Gilbert and Gilbert

On Sunday afternoon, we were enjoying some lazy time at the cabin.  There was a group out snowshoeing and the rest of us were hanging out inside while Livi took a nap.  Nolan was busy trying to catch flies that were buzzing around in the windows, and before too long he caught one.  <Blech!>  He told me he needed a home for his new pet, so I gave him a cup, but the fly flew away (Darn...) as one might expect.

My persistent little boy didn't give up and before I knew it, he caught another fly and demanded a better home this time.  Eric pulled out a ziploc bag and Nolan put his little buddy inside.  Never have a seen a more delighted child.  He named his new pet Gilbert and couldn't take his eyes off of him.

He was prancing around proudly when disaster struck and little buddy fell on the ground with Gilbert's ziploc bag habitat in tow.  Immediately the sobbing began......"Daddy, I killed my petttttt!!!....I loved Gilbert and I killed himmmm!  It was an accidentttttt!"  The tears shed over this fly...never has there been a more beloved insect.  It was equal parts heart wrenching and hilarious.

Annalyse suggested that he look for another fly pet, which he agreed to.  While he was looking, Eric picked up Gilbert's airtight home, and noticed the resilient creature was still buzzing around.  Gilbert lives!  In the meantime, Nolan caught another fly <Blech again> and now Gilbert had a buddy (Also named Gilbert.) Gilbert was put in the ziploc bag with Gilbert and Nolan carried them everywhere.  (Side note - it's amazing how long flies can go without oxygen...)

As we were getting ready to go, I wanted to take a picture of Lexie and Miles - the doggie cousins!  As soon as Nolan realized I was taking a picture of the pets, he confidently walked over to where we were posing and plopped Gilbert and Gilbert in between the two pooches.  "There," he said.  "Now we have all the pets. One, two, three, four."

sleigh ride

One of our activities for our cabin weekend, was a New Year's Eve sleigh ride.  We met at the Woodpecker Restaurant and loaded up in our big sleigh pulled by two big black Percherons, Mama and Baby.  We set off through the snowy trails and yes, there were jingle bells. It was especially fun when we came to a hill and Mama and Baby got a little excited and broke into a lively trot!

After a while, we stopped to spend some time at a bonfire with some hot chocolate.  We got to pet the horses and warm up a bit before our last stretch home.  On the way back home, Mom got to drive the girls.  She did a good job, and kept us for taking any corners too narrow and knocking into a tree! What a fun and festive way to bring in 2017!

close call

One of the new traditions we started this year was a New Year's weekend at our cabin.  We invited my parents and Luke and Annalyse to come to the Northwoods to spend the holiday with us snowshoeing, playing games, sledding, and eating good food to bring in the new year.  

Everyone arrived at around dinnertime on Friday evening.  Steve and Patti came to join us, too and we had delicious lasagna, caesar salad, and garlic bread.  We got the kids settled into bed (not the easiest feat with no bedroom doors and a houseful of adults...)  and after much laughing and visiting, we all went to bed, too.  

The moment my head hit the pillow, Miles started howling upstairs in his crate.  I went up there to try to get him to quiet, but he was really worked up.  I took him out and tried to get him to snuggle in with me on the couch.  He continued to pant and act upset, so after an hour or so of trying to calm him, I put him back in his kennel and crawled into the recliner right next to him, to see if sleeping by him would help.  He continued to whine and cry and pant, but eventually after midnight he settled a bit.  

About the time that Miles settled, Nolan woke up.  He was crying and said he didn't feel good.  His nose was all stuffed up and he was coughing.  I went to get him some milk and on the way back to him room I got incredibly nauseous, overheated, and faint.  I shoved the milk at him, took off my pajamas, and collapsed into the recliner, thinking that I must've had food poisoning or something.  I couldn't move and I just felt terrible.  I must've fell back asleep, because a few hours passed and Nolan woke up a second time not feeling well.  I still was feeling terrible, but got him tucked back into bed and he slept for the rest of the night.

