Iowa is c-c-c-c-cold

So let's just push that last post down a little. :) I love Max, and what's the greatest is that he loves me even with all my crazy ideas.

We had our first freezing rain this past weekend. It was crazy--it looks like rain coming from the sky and then it hits the ground and turns into ice. A nice layer of snow dusted the top. The next day, everyone was outside chipping away at the two layers of ice on their driveways and sidewalks. It must have stopped part way through the night because there really were two layers, each about an inch thick, that separated as you chipped through it. 

After the freezing rain, we had a high of -1 degree on Sunday. Getting in and out of church was COLD!!

Here is Max after shoveling one day. It wasn't snowing--his breath just gave him a nice frosty beard and hair. Quite the beard, eh!

Also, can anyone guess my Christmas present? Don't worry, it is exactly what I asked for.

Max is hijacking the Blog... because I love her.

I decided that Kate can't have full power over the blog otherwise some of you may miss the amazing things that she does because she is too humble to tell you. So I took the liberty of compiling a few photos of kate and one small movie clip of her incredible skillz to show you just a glimpse of how cool she is. I'd write more but I'm afraid I'll get caught by the editor in chief if I press my luck too far. Have fun.

Christmas Tree Hunt

For our first 5 Christmases, we always bought a tree permit, made a long drive up past Strawberry Reservoir or out past Toole, and hunted for the perfect tree. Sometimes they weren't so perfect--in fact one year was downright pathetic--but it was fun and often exciting. One year it started snowing quite hard, the wind was blowing, and our car started slipping down and kind of off the side of a hill. The last year we went, Jonah didn't want to get out of the car, Wyatt, only six months, was whining and needed to be fed so Max did the hunting and cutting himself. Last year we gave up and went tree hunting at Harmon's grocery store. We even took pictures.

This year, I think we found a good mix for the age of our family. We went to a local tree farm, only ten minutes away. It was $30 for ANY size pine or $40 for ANY size fir. Since we have a vaulted ceiling, we decided to go big. After walking around a bit, we found a beautiful 10 footer. Once we cut our tree and started dragging it to the parking area, an employee came and helped us drag it the rest of the way. Then, they put it on the shaker--probably the most entertaining part. Then, for $1 they wrapped it in netting and strapped it to our roof for us. Then--can you believe it could get any better?--when we went to pay, there were cookies, cider, and candy canes in the little cashier shed. We will definitely be returning next year.

We've never had cows on any of our previous tree-hunting trips

the winner (Also, this was almost a month ago and Max has been growing this beard ever since. I'll have to post a photo of that too.)

Wyatt stopped at this tree and said, "This is a good one!" He hasn't even seen A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The tree shaker.

It's a . . . .

BOY! 

We had our ultrasound this morning. I was pretty convinced, and I think Max was too, that we were going to have a girl because of how different this pregnancy has been from my others. I just thought there had to be something different to make me so sick--a girl, twins, a puppy, something. But it turns out that he is a little boy just like our other two. 

Jonah was a little sad at first because he has said for a long time that it is a girl and her name is Molly (a friend from preschool). It took a little while, but now he seems excited to have another little brother and says that we should name him Mikey (another friend from preschool). We'll see about that. Max and I have been very good at picking out names an hour before we leave the hospital. 

We're very excited!