It was Christmas & stuff..Vol. 2

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We did for sure. It was busy as usual, but we had a great time with our families. The new year is right around the corner now. I can't believe it. In 4 1/2 months, my baby will be 1. She just cut her first tooth this past Friday. She's taking it rather well and I am thankful for that because she is staying at grandma & grandpa's tonight. Luke and Ashlyn are back to school this week...thanks goodness. :) Luke will be 6 in 2 months. I can't wrap my head around that either. Crazy.

Well below are some pictures from Christmas to share. I did 2 volumes. :) Have a great night tonight (and a safe one) and a GREAT 2008!

Us girls & the newest baby girls. Me & Chloe, Bonnie & Sophie, Tiffany & Josie.

Grant, Tiffany & Josie

Bonnie, Clinton & Sophie

My girls in their pretty dresses.

Bonnie & Sophie

Cousins...Chloe & Sophie.
"Look, Sophie, this is how we get into trouble...we're cute though so no one will say anything...trust me."

Grandparents.
Neal & Chris with all 5 grandchildren

Sophie...Luke was really getting her to smile and laugh.


Hmmm...I guess in all the busy-ness, I didn't get anyone to take a picture ouf our family. Next year I guess.

It was just Christmas & stuff....Vol. 1

Chloe wrestling her sister

Luke and his new Leapster

"Santa did get me what I wanted, Mom! COOL!"

"Santa is so nice...I wanted a cleaning cart just like Sue's"

Here Luke was actually instructing Chloe in how to open her present. And I think she was listening.

Princess Baby

My bro and I doing Ashlyn's puzzle. It acutally took us a while and mom was getting frustrated because we couldn't eat until it was done...just like Ashlyn.

She's 4 now.

Ashlyn turned 4 on Dec. 22nd. On that day we had 5 of her friends over for crafts, cake and playtime. She has a lof of fun. Then the next day we went to my in-laws house for more cake and fun. Aunt Serene and Uncle Daryn were in town too so that was so much fun.

This is Ashlyn's 1st cake...she had a Tinkerbell party.

Opening up her presents from all her friends. She would end each time by trying to figure out who gave it to her and then saying, "Thank you...that was so nice of you!" She turned back into herself after everyone left. :)


So, Lincoln finally made it home for a bit after everything settled down so I told Ashlyn and Belle to go ask him to put together her scooter she got from Belle and her parents. Ha-ha...yeah, he tried to get out of doing stuff, but it didn't work.

This is my fashionable daughter. Aunt Serene and Cousins Monica & Molly would appreciate this photo...she's wearing her new heals here with her jeans....that's in, right? :)

Her 2nd cake...this time with purple frosting and Tinkerbell again. We were singing to here here and she's sitting in Aunt Serene's lap.

Opening her gifts at Grandma & Grandpa's.

Well, the next party we have will be Luke's 6th birthday. I can't believe how time can fly because just a couple months after that my last baby will be 1 year old. Makes me tear up thinking about it. At least I'll have more nieces and hopefully some nephews to spoil...bring on the babies, girls!! I can get my baby fix that way. :)

Winter Wonderland

Whew...it's a boy!!

My best friend, Trish, had her little baby boy tonight. His name is Jonathan Douglas. He was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 20" long. I am so excited to spend Lincoln's next weekend off (that isn't a holiday) in Cumberland...if they'll have me. I can't wait!! I will have more pictures then. this picture above was sent to my cell phone by Trish shortly after she called me after his bath I believe.

7 Months & A Merry Christmas

Life is going to be very hectic starting tomorrow - Christmas services start tomorrow at church including the kids' program tomorrow night, Saturday Ashlyn is having her friends over for her 4th birthday party, Sunday is her party with our family and then it's Christmas - so I wanted to post a Christmas 7 month picture and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas - may you all be as blessed as we have been this past year!!

Welcome Josie Rose

Lincoln's brother, Grant, and his wife, Tiffany, welcomed their new baby girl into the world this morning. Josie Rose was born at 6:56 am. She was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. We got to go see her tonight and she is just beautiful. I must say, we all make some pretty babies.

She's CRAWLING!!!

Our baby started crawling tonight...now I just have to remember how to 'baby-proof' our house. :)

Being 6 months brings on shots...

These are pictures from Chloe's 6 month doctor appointment. She is now 20 lbs. 6 oz. and 27" long. I don't really know why this is important, but she is just above the 95th percentile for weight and at right about the 95th percentile for height. She is actually wearing Ashlyn's clothes from when she was a year old. Chloe took her shots really good this time too. She only screamed for about 30 seconds, but then she was crabby for a couple days after that.

ThanksChristmas

Okay, so I don't have any really good pictures from Thanksgiving except for our Christmas card picture and I don't want to ruin that surprise yet....:) I did get a few from my Christmas/Thanksgiving last Sunday though. My dad, step-mom, sister & their foster child, Josh, came over for an early Christmas. It was a nice visit. We had fun.

Yeah, I'm a dork, but I am a proud dork of my first turkey.

My dad, me & my sister, Victoria - she's odd. I have no idea where that comes from.

