Christmas festivities

Joel's Pre-school did a very cute Christmas program. It was amazing how many songs these 3 year old kids were able to learn. And Joel did a great job with the songs and the motions. He was one of the few kids actually singing and doing the right motions to nearly every song. I skipped out of work for an hour (vacation time) to go see the program and it was well worth it. Just another benefit of working from home, as that would never have worked without my arrangement.

We had a family reunion scheduled with Jorie's Mom's family in Lake Geneva, WI, the weekend before Christmas. With the kids continuing to be sick, we weren't sure if we were going to make it. Silas was really the one who was sick the week before the trip, but he seemed to be getting better and it looked like the timing was going to be perfect for the reunion. Then, just as Silas got better, Joel came down with the same stomach flu bug that Silas had just gotten over. So we decided that we weren't going to make it to the reunion. This was extremely frustrating to me, as it seemed that our lives had been put on hold for nearly two months, since the the kids had been sick pretty much non-stop since the beginning of November. And now we weren't going to be able to attend a huge family event. Total bummer.

So then on Saturday, Joel seemed to be feeling a little better, and Annie called us and said that everyone really wanted us to try to come to the reunion, even if Joel was still a little under the weather. So, at the spur of the moment, we decided to go for it. We threw together our stuff in about an hour, got everyone bundled into the van and took off around 4:30pm on Saturday. Just one problem - a snowstorm had started at about 3:00 pm and now we were in the thick of it. And it was BAD driving conditions, about as bad as it can get - lots of snow and some freezing rain too. But we made it to Dubuque, IA, and after that it was just rain throughout Wisconsin.

So we made it to the reunion, 1 day late, and had a good time catching up with family and joining in on games and the variety show and the kids had a blast playing with their extended-family cousins. Joel especially liked playing with the older boys, Jack and Grayson, and Silas loved playing with the littler ones, Annikah and Trevor.

Joel was hilarious at the variety show. We wanted him to go up and recite a few poems he had learned, but he was shy at first. But once he heard his voice in the microphone, he turned into a little performance artist! He didn't want to give up the mic. He loved entertaining the crowd, and he even added an extra poem that we hadn't planned on him reciting, just because he wanted to keep going.

So the reunion was fun and we were very glad we made it. Unfortunately, it was freezing outside and there was hardly any snow in Lake Geneva, so we couldn't really do any outdoor activities. On Monday, we headed back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Christmas morning, Joel and Silas were very excited to open lots of presents. They received plenty of Thomas the Train toys, some new movies, pajamas, and books too.
Later during the day on Christmas, we put together a Gingerbread house, which Joel really enjoyed. He was very proud of his decorating job.

The Dillmii's

On the Nintendo Wii, you can make these cool little cartoon characters by choosing different facial features, face shapes, colors, etc. It's a heck of a lot of fun. Here's our little family pic, Wii-style.

Aaaand, here's the cast of Seinfeld. Yeah, I have too much fun with these things.

More Sledding

I am shamelessly stealing this from Roxanne's blog. This is a video of several of us sledding in Grandpa's backyard.

Yes, I broke the sled. Luckily, the store took it back and replaced it with a new one - yay Hyvee! I love Jason's comment after his crash: "It didn't work."

Roxanne has been a huge help with helping me figure out how to post videos on the blog, but the hangup right now is that our camera records in a format that is not supported by Windows Movie Maker (quicktime - bleh), so I have to figure out if I can record in something else so I can edit the videos before posting them. Wish me luck, I know videos are the best.

Videos!!

Silas sings Jingle Bells with Grandpa.



This was Joel's intro to sledding, in Grandpa's backyard, where Uncles Jason and Justin sculpted out a nice toboggan run.

Some quickie quotes from Joel

OK, I know I have tons of blog stuff to catch up on, (preschool Christmas program, JIMIL reunion, Christmas in Iowa, etc) but for now I just have a few quick Joel quotes to share with you.

First one is my favorite: "When I wash my hands, it feels like I have to go to the bathroom. That doesn't make any sense!" That's just the way it is, kid, no one knows why.

After the boys slept over at Grandma's, (Mommy and Daddy got to go to a grownup party - whoop!) not realizing Aunties and Uncles were sleeping over there too, Aunt Roxanne emerged from the basement in the morning and Joel said with shock, "Hey, where'd you come from?"

Jorie found a game that Joel wanted to play, but it required marbles, which we don't have. Jorie explained to Joel the plans for the morning, "Daddy has to work and I'm going to bring you over to Grandma's house to play." Joel replied with exasperation, "But who will go to the marble store?!"

