Fall Pictures

Just realized I didn't post pictures... it had been so long since I'd taken pictures of my own little ones that they actually were a bit interested in my camera.  Madison is 3 1/2 and Eliott just turned two... love them.

Merry Christmas 2012

Our self-timed picture was pretty impressive with two little ones... blessings all around!

Snow Kids

Our first snow fall was a crazy one this year with a blizzard to follow.  When the kids woke up the first morning to all of the snow, they stared out the window in awe.  Such magic when you are small.  I thought to myself, "We should really bundle up and check it out" but my second thought that closely followed reminded me that I have no idea if anyone has winter boots that fit them, I'm not sure where mittens are, and it's freezing.  Nobody was begging to go out so we spent the day enjoying the view :).  Last year Madison could have cared less to play in the snow and T didn't say  much of anything yet.  I didn't have high expectations.  Late afternoon, Chief was whining more and more and was in major need of some play time.  I convinced (and yes it took some convincing) to put coats and hats and mittens on and let Chief play for a few minutes.  I had tried Madison's boots on and she told me they didn't fit.  I didn't have any that fit Eliott so we went out in our shoes.

To make a story much shorted, the kids were begging to stay out longer as Madison has snow covering her 'jeggings' and Eliott kept saying "I'm Cold!" but refused to go in.  Madison turns and says, "Mom, those boots do fit... can we go put them on?".  I am one happy Mama that I have two kids that love trompsing around in the snow.  We headed back in and went out a little more prepared today... Loved our new found love... we may try and pull out the sleds tomorrow!

Underwear Head

Eliott definitely brought along his own little personality into this world when he came two years ago.  He is very much "T-do-it"... with everything, and often finds hilarious things to entertain himself (and eventually us all) with.  Today he decided to squish his little ears and forehead down with his Diego undies and check himself out in the mirror.

Christmas Cookies

We put aside an afternoon this year for Christmas cookies.  We laid Eliott down for a nap so Madison and I could get a jump start.  We put together the dough for the sugar cookies and the peanut butter star cookies and then had to make a quick 'sprinkle' run.  We hadn't gotten any fun sprinkles so we headed downtown to find a jar.  I was thinking more along the lines of red and green, but Madison quickly took a liking to the sparkly pink.  Why not pink Christmas cookies.  We got the snowflakes for Eliott and headed home.  Madison was an awesome helper and her and I had fun mixing dough, licking beaters, and pressing stars.  When T woke up we worked through a batch of almond bark.  The kids were in charge of the sprinkles.  Eliott was more into eating the snowflakes so Madi and I did most of the sprinkling.  The next day we rolled out the sugar cookies and cut them out.  Madison loved this and Eliott was impressively good at cutting them out.  He is totally at a 'T-do-it" stage and didn't want any help.  Although we have several armless gingerbread men and some funny looking stars, they look and taste pretty good.  Madison and I finished up frosting them during Eliott's nap and then we all delivered later that day.  Very fun :).

BBD

Due to two (soon to be three) little ones and a new 8-5 job, Matt's hunting time is limited... but he managed to get a buck this year with his bow... We have an abundance of meat in the freezer already this year from this one plus a couple of does.  My good-lookin' hunter-man hubby...

hehe

Madison fell asleep on the chair with her head on her hand... imprinting her heart shaped ring on her forehead :).

Out on a line

You know it's deer season when our clothesline looks like this... I need to dig out our past years of this pose :).

Good Friends

So fun to grow up with the Oakland crew.  Madison and Jordann are best buds (less than two months apart) and Eliott and Eli are about a week apart.  These two boys will be quite the pair together some day!

Quite a crew

A few "random's" that I don't want to forget...

My favorite thing Eliott says right now is, "Mommy, what is this?"... but it is this incredibly fragmented sentence that is so sweet.

Madison does a great job talking but she still has a wee bit of trouble with a few different words and sounds.  For example, she calls barbeque sauce, "barbe-sue hoss".  We were eating chicken the other night and I asked T to say barbeque sauce and he responds with, "bar-ba-que sauce"... pretty impressively.  Madison turns to us and cracks up laughing and says, "T says 'barbe-sue hoss' really funny!".  Matt and I were rolling.

Madison's first Christmas Program... She got up in front of that crazy crowd, didn't change her expression once through 'Away in the Manger' or 'The BIBLE', didn't sing a lick, got down, and called it a day.  I was proud she did it.  Later I asked her what her favorite parts of the Christmas season were and she replied with, "The Christmas Program".  She claims she wasn't nervous, and frankly she didn't look nervous, just didn't want to sing.

Sleeping Update

Since we moved beds, the kids have slept really good... once they get to sleep.  We have spent many nights chattering away and following each other in and out of the the bedroom for drinks, kleenex's, potty, pretty much anything they can think of.  I always love to peek at them before I head to bed and the other night I found them sharing Madi's pillow.

