Kansas

Gavin and I are headed out on a trip this weekend. We're flying to Kansas to visit my sister and hang out with some girlfriends! It's going to be so much fun. Normally, the four of us girls meet in Chicago for a weekend of shopping, dining out, relaxing in our hotel, and meandering up and down the beautifully lit and decorated magnificant mile (Michigan Ave) in the snow. It's a fun time of year and even more fun to dress up with your girlfriends and admire the beauty of the holiday season on Chicago's most famous shopping strip. This year, we opted to go to Kansas instead of Chicago. "Wichita, and the wheat fields of Kansas. Kansas City K is next to Kansas City MO. Chicago, Crossroads of America, Talahassee, Tuskaloosa, San Fransisco, Guadalupe!" Sorry about that. Everytime I think of Kansas, that song from grade school pops into my head. It's something that our grade school music teacher, Mr. McAlpine, had us sing. It's more of a chant than a song, but it sure is one that sticks with you!

So, this year we're going to Kansas for many reasons. I'm bringing Gavin this year and although the hotels we stay at in Chicago are very nice and very fancy... the city just isn't the best place for a 1-year old. Another reason is that my sister who used to live in Michigan - just three to four hours from Chicago, now lives in Kansas, so it's not as convenient to meet there, which used to sort of be the 3/4-way point between Mpls and her place in Michigan. It's also fun to just mix it up a bit and go somewhere else once in a while. I would bet that we'll be back in Chicago next year, but I sure am looking forward to the comfort of my sister's house this weekend. There's something less stressful about staying in her home rather than a hotel, having the candles lit and the coffee brewing. It is going to be so much fun. We have some shopping planned and maybe some ice skating, but mostly, we're really looking forward to the time to be together with a bottle of wine or cup of coffee and no place to be and nothing to get done.

I'll be sure to take some pictures of Gavin on the airplane for his very first flight! That is, if he's being a good little passenger! Say a little prayer for our safe and tear-free travels! I packed some munchies and some new, fun toys, so hopefully he'll be content and enjoy the flight!

Happy travels!

Ah... the Holidays

I LOVE the holidays. I like Thanksgiving just fine, but I LOVE Christmas. For me, Christmas starts around mid-october... earlier if we have snow. I've been asking Cliff for weeks when we're going to go cut our Christmas Tree.

However, along with the holidays, comes all of the planning, the baking, the shopping, the wrapping, etc. I am a big planner when it comes to Christmas. I make spreadsheets of gifts I'm giving, to make sure I don't forget anything or overspend too much. I have big ideas and little time. I don't care though - I love it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. All I have to bring is Salad. Easy, right? It's 10:45 at night and this is what my salad currently looks like...
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See those pecans? They're burnt. Yup, charred. You see, I thought I'd be all efficient and mix up my cookie dough for Saturday's cookie baking day today, and make my glazed pecans for the salad all at the same time so that once Gavin was napping, I could throw both in the oven. But, I didn't exactly get the cookie dough mixed up and so I put the pecans in the oven and then gave Gavin his bottle... then put him in bed... then smelled burning nuts. Then saw smoke. Then removed five pounds of perfectly charred glazed pecans. I couldn't get the vent fan going fast enough and soon the kitchen was full of stinky smoke. Ugh...

Next... So, as usual I am making Gingerbread Cookies for our annual cooking baking day. I like to bake them ahead of time since I decorate each one uniquely and that takes a whole day in itself. It's much easier if they're already mixed up, cut out, and baked ahead of time! When they're all finished, they're supposed to look something like this, only a little cuter.
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Right now, they look like this...
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And my kitchen floor looks like this...
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What can I say, my one-year old boy loves cookbooks, plastic spoons, and shopping circulars? Okay, so he plays with the cookbooks because they're easily accessible and pretty harmless. The plastic spoons are one of the things we allow him to take out of the cupboards and make a mess out of. He loves to spread them out all over the floor and use them to stir imaginary food. I'm not sure where the juicer or the beater for the electric mixer come into play here, but he was playing with those too. I will admit that I gave him the circulars to play with when he wanted to push buttons on my laptop. I thought the circulars might distract him for a while... and they did! ...for about 22 seconds.

So, at 11pm I have a disaster on my floor, a disaster on my kitchen island, no cookie dough, and a burnt salad. Hey, at least I'm laughing at it rather than crying!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for the ability to remember what is important and what is not worth worrying about and let the spoons lay.

Birthday Cake

Big G turned one last week. Now I can't call him little G anymore, he told me I need to start calling him big G. Okay, not really, but it hardly seems fair not to recognize this huge landmark in his life.

At one year old exactly, Gavin is...

