Christmas Day

We were able to spend Christmas Day with Adam's family in Cedar Rapids this year. We spent the day at Matt and Tammi's. It was great to have everyone together for lots of laughs, some cousin play time and great food! We missed our annual Phase 10 game (ok, some of us did) but we will save that for next year when Ben is with us again.

Reagan and Avery got a lot of neat toys and have had fun playing with them! Reagan got a new trampoline that she loves to jump on in the basement. It is a great energy burner:) She also got two new Little People toys along with an Aquadoodle pad that she loves to color on. Avery got a new exersaucer, I am not sure who likes
this one more Avery or Reagan!

A few pictures from our afternoon.







Can you tell we had two tired little girls? We had a 15 minute drive across town and I think they were both out in the first two minutes!




Thanks for hosting Christmas this year Matt and Tammi, it worked out great!

Christmas Eve

We headed to Cedar Rapids early again this year trying to beat another winter storm. We were happy we did when we woke up on Christmas Eve to several inches of snow on the ground and the forecast of 6-9 inches total.

We spent the day at my parents house getting ready for Santa to come. We have talked a lot about what our Christmas traditions will look like in the future and what we will tell the girls about Santa. We both have very fond childhood memories and can't wait to make these memories with the girls. Santa always came to my house when we went to church on Christmas Eve. Looking back on it, my mom always forgot her purse or had to use the bathroom while my dad had us outside looking for Rudolphs nose. Adam's family always traveled to AZ where his mom's family lived. They made a week long trip in the big blue van and Santa always came at night. They would run into the living room in the morning to find toys under the tree. Oh the magic of Christmas, it brings a smile to my face. Obviously Reagan was still a little too young to understand the concept of Santa but next year she will really get into it. This year she just said that Santa brought presents/toys. Opening presents was also a little difficult because she wanted to play with the toy that she just opened. By her third Christmas on Sunday she was starting to understand the concept.

We waited to open gifts with Dustin and Beth and their kids until Sunday. The flu bug hit their house last week and in hopes of not giving it to our family they were nice enough to hold off a couple of extra days to open gifts...THANKS!!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve and Sunday's gathering with my family.

Santa left just a few gifts!


One tradition that I didn't mention is that when we got home from church and before we could open gifts we had to take pictures in front of the Christmas tree. We actually got a couple good shots!









Opening presents!
Reagan got a Dance Star Mickey from my parents. She had the reaction I knew she would have, she loved him! Here is a picture of her hugging him.

Snow!

We had the most beautiful snow fall on Christmas Eve. What a white winter wonderland it was. With all of the new snow Adam decided it was time to break out Reagan's sled and enjoy the snow. I don't know who was more excited, Reagan or Adam! Reagan couldn't wait to put her boots on and couldn't get outside fast enough! Her sled is just like the kind they have at Kindermusik so she knew what that was all about. They were only able to play outside for about 30 minutes before it was too cold but they both had a blast!

4 Months Old

Avery turned four months old last week! I really can't believe how quickly the time has gone. She continues to be such an easy going baby. We haven't mastered a daytime schedule but she pretty much is set at bedtime. She generally goes down between 8 and 9 and sleeps until 8 in the morning (knock on wood!). She has the biggest smile that melts my heart and is really starting to giggle and coo. Unfortunately she got her first little cold this week. Wednesday night was pretty rough but she seems to be doing better after just a few days. I hated seeing her miserable and unable to breath.

Here are a couple pictures to mark her four month birthday. As you can see she is a big girl!

Four month measurements
weight 15lbs--75%
height 25 in--75%
head 16.4 in--50-75%





She is really drooling these days, we expect that first tooth to pop through anytime now. Reagan was four and a half months old when her first tooth came in.

Santa

We tried to get the girls pictures taken with Santa at the tree farm but Reagan wasn't about to let us put her on his lap, Avery on the other hand was just happy to get out of her car seat. If you look at Reagan's eyes closely she is glaring at Santa. She may have just got put on the naughty list!

O Christmas Tree

We did our annual picking out and cutting down of our Christmas tree yesterday. We have been going out to this tree farm for about six years now. This year we told ourselves that we didn't need to pick out the biggest tree on the farm but of course we didn't listen to ourselves. We love building these family traditions and memories.

Is it perfect? No, but we will make it our own with lots of pretty lights and decorations.



Adam cutting down the tree



This year Reagan wanted to help put the "balls" as she called them on the tree. We had fun even though it took a little extra time. She even wanted to share them with Avery.

Thanksgiving 2010

This Thanksgiving it was hard not to be reminded about how much we have to be thankful for. Our friends and family, our health and the health of our girls, my dads six week stay up at Mayo to help him cope with his pain, our home and food to eat to name just a few.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend and were happy to share it with both my family and Adam's (sorry MN family--we aren't that good to make it to all three in one day!) and were able to see some great friends! Reagan had a blast with all of her cousins and Avery got some extra holding time by all.

One of Adam's friends told him about a tradition that they started a couple years ago at Thanksgiving so we thought we would start it as well. We bought a white tablecloth and will take it with us wherever we spend Thanksgiving. Everyone we are with will write down something they are thankful for that year. It will be so neat to go back and read what we all have been thankful for through the years.








Reagan reading her Christmas books with Josh and Kyle




The girls in their Thanksgiving PJ's


Of course my mom and I headed out for some Black Friday shopping. We didn't do as much this year as we have in the past but still carried out our tradition and picked up a few Christmas gifts to get us started. We did head out to Toys R Us Thursday night but quickl turned around when we saw how long the line was just to get in. Guess we weren't the only ones that thought it was a good idea!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken earlier this month. Below is the link if you would like to check them out. The password is Avery3

Cooper Image Design

Teddy Bear Tea

My mom and I took Reagan to Teddy Bear Tea with a friend Danielle and her daughter Ava. I love that the Cedar Falls community sponsors events like these. It was fun to see all the little girls in their holiday dresses with big smiles on their faces and wonder in their eyes.

The event started off with dancers from a local dance studio. As the girls danced I couldn't help but think to myself that could be my girls someday. As I've said in previous posts, Reagan loves music and dancing so she watched with excitement. She clapped when everyone else did. They also had a magician, Reagan didn't really see the entertainment value out of this but liked seeing the doves that he did a couple of tricks with. Then for the main event, SANTA and Mrs. Claus arrived!! We have been talking about Santa and even bought some Christmas books in hopes of getting a good picture of the girls with Santa this year but after Saturday I think we have a couple of years a head of us before this happens. Reagan carried her teddy bear now named "Teddy" around with her all weekend and still drags him around the house with her. It was a fun morning and can't wait to take both Reagan and Avery next year! Thanks Danielle!

One of the dance groups performing


If you look closely you will see all the girls holding up their teddy bears to show Santa and Mrs. Claus


Santa making his way to the stage!


Reagan with Grandma and I


Reagan and Ava holding hands

Grandpa's Car

My dad bought a new toy this month and we were lucky enough for him to drive it up to Cedar Falls when he came for a visit one day a week or two ago. Reagan thought it was pretty neat, she can't wait to go for a ride next summer (neither can I)!!

Random Pictures

I haven't been very good about updating this month. I guess we haven't done a lot that is blog worthy...which was kind of nice to have a relaxing month before the holidays hit! I thought that I would post some random pictures of the girls that I took this month. They both are getting so big!