Wiggle Giggle & Shake

Will and I did a parent/child class at the YMCA called Wiggle Giggle and Shake.  We had a blast!  It was perfect, once a week, for half and hour.  They had a theme each week and we did lots of running around and interactive play, and songs focused on the theme.  Will LOVED it.  He would just go and run around, jump on the mats, be crazy and use some of his energy!  He even got a certificate for completing the class, with a coupon for a free pizza! It sort of reminded me of my "Book-It" days with pizza hut.... hahaha.

Our theme on the last day was "Things that Live in the Water" so we used the big parachute and the kids got to go on a treasure hunt while we made waves with the parachute.  What did Will find when it was his turn?  A shark of course.... and he was very proud and outspoken telling people what everything else was.  If someone said the wrong thing (like the 1 year old who just mumbled something) he would quickly correct them.  He is obsessed.

Making waves!

Hunting around for his treasure......

Swimming through the coral/tunnel/donut.
Climbing up the mats and then rolling/jumping down....
This is his version of "rolling" down the mat.  It is hilarious to watch, he basically rolls once and then squirms or wiggles his way down the rest of the way.

Great job Will.  He is such a sweet kid, I'm so proud of him.  He plays nice with other kids too!  Except when we played "duck, duck, goose" he did NOT want to touch anybody, or get chased.  I think we need a little more practice!

The weather outside is frightful....

.... and the couch is so delightful

Will and I are taking advantage of Scott being done with finals! It is great having daddy around to pick up the slack!

For my little Super Hero

Recently, Will has been very interested in "flying, running like Dash, " and wearing his blanket over his head like a cape.... or something.  So, today, I put myself to work and made him this little cape.  Batman on one side, Superman on the other.  

I saw this idea at a little craft show and thought I could probably make one myself, so I just did my best and used Scott's artistic ability to cut everything out.  I was pretty proud of myself, so what better way to celebrate it than the blog?!

Merry Christmas Will, I hope you like it!

Here's Will and I decorating Gingerbread houses.  Okay, actually here's Will eating handfuls of candy, and me decorating the house.  It was fun!

Scott has taken over the kitchen!  Just kidding.  He makes awesome molasses cookies.  Seriously, we could sell them for big bucks they are so good.  The recipe also makes 13 dozen cookies, so Scott was baking and baking for like 2 hours.  We ate tons of them and then gave lots away as our neighbor gifts.  Thanks Scott!!
The Hollidazzle.  Scott and Wes took the kids to the Hollidazzle parade on Saturday night.  They were buddled up and had a lot of fun.  Especially when they saw Santa!!

Family Christmas Fun-Sledding

Saturday's weather was gorgeous.  High 30's!!  So, we had a lazy morning and then loaded up the kiddos and went sledding.  We have a great sledding hill about a mile from our house.  It was the perfect hill for little ones.  Will really loved it.  He didn't love the hike back up the hill, but he loved the sledding.

Here's the pile up - we all went down together.  I'm surprised we didn't pop the tube!
The other pile up - they almost made it to the bottom without any catastrophe's  - I think Caleb and Ivie fell off about half way..... whoops.
The hike back up the hill - YOU CAN DO IT WILL!  I think he had a hard time walking in his awesome snow boots.
Caleb was the master sledder.  He did great, ran up the hill and sped down on the sled as fast as possible.  He was fun to watch, he has no fear.
Here's Ivie.  She is adorable.... I don't remember why she wasn't so happy, I think she was having a glove issue or something.  I think right after I snapped this picture, she was nice and cheery again.  Silly Ivie, she's a little drama queen. :)
Will's first sled of the year - go Will.  Sorry you have a chicken mom who wouldn't take you on your first ride!  I had to make sure everyone survived before I took a run myself.  
You can't see it in this picture, but Will was loving it.  He had a huge grin on his face and the whole way down he was saying "Wahooo!" and laughing.  

The snowball.  The blasted snowball.  Will could NOT pick up the snowball and keep it in his hands.  He tried about 5 times to pick up a snowball to throw at Uncle Wes.  

Finally he got it.  By this time, I think the excitement of throwing a snowball was gone.  

