The Happy Holidays 🦃🎄❄️

🤦🏼‍♀️

We’ll just start off with that emoji since it’s been forever and I have tons to catch up on. Boo. I mean, the holidays were like a million sicknesses and winter storms ago! I remembered last weekend that I started this blog on Super Bowl Sunday 9 years ago (during the Super Bowl because BO-RING!), just a few weeks before Jeremiah was born. The purpose was to be able to update and keep our family and friends (most of whom live far away! 😢) updated on our life and family. And, I feel like someday our kids might enjoy reading it, because heaven knows I haven’t kept up on their baby books and I could never cut with a scissors straight enough to be a scrapbooker. 🤷🏼‍♀️ SO! I’m trying to keep this thing going!

Christmas card picture 2018

Just keepin’ it real. So much fun trying to get a good pic of all 3 kids! 👍🏻🤣😫

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in WI with my family, and we actually did Wiers Christmas that weekend, too. And wouldn’t you know it, Norah has this amazing ability to get sick on or around all holidays. It seriously is amazing. Last year we moved our Wiers Christmas to MLK weekend in January because we were awaiting the birth of my nephew! Aaaand, Norah had Influenza A. So, of course she came down with a mystery virus a few days before Thanksgiving/Wiers Christmas. She actually had a fever for 4+ days, which was concerning to me. We took her in to the Dr twice before we left for WI, AND spent time on Thanksgiving Day at the Children’s urgent care near my parents’ house (where they had to do a catheter to rule out a UTI 😢). Never did get diagnosed with anything besides “a virus” either. 😕

Anyhoo. Jeremiah had one thing on his mind concerning Thanksgiving (and it wasn’t turkey 🤣).

I think we arrived in WI Wednesday night, and did not go to church on Thanksgiving (thanks, Norah!). And we spent time at Urgent Care, but did make it back just in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

A highlight (besides THE HAM!)- sparkling cider!

Mom, Abby, and I made a trip to Cedarburg for lunch and carmel apples. I think we did that Friday? Sorry, folks. No pics of my delicious crepes.

Also spent time reading and doing puzzles with Grandpa and Grandma!

On Saturday we went to downtown Milwaukee and road the HOP (a new train/streetcar system) and ate lunch at the Milwaukee Public Market. Such a fun outing!

That afternoon/evening was Christmas!

The babies!

We opened presents and FaceTimed with Ben, Matt, Cheryl, Josie, and Evan in CA. ❤️

Someone got some makeup for Christmas!

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. 😂 (Adam is so lucky I did not get a pic of his makeover! 😆)

Some type of farm thing. Not John Deere. 🤷🏼‍♀️

J and H both got LEGO Advent Calendars, too, which were really fun to do leading up to Christmas!

We were supposed to head home after church on Sunday (Norah’s fever was gone by then, so we were able to go!), but there was a major blizzard headed for our area Sunday afternoon/evening, so after much thought and discussion we decided to delay and go back Monday instead. I am SO glad we did! The roads still were not perfect, but I can’t even imagine how horrible our trip in a blizzard would have been! We arrived home to a driveway drifted shut, and we could not even get up to our house! Welcome to country living! 😫 I think we got 14 inches of snow?! Plus the drifts on our driveway were way deeper. So crazy!

The kids thought it was great! 

December was filled with all of our normal holiday activities and traditions! ❤️🎄

Norah being cute (and healthy!) by the Christmas tree 🎄 

December 4- Canadian Pacific Holiday Train stopped in Clinton!

December 7- Fulton Christmas Walk

Visit Santa AND Sinterklaas ✅

December 9- Christmas program at church! In Christmas jammies 😊

December 13- Jeremiah’s Christmas program at school!

J was being super cooperative here 👍🏻


This one, too. 😑

December 14- off to see Christmas lights! With coffee/hot cocoa! ☕️🤗

December 15- cookie baking and decorating!

December 17- Adam’s birthday!!

We ❤️ this guy!

About a week before Christmas, Norah began to sense another holiday approaching and decided it was time for another virus. This time, to change things up, she went with a nasty stomach bug 🤢🤮. Hope actually got it, too, but it was less than 24 hours for her. For Norah, it hung on for DAYS and DAYS! She vomited a few times, a few different days, refused food, was very lethargic, slept a TON. We did bring her in to Urgent Care for this also, but you know, “there’s a lot of this going around right now.” 🤬

Adam’s parents came the weekend before Christmas to do Christmas with us, and Norah was still not herself. We would see glimpses of normal Norah, but then she’d get tired/lethargic again. So sad!

Norah- not normal 😢

December 24- Christmas Eve Candlight Service ❤️🎄

After church we came home and put on Christmas jammies and opened presents! We do “something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read” on Christmas Eve (usually) and then stockings on Christmas morning.

