Norah's First Haircut

This really happened a couple weeks before Christmas, December 10th, so this is going to be out of order, but Norah had her first haircut!  We had never trimmed Norah's hair, and the ends were starting to need a bit of help.  She would cry every time I brushed her hair because her ends would be so tangled and gnarled.  I thought that trimming them would help that a little bit. :)  So we had a few conversations about how Grandma was going to trim her hair just a little bit to help get rid of the "owie" ones.  Norah agreed, and thought this would be a good idea.  So one night when we were over there, we had my mom trim Norah's hair.  She sat so still and did such a great job.  Here are some pictures from her "big" event. :)

Sitting nicely :)

Trimming the ends

Just taking a little off :)

Almost done! :)

Christmas Day 2013

The kids were still sound asleep at 8:30, and since we kind of had to get moving, I went up to wake them up. :)  They came downstairs in their pjs and were very excited to see everything!  Kyler thought it was so funny that there was an orange in his stocking, he kept saying, "Santa left an orange in my stocking!". :)  Kyler was pretty quick in opening his presents, he went right from one thing to the next.  Norah took a bit longer, as she wanted to stop and open up every single thing from the packaging so she could play with it.  We kept encouraging her to keep opening, and then we could take things out of the boxes once she had unwrapped everything.  Grace was sleeping the whole time. :)  As soon as everything was opened, we got dressed and ate breakfast.  As soon as everyone was ready, we loaded up the van and headed over to my (Ashley's) parent's house to have Christmas with my immediate family.  Here are some pictures of Christmas morning at our house.

Ready for the kids!

Kyler with his things :)

Kyler and Norah waiting

Kyler opening his stocking

Norah checking out one of her things

Kyler with his orange :)

Norah still opening :)

Kyler's "big" gift, a remote control Dusty airplane :)

Norah with her play mixer

Norah's "big" gift, and house for her Loving Family people.

When we arrived at my parent's the kids headed into the living room right away to check things out.  Kyler was so excited to open more things, and started opening something before my dad had even come upstairs. :)  We let the kids go first and open up their things.  Then when they were done, the adults took turns opening up their gifts.  After we were done, we enjoyed a yummy "brunch" of waffles and pancakes, a Christmas morning tradition.  As soon as we were done eating, the kids got ready to take a nap.  While the kids and Erik napped, I hung out and talked to Abhay, a high school friend of my brother, who had joined us for the morning.  I also made my salad to take to our final Christmas gathering later that evening.  We woke the kids up about 3:30, and got them ready to head out to my Aunt and Uncle's house by Denver.   

Kyler and Norah ready to open more presents :)

Checking out their presents

Norah opening her soccer Cabbage Patch baby.

Kyler's present from Uncle Ben. :)

A REAL Louisville Slugger bat engraved with his name, how cool! :)

Grace with Grandpa trying on her present from Uncle Ben

Grace in a cradle that was her Great-great grandpa's

About 4:30 we arrived out at my Aunt and Uncle's house to have Christmas with my mom's side of the family.  The rest of them had already been out there, as they had their "family" celebration earlier in the day.  We got some things organized, and then began opening presents.  Once again, all the "little" kids went first, and then the adults took turns when they were done.  After presents we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of ham, potatoes, beans, bread, salad, and desserts.  We then enjoyed hanging out and chatting for a while before heading home around 9:00.  Here are some pictures from our final gathering!

Ben and Abhay helping Jack and Ryan put together something. :)

Kyler and Norah checking things out

Norah opening a book 

Kyler opening a present. (Notice he has changed shirts into a Dusty one he got for Christmas) :)

Ryan trying out the gift we gave him.

Enjoying all of the fun things they received. 

Ben ready to test out one of the Nerf guns. :)

Although it was a bit crazy, we had a great day celebrating the birth of Jesus and spending time together.  We were certainly blessed this Christmas.  We received lots of wonderful gifts, enjoyed time with family, and had some great food.    We hope you and your family had a Merry Christmas too!! 

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve can be kind of crazy at our house with Erik working at the church and getting everything ready for Christmas Eve services.  This year there was another twist added in, Grace was going to be in two of the services! :)  Things actually ended up going really well though throughout the day, except of the fact that it was freezing cold!

