Santa Came!!!

Merry Christmas!  It's hard to believe the month of December has come and gone and Christmas day has passed.  I feel like we just put up our tree and started buying gifts and now we are done with all of our family celebrations.  Last night we went to church as a family for the Christmas Eve service.  It's one of my favorite services of the year.  I get goosebumps every time the lights are dimmed and the candles are lit for the song Silent Night. I know Derek had his dad on his mind towards the end of the service because he looked at me with tears.  We miss Jerry so much and it's especially hard during the holidays when we are surrounded by all of our families we love so dearly. 

This morning I woke up at 5 AM with a flu bug.  It came on very quickly, and passed very quickly, thank goodness.  Santa came, and I was overly anxious for Boston to open his gifts so I woke him up around 8 to let him know Santa had brought presents!  Boston thought it was so neat that Santa even ate the cookie and drank the milk we had left for him by the fireplace! Not only did Santa bring Boston presents, but he even remembered the baby!  Boston enjoyed opening the babies gift.  Grandma Peggy even gave the baby a gift today.  She is very positive her gender guess is correct because the blanket and outfit are very much gender specific!  :)  We hosted Christmas diner for my mom and sister's families this afternoon.  It was a fun day and we enjoyed having everyone at our house!  The food was delicous and once again, we were all spoiled with gifts.  We hope you all had a Blessed Christmas with your families and friends, and that you took time to remember the real reason for the season and celebration. 

Christmas Morning!

 Boston opening up Santa's gifts!

 Santa even remembered the baby!

 And what could be in the big gift bag?!

 Cruncher the interactive dinosaur!  Boston has been wanting this for months!

 His Christmas morning loot!

Grandpa Peggy bought Boston Yahtzee Junior!  We love to play games so it's fun that we got some new ones!

 Grandma also got Boston a new robe and slippers.  He was pretty excited!

 A new nerf shield and sword!

 Boston & Grandma Peggy

 Paisley and Holdyn sure liked playing with Cruncher.  Paisley was mad that Santa didn't bring one for her!

Christmas #2- Merry Christmas Eve!

Boston woke me up way to early this morning.  He came into the bedroom and said "Mama, oh no, Santa didn't come.."  Poor thing thought today was Christmas morning!  I lovingly assured him not to worry, and that Santa comes tonight...but only if he's been a good boy :)

Last night we celebrated Christmas at my dad and Lisa's house.  Once again, we were all spoiled!  Christmas celebrations are some of my most favorite family memories as a child and I know that Boston will also have those same memories.  The smiles and excitement on the faces of the kids opening up their presents is just priceless.  I've heard Boston say "this is just what I wanted" several times already and he still has more gifts to open tomorrow!  After the gifts were opened the door bell rang..  The kids went to the door and found a garbage sack with gifts in it!  Santa (Grandpa Ron!) stopped by with a gift for each one of the kids.  They thought it was so COOL that Santa knew where they were!  Boston said "Santa knows everything", and that Santa dropped the gifts down from the sky!  Here are some pictures from our fun night.

Grandma Lisa, Grandpa Ron & Boston

 Our family!  We take a picture like this every year!  Next year there will be another kiddo in the picture :)

 Even kids can drink O'Douls!

 His favorite!  "Fancy Beer!"

 Boston got a Mobigo video game system!  It's educational games and he loves it!

 My external hard drive!  The laptop is getting a little bogged down with all of my pictures and video's!

 Derek's LOST Series on DVD is complete!  Derek's comment this morning as he put his DVD away..."LOST..oh how I miss you"...

A John Deer tractor from Grandpa Bud & Grandma Marty! 

 We gave Paisley the Beauty and the Beast tag reader book!

Boston thought it was funny that we wrapped Grandpa Ron's gift in a cereal box.  He told him right away that we got him cereal for Christmas!

 Holdyn doesn't like the bath tub so we got him some bath tub colors in hopes that it'll make bath time more fun!

 Paisley and Boston both got cash registers!  Boston said "MOM!  It's a CRASH REGISTER!!!!"  He just loves playing "store". 

