Birthday Invites

I started working a little bit on stuff for Landon's birthday party...

Here's the finished invite with matching envelope:

Also in the works right now: cupcake toppers, birthday banner, and hats. I also found the cake I want to make. Can't wait to find more time to work on it!

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Ho Ho Ho! I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas!

We are adjusting back to normalcy after a crazy month of December in the Glur house!

We are finally all healthy, knock on wood! I hope we all stay that way for a long time!

I finally have a picture of our Christmas tree all decked out...

(Pictures just don't to it justice. This is a 12 foot ceiling but doesn't look nearly that tall in the picture.)

We started our Christmas celebrations with Darren's mom and brother and sister and families. We went up to Fargo (that's a story for another day...blizzard...puking child...) the second weekend of December. We got to break in Nate and Char's brand new house as well as take our traditional limo ride around Fargo to check out Christmas lights. We then enjoyed a wonderful lasagna dinner and opened presents. The kids had a great time! Landon still wasn't feeling the best so he wasn't his normal self. Come to find out he had strep this entire time! :( It was quite challenging getting both kids to sleep in the same room at the same time.

Here we are in the limo:
Landon and Daddy playing hockey in Nate and Char's basement:

Opening presents...a new loader and dumper:

Next we celebrated with Darren's dad and his wofe Deanna. They came out to watch the kids for an evening so that Darren and I could get our shopping done and enjoy a nice dinner out. They brought Landon a cool new battery-operated Toy Story four-wheeler!

I've done the most holiday baking that I've ever done, even with the challenge of having two little ones at home. Darren was home two nights last week and I took advantage. Addison already likes to help with the baking...lucky me!

For Christmas Eve as well as their "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus" party at daycare I ordered the kids iron -on patches from etsy.com. They were super easy to iron on these shirts and looked absolutely adorable!

On Christmas Eve we went to my Mom and Dad's house for our traditional Hegle/Fouquette gathering. We opened quite a few presents during the day and then ate lasagna and the works with our whole family. After everyone left we continued with the presents! The kids were verrrrrrry spoiled this year, just like every year!
Addison and Blake like to share Papa's lap:

Grandma Rita and Papa Bear with all five grandkids:

(Jackson-3, Lilly-2 (almost 3), Landon-22 months, Blake-7 months, and Addison-5 months)

Our annual family picture next to the tree:

(Jess, Chad, Lilly, and Blake...Ashley, Loren and Jackson...Kristin, Darren, Landon, and Addison)

My how our family has grown in four short years!!!

Our Little Family:

Santa was definitely very good to the kids this year...look at this stash:

(He may have gone a little overboard, but hey they were good this year!)

Christmas morning we woke the kids up to see what Santa had brought for them! Boy were they excited! Here's Addison playing with her new "Sing-a-ma-jig!"

Landon displaying the cute ornaments that he made for Mommy and Daddy at daycare:

The kids ready to head out to Auntie Susan's house for Christmas lunch:

We went to my Aunt Susan's house in Annandale and had our traditional chow mein lunch (can we say yummy???) and then went home to relax with my mom and dad with some Papa Murphy's take and bake for supper. It was quite an exhausting few days!

One of the best presents that Santa brought this year was a huge jumping castle filled with balls! Santa was at our house until after 3 am inflating it for the kids...well worth it when we saw the looks on Landon's face as he jumped in it on Christmas morning!
Here they are enjoying it the next day:

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We are looking forward to the new year! Can't believe it will soon be 2011! We are already thinking about Landon's 2nd birthday party coming up in February!

Happy New Year!

Sick of the Dr.