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Grandpa John and Uncle Tim came out to visit us at our new house, their first visit since the initial moving day. We all joined Jorie's parents for Thanksgiving dinner at their house just down the block. Jorie's Grandma and Grandpa Engstrom were able to come out from Milwaukee and join us too, so it was a nice full table for Thanksgiving at the Engstrom house.


It couldn't have worked out better with the kids. We went over to Jim and Rhoda's around 1 and after playing for a little bit there, Joel and Silas were both ready to take a nap, just in time for us to have dinner. Now, I'm sure some of you (maybe those without kids or those who have forgotten how crazy toddlers can be at the dinner table) are thinking, "Oh, that's too bad, Joel and Silas didn't get to enjoy the Thanksgiving meal?" Let me tell you, this worked out best for everyone involved. Joel wouldn't touch any of that food, as he can be a picky eater, and Silas would have made a HUGE mess, and probably not eaten much either. They were much happier eating their normal lunches, taking their naps, and then later they got to join in and enjoy the Thansgiving desserts. Joel loved Grandma Rhoda's pumpkin ice cream pie (ok, I loved it too - YUM).


So we had a nice time of fellowship and food at Jim and Rhoda's and then my dad, Tim, and our fam came back to our house where we hung out and played some Wii games for a while, and then later watched Evan Almighty after Joel and Silas were in bed. I wasn't expecting much from Evan Almighty, but even though it was pretty cornball, it was definitely entertaining, and had many laugh-out-loud moments.

Grandpa John and Tim headed back home on Friday, and we spent the rest of the weekend decorating and shopping for Christmas. Joel and Silas loved decorating the tree and playing in the huge Christmas tree box. It was a hilarious sight after we were done decorating the tree, that 80% of our ornaments were on the bottom 2 feet of branches. They were busy boys for sure!

Cold season sets in

And I am hoping we are through the worst of it. The kids have both been sick with bad coughs and colds for about a week. Seems like when our kids get sick, they get SICK, no messing around. Fevers of 102+ degrees, coughing fits so bad it makes them spit up, bucketfuls of snot and chest congestion, you name it, they've got it. Poor little guys. And of course for Silas, this means extreme fussiness at his age, but Joel has been a real trooper. He just keeps asking in this sad voice, "When will my cold be gone?" (or sometimes, "When will my boogers be gone?") and it just breaks your heart because he's been a rock throughout this whole thing. His little face is chapped and dry from the constant mucus/nose-blowing but he never complains or cries about feeling lousy.

Silas, on the other hand, has regressed to more baby-ish behavior, which is understandable for his age and dealing with feeling very sick, difficulty breathing comfortably, coughing, etc. Last night was a major victory because he actually stayed in his crib all night. For most of this illness, it has been impossible to put him down at all during sleep times. This means that when Silas goes to bed, Jorie sleeps with him. At nap times, too, one of us has to sleep with him (usually Jorie, but I took care of him Sunday). I don't mean to complain about parenthood, I know this is part of having small kids, I just want to communicate what our daily life has been like lately. That is the point of a blog, right? :-)

So it's been a bit rough, but I think they're through the worst of it at this point. We've been doing plenty of Nebulizer treatments (it's a breathing mist-machine thing that lets you breathe in medicine to open your lungs) and going through lots and lots of Kleenex. (the tissue plus lotion stuff is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century, I am convinced) Jorie is taking them to the doctor's today to make sure they aren't developing sinus infections, which has happened before when they are stuffed up for an extended period of time.

Jorie's had the cough/cold as well, so please keep us in your prayers, that this indeed is the end of it. Somehow I have been spared from this bug - I think I have some sort of freaky immune system. I do get sick at times, but the bugs that everyone seems to catch have no effect on me.

Some cute quotes from Joel to end a dreary post on a lighter note:

While refusing to stay in his bed at nap time: "Why aren't you guys going down for your naps?" "You really need a nap, daddy."

With a "no-fair" tone, "Daddy, why are YOU the only one who doesn't have a cold?"

While playing Wii Golf with Joel (he loves hitting the ball all over the place, especially in the water, but doesn't care so much about getting it in the hole), I said, "The wind is at our backs, that's good." I was more just talking to myself, I didn't expect Joel to comprehend that. But Joel responded, "The wind will help push the ball over the water." I was floored that a 3-year old would grasp that concept.