Something to wear- bath robes! They love these things!

Norah, not impressed 🤷🏼‍♀️😢

He loved his books- he said they could count as his something to read AND his something you want ❤️

Christmas morning we had cinnamon rolls and did stockings! And then, because it had been almost a week since Norah had been feeling well (and it was a holiday, and you know Norah and holidays!! Oh, and because Adam was leaving for Nebraska for work the next day and I needed Norah to be better before he left!), we decided it was time to do something more than Dr office or Urgent Care, we decided I should take her to the ER. Finally she got some fluids for dehydration and that really helped her get to feeling better!! I am wishing I had just taken her to the ER a few days prior when I went to urgent care, I knew she was needing fluids. But it wasn’t necessarily an “emergency” I guess, I don’t know. Poor girl suffered from some painful constipation as a result of the dehydration, so cue the mommy guilt for not trusting my gut and taking her to get IV fluids sooner! 

Adam was gone the week between Christmas and New Years.... and I have no idea how the kids and I spent our time?! 🤷🏼‍♀️ Grandpa and Grandma Wiers came one day, I know that.... not sure what else we did. Oh, Norah had her 18 month well-child appointment (how ironic after several “not well” child visits the week before!). She remains our smallest peanut at this age. She weighed 23 lbs 2 oz, and was 32 inches tall. By comparison, at 18 mo her ginormous brother was 29 lbs 1 oz and 35 in tall!! 😳 I’m not sure what we fed that boy! Norah is just a bit smaller than Hope at this age- H was 23 lbs 7 oz and 33 inches tall. And the girls definitely look alike at this age! Oh, they said, too, that Norah had lost about a pound since Thanksgiving because of the stomach bug/dehydration. 😢 

We met up with Adam in Moline when he flew back, and had dinner at Panera. 🤗

So good to see this girl stuffing her face again!!

We didn’t do anything special for New Year’s Eve, just hung out at home and to bed early. We’re boring. 🤷🏼‍♀️ On New Years Day we HAD to watch the Rose Parade!! I love it so much anyway, but this year was special! My sister in law Cheryl was riding on the City of Hope float (City of Hope is the hospital where she had her treatment and transplant for her lymphoma). We watched NBC and were super disappointed to discover that they skipped the float! 🤬 So we watched a replay on Hallmark channel on the iPad and finally saw her! So cool! 🌹❤️

January 5- day trip to Chicago for Duncan’s first birthday!

The weather was gorgeous!! ☀️ I don’t even remember what that was like. 😩

Cake!!! 🎂

Presents! 🎁🎈

So for the rest of January, what did we do? Just tried to stay sane in our crazy Polar Vortex weather, I guess. 🤷🏼‍♀️

❤️😍❤️

Some outside snow play time when it wasn’t -50 degrees outside. Yippee. ❄️🥶

Twinsies! Norah on the left, Hope on the right (both 18 months)

So many books, so little time! ❤️📚🛁

Dreaming of warmer days ☀️😎

One of Hope’s Christmas gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Wissink was tickets to see Paw Patrol Live! in Moline. January 26 was the big day (and surprisingly the weather somewhat cooperated for our trip to the QC!). She was SO excited and loved the show, and lunch at Chic Fil A! It was nice spending time one-on-one with this special girl- it definitely does not happen often! 💕

The past 4 weeks have been crazy for J at school, thanks to the weather. Well, 4 weeks ago he was out 2 days because of Strep throat (another sickness! 🤒). Then the next week he had MLK day off and then 3 snow days, the next week 4 snow/cold days, then last week he had full day of school, early dismissal, late start, snow day, late start! It has been nuts!! The week of 4 snow/cold days, Adam was in MN for work. And let me just say, that was a looooooooong week for me! Too cold to go out, driveway issues, cooped up in the house, oh my. We did manage to keep somewhat busy (and sane for the most part 🤣).

Someday I shall appreciate the beauty. Not any time soon, though. 🥶

Children not fighting 🙌🏻 (I don’t care if it’s because they were staring at an iPad)

Reading all the books!

Working on Valentines ❤️

Snow ice cream! ❄️🍦 It was comforting to know that if we could never get out of the house again, at least we could survive on snow ice cream. 😑

J is doing Little Hoops basketball at school, and he actually got in one game amongst the crazy weather! He’s working on remembering to dribble when running with the ball 🏀🤣

The weather issue last week was mostly ice. Again, I shall appreciate the beauty another time, maybe July (when J is finally out of school 😂😂😂). And it looks like more snow this week. Make it stop!!! 😩

It’ll be interesting to see if J has a full week of school next week. One of their make up days is on Friday, so I Hope they don’t end up having to make up a snow make up day! Sheesh! 

And we have a birthday coming up on the 18th!!

This little precious baby is going to be 9 years old! 💙