Here's a run-down of the last week for us:
Last Monday-Landon's cough had been going on almost two weeks and he started to tug/pull at his ear...
Tuesday morning- More coughing (up all night) and more tugging at the ear. Time for a Dr. appt. Get in at Cokato Clinic so I don't have to make the trip up to St. Cloud and get a sub. After a very dramatic chest X-ray Landon is diagnosed with a minor case of pneumonia as well as the start of an ear infection. Put on amoxicillin.
Thursday afternoon-I get a call from our daycare mom saying that Landon has a 104 temp. Get a sub and rush to pick him up. Back to the Cokato Clinic we go. Blood work. They tell me it's a virus and to give him Motrin/Tylenol to get the fever down. If it doesn't go down to go to the ER for more testing and fluids. Fever goes down.
Friday morning- Wake up to Landon having a 105 degree fever. Call the St. Cloud Clinic (where we normally go) and they want to see him asap. Darren brings him there while I worry all day at work and wish I was with him. Another chest X-ray. They tell us it's NOT pneumonia and is an ear infection. Keep him on Tylenol/Motrin. As long as he is eating/drinking/playing and we can keep the fever down he is okay. A fever is a good thing.
Saturday morning- Off to Fargo we go through the blizzard. We get to Monticello and I notice Landon is white as a ghost. Hop in the back seat of the Suburban with him. 105.3 temp again! More Tylenol. Half hour later he vomits all over himself, me, the carseat! One hour pit stop at Alexandria Target to get everyone cleaned up and to Fargo we go! On and off fever the rest of the day. Not himself.
Monday afternoon- Daycare mom notices a rash starting on Landon's neck, chest, arms. Hmmmm, weird.
Tuesday morning- Rash is spreading. Call the St. Cloud clinic and they want to see him. Could be Scarlet Fever. I get an afternoon sub and bring both kids up there. Rash is Roseola...a rash common after a fever breaks. One strep culture later and we determine the poor kid has strep throat. New antibiotic...he's now on Zithromax for 5 days. Still not himself. Fell asleep in the living room floor at 8:00 while I fed Addison.
Soooooo, we shall see what tomorrow brings! I hope this is the end of this mess and that the new antibiotic will take care of all of this! I feel horrible for Landon and life is getting a little too stressful for me. I told Darren that I just might lose it soon. Thank God for understanding husbands, great co-workers, and Moms who can come to the rescue!

O' Christmas Tree

Last Saturday we headed out to Clear Lake to the Petersen Tree Farm to pick out our "Glur Family Christmas Tree" for 2010. We had a great time! We decided that this year we would get a tall, skinny tree and that we would try a fir tree instead of our usual Scotch Pine.

Here's the one we picked:

We ended up with a 11 foot tall Fraser Fir tree that looks absolutely gorgeous in our front formal living room. (More pictures to come later of the finished product!)

After getting the tree shaken, bailed, and tied down to the top of the Suburban, Landon decided that he wanted to go for a ride on the "tractor." They had a hayride going out into the tree fields so we did one loop around the farm.

Here's the Suburban with the massive tree tied to the top!

Backtracking just a bit... We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Hegle's at Lorie and Tim's house in Annandale. It was so fun to see all the kiddos playing together. It's a lot louder and more chaotic than it ever used to be, that's for sure! Addison had fun "playing" with my cousin Elin.

We got together after church with the Fouquette side of my family on Sunday. We went to Waterfront for lunch and watched the first half of the Vikes game with the Crazy Waterfront Vikings Fan Club.

We have sooooo much to be thankful for this year...

our two beautiful, healthy children whom we love dearly and cherish every day

our awesome house that we have finally furnished

our supportive families who have helped us out in numerous ways this year

our jobs that keep us busy and food on the table

our friends, near and far

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Landon's Message from Santa...

So cute! You've got to see the message Santa left for Landon!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/-gH91gi9Tpn9bJpHmCLerg

(You should have seen his eyes light up when Santa said his name...priceless!)

Addison's 4 Month Dr. Appt. and other misc...

Well, first off... my lawyer husband Darren made me remove the naked baby pictures. I told him that I'm just "a mom trying to show off some cute naked pictures of my babies." His response? "I've seen one too many lawyer shows where this happens and it gets turned into a child pornography case."

So, I have more cuteness to share...fully clothed!

