'Tis the Season

Around this time of year there seems to be the debate that retailers push Christmas earlier and earlier each year and poor Thanksgiving gets looked over.  Especially over the past few years when retailers began opening on Thanksgiving Day.  At first stores opened at midnight, then 8pm, and now some retailers open at 5pm on Thanksgiving Day to push holiday sales.  Will Black Friday cease to exist in the near future?

I used to be a firm believer in “No Christmas until after Thanksgiving”.  I wanted to properly celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.  No decorations, no Christmas music, and certainly no Christmas tree until the Friday after.  This year is different.  My friend Carrie, who has had her Christmas tree up for weeks, inspired me by justifying that it’s more fun to celebrate the two holidays in one.  I truly enjoy the music, decorations and basically all things Christmas.  So why put it off?  Especially this year when there are only 3 weeks between the two holidays.  I've slowly started putting a few decorations up around the house and I've had Pandora playing a wonderful assortment of Christmas music.  I must admit, I’m thoroughly enjoying all the holiday cheer.  

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents a week early and because of my new approach to the holidays, we went all out.  We cooked a huge traditional Thanksgiving meal while listening to Christmas music.  We put up the tree and took our family Christmas card picture.  By embracing the holiday season as one, I honestly think I enjoyed myself more.  I also have found myself being more reflective on how blessed my life is and how thankful I am.  I don’t look at my new view as skipping Thanksgiving, but more as embracing the entire holiday season and enjoying it to the fullest.   

Now with this being said, you won’t find me out shopping on Thanksgiving Day to get an early start on my Christmas shopping.  I would much prefer to enjoy the day with my family and friends instead of random strangers looking for the best bargain.  But, I’m not opposed to the retailers being open on Thanksgiving either.  Working for a major retailer, I understand the impact holiday sales can have on a company.  Christmas time is the Super Bowl for retailers.  It’s a big deal!  If people want to shop on Thanksgiving Day, well the retailers will make that happen.  It’s simple supply and demand.  I commend the retailers that are taking a stand and refuse to be open on Thanksgiving, but I also don’t belittle those retailers that choose to be open.  Right or wrong, it’s what our society has transformed into and retailers and consumers both play parts in this ongoing debate.  

Finding Indoor Fun

We are an outside family and most of our days in the summer were spent outside.  Mike and I were worried about keeping E busy as the weather turned colder.  So far we've been finding plenty of indoor activities to keep us busy and not get too stir crazy.  Here’s what we've been up to:

Wild Rumpus Bookstore – For any family living in the Twin Cities who have yet to visit this unique store, you must go now!  This place is so much fun for kids and parents.  Not only are there plenty of books to read, but you may find yourself sharing the floor with a chicken as you read your favorite story.  Yes, there is a chicken roaming around the store along with his friend the cat.  There are also two birdcages with parrots and doves, two chinchillas, and a ferret. 

A Creative Kidstuff is just around the corner from Wild Rumpus.  This store is so much bigger than the one by our house which means lots more toys to try out.  E loved "baking cookies in the kitchen." We spent an entire morning playing at Wild Rumpus and Creative Kidstuff. 

We are also fortunate that our community has Tot Time which runs November – March.  This is hosted at the rec center and basically they convert a banquet room into a giant playroom; bouncy house included.  It’s 3 days a week for 2 hours and costs $2 per session or you can buy a pass to save some money.  We've only gone once so far but will definitely be attending again.  E’s favorite activities at Tot Time are “mowing” with a plastic mower, playing basketball and of course playing with the trucks. 

I’m trying to do more arts and crafts with E.  I found a great homemade recipe for play-doh and he also likes coloring and “painting” with shaving cream.  I tried to introduce a glue stick to E but he likes to put the glue on his finger and then have Mom wipe it off.  He did this over and over one day, I finally put the glue stick up.  We’ll save that for a later day. 

Although I would much rather have the warm summer days of splash pads and playgrounds, I’m feeling better about keeping busy during the cold winter days ahead.  This has been an opportunity to try new things with E and go on different adventures.    

Baby 2 Makes 4

                  

I love, love, love this picture!  It’s our first family picture of a family of 4.  I am so excited for this baby I can hardly wait.  April 28^th is the official due date but with the complications I had with E, I will have a scheduled C-section most likely on April 21^st.  I’m all for it.  I had an easy recovery from my C-section with E and being able to plan makes things so much easier with a toddler to take care of as well. The only bummer is that our good friends are getting married on April 26^th in Duluth and I won’t be able to attend.  Mike is a groomsman so Grandma Sharon will be helping out while Mike is gone. 

