Us: 2012

12.31.2012

4 Months Old Ella

I love my monthly photo shoots with Ella.

This particular one started out rough as you can see below. So we took a little breather and when we tried again we had success!

STATS

weight: 16.2

height: 26.5

head: 17.3

(I lost the paper for her percentages but I'm pretty sure she is in the BIG percentile.)

Ella is still waking up once or twice a night. The days of all night sleep are long gone. (4-10 weeks old) She is finally in her very own bed, in her very own bedroom. I have never done that. My other babies were in my room for two weeks tops. But alas, painting is hard and we are procrastinators AND

I liked having her with me.

Ella is getting to be much easier in that I can put her down for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. She will even let her sibs hold her and entertain her. Yay for getting something done.

She has gotten so chubby in the last month or so. I so love a FAT baby!
Ella gives me "hugs" when I pick her up. She literally squeezes me wither arms and body and also nestles her face in my shoulder. Its lovely.

Megan ADORES her sister.

A shot of her cuddly fatness.

I absolutely love this picture of Megan taking the big sister roll and teaching Ella the importance of jewelry.

Sleeping Ella

What a sweet baby.

12.29.2012

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

Oh, this bunch. Love them.

Elvis' elf mischief. Of course the kids loved it.

It'll be a sad day when I can't get away with

these kinds of shennanigans.

Checking out the lights. We picked a perfect night. It was warm.

The kids found these tickets when the got in bed one night just after watching The Polar Express.
The thrill in their eyes was more than thrilling for me.
They got in the car with hot chocolate and popcorn waiting and a ride to see lights.

It. was. awesome.

My cousin, Michelle's, "I Love Lucy" tree at The Festival of Trees.

Can you tell which one Megan decorated?

Aw, cuuuuute.

Our lovely, half burned out tree.

Daddy's birthday celebrated with homemade icecream cake.

Of course, Christmas isn't Christmas with making a visit to see Santa Cow!

~~Gingerbread~~ Graham cracker houses.

I always dread doing it but always end up having a good time and the kids most definitely do.

{And looking at Megan's snowman, you can see Daddy had a hand in helping...}

Christmas Eve jammies.

Before the tornado and after the tornado.

12.23.2012

All I want for Christmas...

...is my

TWO FRONT TEETH!

11.30.2012

Thanksgiving

We traveled down to Richfield for Thanksgiving this year. It was good spending time with Adam's grandparents and letting our kids get to know their GREAT grandparents. They hadn't even met Ella yet so it was a good time to reunite. I even got to do the jitterbug with Adam's grandpa. The man still has moves!

BONUS picture:

Noah striking a pose.Vogue. He wanted me to take this picture. Hilarious.

(The kids had a fun time exploring great grandpas property and barn and pulling and eating his carrots.)

11.24.2012

The Whole Fam Damily

We haven't had family pictures done since the October before Kyle was born.

Our family has changed just a little since then.

Kyle was grandchild #12 and now we are getting ready to have Dawn's #26 PLUS Robert's 4 children. (His oldest daughter actually isn't in this picture.)

{Thanks for taking the pic, Morgan!}

The couples

30 GRANDCHILDREN!

11.18.2012

Indoor Soccer

The boys just completed their indoor soccer season. I am proud to report that there was no crying from Kyle this time. ;) And Noah finally got to play this time. They enjoyed it but didn't seem to LOVE it. They played twice a week plus Kyle had one practice. I'm glad its done but glad for the experience.

Noah reminds me so much of Adam in this picture.

Kyle's team is missing probably 4 kids and that's not even his coach. Lame.

But I love this picture of Kyle.

Silly Meggie

After getting out of the bath and letting her hair dry without a combing, Megan looked in the mirror and said,

"I look like Alex."

I got a good laugh.

What do you think?

11.09.2012

What is it about Sepia...

{Old draft May 2008}

...or black and white for that matter? I think I am permanently going to switch my camera to take pics in either of these color modes. Normal pictures look more creative. Baby boys look impossibly more precious. Acne breakouts are hidden, wrinkles look less...wrinkley (Okay so maybe these are the real reasons but still! :) )

{Oh my lands, I can hardly stand how sweet my boys are/were. Look at Noah's cheeks!}