Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Howdy from the southwest!

We are enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. It has been absolutely beautiful and we've had a chance here and there to get out and enjoy it all. Saturday we spent half the day playing like girls play. I usually don't do that. That involves things like shopping and lunch. It was a whopping fun time!


I do have an itch to garden, but don't have my own yard. I've been trying to collect gardening containers from the local Goodwill while they're on sale. Maybe I'll manage some kind of garden, although certainly not the Alaska greenhouse variety!


Winter time and naps out on the porch in the cool afternoon air. Life. Is. Good.


I'm working part time and away from home a lot less than I use to be. It gives me chances to do things like go through hoards of spray paint putting together all kinds of prizes!


And we spend all kinds of time sharing life with other people.
Visiting .... lots of it!


That would about be it over here.
This morning when it isn't a work day .... my eyeballs were open before the alarm clock.
THAT is a mirracle! :)

Be well.



Monday, December 19, 2011

Join us for Christmas!


                               Received this many years ago from my crafting nieces in Superior
Christmas tree with a variety of snowflakes and 3 red cardinals.  The 5 spruce tops in window box have blue lights but not dark enough to show now.  2 kinds of Christmas cactus in one container; red one in bloom.
 Nativity set made years ago.  Pa made the fireplace with picture of flames taken at Kaleva Island.  Jen made
  the tree with Ma, Pa and A - J.  Can't be seen but a picture of a cardinal on wall to right of nativity set.
Christmas cards.  We always put them up on this wall.  And on the wall where our aerial photo of the farm is
during the year now has the counted cross stitch Anita made of the angel.  Didn't put up any angels this year.  Do have one of the speakers with the snowmen. 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Hello :)

On Wednesday night we finally got to meet our new little boy, Dustyn Ray!!!!  (I texted everyone besides Liz and Gary because I didn't have your numbers in my phone... but I think I heard Frans on the phone with someone, becky maybe, and asked them to text you guys.)  He was born at 10:15, and was 8 lbs 15.6 oz.  Another big baby for us!  But the delivery was super easy, and recovery so far hasn't been bad either thank goodness.  We are both still in awe that we actually have a little boy...seems so unreal!  Actually, just having a baby right now seems unreal.  With so much going on in our lives this past year, it doesn't seem like we focused much on my pregnancy, and it just flew by.  And all of a sudden, it was time to have him, and it was like, where did the time go???!  But I guess that's not really a complaint! 
We are so thankful that God has given us another healthy baby to love, we are so lucky!  And the girls are beyond thrilled too....it's like Christmas-time around here! 
We can't decide who he really looks like....Does anyone see a resemblance?

 Proud daddy with his Son!

Anna was so awesome and watched the kids for us while we were in the hospital :)  She brought Trina and Taryn to the hospital while the other girls were in school.  It was nice having them come without the big girls...

the girls each brought me two red roses to make a dozen. 

24 hours old here....


Waiting to get discharged from the hospital.  They can' t believe he is going to get to come home with us.  Trina asked me, "Then will we have to bring him back?"  Nope, we get to keep him!

 dressed and ready to go home!




Trina happy to have Dustyn home with us!


Love this little guy...isn't he just the cutest!!?


All the other girls got shipped out to Friends houses for the weekend...but Taryn got to spend Saturday home alone with us.  And I think it was a good thing.  She got lots of special attention right along with Dustyn.  :)  Everytime she walks by him she stops and rubs his head and says "awww....cute baby!"  I love it!  Hopefully she continues to be good with new baby taking over the 'baby' spot!

Monday, November 07, 2011

Life at our house...