Not yet walking,
But crawling really fast (like a cheetah, but Kristin still calls him Speedy the Turtle)...
Clapping his hands when we clap ours,
Saying "oh'!" when he drops something on the floor,
Showing off his 8 teeth (by affectionately biting me when he hugs me)...
Tickling his own feet while saying "tickatickatickatickaticka",
Blowing raspberries on us,
"Driving" any toy that can be pushed across the floor while making motor noises with his lips,
Pulling blankets, pillows, or stuffed animals onto the floor and laying on them and snuggling them while he hums...
Feeding himself with a fork,
Loving bathtime, especially splashing the water all over,
Splashing his hands in the dog's water dish,
Sneaking cat food any chance he gets (yum!),
Loves ice cream, but eats almost anything we put in front of him,
In the 75%ile for his height and weight at 30 1/2 inches tall and 241/2 lbs,
Still loves to be outside,
Sleeping from 8pm until 7am plus two naps,
Loves reading books,
Plays with plastic spoons and cups on the kitchen floor, pretending to stir something in the cup,
A real sweetheart with a fun sense of humor and a lovable personality!



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Happy Birthday, sweet baby G... I mean Big G. We love you. (and yes, you can have another ice cream cake when you turn 2 years old!)
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Our Little Musician

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It's sort of tradition at Grandma & Grandpa Sellner's house that the kids play the piano, no matter how old or how young they are. We didn't necessarily mean to do it, but I think we have a photo like this of every one of my parents grandkids - and that's a lot of kids. The kids love the piano. They play it on their own, they play it with eachother, they make up songs, they read music, and in Gavin's case, they just like to bang on it. They love to make music. I love that they love making music. I hope Gavin continues to appreciate music and finds ways to make his own music throughout his life. Music can be calming, exhilarating, inspiring, energizing and soothing. I hope that when he can't make his own music, that he can find the music in the world around him... In the wind through the trees, in the geese flying overhead, in the squeak of the snow under his feet, and the leaves rustling on the sidewalk. I hope he will learn that music surrounds him, no matter how quiet it may sometimes be. I hope he finds inspiration, comfort, exhilaration and energy in the music around him and inside him.

Harvest

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For a crop farming family, the Harvest Season means long days, early mornings and late nights. It means eating your meals in the cab of a tractor or combine, praying for Mother Nature's cooperation, God's blessing, and your machinery's endurance to make it through the harvest without any major equipment breakdowns. Cliff and his parents, as well as many of our other family members, pray and work through the harvest season every year. I just pray that it all goes well and our family life returns to normal soon. It's easy for me to watch the work from the comfort of home, to watch through the living room window as the dust is kicked up behind the combine or plow moving slowly down the rows outside in the cold. I'm not going out early, staying in the field long past dark, or worrying about the rain, the price of corn, or whether or not there is enough fluid in the tractor's radiator. I am just looking forward to the end, to the big finale, to the day the last row disappears into the combine...

That day was Saturday. Gavin and I walked up our road Saturday night to watch Grandpa Jennings run the combine, taking the corn out of the last field standing. We watched Grandma Jennings drive the tractor down the field hauling another wagon waiting to be filled with shelled corn from the field. It was a beautiful, but chilly evening. The setting sun was bright and the night was full of hope, anticipation, and finally, a sense of sweet relief that the precious commodities were out of the fields and safely stored in grain bins and wagons.

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After visiting with Grandpa and Grandma for a few minutes, we walked back down the road, past our house, and into the field to the East, where Cliff was out in the tractor pulling the Chisel Plow. Gavin loves to be outside, no matter how chilly. He was all bundled up in his coat and hat, snuggled into his wagon with a warm, soft quilt. He sat in the wagon, running his fingers through the tall, dry grasses along the edge of the field while we waited for Cliff to make his way across the field to us.

We watched the sun set behind the farm, amazed at it's beauty.

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The colors in the sky behind our house were magnificent.

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The combine moving through the field, harvesting the very last of the corn in the very last bit of daylight, was a sight to be seen.
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Gavin watched intently as the slow-moving tractor got closer and closer to us. Cliff raised the plow and opened the door to the cab. Gavin beamed when he saw that it was his Daddy in that tractor. We climbed the ladder up to the cab and he practically leaped into Cliff's lap. The warmth of the cab felt so wonderfully welcome as we pulled off our hats and coats. Cliff pointed out the plow to Gavin as he lowered it back into the soil. Gavin watched out the back window of the tractor as the plow moved through the earth, upturning the soil. The drone of the diesel engine, warmth of the cab, and gentle motion of the tractor lulled us into sleepy comfort. Gavin was perfectly content to sit in the tractor with his Dad, plowing his first field, at 11½ months old. The three of us sat together in the tractor and watched the sun disappear behind the field across the road as the very last rows of corn disappeared into the Combine. We imagined Cliff's Dad's sense of relief and accomplishment as he drove the combine down the field for the last time this year. It was a moment to remember. For us, a couple more trips down and back and Gavin and I climbed back out into the cold, and headed for home.
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Happy Birthday Gavin

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy! You are the light of our lives. Your loving hugs warm our hearts and erase all of our worries. Your innocent smile is contageous ~ it brightens our mornings and stays with us all day. You have a fabulous sense of humor and can so easily make us laugh even when we are feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. You are perfect and wonderful and we love you.

How quickly this past year has gone by. How much we have enjoyed watching you grow and learn. You are ONE year old today!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

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