We've been doing our best to prepare E for his little brother or sister but I’m not sure how much a 17 month old understands.  He’ll point or pat my tummy and say "baby".  We got one of my old cabbage patch dolls out and talk to him about how the baby needs it’s diaper changed and we need to be gentle with the baby.  Things were going fine until one day when Mike was holding the doll while reading E a story.  E didn't care to share his Daddy, and threw the doll on the floor.  I’m sure it will be an adjustment for all of us when Baby 2 arrives but I think of how much joy E has brought our family and Baby 2 will only add more.

Thrifty Momma

When I found out I was pregnant, I was so excited to shop, shop, shop!  I couldn't leave Target without at least buying one thing for baby.  I didn't know if E was a boy or girl so I had to buy gender neutral things.  That was probably a good thing.  If I knew the gender of the baby, I’m sure I would have went overboard with pinks or blues.  The thought never occurred to me to check out thrift stores or second hand places.  I never shopped at Goodwill or stopped by garage sales before, why would I start now?  Because kids are expensive, that’s why.  I also didn't realize how quickly babies grew.  E is only 16 months old and I already have four big totes full of clothes he’s outgrown.  I found I can find toys at garage sales and thrift stores so much cheaper as well.  We bought E a water table for his birthday that was on sale for $30.  As I've started to shop around for second hand items, I've found tons of water tables ranging from $8 - $12. 

Now I’m all about the bargain hunting.  I love looking through Goodwill, Once Upon a Child, and stopping at random garage sales.  I've found some great things for just a few dollars.  I haven’t totally converted to only buying second hand stuff.  I still love looking at all the clothes when I go to Target and am still guilty of buying a cute shirt for E every now and then.  But at the rate E grows out of his clothes and out grows his toys, the more things used I can get, the better.   Some of my great finds are:

Jungle Gym with slide - $10 at garage sale

Nike and Stride Rite Shoes - $3 each at Goodwill

Winter coat - $15 at Once Upon a Child

Snow pants - $4 at Once Upon a Child

Books - $.25 to $.50 at garage sale

Pajamas - $3.50 each at Once Upon a Child

Life Lately

Wow, blogging has really taken a backseat lately.  I've got several half written posts but for some reason the gumption to finish them hasn't been there.  It will come, I know it will.  But for now, here's life lately with the Gesellchen Family:

Mike and Evan have been spending Sunday afternoons at our good friend O'Malley's man-cave for football.  It works out pretty well because I can catch up on sleep from working the night before and I don't feel guilty about not seeing E.  

We jumped on the Breaking Bad bandwagon, we just finished Season 1 (pretty late to the party, I know).  I'm cheap and borrow the DVDs from the library but I'm getting antsy waiting for Season 2 so I might just spring for it on Amazon Prime at $1.99 an episode.  Did I mention I was cheap?

We made one last trip up North for the summer to help Mike's family on the farm house and see E's great-grandma.  

E asserted his independence and decided he no longer needed a high-chair.  One day he just refused to go in there.  So we took the hint and got his booster seat ready to go.

Mike's been getting some fishing in.  Unfortunately, this picture is the one and only fish he caught on his last trip.

Mike's helping put a fence in at at his sister's house.  E stopped over to help too.

We're also starting a remodeling project at our house, we're finishing our basement.  I'm very excited to get this done because it will add so much more space to our house.  We're still in the early stages, we're hoping to actually get boards up in the next 2 weeks!

The pics below are some old ones from a late summer visit to my mom and dad's.  They were just too cute to not post. 

E decided to re-pot Grandma's flower.

Cooling off in the pool.

Picking zucchini.  

Helping Grandpa dig potatoes. 

Feeding the goats.

So Long Summer

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer.  Sure, we still have some sunshiny days ahead of us, but we know they are nearing the end.  With Labor Day comes back to school and back to a routine.  I don’t have a school age child, but I can relate to having a looser schedule in the summer.  Bed times get pushed back because we want to get as much outside time as we can.  Dinners are a lot more low key and spur of the moment.  Cold sandwiches one night, a box of mac and cheese the next, and throwing whatever can be grilled on the grill.  The chore list that we so diligently stuck to during the winter has gone out the window.  Who has time to sweep when there are new playgrounds to discover? 