When I woke up the next morning, I had the most monstrous headache.  One of the worst I've ever had in my life.  I felt nauseous and just generally terrible.  Once everybody else came upstairs for breakfast, we realized ALL of us had massive headaches.  It was so strange, because none of us drank very much the night before or could figure out any reason why would should all be feeling so terrible.  The headaches continued to grow, and pretty soon Annalyse's was so bad that she was outside vomiting.  

Some of us decided to press on, and get outside for some snowshoeing, thinking that maybe the fresh air would help.  Lo and behold, within a few minutes of being outside our headaches nearly 100% disappeared.  It was so strange.  I came back inside with Livi, and within a few minutes my head was hurting more than ever, and I went to lay down to see if it was just from being overtired.  I couldn't sleep because of how bad my headache was, so I got up to get ready for our sleigh ride. 

Again, once we got outside, everyone felt better.  At this point, we were feeling pretty skeptical about how all of us would have massive headaches that arrived at the exact same time.   It had to be environmental.  We realized that the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are headache, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness.  Though it seemed far fetched, we picked up a brand new CO detector to bring out to the cabin with us.  We plugged it in and within an hour it went off, alerting us that the gas level was extremely dangerous.  We realized that the propane fridge, that hadn't been cooling well all weekend, was clogged and was venting the poisonous gas back into the cabin.  We turned off the valve to the fridge, opened the windows for a bit, and reset the alarm to make sure the danger was gone.  Over the course of the next few hours, the CO level dropped back to zero.  We knew that it was safe to stay the night at that point, but I was still very upset.

When I think of how close I was to losing my entire family, it is absolutely terrifying.  In hindsight, I think that Miles was so upset because he could sense that we were in danger.  I cannot begin to express how grateful I am that things didn't turn out much, much differently this weekend.  Praise the Lord that we are all safe and healthy!  

Nolan's first time on his new snowshoes!

twinning

While on the hunt for Christmas presents for the kids, I came across this Dance Party Cabbage Patch doll that, to me, looked like Olivia's twin.  I showed Eric the picture, and he concurred that yes, we HAD to get that doll for Livi for Christmas.  From the blonde spiky pigtails, to the big round blue eyes, the doll looks just like her.  She loved it, especially since it dances around on the floor to "I Feel Good."  She'll even dance with it, bouncing and spinning around.  My goodness, she is cute!

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa D

One of our last stops of our Christmas marathon was Grandma and Grandpa Danzinger's house.  It is always a treat to have the opportunity to visit with them.  I wished we lived closer, so it happened more often.  

Grandpa was a Korean war veteran, though he was never one to talk much about it.  However, today he was feeling in the mood, and took out his album to share some memories with us.  He was drafted into the war as a young man, and was not happy about it at the time.  However, he told us, "I wasn't very happy about going at the time.  But, looking back on it now, I'm glad I got to go.  I got to see the country."  His military training took place in Oklahoma, so he took a Greyhound bus to Minneapolis before he got on a train down to Oklahoma.  He was deployed from the San Francisco area, so he also had the chance to see the West Coast while leaving and returning from Korea.  He was stationed there for not quite a year - from March until December. Interestingly, Grandpa was one of the only vets that thought to bring a camera with him, so he an entire album filled of pictures of the many sights he saw while stationed in Korea.  One of his most important responsibilities while over there was to drive the jeep that carried the general from place to place.  I'm glad we had the chance to listen to some of these stories, as they're such an important part of our family and American history!

I realized that we never took any 4 generation pictures after Olivia was born, so we took the opportunity to take some that day.  It's always so apparent when I spend time with Grandma, why she had eight kids and many foster kids.  She just loves spending time with little ones.  She was in the playroom finding fun things for them to do, and just lights up when she gets to play with them.  Grandpa also has a great sense of humor and you can tell her just gets a kick out of seeing the little ones.  Our kids are so lucky to be so loved!  

