More Christmas Festivities

Watching Santa come by our house on the West Sacramento Fire Truck

Louie, our Elf on the Shelf left Connor a special message on the computer.

Connor had fun making his gingerbread house... he spent a lot of time and put in great detail! 

Making sugar cookies with Auntie Mal and Mommy... Connor was very generous with the icing and sprinkles!

Louie the Elf sometimes got into some mischief when we were sleeping!

Connor really looked forward to seeing what Louie was up to each morning and loved searching for him and reading his special notes and jokes. Louie helped make our December extra magical!

Christmas Festivities

Our newest member of our family... Louie The Elf, sent from Santa himself to watch over us this season and report back to Santa on all the good our kids are doing! He is magical and gets into mischief while we're asleep. He also writes notes to Connor which are quite well-written and humorous if I do say so myself!  

Connor carrying on the Reindeer Sandwich tradition

Louie left Connor a message with Cheerios

At the West Sacramento Breakfast with Santa
Connor asked Santa for legos and Madeline looked a little skeptical. 

Connor and his friends, John, James, and Hunter. Sweet, sweet friends!

The kids also got to see Santa at Dave's Winter Wonderland! Maddie was still a little unsure! 

Connor and Santa!

Connor having fun on the bounce pillow at Dave's Winter Wonderland!

Michael and I surprised Connor when he was on his way to bed last night. Mal stayed home with Maddie and we went to look at Christmas lights. We enjoyed popcorn, cookies, and hot chocolate in the car! Connor kept giggling he was so excited!

Connor at "The Disney House" which was his favorite house of the night!

Madeline is 11 months!

Sweet Baby Madeline is 11 months! 

Hard to believe Madeline is almost a year! This year has just flown by! She is such a sweet little girl! She loves her daddy and her big brother and smiles when either of them enter the room. She's very snuggly and still enjoys being held, although she is moving around a lot lately! She's taken a few steps, but is very cautious about walking on her own. If she has our finger to hold onto, she'll walk confidently, but as soon as you take that way, she stops. She'll stand for about 10-15 seconds, but is hesitant to take a step on her own. She gets around quickly by crawling and cruising. She's sleeping well... usually going down around 7:30pm, waking around 5:30-6am to nurse, and then back to sleep until 7am. She still naps twice a day on most days, but occasionally only takes one nap. She's still nursing (3-4 times a day!) but is very good about eating "real food." She seems to like meat best... chicken, steak, sausage, hamburger, etc. It's amazing how well she can eat without any teeth! She just recently started signing "more" and seems to be saying "mama" and "dada" with meaning. She claps often and her smiles could melt anyone's heart. She's very expressive with her face and makes this adorable "oooh" sound while making her lips into a perfect circle. She usually does that when she sees something new, or if she gets excited to see one of us. We're loving every moment with this sweet girl!

Yep... She's climbing stairs! Needless to say, the gates are back up!

Enjoying emptying the "kids" cupboard!

Maddie's Birthday Invitation

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a busy, but wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We headed to Modesto on Wednesday to spend the day with my mom and help prep the feast for the following day. The next day, we started at Dave and Jill's and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal and enjoyed time with them. After that, we headed back to my parent's home and enjoyed a feast with the Bollengier's and our family. It was an extra special Thanksgiving because Aunt Judy was here visiting! It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a little Black Friday shopping, so Mal and I convinced Michael to go out with us (for protection) late Thursday night. We had fun shopping the deals at Target and Ulta and made it home by 1am! Michael even admitted that he had fun! All and all, it was a great Thanksgiving. We have so very much to be thankful for!

Best Buds!

Baylee and Connor put on a Gangnum style show for us, choreographed by Brooke!

Michael getting trampled by the kids!

Sweet Aunt Judy getting loves from Maddie girl.

What cool kids I have! 

Maddie and  CJ playing together! Such sweet cousins!

Poppy and Aunt Judy came to Connor's gymnastics class last week!

Connor is loving gymnastics and is really learning a lot. Here he is jumping into the pit. 

Poppy and Daddy showing Connor some golf techniques at the park.

We sure enjoyed having Aunt Judy here to visit!

Friends Thanksgiving 2012

This year we had Friends Thanksgiving at Heidi and Ryan's home. Like always, the food was delicious and the company even better! Our group keeps growing and it's evolving into a wild party with so  many kiddos! Next year, there will be one more since Jax is becoming a big brother. It's such a fun tradition and we feel so blessed by our wonderful friends. It's so wonderful to have good friends to go through life with!

Connor's Last TBall Game

Connor had his last Tball game of the Fall Ball Season. It was a great first season and Connor seemed to have a great time! Michael helped the coaches at every practice and game, and was recruited to be head coach during the regular season. I'm excited to be team mom! It's so fun to see Connor's love for the sport! He's such a dream come true!

Family Weekend in Modesto

Last weekend, we had a lovely trip to Modesto. First, Connor got to go to the Cinderella musical with Mimi and her friends, and then we got to visit with Grandma Jill's family, followed by a birthday celebration for Gigi the following day. It was a fun and love filled weekend!

10 Months Old!

Our Sweet Madeline is 10 months old! Holy Moly, time is scooting by just a little too quick! She is just such a sweetheart. Her newest thing this month is cruising... she pulls herself up to a stand and can cruise around the house fairly quickly now. She is still crawling well, but likes to be on her feet. She's eating better and really eats pretty much what we're eating each day. Pretty good for a baby with no teeth! She's got the pincer grasp down and feeds herself quite independently. She's taking to the sippy cup, but still spits out the water mostly. Mealtime is messy, to say the least! She's sleeping well, occasionally waking up in the night, but nothing too problematic. She smiles and laughs often, especially when Connor is playing with her or when we're tickling her.  She's just a love bug and we are so enjoying getting to be her mom and dad. I can't believe she'll be 1 in two months! With the holidays, I know it's going to fly by. I just want to slow it down... each day is such a blessing with these kids.

Happy Halloween!