Christmas (already?)

We had our first Christmas over the weekend. It was a little early but with every one's busy schedules it was the best time, even though it was a bit early it was still a great time to be together.

Mikayla's first Christmas!! To be perfectly honest though, I don't think she really cared that it was her first Christmas. In fact as one point she took a little nap. Here she is checking out her stocking. Jennifer helped her get everything out, of course.

The girls each got very cute bears as a present. These sunglasses were on Jennifer's bear and of course Jennifer tired them on and we thought it was only fair to give Mikayla a turn too.

"Hmm, what am I suppose to do with this thing?"

All of the kids got Hawkeye sweatshirts from the great-grandparents. How cute that they are all matching?! I think it is sweet. (Sort of hard to get four small children to all sit nicely for a photo, there are lots of people trying to get them all to look and smile.)

Each year Aunt June truly gives the best gifts. This year she really out did herself. She got up very early the day after Thanksgiving to get everyone snuggies. I know you have seen the commercials and know what I am talking about. These are not the snuggies that are seen on tv but rather a knock off, June would never think of getting anything that is the real deal, not her style at all. Here we are one big happy snuggie family!

The whole family posing for the annual photo. (Quickly, set the timers and run into position before the picture is taken.)

The fun is just beginning! One Christmas down, lots to go!

winter days

I think winter has officially set in. As I type there is lots of snow falling and blowing around outside our window. As the cold set in last week we decided it was finally time to break out the winter apparel. Here is Jennifer showing off her new winter coat, with matching hat and scarf.

Of course she needed to get a picture with her dad.

Here is Mikayla's lovely winter apparel. I must admit I do love the little cover-up for the car seat. It keeps her really warm and I don't have to take the time to put one of those huge snowsuits on her. It is very sweet to get her out of the car, all you can see is her sweet little face with a huge smile!

popcorn

Sunday night is popcorn night at our house. We pop some popcorn, put a blanket on the living room floor and have popcorn as a family. I'm not sure who looks more forward to the time Jennifer or me. It seems Jennifer always knows when it is popcorn night too, she usually starts in the early afternoon asking for popcorn.

Bill and I were given this bowl for our wedding from a family we use to babysit for, they always had popcorn on Sunday nights too!

Lately we have been melting butter to put on our popcorn and here Jennifer is dipping a few pieces of popcorn in the bowl that we melt the butter in. I'm not really sure where she learned this little trick?!

Our popcorn bowl says"Popcorn is for sharing", if you are ever in the mood for some popcorn stop by our house, Jennifer and I are always in the mood to have some. It doesn't even have to be a Sunday!

O Christmas tree

We decided at the beginning of the week to bring the tree upstairs and start setting it up. Bill and Jennifer were very excited about the whole ordeal. The two of them were singing songs as they brought all the branches up. O Christmas tree was the song that was filling our home, although Bill doesn't really know all the words so he was just making it up as he went. Very funny to hear Jennifer repeating everything her dad sang. It is very fun to see Jennifer get so very excited about the littlest things that she gets to do.

Love that smiling face!!

Bill thought it would be funny to decorate Mikayla as the tree. At first she thought it was kind of funny but it didn't last long. Jennifer on the other hand thought it was really funny.

Jennifer was very funny putting strings of lights around her neck. Not sure what was up with this little pose but she kept leaning into the tree, it was very funny.

Trying to pick the perfect spot for this ornament that looks like a sucker, probably Jennifer's favorite ornament.

Daddy helping Jennifer put an ornament on the tree. I think it is pretty darn cute. We let Jennifer put the ornaments where ever she wanted, "Right here". We have never been to picky about the way our tree looks and this year was no exception because we let Jennifer do a lot of the decorating.

Love this smiling face too!! Mikayla watched all the activity around her, I can't wait until next year when she will get in on the fun too!

Mikayla

It seems Jennifer has sort of taken over all the blog posts lately, she is such a busy girl these days! So I thought I would put some new pictures of Mikayla on. I have to admit I have been trying to get this done for the past few days but it just hasn't worked. Bill's computer has been a little crazy and then Jennifer got sick so it just hasn't happened.

Mikayla has been so very cute lately. I bet several times a day Bill and I both say how cute she is. A couple of weeks ago she started smiling all the time! It seems each time we look at her she

gives us the biggest smile. The best part about waking up in the morning is going into her room

and seeing her smile, really it is a great start to the day!

