Christmas Eve at the Krals

survivors

Two more pigs came out of the rubble tonight and yesterday we had five come out. They are pretty cold but will survive. I know many of you are concerned about how the pigs are doing. We've done everything we can to get all the survivors out. There are still a few that have made a nest in the insulation and are by a feeder that still has feed in it. Maybe they will come out when the feed runs out or when the construction guys get the rafters off of them. So far it has been amazing that there are so few that were injured. We haven't found any dead ones either. Unbelievable if you ask me.

Christmas card picture

Santa's back up reindeer....

Lincoln Michael Dorn

We went to visit our new little friend Lincoln Michael Dorn. Son of Tim and Angie. He was born on Sunday and weighed 9lbs 2oz and was 21 inches long. BIG BOY!!

Congrats to Tim and Angie, he's a keeper!

Bad Day

After four Christmases we were looking forward to sleeping in and having a lazy day around the house, but no. We got a lovely call this morning at 6:30am from our hog barn. It was the alarm saying that sensor 2 was at 20 degrees (really weird since it's supposed to call before it gets to 50 degrees) so Joe got up and raced back to check on it and thought that the water line broke and was spraying water on the temperature sensor. But once he got in the office he realized that we had a bigger problem on our hands. He opened the door to the west room and saw that the roof had collapsed. Not just the tin roof inside, but the whole ceiling, insulation, rafters and roof. About a 100 foot section in the center of the roof had fallen in on top of our pigs. Luckily we have been marketing pigs (they are 280lbs) for the last few weeks so the barn was about half empty and a few of the pens were empty where the roof fell. So thankfully Joe's parents were able to come over right away and Tim helped Joe and I move pigs to the east side and Ruth watched Ashlyn. We were able to get almost all of the pigs out but a few (5 or less) are still trapped. It's so sad, I feel bad for them. So much for a restful Sunday!

View from the highway

What the barn should look like.... East Room

West Room

The lights still worked but the water and gas lines were obviously snapped off.

View along the outside wall

Elmo Riding Shotgun

Ashlyn got a huge Elmo from the Beraneks at Christmas on Sunday and it was love at first sight! Here she's crusing with Elmo riding shotgun.

let it snow....

I took Ashlyn out for her first sled ride today. She LOVED it! I pulled her around the yard and down the ditch. There were little snowflakes sticking to her eyelashes that were so cute. She didn't want to go back in the house and cried when I finally had to pick her up and carry her in.

Tongue sticking out trying to taste the snow flakes

First Christmas of 2009

We had our first Christmas get together of the season yesterday at my moms in New Ulm. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. The kids had fun playing together and were excited to open gifts. Ashlyn is really into this year and it's fun to see her face light up when she tears the paper off.

Jared found one of the cats that usually try to hide when the kids come around. He actually got it to sleep on his lap for a little bit!

Ashlyn, Jared and Chole

Helping hand out gifts

Playing on the baby grand piano

Go Vikes!

Joe and I got to go the Vikings game on Sunday. It was a good game and we had really good seats.... thanks for letting us use your tickets Tim & Ruth!! Ashlyn spent the day with G&G Loula and had lots of fun playing with cousin Connor.

Ashlyn and I with our Favre jerseys

Joe and I having a good time :)

Connor and Ashlyn having a bubble bath

Visitors

Jeffery and his mommy Jenny stopped by yesterday afternoon. The kids had fun playing in the cardboard fort and we even got them to sit for a few seconds so we could take a picture... Of course we had to bribe them with Goldfish crackers :)

Fort

I made a fort for Ashlyn last week. I cut some holes in it for windows and two doors. Nothing too spectacular but she thinks it's pretty cool so that's all that matters!

"Mommy's not allowed" look....

Peek-a-boo!!!

Running out the "front" door

Quack-Quack

We went to say goodnight to our puppy last week and Ashlyn figured out how to make his duck quack. It's nice that he lets her play with his toys since she (or should I say mommy) doesn't let him play with hers!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Piggy Potty

Ashlyn was playing in the bathroom this afternoon and when I went to check on her, this is what I found....

I know pigs need to go potty, but do they really need that much toilet paper?

Babies

Ashlyn snuggling with her babies at Grandma's house