 The grandkids!

 The night ended with lots of snowflakes!  The snow is so pretty at Christmas!

I'm not sure what came over me yesterday but I made lots of Christmas goodies...and they are ALL delicious!  Here is Boston holding up one of the snoman cookies we made!

 And a baby bump picture!  26 1/2 weeks and counting!

Christmas #1

This past Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Derek's mom and siblings.  We had a fun filled day of eating, gift opening and games.  I would say the hi-lite of the day was the "gag" gift exchange!  It was so much fun having Tim, Chels and Jeremiah home for the holiday.  Boston just adores Jeremiah!  Here are some pictures from our day!

Boston got a Lite Brite from Grandma Glady!  I am so excited to play this with him!  I remember loving this as a kid!

 Boston and Aunt Chels

 Boston rocking out with his new guitar from Uncle Ja and Aunt Shana!  He said it was awesome!

 Every year Glady gives Boston an ornament, and she writes his name and year on it!  We love adding them to his tree! 

 Glady and the boys with their new ornaments!

 New Leap Frog Tag Reader books!  Boston loves his tag reader!

Onto the "gag" gifts!  The Wickedly Hot Chocolate Body Lotion was a hot item!  Derek ended up stealing it from Tim..along with the Hawkeye jersey that Jason was giving away! Poor Chels, she was so excited about Tim getting this!

 

 Part of Shana's gift!  I believe this came from Glady!

Derek thought it would be funny to give parts of our dog away!  He gave a baggie of dog food, a dog treat, and a chunk of fur that he made me cut off the dog earlier that morning! Poor Jaxon! 

 Jeff & G modeling their new specs!  More glasses of Jerry's that Glady was giving away!  Last year Jeff got an entire grocery bag full of glasses that Jerry had collected!

 And this was by far the funniest of the gifts! I wrapped up 2 pieces of lingerie i'd gotten from Glady this past year. One was given to Derek last year in the gag exchange, and the other Glady had given to me for my 30th birthday this summer!  Along with the 2 pieces of lingerie were "naughty dice" that were just collecting dust in my drawer :)  Absolutely hilarious!  I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time! 

 I think Derek was the only one excited about his "gag" gift, he even had to model it for us! 

 The cutest little boys ever! 

One other memorable gift this year was the box of golf balls that each of the boys got.  They were actually purchased by Jerry before he passed away.  He had intended on giving them to the boys last year at Christmas.  Glady couldn't part with them last year so gave them to the boys this year.  Very neat! 

Derek's Christmas Letter 2010

Because we couldn't send Christmas cards to each and every one of you, I thought i'd share our Christmas letter on our blog.  Derek is quite the writer and he is quite proud of his humor in this years letter :)   We are all battling a nasty cold in our house, but hopefully on the mend here soon.  My throat feels 10 times better today than it has since Tuesday, it's just the stuffy nose and cough yet.  We have a Christmas get together today in Edgerton, MN with Derek's extended Vis family and then tomorrow we are celebrating at Glady's house.  Chels, Tim and Jeremiah are expected to arrive in Sioux Falls any minute!  We praise the Lord for their safe travels from New Mexico!  We hope you are all healthy and enjoying time with your family and friends celebrating the CHRISTmas season!

Merry Christmas '10,

Christmas is a time of intense reflection and heartfelt thankfulness for the blessings that have been heaped upon us. Speaking of blessings, would anyone be interested in an 8 year old Shih tzu with a skin disease, a nasty under bite, a yeast infection in his ears, an undefinable stench, and who is unable to obey any commands?! (extremely long pause)... Fair enough, but you can't blame a guy for trying.


Minus the dog, it has been wonderful year for the Gerdes'. There were changes, opportunities, challenges, blessings, and a rekindled love that was made legal...again! I suppose that is an appropriate place to start. Jamie and I were reunited in marriage during the month of May of this year. With my mother's blessing, the ceremony was held on my Dad's birthday honoring who he was as a man and what his example meant to our relationship. The ceremony was small, and the day was shared with family and friends.

