Florida photos

Slowly but surely I will get some pictures posted of our trip to Florida. Right now all the pictures are on Bill's laptop so I need to get them onto our home computer but here are a few for now.


Finally packed and ready to go! We only checked one suitcase for ten days so there was a lot weighing and reweighing the suitcase before we left to make sure we weren't over the weight limit. After rearranging a few things we finally made it.Who knew you play outside your pj's in February? Our flight didn't get into until about ten o'clock at night so by the time we got our bags and got back to grandma's it was almost midnight, Jennifer had the bike then and was riding around, it was just nice to be outside without snow!We are not huge race fans but we of course went to see the Daytona Speedway. It is kind of fun to see. This picture makes me laugh! It took several tries but finally Jennifer held her arm up for the picture. As you can see it was a little chilly by the ocean. We all have jeans and coats on but Bill was determined to be at the ocean as much as possible, even if it was cold. As you can tell from the picture above Jennifer still has her shoes on, she wasn't really thrilled with the water at first but that changed before the end of this trip to see the water!
Jennifer finally decided to take her shoes off and feel the water. This picture was her just getting warmed up. Eventually she was running along the beach, going in and out of the water and by the time we decided to leave we had to take Jennifer's clothes off because she was soaking wet. We have of the whole sequence of events in picures, it is kind of funny, I will share them later.

Back from Florida

We are home, back to cold Iowa. Although I have to admit I think it may have been warmer in Iowa a few days than it was in Florida. Kind of sad to say. I tried to post a few pictures while were gone but I was having a little trouble with Bill's computer, I hate to admit. We got home late Tuesday night, it was great to see most of the snow gone! The rest of our week has been a little interesting. Bill and Jennifer have a cold and cough, we attribute that to pretending it was warmer than it really was a few days, playing on the beach when maybe we should not have. Jennifer seems to be getting better while Bill seems to be getting worse. Bill has just a little bit of school work to do (by a little bit I mean he is drowning in it) so the sickness doesn't really help at all. Jennifer has been slightly crabby, after being spoiled by grandma for ten days she doesn't really know what to do with herself again, mom and dad are not as compassionate as grammie is. As we went to leave our house this morning our garage door was not working quite right, so that kind of topped off our crazy past three days. What a comfort to know in these crazy days, and the crazy ones yet to come, that God has it under control and figured out! Although vacation was fun and relaxing it is always good to come home too. Back to a routine of life, back to normal, even if the normal ends up being just a little crazy and unexpected. It wouldn't be our life without the crazy and unexpected...
I will put some pictures of our vaction on in the next few days, hopefully.

One last Christmas

Over the weekend we had one last Christmas. It was suppose to actually happen before Christmas but because of the nasty weather it got postponed. Jennifer of course thought it was great to be with everyone. She got to see her cousins and go swimming all in the same weekend. To her nothing could be better. Jennifer has been wanting to go swimming for about the past month, even swimming in the bath tub a few times so to actually go swimming was a thrill. It took her a few minutes to get in the water but once she got use to the tube she was in it was great. She was kicking her feet, splashing us and just floating around the pool.

Each year we set up the cameras and get a picture of the whole family. I think the best part for everyone is getting the cameras set up and running to make into the picture. What a big happy family we are!
My brother and sister-in-law have a Wii, so after the presents were opened it was to the basement for a little competition. Jennifer of course had to get in on the action. If you are familiar with Wii fit there is a game where you have to hit soccer balls with your head, which is what Jennifer is playing here, I hate to admit it but she beat me! She was kind of good at it.

This picture just makes me laugh. Each year our family gives out gifts from an aunt who doesn't really exist. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but it is a long story. This year one of the gifts to all the girls was a very cool hat along with some really big glasses. Here Jennifer is showing off my set. She just looks so cute in them!

Now that Christmas is officially over for us, we are counting down the days until we can enjoy some warmer weather. For us that is just a few days away!! Sunday we are leaving to go visit Bill's mom in Florida! We are very excited to enjoy a few days relaxing in the warm sun.

I sit down and sigh

After several days of snow and cold we are finally able to get out of the house and back to normal activities. This morning it was back to school for Jennifer, she didn't go at all last week. She missed school, therapy, church on Wednesday night, everything she loves to go do was canceled because of the weather. Because the world stopped for the weather we were stuck inside for several days in a row. Keeping a three-year-old busy is hard work, especially when she is use to doing so much. So I have to admit after I came home from dropping Jennifer off I just kind of let out a sigh. A few moments of peace, to myself. The moment didn't last long and then I was picking up the house, vacuuming, I even got a few groceries by myself, which doesn't happen often.

Over the course of the cold days Jennifer has been very much longing for warmer days. Even before Christmas she would get her swimming suit out of the closet and put it on over her clothes or jammies. So for fun a few mornings I let her take a bath in her suit, of course that was enough to make her happy for while!

This is the day it all started. Jennifer looking very stylish in one of her swimming suite and pj's in front of the Christmas tree.

Swimming in the bathtub! Who knew it could be so much fun to wear your swimming suit during a bath! In just a few days we actually get to go swimming at a hotel, it will so much better than the tub.

