Well Child Checks for the Big Kids

We made a change in our insurance which officially occurred at the 1st of the year therefore all of our kiddos had well child checks in early January. 

Lucy had her 8 year appointment and flu shot. She still calls this her 'Wild Child Visit' instead of Well Child and I can hardly stand to correct her because Wild Child is so funny and accurate.

Lucy is growing up so fast! She weighs 73 pounds (88th percentile).

And measures in at 54.4 inches (94th percentile). She is going to be taller than me before I know it!

Romy was up next! He weighs 62 pounds (95th percentile) and is just like a puppy that is growing but still considers itself to be a lapdog. Roman would love to be carried around and still wants to be picked up during a big hug. :)

Roman loves this picture by the way because he thinks that he looks like a robot with an antenna. Haha! He measured in at 51 inches during this visit (99th percentile) - another child who will be outgrowing mama very soon!

The kids both had great visits and I have to admit that this was a big change of pace for me. After many years of not having regular access to a Pediatrician, we now have a full Pediatric department at our disposal. It is amazing! Rural medicine has many wonderful aspects but there are some serious challenges as well. Access to services is no joke. Our family is grateful to have so many medical professionals at our fingertips! 

Leo's 1 Year Well Child Check

We went to go see Dr. Manju for Leo's 12 month appointment!

Our sweet babe loves making faces for the camera. 

Leo is a growing boy - he weighed in at 23lb 13 oz (83rd percentile) and measures at 31.1 inches (87th percentile) on this day. 

This guy is super droolly and getting lots of new teeth. 

We are not walking yet but can scoot, crawl, or beg a sibling to carry us anywhere we need to go. 

Leo has a bunch of eczema and winter skin issues but we are experimenting with several different creams and meds to determine which is the best fit.

Super grateful for our healthy, spunky, sweet, and handsome boy!

Ringing in 2020

 We started 2020 with high hopes!!

Our crew celebrated with 2020 glasses, a fancy dinner with the fine china.

The kiddos even enjoyed some sparkling cider. Good stuff!

I don't think that anyone made it to midnight but we had a good evening!

We all got dressed up to cheer on our beloved Badgers in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. Unfortunately UW lost the game but we still love sporting our Bucky gear.

We couldn't kick off the new year without a goofy picture! Haha!

We spent our first weekend of 2020 doing some of our favorite things like going to the library. Leo absolutely loves paging through books and pointing at the pictures. He is very skilled at grabbing books and scooting right up to the closest person and 'asking' them to read with him. 

Love this little bookworm of mine!

Look at the movies that my big kids selected on this day - talk about blast from the past!! Haha!

It is rough stuff going back to work and school after the holidays! Even my Roman - who never stops going - crashed while playing with his new toys. Just taking a snooze next to the Colosseum.

And Star Wars toys! Sweet boy. 

Happy New Year!

Mr. Storm is 40!

Lordy lordy look who's 40!! Our favorite guy!

We celebrated Dan's 40th in beautiful Fargo with all of his siblings. We made an appointment to go axe throwing. Dan received a hand crafted ax from his sibs for his special day. 

Doesn't he look like such a mountain man? ;)

We all wore plaid! Somehow, despite living in Northern Wisconsin for several years, I don't have a plaid flannel shirt. What the heck? Luckily I was able to borrow one from Nola. 

Brad had gone ax throwing in the past so he had an advantage over the rest of us. Haha!

We had a blast!

Dan managed to get a couple of bullseyes! Here is the proof.

And a close up! 

 

Here is our entire crew. Thank you to Ken and Nola for holding down the fort and watching all of the children for this evening.

After our ax throwing adventures we went of out for a drink (Not really a good combination of things to do together!)

We had Indian food for supper and feasted on a delicious German Chocolate cake! This is one of Daniel's favorite desserts and we had it in anticipation of our upcoming joint 40th birthday trip to Munich, Salzburg, and southern Germany in June 2020.

Overall it was a great day!! I still remember when my parents and my uncles turned 40 and now here we are! Time sure does fly. Weren't we all just turning 21 yesterday? Hah! 

Happy happy birthday Daniel! We love you so much! We can't wait to see what the next 40 years bring. :)

Fargo Family Christmas - 2019 + Leo's 1st Birthday

After our time in South Dakota, we headed up North to celebrate with our Fargo family. We love spending time with Uncle Brad. I love how little Leo's tongue is sticking out in this pic. :) 

These guys are 2 of my favorite baldies! LOL! 

We opened gifts with the Storm fam - I really don't have any pics of the present exchange but snapped a photo of my awesome new shoes! Love these sweet Packers kicks!

The next day we put on our warm clothes and took a field trip to the Hjemkomst Center for a little sleigh ride. Just look at these sweet cheeks! 

Our big kids were ready for adventure!

Lucy loved snuggling with her Grammy Nola.

Here is our crew on the ride.

I had to snap a quick selfie of Auntie and James. :)

Leo has no problem bundling up for the weather.

The horses were so beautiful!

Lucy and Romy loved petting these gentle giants.

We all had a fun afternoon!

After some hot chocolate and treats we visited the museum. Everyone loved the Viking ship!

It was so fun to dress up like a Viking warrior.

Even Grandpa participated! 

After learning about Vikings and going through an exhibit on the 1918 flu pandemic, we parted ways with the rest of the Storms so that we could visit my cousin Caren and her sweet family in Moorhead. They had not met Leo before so it was great to introduce him to his second cousins. They have a split level home with lots of stairs and Leo was all over the place!! It made me really excited for the days when we can take down the baby gate and not worry about tumbles down the stairs!

I have just a couple of girl cousins so Caren was always one of my besties growing up.

Just look at this crew! Grandma Smeby is definitely smiling down from heaven at this pack. :) This Christmas Lucy is 8, Alissa is 7, Roman and Ashlee are 6 and Leo is 1. We had pizza, the kids played like crazy, and we had the best time catching up.

We enjoyed spending time with James and Neal at Grammy Nola and Grandpa Ken's house! This year we had a special task ... making cupcakes for baby Leo's first birthday. James was the King of the sprinkles!

Roman always serves as comic relief. :)

The kiddos went outside a lot and enjoyed some sledding time in the backyard.

Just look at those big flakes of snow! Lucy is a big fan of ear muffs these days. :)

Even Mama got a little bit of time on the sledding hill. 

My sweet little snow baby!

There was also a lot of cousin playtime indoors.

Plus snuggle time with grammy!

And we can't forget about one of our favorite holiday pastimes ... playing Nintendo with Uncle Brad. Do you see that controller in Roman's hot little hands? Back in Christmas 1986 or 1987 my cousins got a Nintendo and we thought it was the best thing ever!! I played Mario Brothers so hard that I covered both thumbs in blisters from one side of my thumbnail to the other. I went back to school with bandaids and couldn't write very well so my mom had to send a note to my teacher explaining the situation. Hahaha! Mom of the year! ;) Man, the '80's were great! 

We partied with this big guy on his actual birthday - December 27!

Despite the photo, Leo did love his cupcake!

We sure love you to pieces Leon Henry! Happy Birthday son!