Merry Christmas!

It seems the year has passed so very quickly. I can't believe it's almost Christmas. Shaun and I will have been married 8 years this month! Where does the time go. Colbie is as cute as ever. She has started laughing at us. Her favorite is the duck sound. I love the baby giggles. I took Alexis to see Santa at his house downtown. She was so excited to tell him she wants a unicorn bicycle, a unicorn pony, a unicorn stuffed animal, and a unicorn makeup holder. He asked her if she has been good this year and she just rolled her eyes to the side and smiled but didn't say anything. I could tell it was because she was not wanting to lie to Santa but really thought she might have been bad this year! Of course she isn't actually on the bad list. What a sweetheart. Tonight we went and looked at Christmas lights then came back and had hot cocoa while playing Yahtzee. It was really fun to spend some time as a family and see that Alexis is able to participate in some of the family traditions that continue on. One fun family tradition my family does is a Christmas eve gift exchange we all tell each other why we love each other when giving our gifts. We also have a program where each family or person can plan whatever they want to do. This year Alexis and I are doing a synchronized tap dance to "just hear those sleigh bells jingling ring ting tingly too..." Harry Connick Jr.'s version. We made reindeer antler hats to wear. Colbie might do a little tap dancing too with Shaun's help. Since we are not traveling back home this year we will have to send the video of the performance. We will miss family but it will be nice to have our own little Christmas in our new home. This will be a first so we are excited. Wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Crazy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was pretty crazy. I have had the flu. I'm not sure if it has been the seasonal or H1N1 flu. All I know is that I have been deathly ill for the last 7 days and it continues! I can't talk my throat still hurts and my cough is still going strong. I'm glad I got a few hours sleep last night, I think that shows I'm on the mend! Shaun has been a trooper. We closed on our house on the 25th and he has been packing and watching the girls for me. I felt bad about not even being able to go to Thanksgiving dinner or spend time with Shaun much. Shaun brought some dinner home for me from our neighbors but I was really only able to eat the mushy stuff because of my throat. Hope next year I'm not this sick. I will definetely get the flu shots next year. We are really excited to move into our new house on Tuesday! It feels so surreal!

Can you tell?

Colbie looks alot like Alexis did when she was a baby. Can you tell which one is which?

Laying the Floor

We decided to put in our own laminate flooring. It was fairly easy but we did run into a few bumps along the way. Next time we put one in (if there is a next time) we should know exactly how to do it. There were some nice guys from our Branch who helped us. One guy lent us his power tools and another guy came and helped us put in the floor. We were so greatful to have the help!Almost done Getting the dirt off and putting down cardboard to protect the floor while they finish the house. Yay! I love my new floor!

Happy Halloween!

We had fun going to a Trunk or Treat for our branch. A couple of neighbors came with us. There were alot of people there. Alexis had a little Halloween party at school and got to dress up. She was a sparkly white fairy or snow fairy. Colbie was a sweet pea. We are planning on staying in tonight and doing some light trick or treating due to Alexis and I having colds. We are going to watch the new Tinkerbell movie with Alexis and make pumpkin sugar cookies. Hopefully we will get a few cute little trick or treaters. I love Halloween! News on the other front is that our house will be done in 20 days! We are closing Nov. 20th and are so excited. I will have to get current pictures up soon. Happy Halloween everyone!

Smiles, Laughs,Snow?!

We woke up to snow last week and it was cold! It didn't last long, but it did remind me of what is to come. I felt winter knocking at the door.This was a family dinner where I decided to put Colbie up on the table in her "Bumbo" seat (even though she hadn't burped after eating which is always dangerous) she ended up throwing up every where just narrowly missing our dinner we all jumped pretty good when it happened! We all laughed. Good one Colbie!
Colbie is almost as big as Alexis! Just kidding! She is getting bigger by the day.
They grow so fast!

Colbie sleeps exactly like her daddy and here is the picture to prove it!

These are a couple smiles I caught on camera.

I love the fleeting spontaneous smiles that come from a baby.

Thank goodness for digital cameras or I woudn't have caught these at all!

Mom What did you do to my hair!

This was a hair idea gone bad. I just chuckled at this one and had to take lots of pictures. I thought why don't I put two flowers on each side to kindof look like pigtails?...ha ha.... Alexis and I called her our little lion. Isn't she a cute little lion?