Leaf Jumping

I often look forward to the 'big plans' we make for our family but it seems like the kids have the most fun with the simple things in life.  They are beautiful reminders to take time for the small stuff.  Take time to jump in some leaves!

Pumpkin Farm 2012

We took more video than pics but here's a few to prove we were there.  A fun annual trip with the Williams to the pumpkin farm full of blow up pumpkins, barn animals, a boat full of corn, a hay ride, snacks and hot chocolate, and picking out the perfect little pumpkin.  I look forward to this day every year!

Flash Back - Des Moines Waterpark with the Williams

I was looking through pictures and realized I hadn't ever posted pictures from our Des Moines Zoo / Waterpark trip.  What a great little get away to take with little ones.  The waterpark at the hotel is perfect for their size and of course the zoo is always fun.  We skipped out on the Living History Farms this year :) and loved our trip.  I don't think I have ever been in this many pictures before and in the whole album of hundreds of pictures, there are none of Matt.  He was there, just for the record.  Love hanging out with good friends and our little fam...

Night Life

So Eliott has gone through this thing lately where he is freaked out about being in his room at night.  In desperation the other night, after him walking into our room probably 20 times (no exaggerating), I finally held the door shut until he gave up and fell asleep in Madison's bed (Madison had gotten into our bed since she obviously couldn't sleep either).  This has worked in the past, but for some reason this time it just made it worse (and made me feel terrible) and the next several bed and nap times he freaked out about the word 'bed' and would say over and over 'no bed, no bed, leave door open'... so sad.  So, the other night I tried something new... putting him in bed with his sleeping sister.  I wasn't sure if she was going to be ok with this, but she was sleeping and I was desperate.  They both slept great until at 6:50 in the morning Eliott was crying because he had fallen and was stuck between the bed and the wall.  I helped him get back out and he snuggled back in next to sis and immediately fell back asleep until 8:00 or so.  So sweet.  Since Madison's bed isn't big enough for my two night time movers, tonight we rearranged their room so their beds are next to each other.  As I type, they are in there jabbering to each other as they lay in bed.  Madison is doing most of the 'teaching' and Eliott is following most of her comments up with either a 'Ya', or the last few words of whatever her sentence was.  I have heard her tell him a few times that he needs to stay in bed and one time he got down and then got back up after she told him to get back in bed (joy).  I am laughing at some of the conversation that is happening...

Madison - "Some people, big people, like Mommy and Daddy, people who can drive around, they get to stay up longer"
T - "Stay up longer?"

Madison - "Mommy helps Daddy and Daddy helps Mommy, because, well, Mommy isn't very good about fixing stuff."
T - "Fixing stuff?"

Ha... We'll still see if I'm laughing at midnight :)

Now she is singing to him telling him he needs to be quiet... he is chattering away.

Ending to the night drama... Madison walks out and tells me "T's being silly".  I ended up caving and laid in there until Eliott fell asleep.  Madison will be drifting off shortly.  Oh the things I have done for sleep :).

Trick or Treating

We continued this year with our two year tradition with our Bible Study family.  We headed out to Hudson, enjoyed some dinner, got dressed up (all of us) and headed around the Hudson Heights circle. This year was the first year that I didn't get to pick the costume... Madison was set on being a princess from day one.  Eliott actually wanted to be a princess too :), but we then convinced him that he was more suitable as a prince.  Then we changed it to a frog (for the princess and the frog), but ended up going with this cute and cozy giraffe costume.  Right before we headed out, Stacey comes up with several adult-sized costumes and I immediately took the clown.  I never looked in the mirror and after looking at the pictures I now know why my husband was embarrassed to walk with me and my kids looked at me like they had never seen me before.  On the plus side... it was plenty roomy for this growing belly of mine and for awhile I forgot I was preggo :).

We had 'practiced' trick-or-treating' many times at home so the kids both new what they were supposed to do and say as they knocked on the door.  The first door we walked up to, our two kids were in the back of the pack, checking out the situation before they jumped in.  Madison, not being one to jump right into something new, hesitated as all the kids in front of her grabbed the goods out of the big bucket.  She turned around, looked at me, and dead serious says, "Mom... I want some."  It was as if she wasn't sure what to say or do, new she didn't want to talk to anyone she didn't know, but the pull of that big bucket of candy was just to much to keep her in her shell.  I told her that all she needed to do was walk up there and she would get some... she braved it and was pretty pumped about the whole situation.  Let's just say she warmed up quickly to the idea and was skipping through yards and grabbing gobs of candy by the end.

Eliott was quite the trooper as well.  He was ready and rarin' to go at 6:00 and was keeping up with the big kids.  He was a little small to barge through the crowd and had a hard time finding the front of the pack.  The first several houses he tried to give candy from his pumpkin back to the person at the door, but he also caught on quite quickly.  He walked most of the way and stayed with the crew up until the very end when he found a spot in the Williams' stroller with a big tootsie pop... and was pretty content.

We ended the night checking out our loads of candy and a couple of happy, worn-out kids... and clown and race car driver :)