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!