Cookies

Sunday, January 18th

Emily woke up and right away wanted to make cookies for daddy. I think this is just her excuse so that we can make cookies for her. Whichever, I love to bake and she has really become a great helper. She can crack the eggs without getting shells in them and if I measure the ingredients she will dump them in the bowl. We have a good time together and of course enjoy eating the dough! Clara likes to help too, however, her help is just eating the dough!! We decided to make chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. They turned out great and everyone enjoyed them. Below is the recipe. Enjoy!!

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Mommy's Makeup

Saturday, January 17

The girls have been playing dress-up non stop since they got a dress-up trunk full of clothes for Christmas. I thought it would be fun to play in mommy's makeup and get all dressed up and have a dance party. The girls really like rock stars and their current favorite is Pink. We have her appearance on the CBS morning show on DVR where she is performing "So What" and we watch it quite frequently. I have an old makeup kit with all kids of fun colors that I got out for this occasion. Of course blue eyeshadow is Emily's choice and the brighter the better!! Clara got purple to match her Little Mermaid costume but it didn't show up very well in the pictures. And what makeup job could be complete without a lot of blush and bright red lipstick!! I can tell by looking at the pictures that Emily felt truly gorgeous with her "mommy makeup". It was fun and I enjoyed getting them all dolled up. Maybe next time we will do some fancy hair.

Wrestling Take Two

Thursday, January 15

This week's wrestling dual took us just up the road (not an hour drive and the weather was not icy, just below zero temps!) to Lewis Central in Council Bluffs. I was excited for the kids to wear their new Glenwood Wrestling shirts that I had made for them so they could cheer for their favorite team. When I say cheer, I just mean completely not pay any attention to what we are actually there for and play with your friends in the bleachers while annoying half of the crowd and chasing away anyone who dared to sit within twenty feet of us :) When we got to the school, Dain and Amber helped to get the kids in the door. It was extremely cold and I really didn't want to park at the opposite end of the school and walk at the pace of an 18 month old to get there. So, thanks to them for the help! We of course made our grand entrance with what seemed like twenty kids, their coats and bags. Once seated it was then time to make the all important trip to the concession stand. I am starting to wonder if Amber and I go to these events to avoid making dinner and just feed the kids hot dogs from the stand. Anyway, it was my turn to get the food. I left with a hefty order and came back carrying all of the food in a box that was given to me by the nice lady running the concession stand. There was so much stuff she added it up in her head three different times just to make sure that she got it right. I of course stood out like a sore thumb carrying this box and got quite a few chuckles from the people sitting around us (not to worry though...they probably didn't sit there for very long, remember). Amber even took a picture of it for her blog!! Anyway, another chance to eat off of and all over the bleachers..who could pass this up!?!? I got a package of M&Ms for the kids to share when they finished as a treat. Emily couldn't wait to have the chalic and Brock asked when they could have the potty treats!! I love what kids come up with!! After the food was everywhere and we went through a lot of wet wipes it was time to crawl up and down the bleachers and chase off the neighbors. We did an excellent job!! Clara found someone elses pop bottles and threw them and Emily was crawling up down and all around. Then came the time to take my poor innocent infant to the public restroom for his dinner. I felt like a sixteen year old feeding my baby on the toilet in a high school bathroom, but it is not like they have nursing rooms like a department store. Anyway, the rest of the evening was crazy as usual. When the dual was over (Glenwood lost) we headed for the car and a short drive home. We had a good time and Nile was a hit to those who dared to sit around us (they were Amber's family, they had to sit with us).

Nile sporting his new shirt

Clara getting wild

Funny faces were the thing of the evening

Clara participating

The Box Is Always the Best Part

Wednesday, January 14

Why is it that the box is always the best toy in the house? Dain installed a reverse osmosis system in our kitchen for drinking water last week. The girls thought that the box that it came in was such a great time. Not even a month after Christmas, with all of the new stuff that they got, they are playing in a cardboard box. I think next year for Christmas I will just go to the local stores and ask for all of their empty boxes...imagine all of the money I will save!! However, I do love to watch them enjoy themselves and laugh and giggle with each other!!

A Few Takes From Our Photo Session

Bathing Beauty

Wednesday, January 7th

This isn't so bad....

...okay, get me out...I have had enough!!

Hanging Out Like It's A Rainy Day

Tuesday, January 6th

Nile hanging out

Emily and Clara modeling their new rain coats. Who really needs a rain coat in January?? We are obviously ready for spring!!

Still the baby...