We started the day pretty normal, Erik went to work and then came home around 11:00.  I finished up a few things while he watched the kids, then we ate lunch.  After lunch, I took a quick shower, and so did Erik.  I then put the kids down for a nap, and Erik left to head back to church.  I then got ready for the evening, and about 2:45 my dad came over to stay with Norah and Kyler while I took Grace to the 3:00 service.  I quick got Grace dressed and then headed out the door with her.  I took Grace to church and handed her off to Erik, and then headed back home.  My dad then left, and I got Kyler and Norah up, got them dressed, snapped a couple quick pictures, and then we headed out the door to go back to church for the 5:00 service.  We went to church, where we were joined by my parents and brother, and then after church I took all three kids to my parent's house for dinner.  Erik stayed at church for the 7:00 service and then would join us later.  We ate dinner at my parent's house, and then about 8:00 my aunt, uncle, and cousin and her family, joined us for pie.  Erik arrived about 8:30 to quickly eat his dinner, take some pictures and then we loaded everyone up to head home and get ready for bed!  Wow, sounds crazy but it worked and went pretty well!. :)  Erik then left around 10:15 to go back for the 11:00 service, and I got everyone in bed.  I think about 11:00 everyone was finally asleep, and ready for Santa to arrive. :)  I have to laugh because after Kyler had been in bed about 10 min (I was sitting in their room), he sits up in bed and says, "should we go down and check and see if Santa has come yet?!"  I laughed and said, "no, I don't think he's been here yet, you need to go to sleep first." :)  Here are some pictures from our Christmas Eve!

In the morning :)

Miss Grace

They look so big! :)

Grace wondering why she is wearing this outfit :)

Sisters

Lol, one attempt to get a photo with all three kids 

Best one :)

Photo with Uncle Ben

Attempt at a family photo, by this time Kyler was NOT interested in taking pictures ;)

Ashley's family

Fun in the Snow

We had another semi-warm day, so Kyler and Norah wanted to go out and play in the snow some more.  Erik snapped these pictures with his phone while he was outside with them.  They were too busy working on their snowman to smile at the camera. :)

Preschool Christmas Concert

Kyler had his preschool Christmas concert the week before Christmas.  This is always so fun to go to because you have all of the little kids dressed up singing their songs.  Last year I remember Kyler just stood there while some of the other kids sang.  This year he was much more into it, and whenever we would hear one of his songs come on the radio, he would say, "hey, I'm going to sing that song at my program!".  The unfortunate part of the whole thing though, was that from where we were sitting we couldn't see Kyler's face during the concert. :(  There was a little girl standing right in front of him, so we couldn't see.  After one of the first couple songs, I made Erik (who was video taping) get up and go stand somewhere else to record so he could see Kyler's face.  We did get some pictures of him in-between though. :)  Both sets of grandparents and Uncle Ben were able to come to Kyler's concert, so it was fun to have everyone there supporting him!

Waiting with his candle to sing Silent Night :)

Singing behind the other girl 

He saw us in between

Waiting to be dismissed :)

2 Months Old!

Wow, I can't believe Grace is already 2 months old!  Grace just started smiling towards the end of the month.  Erik saw her smile first I think, (besides me seeing her smile when she was sleeping), and it took me a while to get her to smile too. :)  (Guess who she likes better!?) :)  Also this month, she started to use her legs to kind of climb up you when she is up on your shoulder and you are sitting down.  Grace is having more and more awake time during the day.  She had lots of firsts this past month; her first Thanksgiving, first train ride, and first Christmas tree hunt.  She still eats every 2-3 hours during the day, and goes longer stretches at night.  She is pretty much out of her newborn clothes now, especially sleepers.  I like the ones with the mittens built in so she doesn't scratch herself, but I think she's getting tired of me stuffing her into those. :)  Grace had her 2 month appointment and she weighed 10 lbs 13 oz and was 22 inches long.  She also had her first round of shots, which she did pretty well with.  Here are some pictures from our past month!

2 months old and all smiles! :)

Laying on the quilt that Grandma Deb made for her

Hanging with big sister Norah

Wide awake!

Kyler and Norah thought she needed some toys :)

Checking out big brother

More snuggling with big sister

Kyler and Grace

Hi Mom!