The Lord's Prayer

Even though we haven't officially joined a church up here yet, Katie has been working on saying the Lord's prayer. I thought it would take a few months for her to get it down, but it only took about 10 days. We would say it at bedtime every night and before I knew it she had it down pat. So here is Katie reciting her prayer.

Good to be home again

Well we are finally home again after a long holiday weekend. It's great to visit family, but always nice to get to your own bed again. Katie is slowly but surely getting back to her old routine. Only a couple meltdowns today. For some reason she HATES getting dressed to go outside. Maybe that will change when the snow starts to fly, (which will be this week from sound of it) but it sure makes for a long winter. Perhaps I need to be more positive about the temperature change too - I must say I don't set a very good example...I despise the cold, and would rather have 75 degree days everyday.

Anyway, we got a chance to visit with our friend Scot, his wife Deb (great name) and their new baby Madison. Maddy was born about 4 weeks after Will so she is just a bit younger. I think they liked each other - liked to lay by each other, as long as Will behaved himself and didn't squash her. As you can see from the pictures, Will has a SLIGHT weight advantage. :) She is a very pretty little girl. Katie liked being able to play with a "girl baby."

Getting ready to head south

Turkey day is approaching and that means a trip down south to Iowa. (Referring to it as 'down south' makes me feel like we're going someplace nice and warm!) Sounds like we will be heading down Thursday morning which would put us into Waukon sometime in the early afternoon. Friday, the kids and I will drive over to Prairie du Chein to visit Janet and the boys (and the cats). Saturday Katie wants to play Bingo with Carol up at Northgate. She has been practicing and is pretty excited to yell "BINGO!" We are also going to try to squeeze in time Saturday to visit Scot Sorum and his new wife and baby. That's just a rough template of how our days look while we are in town.

Now for some nice brother/sister pictures. Will is VERY into Katie now. He has a really great belly laugh whenever she dances and sings for him. He always wants know where she is at, and is really frustrated sometimes when he can't get down to play with her. Here are a couple pictures from this morning while they were both in good moods. Tonight we have our first parent/teacher conference with Katie's preschool teacher, Ms. Laurie. Yes, they even have these meetings for preschoolers. :)

The shot heard round the world

Today was flu shot day for the Pladsen girls. Katie and I got our shot this afternoon. First, I picked Katie up at school and had packed a lunch for us to have a picnic at school. I didn't think we would have time to go home and eat lunch. Katie was pretty excited about that, but then I explained what we were going to be doing and it wasn't too fun. We got to the dr. and she was fine. I went first - she watched, and no big deal. Then she got her shot in her leg so it wouldn't hurt as much, and boy did she scream! Of course she got a sticker and we hung around the waiting room til the crying had stopped and to make sure there wasn't going to be a reaction since this is my first flu shot.
Then I had to deal with the drama of a 3 year old girl. Anyone that knows Katie knows that she can be a little dramatic. So now her leg is broken just like dad's. (By the way, John's knee is dong much better!) She has to limp and says that we have to put ice on her leg. (Even though the leg that she wants ice on isn't the leg she got the shot in!) So I'm sure in a couple hours all will be well again....that is if the mail comes. I promised her I would have a surprise movie for her and Netflix is supposed to deliver a new Care Bears movie today. Let's hope they come through.

4 month check up

We had Will's 4 month checkup today. Here are the stats:

He weighed in at 18 pounds, 11 ounces and was 27 inches long. Both of those put him in the 97th percentile for a boy his age. :) So we must be doing something right.

He got some shots today which upset him for about 30 seconds, then forgot why he was crying. Everything seems to be right on track developmentally, which we knew. His Dr. was very nice and spent about 30 minutes discussing our options about certain shots in the future, and how we can delay them for a bit if we wish.

Katie and I will get our flu shots on Thursday. (Lord help me) I'm not sure whether it's better to talk about it and let her know it's coming or just surprise her that day. Our little drama queen will put on a show either way I'm afraid.