We made some cookies one night to pass a little time. If you look closely you can see that Jennifer has a tank top on over her sweatshirt. As you can see pretty much any summer clothing will do for this child right now.Bill and Jennifer in the basement "working". It is a little cold in our basement so they had to bundle up before going down, that is way they both hats on. Who needs blocks when wood will do? Jennifer worked very hard for a long time to get these pieces of wood just right. It was very funny. Bill joked that these are the white trash version of legos! She was very proud of her work (and I'm pretty sure that Bill hasn't moved one piece of wood since she did this)!

Back to reality

After a few days of relaxing and not doing much of anything it was time to get back to reality. Jennifer started back to school on Tuesday. I have to admit I was a little nervous about how she would do at drop off after being gone for two weeks. She of course did amazing, she was actually very excited to go back to school. She was even happier to go back this morning. There is a little trampoline at school that the kids get to jump on during center time and it has been all Jennifer can talk about when you ask her about school, needless to say she loves it. There are also some bouncy balls that the kids get to bounce on that she really liked, so life is good at school. Speaking of school, Bill also started back to school this week. He on the other hand has not been as excited as Jennifer. Lots of books to read, papers to write and projects to do. The other night Bill told me all that he had to read in just this first week, all I could do was nod my head and smile. It was a lot! I thought I would share a few more pictures from our holidays. I am a little disappointed that we don't have any pictures from New Year's Eve. We spent a short time at a friends house, where there were lots of friends for Jennifer to play with and of course we didn't take our camera. It was sweet to see Jennifer playing with her friend Gracie, who just a few weeks before Christmas had open heart surgery (again). This sweet little girl, who just turned two, has had her ribs split eight times for surgery! At two she has been on the verge of death more than once and yet there she was running around her house playing on New Year's Eve! It was very sweet to see her running and playing with all the kids. We didn't get to stay long because Jennifer had not had a nap that day so we were home and in bed by ten-thirty!
Jennifer playing basketball! As you can see she has to stand on her stool to play or so she thinks. She is actually getting kind of good, she was playing the other day and made several baskets in a row.
Jennifer got a Dance Cam for Christmas. If you haven't seen or heard of it, you plug it into your tv and it projects you on the tv. It is kind of cool. Because Jennifer thinks that she is the center of everything she thinks its quite fun to see herself on tv.
This is Bill's grandparents with all their great-grand kids! Totally craziness is what it is. Trying to get 11 kids to sit for a picture, let's be honest it's not going to happen. Jennifer was by far the worst, she really did not want to have her picture taken at this point in the day. This was the closest she got to everyone. I'm pretty sure I caught her as she was getting up to move away from everyone. The even funnier thing is to see all the adults trying to take pictures!I just think this is a great picture. Jennifer thought she needed to sit by me and mama (how Jennifer says grandma) while eating breakfast one morning. So being funny Bill went and got the camera, Jennifer then reached up and put her arms around me and my mom. It was actually very sweet. Mama, Jennifer and I enjoying some love at breakfast.

Christmas

My goal was to update our site before Christmas and well it just didn't happen so here I am now. Christmas has come and gone and we are trying to keep our house in order as we find places for all the new toys. It was fun to be gone for a few days during the holidays but I do have to admit it is always nice to come home again. Jennifer absolutely loved Christmas this year. She was a little disappointed that all the presents were not for her. It was very sweet because she was truly excited about everything she opened, she would say "oh" as opened each present, very funny. Bill and I often talk about that we love how she truly enjoys the little things. We could have wrapped up toys that she already has and she would not have cared. The girl has a lot to teach us about being content with what we have. We took a lot of pictures of all of our Christmas' so I will just share a few today, maybe in a few days I will share some more, there are a lot of good ones or so I think. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!We let Jennifer open her presents from us before we left Tuesday night. We didn't get her much but she loved each thing she opened. She got lots of books from us, which she really loved.Christmas morning we tried very hard to get Jennifer to take a "cute" picture in front of the tree at my mom and dad's. She was having a snack and didn't really want to have her picture taken, this was about as good as it got.A new coat from Grammie, how cute! Grammie got Jen lots of new, cute clothes!
The present was really for Ben and Connor but Jennifer of course had to be in on the action. Like I said before she thought every present should be for her.A new bike! Isn't this the cutest little bike you have ever seen? Jennifer is so short so even a regular size trike is too big, this bike is just her size. She was very excited to see papa bring it up stairs for her.This present is twice as big as Jennifer! She got a basketball hoop! I know you may be thinking a basketball hoop for a girl but she loves it! She will get her stool out and put it front the hoop and just stand there and shoot away. Bill has also been practicing up, he thinks he is pretty good but let's be honest it is kid sized!

Playing in the snow

As we wait for yet more snow to come our way I thought I would share with you some pictures of Jennifer having fun in the snow. About a week ago it snowed and as much as I was not excited to see the ground completly covered, Jennifer was beside herself. She could not wait to go outside. When we left to go to church she ran into the driveway ready to play, when we got home from church she ran into the driveway ready to play. So needless to say we bundled her up and out we went. She thought it was so great! Last year she loved being outside but not really enjoying the snow. This year she really got into it. Eating the snow, walking through the snow, sitting in it, eating it some more. Bill being the great dad he is reminded Jennifer not to eat the yellow snow. How fun it is to see the excitement on the face of a child over snow!