Me and my dad

This photo is on this blog for one purpose...to get her back. My sister liked using my camera the whole day...she took many of herself. So, I thought I'd post one up. Attractive, huh? :)

Frosting???

"MOM, THERE'S FROTING ON MY CHRISMAT DREST" - Ashlyn thinking the roses are frosting.

Ashlyn

My little girl got her pictures back today from her 3-year-old preschool class. I can't believe that she's going to be 4 in 3 weeks. Time goes by way too fast. I really love this picture.



I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I will post pictures up of our Thanksgiving this weekend. G'nite!

Placing the Blame

So, tonight we went in and asked Ashlyn what happened to her eye as she was coloring with a blue marker. She says, "Luk-ie hit me in the eye when we were at Grandma's lat night." (She can't say 's' very well) After we laughed for a while, we realized that she was talking about the weekend she and Luke spent with Grandma Chris when we were in Denver. They were outside raking leaves and Luke got her in the right eye with the rake. Well, that healed now, but she insisted on blaming Luke. She didn't know that she had drawn on her face yet.

Water Park Fun

We went and stayed at The Lodge at Brainerd Lakes this past weekend. The kids love going to water parks. We had a lot of fun as you can see from the pictures. :)

"Half a Year"

Our last baby is 6 months old now. I can't believe how fast time goes. I feel like I was just pregnant...Ha-ha, it's probably because I still have all the baby weight to lose. :) I haven't been trying very hard. I haven't had time to worry about it...who has time with all these kids and jobs?
The holidays are here. Enough said. I love the holidays. I love getting together with my family and with Lincoln's family. I just don't like thinking about what to do next...we run, run, run and we add into that Lincoln's chores. Yeah, I said chores...I'm a farmers wife and I love it, but lest's face it...it makes for some challenges for the city girl. It also makes for a very busy, whirlwind of a season. Ashlyn's birthday is in there too...Dec. 22 and I vowed that I would never have her birthday with Christmas so I am having a couple parties for her the weekend before. Oh, and who knew that a 4 year old would be so popular?? There are about 7 kids on her list and she rattles off more all the time. It's probably because she bullys them into being her friend. :) Ha-ha.
I am very excited for the next few weeks as we are anticipating the birth of our next new niece or nephew. We don't even know names so this is exciting and keeping us all on edge. Tiffany is due in a week and a half. And then our niece, Sophie, is being baptized on Dec. 9th. There is no end in site for December. January is going to be a welcomed month...even if it's way too cold. :)

Just some pictures and updates...

Well, life is hectic as always, but good. We got back from Denver this past Monday evening. We had a lot of fun there. It was so good to visit Serene and Daryn. I felt a little guilty that we didn't bring the other kids too, but we just can't afford that. Car trip next time I guess. It was relaxing just having the baby with. I was almost bored not running after all 3 kids. Not in a bad was, Serene. It was a nice change. I think I was more tired when I came back though. It's like you need a vacation from the vacation. Daryn's sister got engaged while we were there so that was a lot of fun to chat about. We ate, shopped, watched A LOT of sports and talked. We may have even consumed some beverages...fun times.

Ashlyn had her pre-school pictures taken this past week. Those should turn out great....I can't wait. Luke...same old stuff for now. I am trying to start making up his new room now and finishing up Christmas shopping. I am half done now I think. My sister has a hockey tourney in Buffalo, MN the weekend after Thanksgiving so my dad, stepmom, sister and their foster child, Josh (I am assuming he's coming) are going to drive through and have ThanksChristmas here at our place. I can't wait. I am even making a whole Thankschristmas meal. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberries (that I won't even think about touching, yuck), pie. I am excited.

Well, I really don't have much else to blog about...I included some pictures below from the last week.

This is Lincoln and his sister, Serene, playing the Wii. They were playing baseball. As you can see, Serene was pitching and Lincoln was getting ready to hit.

Chloe in her bath tonight.

Chloe after church today. This dress was actually handed down from my step-sister's daughter. She gave me this when I was pregnant with Luke, but I didn't know yet what he was. I didn't think I still had it.

Last night we went to the Mall of America...yep, brave, I know. I was determined though. There was a make-up store I wanted to go to. Anyway...Lincoln and Luke went in to Al's Farm Toys so us girls waited out on the 'bridge' and obviously from the picture it's one of the ones with glass int it. Ashlyn got down on the floor and stuck her face right on it trying to see though.

Ha - this is funny. Today is Lincoln's birthday. I made him a cake, but got lazy. I started spelling 'birthday' and gave up. The kids picked out the beer can candles. See...I can't bake very well...at least not when you want it to look good.

From the past....

There is a story behind this...
My mom just gave me her China Hutch this past week because they put in a buffet. When she was cleaning it out she found this...Lincoln insisted I take a picture.
This is a certificate I made for my mom in school for Mother's Day...back in May of 1985. My mom was about 7-8 months pregnant with my brother at the time so I was probably feeling a little sorry for her or something. Apparently not too much though. See, where it says 'one week', I had originally put in 'two' weeks and then erased it to re-write 'one'. See...not so dumb.