Owen's 5th birthday party

Saturday, 12/8/12

Owen's 5th birthday party!! I just can't believe he's 5...

Thought LeaAnn looked SO cute... except for the finger in her nose!!! And of course this was the only pic I got of her :(

Only toy I've seen her play with in a LONG time... she loves to draw ... who knew?

Decorating instructions!

And they were off... decorating houses and trees for the 'cousin-city!'

Notice Lydia's purple leotard? Compliments of Ms. Maggie... and now she won't take it off! Lately it's been going to bed with her... to daycare with her. She can't wait for it to be warmer out so she can wear it!

Flashback!  Owen's 2nd birthday party when Lydia (spike!) was 2-wks old!!! Jody preggo with Ms. Emma & Lindsay 3-3mo

Love this picture. Evan 8 & Riley 7

making the streets of the city...

an attempt for a cousin pic :)

there were several of course.

Here they are yelling, "ooga-booga!" which meant - boys, come up and chase us and aunts & grammy's are safe zones so you can't touch us! :D

How ca-ute is this?! Syd 23-1/2mo & Emma 2-1/2

Ah-ha! SAME drawing board for Owen when he was 2! :D  (I was pretty proud of myself for this picture ;)

The 'cousin-city' completed... how cool!

They did such an awesome job, and Grammy did an awesome job constructing it!

A little later on the couch...

'time for presents!' says the birthday boy.

another... 3-years earlier.

Everyone had such a great time... cousin-play is so much fun! Girls were sad we couldn't spend the night... but our cabin-Christmas-slumber-party is not far away!!

visiting Santa at B&B 2012

Saturday, 12/15/12 (second Saturday of 2nd season deer hunting - blerg!)

And we're off to see Santa at B&B again this year - solo :)  I went searching for last years pictures... and I forgot. There wasn't any!!! Ah-ha-ha-ha!  Oh yes, it was another deer hunting Saturday and LeaAnn was 10-1/2 months, a baby with a bottle and Lydia was 2-1 mo and screamed & cried at Santa... hence the reason there was no pictures from last year :)  To read the full account, click here - 2011 Santa solo experience

ANYWAY... back to the present. We had a fun day. McDonald's to start, girls had a great time playing and then we headed to Jesup. Before we got out of the van I said, "girls, I really want a pic of all of you, so we have to try outside first, b/c LeaAnn is not going to dig the Santa thing."  They did a great job :)

So mad this doesn't 'fit' right on my facebook page...

How cute are they? :D  I am slightly bias of course.

Trying...

and trying some more...

to get LeaAnn to smile at the camera :)

Lost cause ;)

Don't you LOVE the tutu, red leggings & flower/ribbon head-band?!?  A birthday gift from Aunt Jody of course!

How cool is the back-drop?!?  B&B had it made... a local guy tears down old barns and sells the wood.  Very cool.

Course the subjects in the picture make it super cute as well.

Here's what we got from last year... Lydia, 2, waiting for her first hair cut :)  Notice the outfit? Same one LeaAnn has on!

Oh Wiam... with no hair!

Striking a pose... what a ham!! I have no idea where she gets it ;)  THIS year she says, "Santa woves me mommy"

the first snow...

Still Sunday, 12/9/12... first Sunday of 2nd season deer hunting and it snowed! AND it wasn't windy and not too cold...  perfect conditions for hunting and I deemed it perfect conditions for a run! Chris headed out and I called our go-to-babysitter, Ashley to see if she could come over, and she was free!  Maggie & I had a fabulous run down the buffalo (really pretty w/the fresh snow) and the girls had fun building snowmen.

Wish I had taken a picture 3-years ago when she first started babysitting... Lindsay had just turned 3! Ashley came in and had hot chocolate with us before she headed out...

She had to say 'hi' to Joy Jingle, our elf, of course!  Who also thought it would snow b/c he built snowmen out of marshmallows on Saturday night :D

We took the little girls out after they got up from naps... LeaAnn here was not a fan of the snow on her boots.  She loved the boots though :)

This smile on Lydia NEVER faded. She stayed out until 5:20pm!!! Which for those non-Iowans reading, it's DARK here at 5pm (so a big deal to be out after dark, esp in the snow!) Lauren stayed with her and they continued to sled down the ditch.  I was so impressed... the other girls at her age did not have the stamina that she does :) She even walked all the way back to the house from the ditch where they were sledding to have me put her mitten back on. I helped her, but her coat back on and out the door she went!  Needless to say, we are MORE than ready for snow to fall again. (Just an FYI - Mom is fine w/no snow... but the other girls in this house would like some ;)  Happy Winter!

Sunday School program 2012

Sunday, 12/9/12

Our Sunday School Christmas program! Lauren was an angel... every girl wants to be an angel :) I remeber wanting to be one too so i could wear the sparkly wings.

{sigh}.. I just can't believe how grown-up & beautiful she's gotten.

Ms. Lindsay as one of the three kings.... how cute is she?!?

Now if only I could get her to smile like this all the time :)

New this year we took pictures... I volunteered :) and was so happy we did!

w/the preschoolers too!

During the actual progam. Holly (Trish Cook's daughter & Sunday School supervisor AND director of the program) volunteered to play the piano for their songs, and I'm so happy she did! It was so sweet & sounded so pretty.  You could really hear their voices.

The speaking parts... Lauren read an extra long part b/c one of the angels was sick :(

Lindsay waiting patiently for her turn.

She even looked up at the end! :D

Lindsay had her line memorized, hence no black paper to hold.

And she knew her line so well that she said it faster than I could get a picture of it! :D  She did great!

The objective was to get a pic of Grammy w/the girls... and guess who didn't want to cooperate?? Yup, you guessed it, the one & only, LeaAnn Claire.

Dad volunteered (NOT) to be in the picture ;)

Oh and here we are December 2009!! Lindsay 3-3mo, Lydia 1-mo & Lauren 4-1/2 :D

Last year... same sweater, different pants! (and not going to lie, probably going to see it for a few more years ;)

Who are these sweet girls holding hands??

Wish I had video of them talking...

Can't imagine what 'in three years' will look like {double sigh}