Christmas

We celebrated A LOT this year!!! We started with Wade, Stephanie and Whitney and my Mom, Roger, and Grandma Audrey coming to our house late on Friday the 18th. They stayed until Sunday, then my Dad came down that night. Wade, Steph, and Whitney left on the 23rd to head to Steph's sister's house. We left for Ames on the 24th and ended up "snowed in" for two nights. We did presents with the kids here Thursday morning! Lots of family, food and fun!

More pictures to come...I'm still sorting through them!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day...and remember Jesus is the reason for the season!!!

Hair Cut and Sugar Cookies

I chopped my hair off!!! Not sure if I like it yet,

but it IS easier to do and quicker to wash/dry, so that's a plus!!!!

We frosted sugar cookies yesterday...not quite as much fun as it sounds :)

I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist to watch Grant try to frost and deocorate cookies, but he had fun, so that's what matters, right!?!?

Snow days

We got 16" of snow last week.


Grant had to go out and play in it....YES, I'm working on getting him real snow boots/pants, I'm just late this year.

We were getting BORED in the house, so we built a fort...

...and played under the table since the chairs were in the living room.

Over the weekend, we traded kids/nights with Matt and Tiff so we could each do some Christmas shopping. I got a BRIEF glimpse of what twins would be like...YIKES :)

National Guard Family Christmas Party

Lee's unit had the family Christmas party today. It was actually a lot of fun, even though I didn't know any of the other wives :( I am actually starting to miss command where at least I got to know the soldiers and families! Anyway, they had a great meal, lots of desserts, Santa was there with gifts for the kids, and they had door prizes...I won some Mary Kay make up!!!

Grant, of course, wanted nothing to do with Santa and Brynna wasn't sure what to think.

Brynna, however, knew exactly who to be nice to, a Colonel and Lt Colonel sat with us during the meal, and Brynna loved them both! She let them hold her and the Colonel even offered to feed her so I could eat, I didn't make him do that :)

She's workin' Daddy's promotion!!!!

Birthdays and Ice Skating

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we went to Ames to celebrate Abigale(8), Madison (8), and Lee's (34) birthdays. The girls had their "friend" party at the ice arena...Grant's first time ice skating and he loved it, even though he did more falling than skating! After the ice arena we went back to Brian and Paula's for pizza, cake, and presents!

Getting the skates on...



Lee, Grant, and Uncle Jon



That thing helped...



Even though she didn't skate,

she had to wear tights and leg warmers :)


Presents!

Kailee :)

Christmas Tree

The outside lights got put up the day after Thanksgiving and the tree got up on Saturday!

Brynna's first Christmas!


Grant telling Brynna something about the tree???

Christmas Parade

Winterset does an annual lighted Christmas Parade. Grant is finally old enough to appreciate parades...He thought it was AWESOME when people started throwing candy at him!!!

Candy canes are good...

Bundled up

Getting CANDY!!!

The family :)

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.

Matt, Tiffany, Owen and my dad were all at our house for dinner.

We have many blessings to be thankful for!

Our little turkey!

Our big turkey!

Cousin Owen, the turkey!

Lee's Birthday #34 (on the 24th)

Happy Birthday Lee...We love you!!!

We had a "picnic" at his office, complete with b-day cupcakes!
Then dinner and cake at home that night.

Hike to Clark Tower

Last Friday (November 20) was a beautiful day and we took full advantage of it. We hiked up to Clark Tower in the city park. It's a mile uphill and a mile back, obviously. It was a great walk...although a little too far for the kids!

Clark Tower (Lee at the top)

Froggy wanted to tag along.

Brynna loved the back pack!


We had family pictures taken here a couple years ago.

Grant HAD to climb to the VERY top, by himself!

Love the self timer on the camera :)

On the way back down,

I think he may have actually fallen asleep while Lee was carrying him.


She was OUT!

Some cute pictures

Not much new to report from Madison County, just livin' the life :)

I started Brynna on antibiotics Monday afternoon and she is getting back to her old, happy self...Praise the Lord!

Our cutie getting ready for her bath...in her hat!?!?
Daddy's doing...

Cowboy Grant riding his horse (notice his hair cut...finally)!

Halloween pics...again!

I know it's way past Halloween, but I just got these pictures back. There is an amazing photographer in Winterset who has her studio on the square (Lori Nordstrom). She did a photo session during trick or treat night, and this is the result!!!

Busy past two weeks...

Lee has been off the past two weeks for deer hunting, which means a BUSY two weeks for me!!! These two are quite the handful by myself, Lee says it's good practice for the upcoming deployment...YIKES!!! Anyone looking for a live-in nanny job about 10 months from now?
I'M HIRING!!!

Don't worry...I didn't let him drive with her in there :)


B eating Baby Mum Mum's...had never heard of them until recently.
Little, airy rice cake things that dissolve instantly and turn into a sticky mess!


I got plenty of "help" with the laundry.


Camo Cuties!
The ONE good thing about Lee having two weeks off for hunting: he gets to grow out his hair and beard...I love it :)

Brynna news:

She has EIGHT teeth!!!

We were at the doctor again yesterday (she'd been super crabby for the past 3 days). They checked for strep and H1N1, and took two vials of blood. All to find out she just has fluid in one ear (but no infection) and a virus that is making her feel yucky. Great!

She is doing this funny thing where she gets up on her toes and hands and sticks her bottom up in the air. Almost looks like she doing push ups...or trying to stand up!?!?

Grant news:

He "doesn't like it when people go gone" - his way of saying he misses Daddy!

He is learning and using a lot of "slang" lately. Examples: "It's your call, Mom" and "I'm not about that."

Fort Hood

Praying for the soldiers and families at Fort Hood.

May GOD bless the USA!

Halloween ~ Trick or Treat ~

Here are the costumes!

My very handsome little soldier and a beautiful ballerina (?) with camo leg warmers :) Lee spent a lot of time sewing patches on Grant's uniform, it is an exact replica of his uniform.

The businesses on the square in Winterset host trick or treating for the kids from 3:30-5:00. So, since the kids are so young, that is what we did again this year. Much less walking and it's not dark!It was cold, windy, and drizzling when we were out trick or treating though, so we hurried as fast as we could. Grant had fun and wanted to do it again...Brynna, well she was just bundled up in her stroller, and along for the ride!

A couple pictures from our week

Brynna, snuggling up to a warm pile of laundry, fresh from the drier,

after just waking up from her nap.

Brynna updates:

1. is up to FOUR teeth, the fifth one is trying hard to poke through
2. is back on her original formula (we tried to switch- BAD idea)
3. is a wild woman and is NEVER still
   
   
   

Grant helping with the "clean up" after making brownies :)

Grant updates:

1. has been "practicing" trick or treating in his costume (he even has a trick)
2. wants to go outside to play, even if it's cold and raining
3. really loves puzzles and "writing" his name right now

Kids are FINALLY in bed tonight. We narrowly avoided a bedtime crisis, "Froggy" (close relation to "Frog") was missing!!! After a serious 15 minutes of searching, he was finally found in a basket of dirty laundry...hmmm, pretty sure I didn't put him there, but Grant says he didn't either??? I'm just happy he was found and Grant could go to bed!


On the agenda for tomorrow, TRICK OR TREATING!!!
Pictures to come...