Sunday, January 4th

Nile's First Wrestling Tournament...and A LONG Drive Home

Saturday, January 3rd, my friend Amber and I loaded up kids and headed to Atlantic for an all day wrestling tournament. She and her son Brock drove their van and followed us. Amber's husband Matt is the head wrestling coach at Glenwood and Dain is in his first year as an assistant. He is really enjoying himself and loves to be back in the wrestling room doing something that he is passionate about. The girls were very excited to go watch daddy. The drive to Atlantic was fine. The kids napped and the weather held out and was just lightly raining most of the trip. We made our way in to Atlantic...drove around the town trying to find the high school...stopped and asked for directions once...each of us called our husbands once for directions and eventually we found it!! Amber headed in to the school with Brock and the girls and I stayed in the car to feed Nile his lunch. When I got in to the gym, we decided to feed the kids. Amber went to the concession stand while I stayed back with the kids, who were all playing very nicely. Lunch came and for some reason Emily and Clara could not stay seated for more that a few seconds before they needed to change bleachers..up and down and over the top of people. Food was on the bleachers, both where you sit and put your feet. They would set it down and then pick it up and eat it. Amber informed me that during wrestling season, eating off of the bleachers is "okay" and pretty much the norm. But wait kids, let's use the hand sanitizer before we eat!! Sitting down started to become a real challenge and I was starting to feel really bad for the older gentleman who was sitting in front of us...Clara was using his leg to help her get up and down. Luckily, the tournament was coming to an end. Then came the weather report. Freezing rain and icy roads were making their way from the west and we would have to drive right in to it. We loaded up the kids and headed for the interstate, thinking this would be better than back roads. Amber and I followed each other home and made several calls to each other to see who was scared about the current conditions. Atlantic would normally be a one hour drive. That night it took us two hours to get home, creeping along the interstate at 35-40 mph, gripping the wheel the whole way. We enjoyed our wrestling trip minus the drive home, and Nile slept through his very first wrestling tournament!!

Nile taking it all in

Brock and Emily

Clara

Emily and Dain, Brock and Matt

Elmo's Green Thumb

Friday, January 2nd, we all packed up and headed to the Qwest Center in Omaha for Elmo Live. This is our second year of attending Elmo and the kids loved it once again. This years theme was Elmo's Green Thumb, an eco-friendly play!! The trend these days is to be "green" and even Elmo is keeping with the times. We got to the Qwest center about twenty minutes before it started, got our tickets and found our seats. We had perfect seats for us...toward the back in case we needed to get out quick!! We got everyone situated in their seats and Dain headed out to the snack stand to get everyone dinner. He came back with enough stuff for us to pass around and share with each other. The girls loved their first stick of cotton candy and of course a "fuzzy"!! Once Elmo hit the stage, attention was focused straight ahead. The girls were giggling and screaming...needless to say they loved it. Nile of course thought it was great too!! He slept through all of the noise and never even woke up once. We enjoyed Elmo all of the way through intermission and then decided we better get out of there and beat the rush and the traffic. It was very cold outside and Dain wanted to be able to pull the car up to the curb and pick us up, so we thought we better go before that was not a possibility. We had a very good time with Elmo and we will be back again next year!!

Emily and her "fuzzy"

Clara's cheeeeze smile

Nile enjoying Elmo from the comforts of his carseat

Clara and Daddy

Clara and Emily waiting for Daddy to pick us up

Happy New Year

New Years morning was just like any other morning around our house. We all stayed home New Years Eve and we were all in bed much before midnight. New Years morning, I did get a picture of all three of them together still in the pajamas, as we begin our first whole year as a family of five. I am not so sure what is all over Emily's face, however, I am sure it has something to do with a "snack".

Later that morning the Hawkeyes were playing in the Outback Bowl. We all geared up for watching the game with our Hawkeye gear and some game day snacks. Nile had the privilege of wearing the Hawkeyes jersey this year. I purchased this jersey when Emily was a baby. She wore it for two football seasons before passing it on to Clara. Now that Nile is here, it was his turn to wear the family jersey, and he wore it well. It was of course accompanied by the Hawkeyes stocking hat that he got for Christmas. And...the Hawkeyes won!! Happy New Year!!

(Look at those skinny little legs!!)

New Year New Blog

Welcome to the Lundvall family blog. I have been reading blogs for a while now (a habit started by my friend) and enjoy following along and getting to know more about others. I started thinking about how much fun it would be to start a blog about what we do around here and how nice it would be to share that with family and friends, especially those who don't live around here. However, the real reason for this blog is for my kids. I found a website that publishes your blog, text and photos, in to a hardcover book. I thought that would be an awesome keepsake for my kids one day. So, I started this blog to record our daily adventure for them. I figured that at the end of each year I would print that year of the blog in a book and get four copies, one for Dain and I and one for each kid. I am really excited about this!! I have a few posts that will be catch up (things we have done since the new year up until now) and then I hope to post at least every other day. So...stay tuned.