Almost Rollin', Rollin', Rollin

Almost rolling back to front...

...with a little spin around the crib!

The Dells

In the past, between Christmas and New Year we have gone up north snowmobiling with family. Well - this year the snow conditions in the north were next to nothing and we have just a tad bit going on on the home front - so we decided to stick closer to home. We did take one night away though as a family and headed to the Dells. It was a great time! Brian found out about this place called Meadowbrook Resort - it is PERFECT for little kids - I'd say about 5 and under. Our kiddos had a blast.

This is the indoor water area. A couple LITTLE slides, some water fountains and not even 2 ft deep water.

Our fishes loved it :)

Grant swimming under water

Landon even enjoyed hanging out

Alayna was in and out a lot

Grant was just a complete fish

SUPER FUN! The day we arrived we had the pool area to ourselves the whole time we were down there. It was GREAT!

Then at night, they start a bonfire out in the front yard and you can go out and enjoy the fire, roast hot dogs and/or marshmallows and make s'mores.

We did the s'mores thing.

mmmmmm. Then after s'mores they showed a movie in the lobby and gave everyone popcorn. The movie that night was Cars 2 - so fun! We don't have a picture of our room, but where the kids slept it was 3/4 walled off to be like a little wood cabin of their own...fun for them!

On the way home we stopped at a restaurant...I forget the name...where your food was delivered to you via train.

Here comes the train

And this Christmas tree just goes to show that a tree with a double top does look really pretty. Briana's tree up north has about 3 tops (the way it looks anyway) and we are pretty sure it's never going to be the more beautiful tree in the forest :) We love it anyway though - it sure is beautiful to me :)

4 Months

December 27, 2011 - yup - I'm 4 months old!

What am I up to?

- Size 2 diapers

- 3-6 mo clothes

- drink approx 4oz at a time

- have a nuk and mommy has so far been able to keep me from becoming a thumb sucker

- love bathtime

- can roll front to back

- starting to talk - especially if I'm on my changing table

- giggle a little when Mommy or Daddy tickle me

- smile a lot

- love my brother and sister (and they love me)

- still nurse 100%

- generally take 1 longer nap a day and 2 shorter ones. If we are out and about (in my carseat) or in my swing and I will sleep for 2-3 hrs at a shot.

- still like my bouncy seat - however it's not working too well anymore. Still fall asleep in my swing, but not as easily anymore - now I can actually play in it for a little while. Love my playmat and am liking my Bumbo seat better these days.

Christmas At Home

Oh My Goodness - Santa did come! He even wrote a letter back! :) Yup - Santa came while we were at Grandpa and Grandma Kok's for Christmas. As parents we've decided to share the real "GOOD NEWS" of Jesus birth with our kids as well as have fun with the "magic" of Santa. Grant and Alayna asked people at every Christmas party if they "heard the good news?" And when asked what the good news was replied "it's Jesus birthday!"

Reading the note Santa wrote back

Hey he did leave us presents! (don't worry - those are not all theirs...some are for another party)

Santa brought Grant a Leapster 2 and a Cars movie

Santa brought Landon some Thomas trains to go with the train track Grant got for his birthday. I think he's going to barter with the trains to get some track time :)

Alayna requested and received a "princess baby" - baby Rapunzel with a matching princess dress for herself

Sadly...the best picture of the 3 of them :) Alayna was saying "CHEESE!"

Alayna's reactions were the most fun this year. She would get really excited when it was her turn, take the present say "THANKS!" then open it and say "awww...cool...thanks guys!" So funny!

Nearly every year I think we have gotten the kids an ornament for the tree. We started getting ball ornaments for Briana every year in hopes to someday have a ball and angel tree just for her (if we ever have more than one tree). This year I found one with a little Angel on a swing that said "Daughter...she came down from heaven just for us" So true - she did. There weren't too many people here on earth that got to enjoy her - I was one of them. For Grant - a Wild Kratts ornament with his name on it. Actually a bit larger than I had realized it would be - may have to go in his room instead. Alayna - Cookie Monster b/c we saw Sesame Street Live this year and she talks about Cookie Monster all the time. Landon - his Baby's First Christmas Shoe.

Christmas with our Families

BOY oh boy! We had some great family Christmas parties this year. It was so fun spending time with everyone! Grant and Alayna enjoyed all of the parties and Landon was sure a little trooper! We all received some great gifts! Thanks again to everyone!

Alayna's Hello Kitty boombox! Tons of use already!

Yup - that much excitement over an umbrella - I mean...it does have McQueen on it! He can't wait for it to rain...well - snow would be fine too!

GASP... a cupcake necklace! THANKS Grandma (and Grandpa!)

Landon and his very own hooded bath towel. No one else can take it - it has his name on it!

Merry Christmas!

Alayna lovin' it up with Aunt Jayme and Macey

This picture captures her excitement the best! It was so fun.

Sweet! A bag with my name on too. Now I can go to this "up north" place they tell me is so fun and I will be sure to take all of MY things with me :)

Grandma and Papa looking at the calendar they received for 2012 with some pretty important people on all the pages

PERFECT! New warm gloves and a light on my head. I've always wanted one of these!

Everyone is looking and smiling...pretty much. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G (we won't tell you how long it took!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Santa's Coming

Hey - guess what! Santa Clause is Coming to Town! We are heading to Grandpa and Grandma's so we're leaving out some treats for Santa and his reindeer. We hope they come tonight!

mixing up some special reindeer water (red & green sprinkles) - give them energy!

we left it right by the fireplace so Santa could have his snack and get the reindeer their snack really easily

Santa gets a broken snowman cookie from Alayna (she ate the other part) a couple other cookies from Grant and a glass of milk. The reindeer get carrots, celery with peanut butter and special reindeer energy water.

We hope he has SAFE travels!

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming. All the stockings are hung......the Christmas tree is up, and decorated...

...and the presents are wrapped. Whew!
Each child has this shoe ornament with their name and in some cases birth info on it. They've received it on their first Christmas. Pink for Alayna.

Blue for Grant

White for Briana.

Shhh...don't tell him, but Landon is getting a blue one in his stocking this year!

Remembering...

Snugglin'

A little snuggle time with Daddy!

Bumbo

I'm lovin' me some BUMBO seat! Hooray!

Pretty sure we are watching Wild Kratts here. It's Grant's favorite show and we usually all watch it together (well - usually I like to eat during this time, but not today). So nice of them to include me in this fun time. Isn't it nice how they treat me? I have great big siblings!

Preschool Christmas Program

Monday morning (19th) we had Grant's preschool Christmas program. It was really cute too. We were bummed because right when all the kids walked in our video camera battery went dead. Strange b/c it was fully charged the night before and only used a little bit in between - must be a bad battery. ANYWAY - we used our camera to get some video.

We talked to Grant about his "nervous habit" (aka picking his nose) - so we hoped it wouldn't repeat itself. We were sitting in the front row, they all walked in and you could see he was very excited and nervous. He started acting goofy, very smiley and sure enough - hands up by his face. We were able to talk to him and remind him not to "pick" so he did pretty good about it this time :) You can see by the pics below though how he handled his nerves a bit - silly actions, faces and the way he was singing. It was cute - fun to watch.

This ones a bit more "normal" :)

Aww....Alayna can't WAIT to go to school too! She likes to say hello to the teachers every morning we drop Grant off.

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for coming to see this program!