Will is all ready for winter! We found out these mittens from Old Navy are too small (they left marks on his wrists) - so we upgraded him to Katie's mittens and bought her a new pair instead. Then I realized 'holy cow - he is wearing a 3 year old's mittens..."

Will gets to borrow our friend Noah's Bumbo seat for a while. I think Katie likes it even more because Will can sit and have picnics with her. She serves him all kinds of pretend food that she whips up in her kitchen. Will is excited because Katie is actually giving him stuff to play with.

Minnesota Sushi

It was a day of eating out, which it SHOULD be because then I don't have to do the dishes. Tonight for supper the four of us went to Little Sushi and had sushi. I hadn't had any since our trip down to Key Largo with our friend Scot about 4 years ago. I really enjoyed it then, but I can't remember if it was actually good food, or if I was just jacked up on Japanese beer and Saki. Anyway this little place was really pretty good for Minnesota. And the funniest part? Katie barely ate anything at the Olive Garden earlier today. No chicken, no noodles, no salad, just bread. At the sushi place she chowed down cucumber rolls one bite right after another. We didn't really give her any of our fish...figure it best not to push it too far yet. But she enjoyed the cucumbers, rice, and seaweed wraps. :)

It's inevitable...

Ok - so I will admit to it before everyone blows my cover. I am now *30* (whisper). Last night Katie made me a cardboard bug with clothespins for legs. She said it was my birthday present. I think this is the first year that she has actually made the birthday 'connection.'
Will celebrated by waking up at 3 am to eat, but then sleeping til 8. I'll take it. And John is celebrating by, well, by walking. :) I went and got a new watch for myself the other day and a pair of sunglasses. I also think the 4 of us are going to go out to lunch today at Olive Garden.

Snow!

Hi everyone. I will post a picture later, but wanted to let everyone know that it snowed here this morning. Obviously it didn't stick around, but it snowed pretty good for about 20 minutes. Nice big flakes. Katie wanted to go play in it, but by the time she got ready to go out....it was over. :)

Finally took the plunge

After 4 years of having the same 'stone age' cell phone. I finally upgraded to a new camera phone. It has camera, video and MP3 capabilities. So far I have only figured out the camera part of it. So here are a couple pictures from my phone. Will has taken over one of Katie's bears that says a cute little prayer when you squeeze it. It was given to Katie from cousin Sarah and I am a bit surprised she is letting Will drool all over it.


John is doing much better, although parts of his leg look like I may have taken a bat to it. :) Within a week or so the crutches should be put away, and he'll be left with the leg brace.

Wild weekend

Not too long ago, a 'wild weekend' would have meant something else. This past weekend was a wild blur because we were running around pretty much every second of the days. Thank goodness we found an extra hour with daylight savings time.

John is getting better slowly. It's not happening as fast as he would like, but each day is better than the one before it. He starts physical therapy today. My mom was with us through Saturday and was a big help. The kids and I took her back down to Rochester Saturday, and I met some friends for lunch.

On Sunday we met another friend in the cities visiting for the weekend. I think we have had our fill of malls for the time being. :) Katie also got to see Barney Sunday morning. He was in town at the local toy store celebrating his 20th birthday. Guess he shares his birthday with brother Jeff, a.k.a. 'Bubba.' (Happy late 39th birthday Jeff!)

So here is a picture of us with Barney. I think even Will got a kick out of the big guy.

All ok

I just got word from the surgeon that John's surgery went very well. He is now in recovery and in the process of waking up. When he fully wakes up they will take him to another recovery area and I get to see him then. I am on my way to the hospital as soon as I feed Will...the boy always eats! John gets to come home this afternoon on crutches and ice packs. I'm pretty sure John will be catered to quite well the next few days.



So last night John spent his evening taking Katie out while he could still get around fairly easy. Here are some pictures of the 2 kids. Will's picture was actually taken a couple weeks ago because we were afraid the costume wouldn't fit - it ended up still fitting, although he had to be changed by 3:00 due to a 'diaper accident.' :)