Natures Present

On Wednesday the clerk at the gas station and a customer were laughing because a truck filling up with diesel had a plow on the front. What's funny you ask? The clerk told me they must be in the wrong state. There isn't any snow here. The laugh was on the clerk and the customer because that was a man who was planning ahead. You can't waste valuable time while the snow is falling to put your plow on.

Last night the snow came in after midnight, by morning, there was only an inch. By 1pm, we had around 3.5-4 inches of snow. By nightfall, around 6 inches. Nothing dramatic like the 16 inches Hudson, Wisconsin got. If it's going to be cold, at least give us something beautiful to enjoy, and that's what we were given.

I left the house at 1:30pm to head to Cottage Grove to pick up the kids from their dad to get them to their Christmas program at church. The roads weren't too bad, but definitely a white out behind me. It took 45 minutes to get there and about her 45 minutes to get to church. Had we left right away instead of spending time at grandma's getting dressed we would have made it to church right as the program started. By the time we got their my class of 3rd graders were singing. I felt defeated. Seth didn't get to sing Silent Night, and Sam didn't get to dress up as an animal in the manger.

Back in Time

We spent most of the day at Dakota City Village located on the fairgrounds in Famington. Each year they open up the old buildings, dress in clothing from that period of time and provide activities around ever corner. In the old home that was donated, you can see what a typical house would look like back in the early 1900s. What a one cell jail looked like, how the fire department would hook up their horses to pull necessary equipment to help put out fires, what old schools looked like including desks, chalk boards, coat room and so forth. Before entering each building, we have the kids read the plaque out front. "What did this building used to be used for?", "What year was it built?", "Does this look the same as today?"

In the firehouse, the kids made candy canes out of pipe cleaners and another candy cane out of beads.

In the old house, they watched two women bake cookies on the very old wood burning stove.

In the print building, they saw how newspapers used to be made. One letter at a time, slid into a line.

In the blacksmith building, they watched men heat the iron, then hit it with hammers to shape it into its final product.

In the church we sang carols.
In the general store we learned about how farmers would bring their grain to the store to trade for other items, how the farmer's wife would knit and sew items to sell to the store in exchange for other items.
In the library, we met Mrs. Claus and wrote a letter to Santa Claus.

In the train depot, we spoke with Santa.

Horse drawn carriage rides were offered around the village for convenience. Had there been snow on the ground, it would have been a sleigh. It didn't matter to the kids, as long as there were horses.

Jean, Jessica and Jayden Ludescher, Joan Schorn, Hunter and Zack Schorn also joined us with some of Jean's family from her husbands side. We enjoyed hot cocoa, and then they left to go visit baby Jax Schorn in the hospital. He was born just a few days prior but was still struggling maintaining is blood glucose levels. Josh and Danielle have been blessed with three boys.

Your sneezes are cute

We were riding in the car and little Adelynn was sneezing up a storm. Seth says to her "Your sneezes are cute!" Then asked if I agree.

I've always loved my babies faves when sneezing. The cute little expression, the pure sneeze without silly noises. I've even taken pictures of Seth sneezing as a little baby.

Notes from Sam

This morning there was a note on the fish tank from Sam clearly stating who owns this fish tank. We tried adding a plecostomus to help keep the tank clean, but he only lasted 10 hours. I found him in the morning about an inch out of the tank. He was either eager to get out of there or he got stuck and his struggling to break free only raised him higher out of the tank. We'll give it another try.

What a Daddy won't do for his daughter

Pups is a loved pooch. He is tightly squeezed with 10 little fingers between a neck and a shoulder, then squished by a head. Adelynn adores her pooch from the very beginning of their lives together. He is always with her for naps and nights. On occasion he'll join us on a car ride in case there is a nap in the near future. She'll nap without him, but we love seeing her love that little stuffed animal.

Recently, his seams started to pull apart on his rear, then his left eyeball disappeared. It was time he underwent a surgical repair. Thankfully, I paid close enough attention during procedures in the clinic to know how to perform surgery. Nick patched up his back where the seams were becoming a bit loose.

Besides his missing eye, he's almost as good as new.

Drive In with the Top Down

This was Nick:

Dancin

Sam has been preparing for the Northfield Winter Walk performance on Bridge Square. They will be blocking the roads and having festivities throughout downtown Northfield. Sam is in the black leotard, she seems to have fun during lessons yet never looks happy to be dancing during a performance or even singing on stage at school concerts. Maybe she is nervous and doesn't appreciate the attention.