micah.
This helps show the fullness of the house. Mayah also started a fun game that involved screaming and throwing wrapping paper up in the air.

It was crazy, it was fun, and I feel truly blessed to have such a loving family!

Faces of Ella.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Christmas with the Widmans.

Instant classic:

This one is a little better:)

Christmas with the Widmans.

Since birth, a highlight of my year is always Christmas Eve with the Widmans. Growing up we would meet at Grandpa and Grandma Widman's house on the farm with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. I remember good food (lefse, yumm). the Andersen girls putting olives on their fingers, and mainly playing "airplane" upstairs.

Though grandpa and grandma have passed, the Widman Christmas tradition continues. Though now we meet at the American Legion in Desmet (which Nathan and Ella call the pancake house because we once went to a pancake fundraiser there) since the family has grown.

Here is a picture of the new generation of kids...most of the second-cousins were present.

Now you can see why no one is brave enough to host at their home:)

St. Nicholas

We've always been very straight forward with our children about "the man in the red suit". We've taught them about Saint Nicholas and how he helped the poor by leaving them gifts secretly. And now some people like to give gifts from Santa just for fun and tradition.

Despite us telling them this, they still all believe in Santa Claus based on the fact that at Papa and Nana's they get a gift "from Santa", and if Santa wasn't real then who would this gift be from. Oh, the simplicity!

This year we really confused them...

Since Saint Nicholas would leave gifts in a shoe outside the door, we told them to leave a shoe at the top of the steps when they went to bed. They woke up to these little gifts. A McDonald's card and a pack of gum...or in Addie's case a toothbrush. They were so excited about the surprise, and the fact that now they actually get to go to McDonald's! Nathan kept asking if we put the gifts in there or how they got there. We just told him it didn't matter and to enjoy it as a fun surpise, which seem to satisfy him.

Family Chrismas.

Once Matt got home on December 23rd, we made our Christmas tradition of homemade pizza with veggies on the side. The kids even got to have a little root beer as a special treat. After cleaning up, we all sat in the living room and Nathan read the Christmas story from Luke 2. I have no pictures of this because I was trying so hard to video it on our phone...but that didn't work either.
Then of course, it was time for presents! We usually go small and simple. Our kids seem to get way too much stuff at Christmas and we don't need to add on to that!

Addie got an apron (no more fighting now over the 2 kids aprons we have). She also got a sled (but there's been no snow).

Ella, our flighty one, was very consistent in that she wanted a doctor's set for Christmas. Whenever anyone asked her "what do you want for Christmas?" she always gave the same answer.

So, Matt and I gaver her a doctor's set.

She's so much fun to gift to. Everything is "perfect" and "just what she wanted". Here she is hugging her set, and then she came and gave me a big hug and thank you. So sweet!

Ella also got the video "Jonah", which really was for all 3 of them.

Nathan got a scooter, which ironically it has had more use outside then the sled! He also got a puzzle of the USA.

Other than opening their own gifts, a highlight for the kids was giving Daddy his gifts. The children picked out a new lunch cooler and we also gave him a book about Bonhoeffer. I'm glad they get excited about giving too!

Christmas Begins.

I finally got our pictures uploaded from Christmas-all 184 of them (which is after both me and Matt going through and doing some deleting)-so pardon me if I'm a little behind. I should be talking about New Year's resolutions and family goals for 2012 by now...but I'm not. Maybe I'll make my first resolution "be more organized":).

Anyway, Christmas always starts in our home with putting up the tree, then starting an Advent calendar on December 1. This year, we also had a 12 days of Christmas countdown, in which the kids had to find the number 1-12 on a slip of paper and the back revealed a Christmas activity for the day. On a side note, the first day said "make peanut butter balls", in which Nathan laughed out loud and stated, "What does that have to do with the birth of Jesus?!"

December 23rd has turned into our family Christmas, the paper that day said "Make a birthday cake for Jesus" (no, they didn't all have to do with food). Since we had a plethora of baked sweets already, we decided instead to frost the already baked sugar cookies. The end result was messy, but lots of fun. They won't end up in Martha Stewart, but they tasted terrific!

Most pictures I took had Ella eating the frosting!

After we were finished the kids ran and played outside. Nathan tried to build a hot air balloon out of wrapping paper, string, a basket, and some sticks. He came in defeated after about 30 minutes and said all he had to show for his work was "a pile of sticks and a basket of mess". We talked about the process of invention, but I think he's done with hot air balloons!

After lunch, just for good measure, we decided to make these:

a pretzel, a Rolo, and M&Ms. We've never made them before, but we will definitely make them again!

Christmas with the kids is a lot of fun-hopefully soon I'll put up the rest of our day, as well as Christmas Eve and Christmas weekend!