Christmas at the Danzingers

The morning of the 26th, we woke to the fun and excitement of Christmas at my Mom and Dad's house.  We spent our morning enjoying each other and opening our Christmas gifts. It was particularly special this year, as this was the first time the whole family has been together since Luke and Annalyse moved back in November.  It is nice to know we'll see them more often now, and won't have the pressure of trying to fit a year's worth of visits in the few short days around the holiday.   

Mom and Dad are also in the middle of a big remodel project, so it was fun to see the work in progress in their new and much larger family room.  

Best mug ever.

Nolan used his new chainsaw to help open all the packages.  

No matter what, the kids ALWAYS like the boxes best.

Snuggles with Grandma.

Our family has always LOVED the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie.  We've watched it dozens and dozens of times, and it wouldn't be a Christmas holiday without a few choice Christmas Vacation quotes thrown in at just the right moment.  I found these Todd and Margo shirts online earlier this month, and couldn't resist purchasing a set for Eric and me.  

Nolan got a set of Lincoln Logs, a chainsaw, as well as a Log Pulp truck.  He kept busy for a long time cutting up his logs with his chainsaw, putting them on the truck, and hauling them to the construction site to build a cabin.  It's so fun to see his imagination at work!

We spent the rest of the time eating good food, playing with the new toys, visiting with the horses, and Eric and I even got a minute away to go check out the newest Star Wars movie.  We're grateful to have had this time celebrate with one another!  

Christmas

It was a Christmas miracle!  Nolan slept til nearly 7am!  He excitedly ran downstairs, saw the Christmas tree, and started jumping up and down, speechless, and excitedly pointing at the gifts.  He immediately noticed that Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk, but was rather distraught that Santa forgot to take the notes he left in the mailbox.  Oops...  

We woke Livi up to join in the opening of presents, after we lit our white Jesus candle, along with our Advent wreath, signifying that today is the today that our Savior is born!  Olivia got a blanket I made for her, a darling dancing Cabbage Patch doll that could be her twin, and some dress up clothes.  Nolan got some HotWheels tracks, some great new books and DVDs, and a set of Cat machines that you can put together and take apart.  

Because the weather was supposed to turn icky, with freezing rain and extremely high winds, we hurried through the rest of our morning so we could get on the road to Durand before the weather was awful.  We made it into Grandma Edie and Grandpa Arnie's driveway right as the rain started to come down.  Once there, we enjoyed one of Grandma's delicious Christmas feasts.  It was also fun to watch all the little cousins play together.  Even Livi loved heading down to the lower level to play with the kids and the toys.  We exchanged a few gifts and headed on to Eau Claire later in the evening, for the next phase of our Christmas celebration.

She insisted on wearing that hat throughout all of her gift opening!

Christmas Eve

Our next Christmas celebration was Christmas Eve.  We began our festivities at church, with the Children's Candlelight Service at Trinity.  I was in charge of the music for this service and have several special things in the works.  Faith and I sang a few duets as prelude, and they went so well.  She is such an intuitive musician, and it was really fun to have the opportunity to sing with such a talented singer.  I also had Elsa and Tatiana play their piano solos as prelude.  They did beautifully and I'm glad they are willing to share their talents at Church in this way.  I also had a cello join us for the congregational hymns.  It was a nice addition and I'm really proud of how the music sounded on this special night.  Christmas and Easter services can be so stressful to coordinate that music for, but it is so rewarding when things go off without a hitch!

After Church, we headed to Eric's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rick's house for the annual Christmas Eve gathering.  We had good food and it was really fun watching the little cousins play together.  They had a great time, and so did the adults as we did our White Elephant gift exchange. 

We also celebrated Grandma Ruby's 87th Birthday.  I hope that I can do half of things she can do when I get to be 87.  She is remarkable. Aunt Jackie made her beautiful cake and it was absolutely stunning.

I can't believe how well our kids did, especially considering we didn't get home until around 10.  But as soon as we got home, we put out our cookies for Santa and headed to bed to rest up for our big Christmas morning!