Mikayla is so very cute when she sits in her bumbo chair. She is funny because she either loves it and sits up and watches everything that is going on or she hates and she just sort of puts her head to one side and won't sit up for anything!

It is hard to not have at least one picture of Jennifer because everywhere Mikayla is, there is Jennifer. It has been fun watching the sisters lately though. Mikayla is starting to really watch everything Jennifer does and Bill and I were just talking about how well Jennifer is doing with Mikayla. They are going to be so fun to watch as they grow up together!

A little bit of a smile! We try so hard to get pictures of Mikayla while she is smiling because she truly has one of the best smiles ever but it is a little hard to get a good picture of a five month old!

The look on her face says it all, "Really, you put me in a basket?" She really wasn't impressed.

I will try to not be so long in between posts again but then again I'm not making any promises either.

changing smile

We had our first major accident this morning. Now Jennifer is four and a half and I must admit we thought this day would have come by now. This morning Jennifer was walking/running to the coffee table when she slipped and fell. She hit her face on the coffee table. I was watching the whole thing and quickly ran over to her, knowing that she was going to cry from the hit. I scooped her up in my arms and noticed blood in her mouth. At first I just thought she had bit her lip or cheek. Upon looking again I noticed it. One of her front top teeth was missing! I think I freaked out more than Jennifer did! I ran, with Jennifer in my arms, to the bathroom, where Bill was. I'm trying to be calm and tell Bill that Jennifer just lost her tooth. He looked at me and in a very calm voice told me to calm down because I was making it worse. (I hate it when he is right, I probably was overreacting.) Jennifer is a trooper!! It didn't take her long to calm down and she

has been fine the rest of the day. We found her tooth on the floor, by the table, and it appears that her whole tooth fell out. So now she will be toothless until her permanent tooth comes in, which could be a few years! It is going to take some getting use to, seeing her with a missing tooth. (The dentist told Bill today that he knew someone who had lost a tooth at two and didn't get his permanent tooth until eight years old! It could be a while!) We had to laugh though because of all the things that made Jen lose a tooth it was a simple accident. As much as she jumps on the bed, jumps off of other things, spins in circles, walks around with her eyes closed, doesn't watch where she is going, jumps around, jumps off the swing, or off steps, it really is amazing she hasn't lost a tooth yet. And today she just happens to slip on her pj's and run into the table. I felt so bad for her! I have to say again it is amazing that this sweet little girl has not had more accidents!!

Ok, this picture is not that pretty of Jennifer... but it does show where her tooth came out! It was a little bloody for a while! Each time Bill tried to open her mouth to see where Jen's tooth had fallen out, she would stick out her tongue!

A few minutes after the tooth had fallen out. Like I said she is a trooper!

Here is Jennifer's tooth. Bill made a great point, that is a big tooth for her little face!

A cheesy smile later in the day! This toothless smile, although cute, is going to take some getting use to I must admit.

cowgirl Jen

Over the summer went Jennifer went to the local fair she got to see some horses. For weeks after she would talk about seeing the horses and that she wanted to see more. Yesterday on the a tv show Jennifer saw horses and she looked at me and said, "I ride horse." We happen to have some friends with horses so today we went to see their horses. Jennifer was so very excited. The whole way there was kept saying, "I ride horse. You watch. I ride horse!" It was a beautiful day to be outside and Jennifer had a wonderful time. We may have a little cowgirl on our hands!!

Getting her helmet on for a ride. The funny thing is that she did not take this helmet off until it was time to go!

Meeting Red, the horse, for the first time. Just checking him out, making sure he is ok.

A little nervous about getting for the first time. Jennifer is with our friends' daughter Breuklyn, she is amazing with her horses! She did a wonderful job with Jennifer too, what a sweet girl to let Jennifer spend the afternoon "riding" with her!

Once they got going Jennifer loved riding the horse. We had a hard time getting her off and keeping her off. She would ride for a while then Breuklyn would let Red run for a while and the whole time Jennifer would watch saying, "My turn, I ride. My turn, I ride horse."

Even Bill took a turn riding the horse! Bill and Jennifer riding together!

In between rides Jennifer would play with her friend Gracie.

What a great afternoon!! Thanks Opp's for a fun afternoon, we had a great time! You have created a cowgirl and we may be riding with you often!