Happy 2nd Birthday Tessa!

It's hard to believe our little girl is 2 years old! We celebrated her birthday a couple of times this year - both here in Colorado and in Kansas.

Here she is at our favorite Mexican restaurant blowing out the candle!

Cheers!

New slippers from Oma!

Tessa opening presents at her birthday party in Kansas.

Tasting the cupcake with Daddy!

I took Tessa to her 2 year check-up today and she is in the 99th percentile weighing in at 27 lbs. and 37" tall. It was really no surprise that she was so big since she is wearing 3T clothes now! We also have been referred to a pediatric surgeon to get a second opinion on her umbilical hernia that hasn't seemed to close since our last check-up. We will be seeing a specialist from Childrens Hospital on January 4th, so hopefully he will have some more answers for us on what (if any) course of treatment we will take. In all other ways she continues to be a happy and healthy little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family!

Gingerbread house

I'm not quite brave enough to try a real Gingerbread house project with the kids...I think it would be more eating the pieces instead of assembling them...so I found this cute craft project to do with them. It was a hit! (and not too messy either!) Here is Isaac - he was so busy he couldn't even stop to pose for a photo.

Tessa was pretty proud of her design!

Welcome Baby Easton

My brother Grant and sister-in-law Amber are proud parents to their new baby boy - Easton Michael! I couldn't help but share these photos my mom took when she visited them in the hospital yesterday. We're headed to Kansas next weekend to celebrate Christmas and I'm really looking forward to meeting this newest member of the family! Congratulations Grant & Amber!

The Ghost of Christmas Present

A couple of weekends ago...right after Thanksgiving to be exact...we went to "A Christmas Carol" downtown with our friends Josh and Yetty. I can't think of a better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to see such a wonderful production with a couple of wonderful friends.

Since then, it's been non-stop preparations for the holidays. We endured (and enjoyed!) 3 (yes 3!) Christmas parties last weekend. This weekend we're going to watch our city's lights parade, and next weekend we're headed to Kansas to celebrate with our families there. It's a crazy busy Christmas season, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Blue Eyes

I never thought I'd have a blue-eyed child! There are certain times where the light and camera catch Tessa's eyes just right and they are the most amazing shade of blue. This is one of those times.....

No more diapers in the Nap house!!

Oh yeah - we're really excited about this!!

Willie!

So I'm a little behind...(but what's new, right?) but I had to share these photos from the K-State vs. Colorado game that we went to. We had great seats in the end zone just 3 rows up from the field and to Isaac's delight they were very close to Willie the Wildcat! Here he is meeting Willie!

Just got his hat autographed - so excited!

The signing.

Thumbs up!

Last One - The Whole Gang!

There's no way I could post all the great photos from our family's visit or tell you all the wonderful stories about those weeks, but I did want to post one more photo - one of the whole gang! Although not everyone could be here (and they were really missed) we were truly lucky to have so many of John's family members visit from so far away. I grew up in a small town where family was always close by and took for granted that birthdays and holidays would always be celebrated with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Now that I am part of another family, I'm so happy that you all could be here to celebrate this special occasion! Thank you all for coming!

Catch up #4 - Mountains

After the busy birthday party weekend, we were able to get away to the mountains for a couple of days with Winnie, Harry & their kids. They had just gotten snow there, so it was a beautiful trip. Here are Winnie, Alisa, Harry, myself & John enjoying a hike in the snow.

Alisa, Hetty, Emily & Derek took us out for an "American Breakfast"! Yum!

Isaac got to try out his new skis in the parking lot. He's ready for ski season!

We took a short walk to a scenic overlook. Here are Hetty, Winnie, Emily, Harry, Hetty & Derek.

Aunt Winnie & Isaac!

Our family!

Tessa loved the snow - she says it plural..as in "I want to go play in the snows!" Good thing we live in Colorado! ;-)

Catch Up #3 - Red Rocks

On the day after the big birthday party several of our crew took advantage of the beautiful weather to take a little hike around Red Rocks. Here's a photo of the group on the hike:

Winnie, Ali, Alisa (I think ;-) and Harry

Inez

What a view!

Catch Up #2 - Pumpkins

The morning of the birthday party was a great fall weather so we took the family to our nearby farm & pumpkin patch. Here is the group checking in:

We all got to ride the hay bale trailer (pulled by the tractor) to the pumpkin patch!

All the little & big kids having fun in the hay bale maze!

John's 4 sisters: Inez, Tina, Winnie & Jean

Isaac taking a swing at the pinata!

There were still strawberries and rasberries ripe for picking! Here's Chuck, Isaac, John & Jean with all their berries!

Pumpkin bowling - strike (almost)!

Tessa & Daddy in the maze

Catch Up #1 - The Party

I'm finally getting around to organizing and posting photos of the wonderful 1-1/2 weeks that our family spent with us. I guess the main thing that was holding me back is that there were so many photos that I wasn't really sure where to start. So - I finally decided I would start with the reason that we all got together in the first place - to celebrate Alice's (Oma's) birthday! We had such a fun evening hosting the party at our house and were happy that so many of our friends and family could be there for the special night. Here is the birthday girl getting ready to blow out the candles!

You can't have cake without the coffee!

It was really special for our friends here to meet our family that traveled from so far to be here.

Present time!

We decorated the tables with photos of Alice from her childhood to present. It was a great conversation starter for the evening!

Trick or Treat!

I've got a lot of catch-up blogging to do and so many wonderful photos to post of our family visits over the past week or so, but I thought I would get started with a few photos from trick-or-treating last night. Here are our little Robots in action!

Family visit...round 1!

Our family has started trickling in for the big celebration this weekend. Alice's (Oma's) brother Gerrit and his wife Ali arrived on Tuesday evening. Here they are having coffee with us yesterday morning. These are the kids' great-aunt and great-uncle. It's so special to have them visit us here in Colorado all the way from the Netherlands!

John's sister Winnie & her husband Harry arrived late last night and their four children arrive later today. Tomorrow we will welcome the rest of John's sisters! We're looking forward to having a house full of family and spending a great weekend together!

Perspective

Yesterday, in the midst of all the crazy drama that tends to fill up our days, I found out that one of my friend's relatives passed away - a young mother of 2. Although I don't know this woman personally, she has really touched my life and made me sit down to consider what is really important. Please take a minute today to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you, give them a big hug, and say an extra prayer for the Hummell family as they go through this difficult time.

http://www.thebrightonblade.com/content/remembering-diana-hummell

I *Heart* Fall

Well, it's finally here! Autumn! We've officially broken in the furnace for the season and there's a frost advisory for tonight. Even though that is bad news for my garden, I'm still happy! Did I mention I LOVE Fall!

We've been busy around the Nap household getting prepared for all the family that will arrive next week. We have a dozen or so family members coming in from literally around to world to help us celebrate Alice's (Oma's) 70th birthday. So - forgive me if I'm a little slow in getting some posts up - I'm BUSY!! Here are some of the decorations I've been working on...fire hazard? Probably! But - don't these look cool?

Sand & Sun

The calendar says it's autumn...but it's still feeling a lot like summer around here. Fortunately it's only been in the 80's instead of the 90's. The kids have been having a lot of fun playing in the sandbox lately, so I thought I'd share a few photos that John snapped last weekend!