A brief moment to write
It's 2.15pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Luke is at school until 3pm. Ben and Meredith are napping. I have paid my bills online, done a few things around the house - all while listening to Christmas music - and now have a few uninterrupted minutes to write.
I heard someone on the radio refer to this time as Novemberary. Ha. It's perfect. We have a foot of snow on the ground, below average cold temps (lows below zero, highs between 10-20 degrees), and it all started around the 9th of November. There is no chance the snow will melt, so it looks like we might as well embrace it and buckle up for a long winter. We have already created some killer sledding hills on the south side of the house. I'm creating a 'winter activity list' for the days when boredom sets in and little boys start to fight because they are sick of being cooped up.
Luke is thriving with the school routine. He has yet to *not* want to go to school. He can't wait to go each morning. When he gets home he tends to be a bit of a pest to us all...I suppose he is getting out the energy he has stored up from sitting still and listening all day. It's nothing we can't handle. :) Paul recommended reading him the Chronicles of Narnia books. I thought I'd give it a try. We opened the first book a few weeks ago and he was hooked! We read for 75 minutes that first night. We finished the first book in less than a week - in just 4-5 readings. And now, we are almost done with book 2: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After this book is completed we are going to watch the movie together. I love reading these books as an adult, seeing the Christian themes throughout and better picturing the beauty of Aslan (Jesus) and Narnia (heavan) than I could ever picture in my head on my own. At times, as we are reading, I have such peace and assurance of Heaven, that I stop reading and exclaim this to Luke, who seems a bit confused. Then I realize I should just let him enjoy the book as a 5 year old, and not try to explain the complicated doctrine that I'm fascinated with. But it's actually not complicated. That is the beauty of these children's fantasy books. It is quite simple. And it is beautiful. I think every Christian adult needs to read them if they have any doubt about Heaven or Jesus. (This is my second time through them as an adult. I remember the first time reading the series as an adult, crying on a Stairmaster machine at the Lifetime Fitness gym in St. Louis Park, a single, 20 something year old, working at Target and living in the Cities. It struck my emotions then, too).
Ben is (mostly) easy. He rises early (I'm not sure if he is a Hannig!) and we all cringe when he bounds into our bedroom and insists in a loud voice that we come out in the living room with him, or that he is hungry and needs us to make him some breakfast. We have to submit to his demands, though, because his voice is simply SO loud and he will wake up the entire house at 6:30am otherwise (which he has done before many times). But he's just so darn cute that we can't help but snuggle up with him on the couch and forgive him for dragging us out of bed at a time that seems to us like the middle of the night. He is thoughtful and kind and gets along well with everyone. Luke lost his mitten in a snow bank outside our front door a few days ago. He cried as he got in the car (we were leaving in a hurry), but Ben had disappeared from the car and before I even knew that he was gone, he was back in the car with Luke's mitten, saying, "Here you go, Lukey. I found it for you." He had gone up to his thighs in the snow, searching for the mitten for Luke, with bare hands. I love his caring nature. He is selfless, most often thinking of others (although of course every 3 year old has moments of "me". But his are few and far between). He truly is a unique and soft-hearted little boy. Sunday night we all went to Willmar to run some errands. As we entered Home Depot, Ben loudly sang, without reservation, "Bless the Lord, Oh my soul. Whoa-oh-oh my soul. Worship His holy name..."! My hope for Ben, as he grows older, is that he always sings at the top of his lungs, always worships the Lord, and never cares what anyone thinks about it. Continue to be a leader, Ben.
