December

We're still here!

I took an unexpected blogging break for most of December. It was a really up and down month for us. Lots of good Christmas fun, but also a lot of sickness, teething, and very little sleep. Then the day after Christmas we got word that my grandmother had passed away, so we took a trip to Iowa and just got back last night.

My grandmother was a very sweet woman, who we love very much. It's always sad and hard to say goodbye to a loved one, but at the same time I think it was for the best. Alzheimer's has a long, nasty history on my dad's side of the family and it had really taken it's tole on my grandmother over the past few years, especially in the last few months. I'm glad I was able to see her one last time over the summer and I'm glad she passed away before things got worse and she forgot who her immediate family was. I think that would have been so much worse. I'm hurting, but at the same time I know she is so much better off where she is now.

We love you grandma!

I'll share just a few of our photos from the past month, but I'm going to make it quick. I've got a little girl who keeps asking me to play the sneaky, snacky, squirrel game and I don't want to keep her waiting.

A quick snapshot of our December 2012:

Kam's birthday party:

What's wrong with this picture? LOL!

Sister time:

Play time:

Christmas time:

We have two teeth now!

Family time:

Happy New Year's Eve everyone. Wishing you all a wonderful 2013.

Friday Phone Favorites - Week 2

1. Christmastime in campus-town  2. Winner!  3. Gorgeous trees. Sydney likes me to drive around them each night on our way home.  4.  Laundry pic by Sydney  5. Float like a butterfly  6. Waitin' for a flood  7. Oh man is he starting to hate my camera!  8. Taking a timeout from our dance party  9.  Home brew  10. Best Christmas movie eva!  11. Bring on the wrapping!  12. Um..excuse me, trying to get my wrap on...is someone needing a little attention?  13. Pinterest inspired cookies. Good, but I like the original peanut butter version better.  14. Let sleeping dogs lie  15. Bokeh! 16. This little piggy went to market

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Bambi, Dave, you with the white ear, you and you.

Dude. We went to the reindeer ranch.

There were real reindeer there.

That liked to eat.

 

A lot.

And get their picture taken.

Okay, well, some more than others.

There was even a special reindeer with two heads.

There were fake reindeer there too.

And Christmas trees.

And a pumpkin canon.

Wait. Whaa?? Yeah, I have no idea what that has to do with reindeer and Christmas trees. But it shot pumpkins. Like over a mile. And it was really loud. So basically, it was flippin' sweet.

There were lots of fun ways for the kiddos to burn off their Christmas-cookie-sugar-high.

But wait, there's more! Free pedal carts! 

At least we know Jon had fun.

If only there had been a Santa sighting, this trip would have been perfect.

Wait a minute...

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In preparation for our reindeer-ranch-extravaganza, Sydney and I watched Arthur Christmas last Friday night. (Ah, now the post title is making more sense!) I think the popcorn held her interest more than the movie at first, but she wanted to watch it again the next day, so I think it grew on her. By the way, I thought it was a pretty cute movie if you haven't seen it. I loved our cozy movie night. I think we'll have to do it again soon!