Family

It was so good to have my Mom and two of my sister's come and visit. I got to see my darling nephew Tanner too! Since Colbie is 1 month old now (I can't believe it) I faired going to the zoo. It was fun that I was able to finally get out a bit. We got to eat at the fabulous Cheese Cake Factory and go to the mall.... a luxury ....it doesn't happen to often while we are in Columbus Nebraska. We also blessed Colbie after the broadcast of the Sunday morning General Conference. I miss having them here already! I miss Tanner's happy giggles, Stacie and Lisa's funny songs, and visiting with my mom face to face. Thanks for coming to visit!!!!!! Even though my mom just broke her leg and had surgery on it she still came! What a trooper! Here she is with 3 of the Grandkids.
Lisa by a cornfield that they took pictures by.

Stacie and Tanner

Tanner and the cool pose

Everyone having fun at the zoo!

What a nice aunt... Lisa makes my kids the cutest blankets and always gives thoughtful little gifts to them. Here is a blanket she made for Alexis because she knows how much Alexis loves soft fleece.

Stacie also made my girls the cutest hair bows!

Blessing day. Grandma and my two darlings.

Aunt Stacie

Everyday Life

This is just a bunch of stuff from our everyday lives. Hope it isn't boring! Fall Foliage
One of the many Squirrels

Alexis's dance class

We are really getting excited about our house going up. They are just about done with the electrical and getting ready to finish the outside and put up the sheet rock.

It is fun to see it all coming together. Living Room

Backyard

Colbie's room

Alexis's Room

Garage and Laundry room

Basement

This is Colbie in her new present from Shaun's Family. It is this cool chair that even newborn babies can sit up in. We put her in it and she smiles. She must think it's fun. They also got us a cool snap on tray so we can use it as a booster seat. Thanks for the awesome gift!

Poor Colbie! Mom was so embarrassed! While sitting in the waiting room at Alexis's Dance class Colbie had a poopy "blowout". I took her into the adjacent bathroom to change her. I realized I only had pants in the diaper bag and not an extra onesie. I decided to try and salvage the outfit by cleaning it off with a wipe. Well...... Colbie had other plans. She peed all over. I came out of the bathroom with Colbie in just these pants to a waiting room of smiling and laughing mothers a few of them said "blowout?" I just smiled and nodded and said I didn't have an extra outfit. I sure felt like a mother of a newborn... totally unprepared without the extra outfit!

Alexis sure loves preschool. She goes everyday from 12:15 to 3:15. The teachers are great. Alexis's favorite thing to do right now is art. I don't have room for the several drawings she does a day. She also does more art drawings when she gets home from preschool. It is cute to see how she is with her little friends. I've noticed that she is the leader of the group. When I drop her off several of the little kids yell "Alexis!" and gather she then facilitates a game of tag until the teacher comes. It will be interesting to see if that changes as she gets older or if she continues to be outgoing and social. Her class is pretty diverse and she has some Spanish speaking friends. She has taken to making up her own Spanish words. Her new word she made up on the way to preschool was "donprecito". She was convinced it was a real word. She loves to copy other hairstyles of the little girls in her class. If I don't get them just the same she gets pretty upset. She is really particular about her hair and clothes. I can just see the teenage years coming!

So far we are adjusting pretty well to having two kids. It has been a pretty smooth adjustment with having an older child to help out. This week (week 3 of having a newborn) has hit us a bit though. We are pretty tired lately. It is totally worth it and such a blessing to have Colbie here though. We all went on a walk tonight. It felt liberating to not be pregnant! It was a beautiful fall day and the trees and flowers are just so vibrant her in Nebraska. I love the fall!

Two Weeks Young

Two weeks young and Colbie is growing like a weed. She just had her 2 week appointment and weighed 7 lbs. and 11 oz. I am really enjoying every moment of her being little even those “blowouts”. I do an average of 2 loads of laundry a day…. usually I put the washer on the soak cycle and throw clothes in as the accidents happen. I was laughing today when Colbie decided to poop then pee then poop while Daddy was changing her. This was the squirt across the room kind of poop. (If you’ve ever had a newborn you know what I mean!) I love to hold and cuddle her and look at her little hands and feet. I love her fuzzy hair and her soft skin and to kiss her cute little face. So far Alexis has shown no jealousy whatsoever. She absolutely adores her little sister and loves to talk to her every time she sees that she’s awake. She sings her the cutest lullabies and when she holds her she gets the proudest smile on her face. When I’m driving Alexis to school she gives me updates from the back seat on how Colbie is doing. It is so sweet to see how much Alexis loves her already. It makes me think of how they must have been the best of friends in Heaven. I hoping that as they grown up together they will stay the best of friends just like me and my sisters and brother are.