Family Christmas Fun - Cousins

These cute cousins just love each other!  Here they are showing off their cute PJ's we made them.  Even though Will's face in this picture doesn't look too happy, he was in heaven all weekend.  Yesterday morning when he woke up he said "Mom, I really miss Caleb and Ivie.  I hope they come back later.  But I really miss them...."  He plays with his cousins so well, and Caleb and Ivie really are so great with Will.  Caleb loves to make Will laugh and Ivie just loves to chat and be a little mom to him.  Will also really loves Norah (I'm sad I don't have a picture!), who is 7 1/2 months.  He asks to hold her, and talks to her so sweet.  Anytime she cries, he very seriously says to Lorinda "Um, Aunt Rinny?  Norah is sad, I think I should go say 'It's okay Norah!'"  He is going to be a great big brother someday. 

Aren't they the cutest?  I think so.  

While family was here, Will took a tumble ALL the way down the stairs.  That is the first time he has ever really fallen all the way down the stairs.  It was so sad, we were afraid he was hurt, but when we asked him if he was okay he said "Yes, I'll drink my pop and it will help me to feel better." When I asked him how he feel, he wasn't sure and I said "Did you lose your balance?" And he said yes.  Now, everyday when he comes down the stairs he very happily yells "I got my balance mom!!!" And when he gets to the bottom he tells us "I kept my balance, see?!!"

Family Christmas Fun

This past weekend was great!  Scott's brother Wes, and his family came up to the Cities to stay with us for the weekend.  We had our own little merry Minnesota Mortensen Christmas party!  It was great, and as always, Will loved being with his cousins.  

Wes and Lorinda know Will SO well, they got him a gift that he totally LOVES.  Everytime I take him to the craft store, he begs me for "sea creatures" in these little tubes.   I always tell him no, so he was ecstatic when this is what he unwrapped.  He carried around ALL the whales and dolphins for three days straight.  
It's not Christmas, or a party without yummy food, right?  Here we are eating dinner on our fun Christmas dishes.  The menu: Tortellini Soup, homemade Italian bread, salad, and homemade milkshakes for dessert.  Sounds good, huh?!

Christmas Tradition

A few years ago, I was wishing for some really pretty Christmas dishes/china.  As Scott and I discussed this idea, we came up with an even better idea/solution to our "need" for Christmas china.  Each year, it was decided that we would buy one place setting and add to it each year.  So, our place settings don't match, but they all coordinate beautifully.  Not to mention that it is so fun to remember where each one came from, and how that Christmas was spent.  This is our third year buying dishes, so we finally have one for each of us.  The first year, Scott surprised me with the place setting.  The second year, we went to an after Christmas sale in Utah and found our place setting then.  This year, I found the perfect set on-line, in November.  I've been super excited to pull them out and use them for our special Christmas dinners, Sunday dinners in December, etc.  This year, I was spoiled and even got to add some salad/dessert plates to the collection.  I thought I would share.....

The salad plates (they are my favorite!)

Year one.....

Year Two....

Year Three....

Today.......

......we woke up to a beautiful thick blanket of snow, and a bone chilling 12 degrees.  In MN, 12 degrees means that you shouldn't even leave your house because the wind is so cold you might freeeze.... on the spot.  Poor Scott had to leave at 7am for his Sat. class in Rochester.  

So what did we do?  We braved the cold, went to Target, bought a sled, and snow boots for Will. Then we came home and took a nap, all snuggled together on my big, warm, cozy bed.  It was blissful.

Then...... what did we do?

We blew bubbles, a lot of bubbles and laughed and laughed.  

We must be very aware that there is plenty of months, weeks, and days left of winter, and sledding.  That pretty much sums up our day, add in a little hot chocolate, an all day PJ-fest, and you've got yourself our Saturday!

I love Saturdays.

Bedtime Conversation....

Will: "Mom, I'm Max and you are the Grinch"

Me: "Okay, lay down Max, it's time to go to bed."

Will: "Grinch, can you leave the door open?  Please Grinch?"

Christmas is in the air.... and we've now watched the Grinch (the really good cartoon one that I watched as a kid) about 5 times since purchasing it yesterday.

You know you love your child when you say "Can I give you a hug?" before they go to bed and they respond with "But you already gave me a hug!!"