Of course marriage isn't always rainbows and roses, as we have come across our share of disagreements. One instance in particular is wandering into my mind as we speak. Quick question. If a family buys a new SUV with options and features that are unfamiliar to the wife, and the husband, who is a car salesman, offers to demonstrate how the features work and his offer is declined, is he justified in ignoring pleas for help from his wife when she doesn't know how to work the DVD player or the remote start? Can we all agree that this might actually be a case in which the husband can rest his weary soul and bathe in victory? But I digress.


Once our rekindled love became legal, Jamie and I decided to add another player to the Gerdes team roster. The current roster reads like this:
Derek Gerdes: #3 Height: 6'6” Weight: 215lbs. (pure muscle of course)
Jamie Gerdes: #1 Height: 5'6” Weight: NA (pregnant lbs. don't count I was told)
Boston Gerdes: #Optimus Prime Height: 3'4” Weight: 37lbs. (needs to drink more milk)


We are incredibly excited and preparations are already being made to accommodate the addition to the family. Since I love my wife, and respect her wishes, and since we have been remarried I haven't had to worry about paying bills, buying shampoo, or simply remembering things, I will keep our secret about the “player to be named later” until the due date in late March. I wouldn't want to do anything to disrupt the team's chemistry!

Another blessing this year was the opportunity for Jamie to go part time at the beginning of the summer. She enjoyed the extra time she was able to spend with Boston and the relief from not working as many hours. She is an incredible mother and made the summer days fly by with activities and field trips for her and Boston. We also bought a family pass to Wild Water West, which her and Boston took advantage of quite a few times. I on the other hand, didn't have much time to join them pool side as my days were filled with GMC and Buick customers. It is probably for the best though, no need to give the ladies anxiety attacks and skinned knees as they fight over who gets to lay in the lawn chair next to me!


As a family we squeezed in a few short vacations which included a trip to Milwaukee to see friends and to catch a Brewers game. That same weekend I was fortunate to see Phil Mickelson in person by attending the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits! I was able to give him a few pointers throughout his second round, and I was almost brought to tears when he used my advice to stick one close on the par 3 17th!... Ok, that really didn't happen, but it was a great experience being able to see the pros up close. We also managed a quick trip to the Omaha Zoo and a weekend up at the lake. With all the running around and time spent at work, the summer pretty much flew by.

Fall started with Boston going back to preschool for his second year. He doesn't seem as enthusiastic about school as he did last year. Maybe the cruel reality is setting in that school isn't always going to be about recess, show-and-tell, and snack time. Even with his leisure attitude, he is learning new things each and every week. He is becoming quite the smooth talker and negotiator, and he seems to have an elaborate excuse every time he gets into trouble. I wonder where he gets that from?


I suppose I could go on and on, but it looks like I will have to cut this letter short as the Shih Tzu just pissed on the Christmas tree. What a scrooge! So I will bow out gracefully, and leave you all to enjoy the rest of the Christmas Season. May God shine his grace your way and fill your days with joy and laughter.


Merry Christmas from the Gerdes'...
P.S. I'm still taking offers on the Shih Tzu if anyone is interested. Just don't tell Jamie!

Boston's Church Christmas Program!

He wasn't overly thrilled about having to sing.  He threw a fit on Saturday when it was time to go to practice and he threw another fit on Sunday when we told him it was time to head to his program.  Typical boy behavior I'm sure.  Although i find it strange because all he does at home is sing songs and pretend he's playing air guitar to rock songs! I got a few cute pictures of him before the program but my camera isn't all that great and we weren't real close to the stage so the pictures during the program are terrible.  I wish Santa would bring me a new..nice..camera.. but Santa is bringing baby things instead and I guess they are necessary!  I also got a cute video of the kids singing.  We brought our video camera but got  "the disc is not compatible" error message right as we were needing to record.  Thank goodness for the crappy camera that captures video :)  Enjoy the Ha-Ha-Hallelujah Christmas Song!

   And a few cute pictures of Boston and his church friends before the program.

