We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed a relatively quiet Christmas here at home. The snow tapered off by Christmas Eve, so Grandma and Popo were able to make the drive out to Colorado and along with Oma we all attended a great kid's Christmas Eve service at Church. Here is Tessa all dressed up for the event!

After church, Isaac made a plate of cookies for Santa - complete with a carrot for the reindeer! (Of course he had to sample the goods to make sure they were fit for Santa!)

On Christmas morning, Isaac was thrilled to find that Santa had brought him a drumset! He is turning into quite the musician!

Here's Tessa opening her stocking (with a little help from Popo)!

And later that day, trying out her new push-popper!

On Christmas day we also got to go over to Oma's new house for a little celebration there! We are so happy to have her living so close! Tomorrow we head up to the mountains to spend the rest of the week skiing, relaxing, and enjoying our time off. This is probably the last post for the year - so until next time - Happy New Years!!!

Birthday Party Pics!

Here is the birthday girl arriving at her party. (Note: she is officially "running" now)

There were lots of helpers for gift time!

Homemade cupcakes and cookies!

Tessa with her cousins!

Of course - cake!!

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Oh little Tessa Mable...it really doesn't seem like a year has passed by since you joined our family! Happy First Birthday! Since we're going to be in the car all day tomorrow (on your actual birthday) driving to Kansas, we had a little celebration here tonight and you got to enjoy your first cupcake! We're so blessed to have you in our lives and we love kissing your little dimples every day!

Lights parade

Last weekend we went to the annual Brighton Holiday Lights Parade. This time we got to take Oma with us! The kids did really great and enjoyed everything - even though it was close to dinnertime! Oma's moving truck arrived on Sunday, so we have been busy helping her get settled - that's my excuse for the slow posting! Oh, that and all the gift wrapping, Christmas card addressing, goodie baking..the list goes on and on...I love this time of year!

Welcome Home Oma!!

Yesterday we picked up Oma from the airport to bring her to her new home here in Colorado....well, to our home at least for a couple days until her things arrive in the moving truck. The movers were supposed to arrive last night, but weather and truck troubles delayed them. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow evening and move her things into her new house on Saturday. Welcome to Colorado Oma!!!

Walking and talking!

Tessa has not only mastered the art of walking - but can do all sorts of things at the same time!

Playing nice

Now that Tessa is getting a little older, walking, and generally just getting into everything (including her brother's toys) there has been quite a bit more sibling fighting going on in our house. Last night, though, they demonstrated to me that they can play nicely together. Please, please, let there be many more of these moments in our house from here on out!

Baby Izabel

We have a new addition to our household - well, at least on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Izabel is Angelica's (our nanny) new baby and she is pure sweetness! The kids are in love with her (as you can see in the photos). Even though things are a little crazy around here with 4 kids now, they are adjusting really well. Isaac loves having Domenic back to play with and Tessa is constantly kissing the "baby". She makes Tessa look so big and grown up!

December already?

I can't believe that by tomorrow it will be December! Where did November go, and for that matter, where did this year go? We celebrated Thanksgiving in Kansas with my family and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins Finley and Parker. Here are Tessa and Finley pounding out a tune on the piano.

And Isaac posing with Parker. (Sorry Grant, I got a photo of him in the "pink" car! :-)

The 3 little ones kept us busy...it seemed like every time we turned around they were getting into something different. Here they are inspecting the refrigerator.....

.....and making beautiful music with lids.

While we were in Kansas we also got to celebrate an early Christmas with my Grandma and Grandpa and all the extended family. Here are all the great-grandkids posing with Grandma Donnis and Grandpa Joe. I can't believe we got them all to stay still for a photo!

Fun in the snow!

Last weekend we had more snow! It's still fall, but the weather has been more like winter. Isaac had fun putting on his new snow boots and playing outside. Tessa isn't quite big enough to join him, but that didn't stop her from watching from the window!

Nine

This morning at breakfast Isaac was finishing up Tessa's bites of toast. We heard him counting as he was lining them up...he got up to sixteen! By the time I grabbed the camera, though, he had eaten several of them. John asked him how many were left and he quickly replied "nine"! Not sure if it was luck or not - but we were pretty excited anyway!

Thank you!

Dear Grandma & Popo-

Thank you for coming to our house to take care of us for two whole weeks! We have had so much fun playing with you and will be very sad when you leave. We hope we didn't drive you too crazy!

Love,
Isaac & Tessa

Wobble, wobble!

It's still a little shaky - but it's walking! Enjoy!

Catching up!

I know, I know...I've been a little behind in updating the blog. It's been a busy week around here. Grandma and Popo were here to help out with the kids while our nanny, Angelica, is on maternity leave. The kids had so much fun playing with them! They're up at their condo in the mountains for the weekend and then they'll be back to help out for one more week. We're so thankful that they can come help us out!

We have another new exciting development - walking! Tessa is officially taking her first steps. She is definitely still a little shaky, but she loves trying and has lots of encouragement from her big brother. I've got some video to post soon, but in the meantime, here is a photo!

Happy Birthday Oma!