Poor Will, he is pretty smothered with attention around these parts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for so many things, people, and memories we've had.  This year, we are thankful for our healthy bodies.... Scott had a horrible sprain the morning on Thanksgiving playing bball with some buddies.  We, as well as the doctor were surprised it wasn't broken.  We're going on day 4 of the sprain and still not much improvement.  On the upside, it has kept us home to have a very relaxing an much needed break from our busy lives.  

We are thankful for our wonderful family.  In the past couple of weeks, the move to Cleveland is constantly on our minds and the one thing we know we will miss the most is being close to Wes and Lorinda.  Knowing you have family close by makes all things bearable and enjoyable!!  We love Wes, Lorinda, and their kids and really cherish the time we have spent with them and will get to spend with them in the next few months.  We were very lucky to enjoy a beautiful Thanksgiving day with them and Lorinda's parents and sister.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, apples and sweet potatoes, wild rice and corn salad, poppyseed salad, cranberry jello, stuffing, pumpkin cheese cake and homemade cherry pie... need I say more? It was awesome.  Thanks for all your hard work Lorinda and Lorene!

The day after Thanksgiving, I braved crazy Target to try to find a couple gifts.  Then we took the kids to see Madagascar 2.  Will loved it, until he fell asleep.  It was pretty cute.  Then we drove to Lake Pepin WI.  It was beautiful.  We went to a yummy little cheese shop called Nelson's Creamery.  It was worth every bit of the drive.  The ice cream was delicious, Will ate a whole bowl himself and was all smiles.  I love watching him laugh hysterically at anything Caleb or Ivie says, he LOVES his cousins.... like I said before, that will be the hardest part of moving!

(This is not a very good picture, but sadly it is the only one we got)

The pre-Thanksgiving activities included lots of talking about Turkey and what we are thankful for.  We had a fun FHE on the pilgrims and the Indians and of course, no Thanksgiving is complete without a little Squanto.  Here's Will sporting not only his tighty whitey's, but also his official Squanto headress.... of which he helped glue on the feathers.  Despite the picture, he actually liked it, he just wasn't in the mood for posing and I wasn't sure how long the feathers were going to last.  Also, lately we play a lot of pretend.  We pretend we are bears, gorillas, Elasti-girl and Mr. Incredible, and dinosaurs.  When Will pretends, he feels like he needs to strip of all his clothes to make it official.  It's pretty funny, I think he learned it from the movie Brother Bear and I think the boy in one part is bare-chested.  

The joys of parenting are never-ending.  Will is the love of our lives and is CONSTANTLY making us laugh.  We just love watching him, and listening to him say random things.  This morning he told me "Jessica (his nursery teacher) told me that the wise men brought lizards to the baby Jesus!" Okay, whatever.  Then he told me "Angie (our soon to be MOM! friend) is going to have to squeeze out her baby, huh mom?!)  He doesn't hesitate to tell the truth either, whenever he gets in trouble he thoroughly tells me, about 100 times what he did wrong and why he was being naughty.  At least he can admit it, right?  He told me this afternoon "Mom, you don't sing very good...." I guess he didn't like my opera rendition of some random Christmas song I was singing. Will really loved visiting his cousins, he talks about them non-stop and says "We had fun at Rochester!"  He really loves our Christmas tree and our decorations and now refers to our house as "Our Christmas House!"  Every morning he asks if we can go downstairs to turn on the Christmas lights.  

I love having a child, it really reminds you of how beautifully simple life can be!

Cleveland Here We Come!

Drum Roll please......

This afternoon it became official..... we are employed!!  Can you take a guess by looking at these pictures??

If you guessed Cleveland Ohio, you are right!  Cleveland here we come, July 1st 2009

The above pictures are of the clinic where Scott will be working, cool huh?

For those of you who have forgotten a little of your geography...

I am so proud of Scott, he has done a great job all through school and especially through the past month of applications and interviews.  We are so excited for this new chapter in our lives and can't wait to see where life will take us.  It was an honor to receive an offer from the #2 hospital in the nation, as well as be told that he was their top candidate!  Scott has a talent for picking the best and doing things well.... why do you think he got such a great wife?? JUST KIDDING!  Our fellowship will be for 1-3 years and we'll start July of 2009..... I better get packing!