Meredith is becoming a little lady. She looks like a little girl! Piggytails and sassy cute boots make her look less and less like a baby. She is eating with a fork like a champ (just a few weeks ago I wrote about how she couldn't quite eat with a spoon or fork yet). She doesn't talk yet other than her usual words (dad, go, oh-oh). She makes the best horsie sound and just added a duckie's quack a week ago. Today, she informed me that a kitty says "eee-ow." It was perfect, minus the m at the beginning of meow. I had no idea she even was paying attention when I told her about all these animal sounds. She was pretty close on the moo and baa today, too. :) She also pointed to a puppy on her bib a few days ago and said "Puh puh." That was Luke's first word so he was pretty excited to hear her say it, just like he said it years ago. Meredith also eats salads with me. Anyone who knows me knows that I love salads. I can make any meal into a salad! Meredith LOVES them as much as me. The minute she sees my salad she starts motioning to it and whining for it. Usually she takes the entire bowl and my fork, too, as though she has ownership of it all. She eats hard boiled eggs and avocado, chicken and croutons, cauliflower and carrots, sweet potatoes...you name it. And it all is drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. That is what makes is so odd, really. So, I've literally gotten used to making bigger salads, knowing she will be sharing half of it with me. What a funny little 16 month old. She loves to crawl into my lap when I'm working on the computer. I will sit down for no more than a minute before she finds me, and tries to crawl in my lap. At times, I am just wishing for a few minutes to pay my bills or respond to an email without being bothered, but the reality is, I can't pass up those little hands on my legs, her sweet little face communicating that she wants up. So, I will drink it in while she is this age. I know I will miss it when this age has passed ...no matter how much I think I want uninterrupted computer time or to eat my salad in peace.
And here, below, is another adventure/run a few days later. We squeezed in one more nice day (sort of...it was 40 and sunny with no wind). We ran into Spicer at about 4pm, dropped off some library books, got a Tootsie Pop, and headed home. It was pretty darn cold on the run home. Right after this picture was taken, Paul came to pick up the kids by the Skyline condos. I rollerbladed the rest of the way home, pushing an empty triple jogger stroller. Brrrr!
That's all for now. On Friday, Heather comes home for Thanksgiving for 10 days! And Mike moves to Mankato this week for his new job (Virginia to follow later)! And Luke, Ben, and Meredith are going to have a baby Hannig cousin! Virginia and Mike are having a baby, due March 15th, 2015. Meredith will be dedicated at our church on Nov 23rd and the Dold's and Hannig's will (almost) all be there. Such great things to look forward to!
I heard someone on the radio refer to this time as Novemberary. Ha. It's perfect. We have a foot of snow on the ground, below average cold temps (lows below zero, highs between 10-20 degrees), and it all started around the 9th of November. There is no chance the snow will melt, so it looks like we might as well embrace it and buckle up for a long winter. We have already created some killer sledding hills on the south side of the house. I'm creating a 'winter activity list' for the days when boredom sets in and little boys start to fight because they are sick of being cooped up.
Luke is thriving with the school routine. He has yet to *not* want to go to school. He can't wait to go each morning. When he gets home he tends to be a bit of a pest to us all...I suppose he is getting out the energy he has stored up from sitting still and listening all day. It's nothing we can't handle. :) Paul recommended reading him the Chronicles of Narnia books. I thought I'd give it a try. We opened the first book a few weeks ago and he was hooked! We read for 75 minutes that first night. We finished the first book in less than a week - in just 4-5 readings. And now, we are almost done with book 2: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After this book is completed we are going to watch the movie together. I love reading these books as an adult, seeing the Christian themes throughout and better picturing the beauty of Aslan (Jesus) and Narnia (heavan) than I could ever picture in my head on my own. At times, as we are reading, I have such peace and assurance of Heaven, that I stop reading and exclaim this to Luke, who seems a bit confused. Then I realize I should just let him enjoy the book as a 5 year old, and not try to explain the complicated doctrine that I'm fascinated with. But it's actually not complicated. That is the beauty of these children's fantasy books. It is quite simple. And it is beautiful. I think every Christian adult needs to read them if they have any doubt about Heaven or Jesus. (This is my second time through them as an adult. I remember the first time reading the series as an adult, crying on a Stairmaster machine at the Lifetime Fitness gym in St. Louis Park, a single, 20 something year old, working at Target and living in the Cities. It struck my emotions then, too).