Here's a glimpse into life at our house over the past few days:
Wednesday we brought the girls in for their flu shots. Wednsday night Heidi ran a fever, but we figured it was due to the shot, so weren't real worried. Thursday AM, Shawn says he isn't feeling well and he is heading to the ER; thinks he may have kidney stones. Rather than packing the girls up to go with, he figured he would just go himself. I called daycare and confirmed that Heidi could come evern with the fever as we ALL figured it was due to the shot. Shawn heads out the door about 7 and I left later with the girls, brought them to daycare and headed to work.
Half way to work and my phone rings. Shawn calling to say he has a kidney stone 8mm with jagged edges, they want him to go to Virginia for surgery today. (We doctor in Mt. Iron, but use the Hibbing hospital; they, however, don't have a Urologist, so this surgery has to be done in Virginia). He says that if I don't go and get him, they will send him in the ambulance. I turn around and head to Hibbing. Get to the hospital; get all his paperwork and head out the door. As we are leaving the parking lot, the phone rings, Heidi has had a seizure at daycare. We quickly navigate a different way out of the parking lot and head to Cherry to pick up Heidi.
Thankfully, Jen was working up here during the week. I called her. She was still in Virginia. Asked if she could meet me at the clinic, so I could bring Heidi in to see the doctor and if she could get Shawn to the hospital for surgery. What a gem, she was there. I headed in with Heidi and Shawn heads off in the care of Jen.
Heidi sees the doctor and I'm told, "it's a viral thing, just control the fever". Take her with me to the hospital to check on Shawn.
Got there in time to see him before going into surgery. The doctor says it will be about an hour, so Jen and I head to Target to get some Tylenol and Ibuprofen for Heidi (and some shoes, we left daycare in a hurry). Got back well within the hour.
Jen heads out.
Heidi and I are waiting, she heats up and has another seizure.....
Called Jen to come to my rescue. Could she come and follow up with making sure Shawn made it through surgery fine, I was going to have to do something with Heidi. As I'm heading out the door with Heidi, the surgeon comes out to say Shawn made it fine, they got the stone...
Frantically, I call our doctor, she says, if the fever won't go down, walk across the hall to the ER being as I'm still at the hospital waiting to see Shawn and give Heidi another dose of Ibuprofen. Gave her the medication and played the waiting game.... we had already begun trying to cool her off... wet towels under the arms, and that whole bit... with her laying on the changing table in the restroom.
Nurse comes out to say that we can go see Shawn. Headed back, he is not looking that great, but could go home. Told him that Heidi had another seizure to which his response was, "she isn't coming home without being seen". She was still lethargic and not doing too hot. The nurse in after surgery recovery says that Shawn can stay there. They will discharge him and have him wait there while I bring Heidi in to the ER.
Brought Heidi in... of course the fever had come down. The ER doctor questioned me on EVERYTHING! How do you know she had a seizure, what did it look like?
I explained exactly what she does, arms and legs moving, eyes rolling back in her head, spewing out spit up/phlegm.... to which the doctor says, "okay, so she did have a seizure"... "umm, yeah, she has had 10 of them"
"you probably don't treat it right" is the next comment. I had to pull out the medication and prove that I was treating it as I was supposed to be....
Next comes the pat on my shoulder, "your little girl will be fine, just treat the fever"!
Went to get Shawn and headed home. Jen had picked up Hailey and brought her home for me. We hung out at home for a while and sure enough, Heidi starts skyrocketing again with a fever.
Shawn called our daycare provider and Tom came to get Hailey.
We headed to the ER with Heidi.
They admitted her to the ER rather than Urgent Care. She had a high fever; got testing done, white blood cell count was 23,000. The doctor said he doesn't believe it is that elevated due to only a viral infection. Gave her a shot of anitbiotic and we took her home. My daycare provider told me that they would just keep Hailey over night. We didn't get home with Heidi until about midnight!
Friday, all went well, kept everyone home!
Saturday, Jen watched the girls while Shawn and I went hunting.
There was more pressure this ye.ar, then ever! I've been in big buck/big doe contests and don't really care about the outcome... this year, the 2 year old kept saying... "Mine Momma shoot deer, take it home, cook it up, and eat it". We weren't allowed to entertain the thought of not getting one, with one exception...
We were sitting in a doctor's office earlier this fall. Heidi draws a picture and I inquired what it was... "shoot". Her story: "momma shoot deer, miss, shoot me, me die, put me in garbage"...
Anyway, we got out to the woods Saturday morning, I headed to the stand and Shawn was going out somewhere else and then back to a trail. I don't have a ton of patience. I sat there for a while, hoping a deer would cross my path, and then gave up. Started blowing on the buck grunt. Before too long, I can hear them coming through the woods, but they turned away and headed a different direction. I was bummed, turned around to see if I could get a glimpse at them, saw Shawn... he had seen a buck, but didn't get it, shot a doe. I had seen the one run and figured it may come back, turn around and my buck is standing there looking right at me (about 30 yards away). My thought was... "I don't care if he shot at you, you're alive, you're mine" and pulled the trigger. I got him. By 9AM we were working on gutting the deer. By 11:00 we were home with them in the back of the truck and had made a couple stops on the way home :)
Saturday afternoon, Hailey woke up from her nap, running a fever. Our lives consist of Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Shawn went in today and got his stint taken out. Hoping he recovers quickly! Heidi doesn't need medication quite as often :) Hailey has not yet had a seizure :) 

Here's our deer!
 The girls checking out the deer!
Hoping this finds everyone else doing well and hoping you can avoid all bugs (viral and bacterial) this time of year!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Our great granddaughter

Madelyn Halonen, the 3rd great grandchild to visit us in Brainerd.  Steven, John, Laura,
Sarah and Kathryn came to spend Saturday with us and had their niece Madelyn with
them.  Her dark hair amazes me.  Michelle hasn't washed the color out yet.  I always
managed to get our dark headed kids turned light to match Charlies.  But when they got
older it turned dark again and now it looks like many have it turning light again.  I just love to see that!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Birthday muffin from Perkins

 After seeing Dr. Watkins, lunch at Grandma's Restaurant and then to Perkins to pick up some muffins.  Went to Marvin and Nathalie Johnsons for coffee and muffins.  Got a candle from Perkins for the birthday celebration.
Then with Marvin and Nathalie on our ride we went to Chris Jensen Home to visit Marvin's sister Viola Peterson.  So here we are, the 3 surviving grandchildren of Herman and Anna Liisa Koponen.  The last cousin we lost was Gil Jarvela but I guess there would have been no way to get the four of us in a picture.  We relived history and heard some stories for the first time.

Saturday, October 08, 2011

What's new!

Well, I am not sure when the last time we posted was, but here is what has been happening the last two months.  We have been spending a lot of time playing with Connor!  At Connor's two month check up he was 14lbs 11oz and 25 in long.  He is in the 95th percentile for his age, which from what I hear, is just like Ivan was as a baby. 

Ivan is working hard at work in the office.  I think that he is really showing the bosses that he is serious about his job and wants to move up in the company.  He is joining a bunch of different teams, and is now presenting during the monthly shop meetings. 

As for me, I am just enjoying having Connor at work with me and playing with the two other kids I have full time. 


Connor in his Baptismal suit.  What a hanson little man!!

Connor loves going "swimming" with Ivan!

Connor and the cat playing together!

Here are the three kids I have at work everyday.  Anna (4yrs) loves helping with the babies!

Connor is "talking" with Auntie Jenn and Uncle Rick.

These two are from the MN Zoo.  I took the three kids out for their first field trip with the two babies.  Fourtunatly everything went smoothly.  But I have a new respect for parents of twins!!


That's about it from here!  Hope everyone has a great fall!
~MISSI~