Mother and son home safe thanks to Air Station Kodiak aircrew

Mother and son home safe thanks to Air Station Kodiak aircrew

Coast Guard aircrew presents Kodiak grade schooler with certificate of bravery

Coast Guard aircrew presents Kodiak grade schooler with certificate of bravery

Kodiak helicopter aircrew provides St. Paul children with aircraft tour

Kodiak helicopter aircrew provides St. Paul children with aircraft tour

Ethan is Walking!

Getting the Tires Dirty

This weekend we took the kids outside with their new bikes and trucks. It's the first weekend we've had since Christmas where the roads & skies have been clear...no snow, no rain. So, Chris and I took Ethan and Emily down the road a bit to the doctor's office parking lot where we could teach the kids how to ride the new toys Santa gave them for Christmas.

Emily got a new pink, purple, and white bike; equip with training wheels, a helmet and a bell. Ethan got a big red truck that he can push along with his feet to get it moving. Emily has been dieing to get outside to try it out, and today was her day.

This was a short first-ride for many reasons...they get tired easily, they were hungry, going back uphill wasn't easy...but, the MAIN REASON it was a short ride was because it was about 30 DEGREES OUTSIDE!! BURRRRRR!!!!! Ethan got so cold that his poor-little-teeth were chattering.

Ethan scooted his way the 30-or-so feet to the nearby parking lot, and we taught Emily how to pedal along the way. I think after a few more trips Emily will completely understand the concept of pedaling, but for now she got just the basics...we still have some work to do.

Emily got a little confident and, after reaching the doctor's office, she turned around and came back toward me. She was doing so well! And then...all of a sudden...the handlebars turned slightly and she fell to the ground. BOOM! Her helmet crashed against the pavement, and bounced back again. She started screaming and we ran to her aid. And, guess what...we got it all on video! Check it out!

She ended up being just fine and only got a small bruise or two...no biggie. We went back home shortly after that.

The kids were tired.
We were frozen.
And Emily had bruises that required band-aids!
(Aw, to be 3 again!)

Big Man Gets His Hair Cut

Ethan got his very first hair cut!

We spared "no expense" and took him to a friend's house for Big Man's first hair cut. (Hey, there isn't much to choose from and this guy does good cuts!)

He was prepped with a red mini-smock around his neck. And never cried or threw a fit. Chris and Ethan went together...male bonding!

His hair is now clean and trim on the sides with a little length on the top. He looks like such a little man.

Here are some pictures from his very first hair cut:

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning Emily came running upstairs to our room; she was so excited about the previous night and all the presents she received that she completely forgot about Santa!! We soon reminded her about Santa, and asked her if Santa came this morning.

She got a big sparkle in her eye, and said "I dunno" while shrugging her shoulders. We all raced downstairs. I went to wake Ethan, and Chris took Emily to inspect the scene. They looked at the cookies and the milk...the cookies had been eaten, and the milk was half-gone. There were presents sticking out of the stockings, and there were new presents under the tree!!

More presents! Emily was SO EXCITED!! Ethan was in a good mood too! We were joined via gmail video for our morning festivities by Papa, Grandma, Lisa, David, as well as Kim & Kaylyn who popped in to say "hello." We hooked them up to the tv, and we were hooked up to their tv...It was a fun interaction.

We had a few presents left over from the previous night; we couldn't get through all of the other presents in one night, the kids were just too tired and cranky. So, there were a few extra presents mixed in with the ones Santa brought. Both kids got some pretty cool stuff...an iXL, which is like a kid palm pilot, princess book/toy, shoes, art kit, a play tent, games, but perhaps the coolest present was the bike and truck!

Santa brought a pink bike for Emily, with a helmet and a bell. Ethan got a big red truck that he can ride. Both the bike & truck were a BIG HIT and the kids spent most of the morning riding them. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been good, so the kids haven't been able to take their toys outside just yet.

Chris and I got a pretty cool gift from mom & dad...a black Wii with Wii Sports and Wii Resort! Lisa even gave us the Wii Fit!! We're SO EXCITED!! We didn't get to play much with our new toy on Christmas because we were too busy taking all the kids' toys out of the boxes...all those damn zip ties...ARG!! (We did have a great time playing the Wii a few days after Christmas...what fun!)

After Christmas presents were all opened we sat down and ate a fantastic breakfast...waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, cinnamon rolls, orange juice...it was yummy! The rest of Christmas weekend was engulfed with taking the toys out of the boxes. I cannot believe HOW HARD some of those toys were to get out of the box! The packaging is incredible! At the end of the day we were left with so much trash & cardboard that we had to do a special dump run that following week. We're limited to the amount of trash we can produce each week, and with Christmas we quadrupled our regular trash disposal...so, Chris just took it directly to the dump himself.

We had a terrific Christmas, considering that we couldn't make it home to be with family. We missed sharing the holidays with you guys, but hopefully we may be able to make it next year...we'll see. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here are some pictures from Christmas Morning...