Ben is (mostly) easy. He rises early (I'm not sure if he is a Hannig!) and we all cringe when he bounds into our bedroom and insists in a loud voice that we come out in the living room with him, or that he is hungry and needs us to make him some breakfast. We have to submit to his demands, though, because his voice is simply SO loud and he will wake up the entire house at 6:30am otherwise (which he has done before many times). But he's just so darn cute that we can't help but snuggle up with him on the couch and forgive him for dragging us out of bed at a time that seems to us like the middle of the night. He is thoughtful and kind and gets along well with everyone. Luke lost his mitten in a snow bank outside our front door a few days ago. He cried as he got in the car (we were leaving in a hurry), but Ben had disappeared from the car and before I even knew that he was gone, he was back in the car with Luke's mitten, saying, "Here you go, Lukey. I found it for you." He had gone up to his thighs in the snow, searching for the mitten for Luke, with bare hands. I love his caring nature. He is selfless, most often thinking of others (although of course every 3 year old has moments of "me". But his are few and far between). He truly is a unique and soft-hearted little boy. Sunday night we all went to Willmar to run some errands. As we entered Home Depot, Ben loudly sang, without reservation, "Bless the Lord, Oh my soul. Whoa-oh-oh my soul. Worship His holy name..."! My hope for Ben, as he grows older, is that he always sings at the top of his lungs, always worships the Lord, and never cares what anyone thinks about it. Continue to be a leader, Ben.
Meredith is becoming a little lady. She looks like a little girl! Piggytails and sassy cute boots make her look less and less like a baby. She is eating with a fork like a champ (just a few weeks ago I wrote about how she couldn't quite eat with a spoon or fork yet). She doesn't talk yet other than her usual words (dad, go, oh-oh). She makes the best horsie sound and just added a duckie's quack a week ago. Today, she informed me that a kitty says "eee-ow." It was perfect, minus the m at the beginning of meow. I had no idea she even was paying attention when I told her about all these animal sounds. She was pretty close on the moo and baa today, too. :) She also pointed to a puppy on her bib a few days ago and said "Puh puh." That was Luke's first word so he was pretty excited to hear her say it, just like he said it years ago. Meredith also eats salads with me. Anyone who knows me knows that I love salads. I can make any meal into a salad! Meredith LOVES them as much as me. The minute she sees my salad she starts motioning to it and whining for it. Usually she takes the entire bowl and my fork, too, as though she has ownership of it all. She eats hard boiled eggs and avocado, chicken and croutons, cauliflower and carrots, sweet potatoes...you name it. And it all is drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. That is what makes is so odd, really. So, I've literally gotten used to making bigger salads, knowing she will be sharing half of it with me. What a funny little 16 month old. She loves to crawl into my lap when I'm working on the computer. I will sit down for no more than a minute before she finds me, and tries to crawl in my lap. At times, I am just wishing for a few minutes to pay my bills or respond to an email without being bothered, but the reality is, I can't pass up those little hands on my legs, her sweet little face communicating that she wants up. So, I will drink it in while she is this age. I know I will miss it when this age has passed ...no matter how much I think I want uninterrupted computer time or to eat my salad in peace.
This is a picture (below) on one of the last gorgeous Fall days (Oct 25th). I took advantage of it, and got the kids in the stroller. We ran to the golf course to see if we could find Paul, where he was golfing in a tournament. Um, I think the sun is in their eyes, perhaps? :) We had quite an adventurous afternoon. We were gone for 3 hours!
And here, below, is another adventure/run a few days later. We squeezed in one more nice day (sort of...it was 40 and sunny with no wind). We ran into Spicer at about 4pm, dropped off some library books, got a Tootsie Pop, and headed home. It was pretty darn cold on the run home. Right after this picture was taken, Paul came to pick up the kids by the Skyline condos. I rollerbladed the rest of the way home, pushing an empty triple jogger stroller. Brrrr!
That's all for now. On Friday, Heather comes home for Thanksgiving for 10 days! And Mike moves to Mankato this week for his new job (Virginia to follow later)! And Luke, Ben, and Meredith are going to have a baby Hannig cousin! Virginia and Mike are having a baby, due March 15th, 2015. Meredith will be dedicated at our church on Nov 23rd and the Dold's and Hannig's will (almost) all be there. Such great things to look forward to!
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