My kidney, the grinch. And other holiday-time germs.

For the past 30+ years, Ross and I have made the trip back to Minot, ND to spend Christmas with our families. We've never missed a year. Until now. We finally met our match. Who knew a kidney stone could stop us (and by us, I mean me), dead in our tracks?

Add to that, the stomach flu attacking each member of the family one-by-one, and there you have our 2010 holiday schedule. And I even baked this year. It's the last time I try that.

We'd like to give the in-law/mom-and-dad/gpa-and-gma of the year award to Gpa Dave and Gma Vickie, for their caring and sharing this weekend. By caring, I mean them dropping everything and driving down to Fargo on Christmas Eve to be with us to celebrate a mini Christmas, and help with the kids. By sharing, I mean us so generously sharing our flu germs with them. That's right. Our guests even received the royal treatment.

Today and tomorrow, we will disinfect this place in preparation for another weekend of family in town.

Amidst all the craziness, it was a great day and Gus was happy as a clam. We had everything we needed.


By the way, Nora was the only one who didn't get sick. Which explains her looking good for a picture.

Merry Christmas everyone! We will certainly remember the Christmas of 2010. And now that I'm no longer in pain, I'm already looking back and laughing at it. Kind of.

Nora is 4 months old

Nora's stats from her 4 month doctor appointment:

14 lbs., 9 oz (70th percentile)
25 inches (77th percentile)

She enjoys watching Gus, rolling from her back to tum, taking baths, and not sleeping through the night.

Who needs sleep when you can see this smiling face 2 or 3 times a night?

Let the indoor activities begin

I hear we've received a record amount of snowfall, to-date, for December in Fargo. We don't mind the snow, but when it's also frigid-cold, we need to find fun things to do inside.

Like vacuum,
or bring massive icicles into the house to see how long they'll last.


Have our cous and auntie over for some fun.

Watch your brother play outside. Or maybe she's day-dreaming.

Start the holiday weight gain early!

And attend sporting events. Thanks, Bjorn, for these great tickets!

Wrestle your uncle,
then slow things down a little and enjoy the music.

Will is learning, too.
We've had friends over to play. This is Jake, my co-worker's adorable little guy.

And of course, we went to see Santa. This must be farmer-Santa. He was nice.

Gus got a cookie from Mrs. Claus.

Gus and Jake loved the snow!


Winter is definitely upon us but we're looking forward to it this year in our new house.

Nora I

Nora, the First, was my great-grandmother on my dad, Steven's side. Nora Larson Bakken.

Here's a photo of her, taken on May 19th, 1923, with her husband, Ted.

Thank you, Grandma Ethel for sharing these photos with us. I plan to put a copy up in Nora's room.

Baptized

Nora was baptized at First Lutheran Church in Minot on November 27th.

Her Godparents are Uncle Joshua, and Aunt Christy.




She had crazy hair after the ceremony, but oh well! We didn't have time to find a comb.



Hm, so this picture is not a Christmas card kinda family photo, but it's the best we can do with a busy 3 year old.

Happy Baptism, Nora Grace!

Half the calories

We made a last minute decision to head to Minot for Thanksgiving, but not until Thanksgiving morning which meant we missed the big meal. Isn't the food one of the best parts of this holiday? Yes, and we were bummed. But on the bright side, we probably consumed half the calories we usually would on this weekend.

Gus got another round of birthday presents while in Minot. Lucky!

Spidey hat from gma and gpa.

Airplanes (lots of them), from Nancy and Leo.

His friend, the snowman.

Nora kicked back and relaxed inside, and enjoyed the peaceful moments while Gus was outside.


Great Grandma Ethel with 2 of her great-grandkids, Nora, and Will. We missed you, Hava! Looking forward to seeing you at Christmas!


Despite missing the main event (food), this Thanksgiving was wonderful. We have so many reasons to be thankful, and we're grateful for everything we have - most importantly, our families and friends.