October 31st isn't just Halloween - it's also Oma's birthday! Isaac and I made her a yummy pumpkin cheesecake and the kids had fun helping Oma blow out her candles! We're so thankful that she could come spend a week with us!

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all enjoyed a warm and safe Halloween! We took our little ladybug fairy and "Lightning McQueen" for a little trick-or-treating in the neighborhood before it got dark. Isaac really enjoyed it this year and had to be reminded to say "trick or treat" instead of "do you have something for me?".

Isaac trick-or-treating at Oma's new house!

Tessa getting a ride in the wagon. It was pretty warm out today, but check out our piles of snow that are still hanging around!

Stir crazy

After being stuck inside for two days, we decided to bundle the kids up for a short walk outside in the snow. Here is Tessa in her warm clothes. She couldn't crawl with the mittens on her hands - she kept sliding down on the wood floor.

Isaac and Oma having fun in the snow and trying not to slip on the ice!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

It's a winter wonderland outside our house! Over the past 2 days this early winter storm has dropped about 10-12 inches of snow in our neighborhood. (and we're the lucky ones, some areas have more than double that!) It feels a little more like Christmas than Halloween, and Isaac is getting anxious to go out and make snowballs. We haven't even got his snowboots for this year yet, so we had to venture out to the mailbox yesterday in his tennis shoes! We kept him distracted though by popping in the "Frosty the Snowman" movie. Oma is here this week taking care of the kids while I work, and we are so thankful to have her here. Isaac and Tessa are having so much fun with her! It's supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow and through the weekend so we're hoping to get out for some fresh air - we're all getting a little stir crazy!

Lights out

Last night we had a neighborhood-wide power outage. Tessa was already in bed, but Isaac was in the middle of his bath when all the power went out. He kept insisting that we turn the lights back on - he didn't understand until he got out of the bath and tried the light switch for himself. We got to read him books and tuck him in bed by candles and flashlights. John and I played a game of Scrabble by candle light and the power came back on halfway through the game. Other than being glad that the heat was also back on, I was a little sad to blow out the candles, it was kind of nice!

6 adults...

...that's how many of us it took to get a photo of all four of these cousins together! Here are Isaac and Tessa with their cousins Finley and Parker. We have so much fun when we get together with my brother Grant, his wife Amber, and their kids. It's busy with so many little ones underfoot, but we wouldn't like it any other way!

Go K-State!

I know, I know - I'm behind in posting again. The past few days have been busy ones around our house. Our nanny, Angelica, gave birth to her beautiful baby girl, Izabel, on Sunday, so John and I been taking turns taking care of the kids and trying to get our work done this week. We are excited that Oma is going to be here next week to see us and help out with the kids!

Last weekend we drove to Kansas for the K-State vs. A&M football game. John and I took Isaac to the game and he really enjoyed it (and had SO many questions!). K-State won big and we were all excited about that except John - who wore his maroon for the day. Here's Isaac at the top of the stadium. Daddy was nice enough to take him all the way to the top for a nice view!

Bathtime!

Everybody loves bathtime! And - there's nothing cuter than naked babies! Trust me, there were some even cuter photos, but this one is the only one where all the important parts are covered up. There was an adorable one involving two naked bums...but I don't want to get flagged as some obscene blogger....

K.C. weekend

This past weekend Tessa and I flew to Kansas City to help my cousin Nicole with her wedding dress shopping. It was successful and she picked out a beautiful dress....I can't post any photos though, you'll have to wait for the wedding! We got to spend time with family and Tessa got to play with some of her cousins.

Here is Tessa picking out a dress for Nicole.

My mom with my niece Finley and my aunt Diane with Tessa at the dress shop.

Diaper pose! Tessa with her cousins Finley and Parker.

Saturday night we did a little craft project....not too successful, but lots of fun! :-)

Tessa and I with my step-sister Allison and her adorable little boy, Ryan.

Swimming lessons

This week the kids started swimming lessons at our rec center. Isaac is in the "preschool" class and Tessa is with me in the "mommy & me" class. Both kids love it! We showed up a little too early for the first lesson on Monday and it was all I could do to keep Tessa out of the water. They have a zero-entry portion at one end of the pool and Tessa kept wriggling in my arms until I put her down and then crawled as fast as she could to the water. Isaac is in a class full of energetic little boys, but so far has been pretty good at listening to the teachers. They both sleep great after our evening lessons, so that has been a nice benefit!

Out for a ride

Isaac recently mastered riding his bike! (although he gets off to walk it across the street because he doesn't like going down the "ramps"...but that is a whole other story). Lately the weather has been great for taking a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood. Tessa has grown into her little car and loves following her big brother around. We'll have to get outside and enjoy this weather today because they're predicting some snow for tomorrow...brrrr!

It's that time of year again...pumpkins!!

This weekend we enjoyed the perfect fall weather by going to the nearby Berry Patch Farms to pick out our pumpkins. Here are the kids goofing around on the pumpkins!

Tessa and Mommy picking out a good one!

Isaac had lots of fun in the hay bale maze!

Tessa loved the hay ride!

Isaac petting the farm's pig.

Isaac's first pinata!

Tessa REALLY loved the pumpkins!

Daddy & the kids right before we headed home.