I was doing some things in the kitchen the other day when I heard Addison cooing away and so I peeked down the railing and this is what I saw:

Landon absolutely LOVES his baby sister and she adores him back. I am enjoying this affection for each other while it lasts.

Last Saturday Landon and I baked some cookies together. He needed an apron just like Mommy, so we rigged one up. He was such a good little helper! The cookies turned out yummy and Landon even took some to daycare to share with his friends.

We got our first taste of snow last weekend as well. By the time Landon got all the gear on, he wasn't quite so thrilled about it. He did have fun playing outside with Daddy and helping shovel the driveway.


Addison had her 4 month doctor appointment with Dr. Fandel on Thursday. Here are her stats:

Height.....25 inches.....83rd percentile
Weight.....15 lbs. 3 oz......87th percentile
Head.....41 3/4 cm.....77th percentile

She is doing so well! Dr. Fandel continues to be super impressed by her social behaviors! She got two shots and one oral vaccine and only cried for a few seconds. What a little trooper! She gave us the okay to try solids whenever we are ready and of course I couldn't wait...so we tried the plain rice cereal last night for the first time.
She didn't quite know what to think and spit most of it back out. We'll keep trying once per day until she gets the hang of it.
She is also rolling over from her tummy to her back and is sooooo close to rolling from back to tummy. That darn arm just gets in the way! She is super talkative and loves loves loves to be held all the time still. She is such an affectionate baby and has a smile that could melt any heart. I am picturing her being our little socialite/cheerleader/prom queen/diva already!

A few side notes to share:

My team-teaching partner Carissa gave birth to her sweet little boy Cohen John on Tuesday morning. He is such a cute little pumpkin with perfect little features and lots of hair. He arrived ten days early and healthy as can be. I am super thrilled for her!

I survived this week of parent-teacher conferences! It gets to be a veryyyyyy long week with 32 conferences to squeeze in, but Carissa's sub (Nancy) and I made it through. I am looking forward to the short week and a wonderful Thanksgiving with family!

Darren is back in the swing of reffing again. He loves it and we really enjoy the extra cash with the holidays coming up. He is still enjoying his job and we are thankful every day that he is closer to home and appreciated for what he does.

Besides that, we are just gearing up for a busy couple of weekends with weddings and going to Fargo for Glur Family Christmas. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures to share!

Take care!

Three Days of Halloween Fun!

We had quite the busy Halloween weekend...

Friday:

The kids had a Halloween party at Jenny's complete with games, costumes, and a lunch of "Mummy Meatloaf!" After work I picked them up and we headed straight to Annandale to my mom and dad's house. Addison got to stay home with Grandma Rita while I took Landon trick-or-treating to the Annandale businesses with Auntie Ashley, Uncle Loren, and Jackson aka Obie Wan Kenobi! It took Landon awhile to get the hang of trick-or-treating and to figure out why people were giving him candy. He was quite amusing! Stubborn as ever though, not wanting to hold my hand or be carried.

Saturday:

We met up with the Grossman's for lunch at BJ's Deli and then hit the streets of Buffalo for their business trick-or-treating. There were tons of people and Landon didn't quite get the hang of having to wait in line.

Sunday:

We started our day with pumpkin carving. Landon didn't quite know what to think of sticking his hand in the pumpkins. He would rather just watch! Daddy carved a MN Twins pumpkin and Mommy carved a skeleton head. For dinner we got a Papa Johns jack-o-lantern pizza and it was YUMMY! After dinner we got the kids in costume and did a little trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We had 135 plus kids come to our door this year and handed out lots of candy while greeting all of our guests with the scary skeleton head that Darren's dad lent us for the night. It was quite the hit!

(I love love love this picture of the kiddos! Landon is sporting the pumpkin hat that was knit by one of my student's moms from last year and Addison is wearing a handmade hair bow made by my friend Mandi who has a shop called Lil Curl Bow-tique on etsy.com.)

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Can't wait for next year! Holidays are so much more fun with kids to share them with.