Christmas 2013 on the Road

Melissa and I both look forward to spending a little time at our parents' houses with our families around the holidays.  Here is a look back at our adventures from Christmas 2013 on the road...

It started with stop in Reinbeck first and Grandpa John's reading of T'was the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.

Cousin Ella was there and that was enough for Emma.

Christmas morning we opened presents.  Santa was very good to us again this year.

Emma was impressed that Santa had come through the fireplace...

 ...but not that he had left a mess!

Per usual, there was lots of relaxation, book reading and tea parties at the Stull house.

Melissa lives about an hour and a half away from the Burgart family farm.  Every year the Burgarts congregate to make ring bologna.  I tried to capture most of the steps.  Step one: mix the spices with the meat which is a blend of beef and pork.

Step two: crank the spiced meat into their casings.  Pictured here are three of my uncles: Larry (in plaid), David (red sweatshirt), and Joe (blue/grey shirt).

Step three: tie the bologna with a string to make a loop so that it can hang in the smoke house.  These are my cousins Amber (far in blue vest) and Katie (near).

Step four: Hang the bologna in the smoke house which was prepped earlier in the day with plastic around the outside to help keep the smoke in.

Step five: throughout the day the smoke is checked about every 30 minutes to make sure there isn't to much flame / heat and not too little smoke.  The down time is spent catching up with family via marathon card games.

After the bologna making we went back to Reinbeck for another day and then on to Council Bluffs.  The entire family was there this year, including Justin and his girlfriend Karen, Grandma Marge, Jon and Amy, and Emma's cousins Aubrey and Annie.  There was lots of good food, tons of presents, and great family time!

Emma's favorite past time - cookie decorating.

I think Emma thinks of playdough as practice for cookie making. :)

She never gets to far away from Uncle Justin.

The cousins.  Left to right is: Aubrey (5), Emma (2.5), Annie (3)

It was a great trip and worth every mile!  Thank you to all our families for a warm and loving home environment to come back to.

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, Emma, and Lucas

P.S. Here are a couple of bonus pictures I found of Emma and her Minneapolis pals at the Minnesota Zoo.

Welcome Lucas Jarold Burgart

We are all excited to announce the arrival of our son, Lucas Jarold Burgart.  He was born at 9:39 pm on  April 22nd.  The little guy kept us all waiting and was 9 days overdue.  We waited and waited for Melissa to go into labor naturally but in the end we had to induce, which made for a long day.  When he finally arrived we were excited to have a healthy boy weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds 15 ounces and 22 inches long!  The doctor who delivered the baby joked that Melissa had just delivered a 3 month old!   Luke was born on Tuesday and we brought him home on Thursday.  Just like Emma, we had a tough time picking out a name for him.  Lucas doesn't have any family significance, however, his middle name is after Melissa's grandfather Jarold Lister (a.k.a Poppy).  He was a man that lived a wonderful and full life and someone whom everybody loved.  We hope Lucas carries on his legacy.  Please enjoy some pictures of our newest family member from our hospital stay.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 on Tuesday morning and for the next 4-5 hours we hung out waiting for the meds to take effect.  Time was filled reading magazines, updating the blog, walking around, and watching season 1 of the Big Bang Theory.

At 9:39 we were blessed with our little (big!) boy!!

I took this picture of the monitor with his weight on it because I thought some people might not believe that Melissa birthed a baby that was an ounce shy of 11 lbs!!

Melissa worked hard to get Luke out so there were many naps with the little guy.

Emma has waited very patiently for her baby brother to get here.  So far she has been the best big sister a baby could ask for.  She showers him with hugs and kisses and will drop whatever she is doing (even a piece of banana bread) to help with a diaper change.  Her first words the last couple mornings have been: "Is the baby awake?" It has been so heart warming to watch Emma around Luke.  She has loved him from the start and I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. :)

Emma had LOTS of questions about her new best friend!

Besides Emma, we were visited in the hospital by Melissa's parents, Larry and Julie, and Melissa's law partner George and their legal assistant Kelly.   My folks and grandma Marge were here for Easter in hopes that they would get a chance to meet the new baby (and we were hoping they would also) but it turns out they missed him by a couple days.  We are looking forward to their visit to introduce them to their first grandson!

Grandma and Grandpa Stull

My Aunt Julie and Uncle Larry

So far everything is going well.  Lucas is eating, sleeping, and pooping just like babies are supposed to.  Melissa's mom and sister have been here to help with Emma and allow us to get a few extra hours of sleep at night which has been much appreciated.  For those of you who know Megan, you also know that our kitchen has been spotless over the last couple of days. :)

We have been blessed with an outpouring of love from friends and family around the globe and in the neighborhood which we greatly appreciate.  Stay tuned for more pictures!  We love our little man very much and are excited to continue to watch him grow, with Emma showing him the ropes.  He is truly blessed with the greatest big sis in the world!

With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, Emma, and Luke