I consider myself a summer time girl so it’s always a little sad to see Labor Day come.  I think mostly because I know what’s ahead.  Months and months of cold, dark days.  Snow that comes up to my waist.  Driving on icy slick roads.  All things that I get so sick of by the time March rolls around.  That’s why it’s so important to me that I make the most out of summer.  I feel it goes by so quickly and I don’t want to look back and think “What the heck did we do this summer?”  Mike and I created a Summer Bucket List to make sure we got the most out of our summer and we accomplished almost everything before Labor Day…

1.Visit Como Zoo 

2. Splash Pad in St. Louis Park

3. Roast marshmallows in our backyard (When I wrote this, E was not yet mobile. Realized fire and a 1 year old, not a good idea.)

4. Sit in the driveway and drink a beer  (I think we can triple check this one.)

5. Grill as much as possible  (Every chance we get, sometimes for lunch and dinner!)

6. Plant a tomato and pepper plant  (I didn't plant a pepper plant but my tomato plant is going strong.)

7. Grow fresh cilantro (I'm crossing this one off because I attempted fresh cilantro, it died)

8. Drink morning coffee on our patio

9. Walk to Caribou with E and Josie for morning coffee

10. Take Evan to one of Minnesota's many lakes (Lake Superior)

11. Visit Itasca State Park

12. Go Fishing (Mike went but we didn't make it as a family)

13. Go to the Farmer's Market as much as possible (only made it once)

14. Golf

15. Eat at Sea Salt

16. Adele's for frozen custard 

17. Take E to a playground (This is pretty much a daily activity for us)

18. Take E to a parade (We went to the 4th of July Parade in Spicer)

19. Pull E with the bike

20. IA or MN State Fair

Now, as sad as I am to see summer go, I must admit, the weeks following Labor Day do bring some excitement.  So, in order to put a positive spin on the unofficial end of summer, I've created my Fall Top 10 List (in no particular order).

1.       College football season kicks off

2.       No more summer reruns and the anticipation of new shows for the fall season 

3.       Peanuts and candy corn (If you’ve never tried this delicious mix, you must try it!)

4.       Chili and corn bread, this is a fall favorite of mine

5.       Carving pumpkins

6.       The leaves changing colors

7.       Sleeping with the windows open on a crisp fall night

8.       Apple season…apple cider, apple crisp, carmel apples

9.       Daylight Savings, fall back to get an extra hour of sleep.
10.    Oktoberfest beer

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Despite the 90 degree weather and 100% humidity, we ventured out to the Minnesota State Fair.  I love the fair!  Of course I’m partial to the Iowa State Fair, but the Minnesota State Fair is a pretty close second (never mind I've only been to two state fairs).  I mostly go for the food, but I also enjoy looking at the award winning vegetables.  My sister-in-law, Andrea, had an exhibit this year showcasing old postcards, so I had to check that out.  She took home 3^rd place in her category and won $2! 

This was E’s first fair experience and seeing his reaction to all the sights and sounds was the highlight of this year’s trip.  Just getting there was an adventure for him.  E’s really into trucks, cars, planes; basically anything that has a motor and moves.  We took the park-n-ride which meant he got to ride on a bus.  He thought that was pretty cool and now “bus” is in his vocabulary. 

When we arrived at the fair, our first stop was the Miracle of Birth Barn to check out all the baby animals born at the fair.  When E saw the goats he was screaming “Baa Baa” and I thought he was going to jump out of his stroller with excitement.  I’m sure he was confused, at Grandpa’s house he can walk right in with the goats, but I think they would frown upon that at the fair.   Another big hit for E were the misting stations.  There were water misters set up throughout the fair to cool off fair goers. E loves anything with water.  All the live music at the various stages caught E’s attention as well.  He busted out some great dance moves. 

And of course there was E’s first experience with fair food, which is my personal favorite.  He sampled corn dogs and cheese curds, chicken tenders and a turkey sandwich.  He took advantage of the all you can drink milk and ended his trip to the fair with a stop at the Dairy Barn where he helped Grandma, Mom and Dad eat their malts.  When we boarded the bus to get back home, he wiggled around between Mom and Dad for a while and then as soon as we took off he passed out on Dad’s lap and woke up barely enough to get a new diaper on and PJs and then was back to sleep.

I loved watching E’s reaction to everything, it made this fair experience so much better.  I was proud with how well he behaved.  He went with the flow and didn't fuss once even though we were out past his bedtime.   I know E won’t remember his first fair, but I’m hoping that somewhere in that little mind of his he’s developing sense of a happy childhood. 

Evan in the misters

Goats!

Checking out the chickens.

    

Loving the Fair.

           

Mike with his pork chop on a stick.

Ice Cream!