Hello 3rd Trimester!

I was supposed to have my 24 week appointment last Tuesday but my doctor was sick so it got postponed to today. I am now 25 weeks and into my 3rd trimester!!  For the most part the time is going quite fast.  Of course I wish it was March already, but i'm going to take these next 3 months to enjoy every moment of being a mother of one because life as we've known it for 4 1/2 years will be changing very soon!  Don't get me wrong, we are VERY excited for a second child, but it will be an adjustment for all of us! 

My belly is measuring right at 25 weeks.  If I would have had to guess I would have thought i'd measure way ahead of schedule!  I feel like my baby bump has grown significantly in the last month!  My blood pressure, and the baby's heart beat are also perfect so praise the Lord for another great check up!  I took a video of hearing the baby's heartbeat today.  It's towards the end of the video that you hear just the baby's heart beat...and you'll also see Boston's hand in the background with a rubber glove on.  That is his favorite thing about going to the doctor with me. He loves to put gloves on and mess around with all of the fancy doctor equipment.  The nurses are so sweet to him. He gets weighed and measured every month, just like me!

   

 

Tis the Season!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!  I, as well as my family, have so many things to be thankful for and it was very nice being surrounded by my immediate and extended family for the holiday!  On Thanksgiving day we went to church and then headed to Hardwick, MN for a Johnson family get together at my grandparents house.  We are not able to make it there this year on Christmas day (this will be my first missed Christmas day in 30 years!) so we wanted to make sure we got over there for Thanksgiving.  All 4 of my grandparents children were there, and 9 of the 10 grandkids & their spouses and kids!  My cousin that was not there was working, as she is an RN at Sanford and it was her holiday to work.  It was so much FUN having everyone together and seeing Boston interact with my cousins children.  They only see each other once a year but they get right into playing like they are all the best of friends!  The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Boston and I went to Brookings for a late Thanksgiving lunch at my moms.  Derek had to work and my sister's husband was home sick with with the flu, so it was just Lacey and I and the kids but it was still a fun day! 

As many of you know from facebook, Derek decided WEEKS ago that it was time to put Christmas lights up outside and to turn them ON!  A few days later (which was well over a week before Thanksgiving) he decided the tree needed to be up too!  He is a Christmas nut!  I finally have all of the other decor out and the house is very festive!  Let the countdown to Christmas begin!

We have gotten some projects done around the house this week...or at least started!  The baby's room is almost complete!!  I hope to finish up the painting today and then it'll just need a few things on the wall and clothes and other baby things for the drawers!  :)   Slowly but surely it'll all come together!  I am so very excited for March!  We are also getting started on painting in the living room and hallway upstairs...as Derek decided it was necessary that our TV get mounted on the wall to make more room for 2 children playing in the living room!  Of course it's not an "easy" job as we have NO touch up paint for the current color..nor do we have a cable jack in the right spot so my dad has graciously offerred to do some re-wiring for us..which will make for holes in the wall and touch up on the wall texturing! 

Well, I best get Boston some more cereal for breakfast and then on to my chores for the day! Thank you for reading and following our blog!  I really enjoy journaling about our life and sharing it with all of you who mean so much to me!  As the holiday hussle and bussle keeps you and your families busy, please take time to remember the real meaning of CHRISTmas!

Boston's Advent Calendar!  I remember having these as a kid so thought it would be fun to have the same tradition for Boston.  He loves the chocolate!!  

 Our Nativity Set.  Now that Boston is learning the story of Jesus' birth in the manger it was fun to set up the Nativity with him and explain all the pieces!

 Our "fun ornament" tree!  In a few years we'll either need another one or a bigger one! This is the tree that Boston decorates! 

 Every year Boston gets a new ornament from me.  I write him a special little note that I keep in the ornament box.  The note explains why I picked the ornament I did and the year he got it.  This years ornament is Spiderman and the Green Goblin! I let Boston help pick it out this year. I was 99% sure he would pick a superhero..  :)  And look at that cute little boy's picture on the stocking!  That's Derek!