Skol Vikings

I did not grow up in a "sports" house. My mom and dad watched some Hawkeye basketball, the occassional Hawkeye wrestling meet, and professional golf (but I don't really consider that a sport. If you can drink a beer while playing, it's not a sport in my book.)

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A little more than 11 years ago, I married Corey, and quickly realized that sports meant more to him than they did to my family. One particular sport, and particular team to be more specific. My man is a die-hard Vikings fan. No fair weather here. He is a fan to the bone. So, I, being a blank slate to all things related to professional football, hopped on the Corey Harms bandwagon, and have been a Vikings fan ever since. I enjoy watching the games with him. I (sort of) follow who plays what position, who's having a good year and what good people they pick up between seasons. I have been a fan through several coaches, several quarterbacks and a lot of wins and a lot of losses. We've been to a few games in the dome. We even got one of our children's names from a Vikings player - can you guess which one? (I'll give you a hint - In 2000, he caught his 1000th career reception.)

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So, the game last night was a big one for us. Big enough that we let the boys stay up on a school night. (We only have one boy who really cared to watch the whole thing, but how can you let one stay up while his brother whom he shares a room with goes to bed?) So we all watched. And I let myself get emotionally involved in a game where a bunch of guys run up and down a field knocking each other over trying to get that little brown ball into the end zone. It's kind of silly actually. But it is fun at the same time. I really enjoy watching the Vikings play. I'm bummed they lost, but it's nice to be able to enjoy something Corey enjoys. And who knows, maybe Favre will have another good year next year, if he doesn't decided to retire. Oh yeah, and we looked super-cute in our matching fleece Vikings pants (thanks mom). Don't you think?

ICE

Owen is holding the sheet of ice that came off the front of the mailbox. Corey broke a scraper while helping a neighbor get 1/2+" of ice off of a windshield. Several times today, I've heard a loud scraping sound and a crash as large chunks of ice have slid off of our roof. I'm wary of walking under anything outside for fear of getting beamed by a giant icicle. It is a CRAZY winter to live in Iowa, but our house sure looks pretty.

Gorgeous

Though I get tired of winter weather in Iowa, I really do love it here. And mornings like this are one of the reasons. This is the view from my living room today. There is nothing like sipping a hot drink while enjoying the flocked trees. God painted a gorgeous picture for me right outside my window.

Suckers

This morning, I was going to take Lewis to the bank where he always comes away with a sucker. As we pulled in, I realized it's a holiday, so the bank's not open, and I had to break the news to Lewis that he would not be getting a sucker. Here is his response -

"Doctors have suckers. Doctors have suckers." I asked him if he needed to go to the doctor and he said, "Yeah, my tummy hurts."

No More Pink

Owen keeps telling me my blog should not be pink. Yeah, he cares about that kind of stuff. So this new background is for Owen.

Potty Training and P90X

Last Tuesday, I did something crazy. I started potty-training Lewis, and I started getting up at 5:30 in the morning to work out with Corey.

Potty-training is not something I have looked forward to with any of my children, and waking up before the sun has never been high on my list either. But, sometimes you just have to do things that you really don't want to do.

Thankfully, Lewis has been doing tremendously well compared to the first time I tried to work on potty-training a few months ago. He is having very few accidents. Soon, we will be a diaperless household, and I will have three male children who all have terrible aim. Why is it that they can aim the Wii remote at just the right spot, but the big porcelain bowl is an issue?(too much information?) I am strongly leaning toward having a urinal installed in our next house (if we ever move, which is a whole different story).

P90X is a little harder than potty-training. Each morning, Corey and I get up way before a human being should be awake (in my opinion), and we head to the basement for an hour of physical torture. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exxageration. Week 1 felt like torture, but now that I can roll over in bed at night again without feeling the ache of muscles I previously didn't even know existed, it's less like torture and more like a really exhausting workout. We are almost done with week 2, which means we have 10 weeks left. And by the time we're finished, I plan to be able to 1) do multiple pull-ups without the help of a chair, 2) do all the moves in the ab ripper X workout, and 3) do a decline push-up without falling on my face. How's that for some goals?

Haitian Earthquake

I have had a heart for Haiti ever since spending a couple weeks there on a mission trip when I was in college. It is a beautiful, but incredibly poverty stricken country. A year or two ago, a hurricane washed away many people's homes and livelihoods. And now with this earthquake, I can't even imagine the need. If anyone happens to be thinking of sending some support to Haiti, I highly recommend donating to Mission to Haiti. www.missiontohaiti.org. It is a wonderful mission organization. They have been around for a long time, and they do an excellent job of meeting physical and spiritual needs. We have sponsored a Haitian child named Jean Jacques Marvenson for a dozen years. He will turn 18 in a couple months. Please pray for him and his family.

Snoozing Daddy

Winter Poem

(I stole this from Sharon Harmsen's Facebook, but it is so fitting. I had to blog it.)

It's winter in Iowa And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour At thirty-five below.
Oh, how I love Iowa When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is... wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Iowa I'm frozen to the ground!
Author unknown.

Sledding Temp : Negative 14

How cold is too cold to sled? Something lower than negative 14 (and that's without the wind chill). The boys went out a couple times today on the hill Grandpa made for them.

New Years in Britt

We celebrated Christmas a little late in Britt this weekend. We started out with New Year's pancakes in the morning (Nelson family tradition - my grandma has done these for as long as I can remember) and ended the day with gifts. The boys were very excited.

Owen and Lewis in the dog kennel.

This is Lewis' mean face. He got some very noisy toys this year. A guitar, a microphone, a gun, a sword and a grenade that all have sound effects.

My brother's son, Lucas, is ssoooo cute!

There was a lot of MarioKart action at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I pretty much stink at it, but it's kind of fun.