Two smiles and a funny face

On a crisp Saturday morning, Daphne and Shelley were enjoying time in the new front porch. Shelley was taking her "after photos" of the decor and Daphne said, "Take my photo!" Then she grabbed her baby (aka the stuffed Christmas tree) and posed. Daphne is simply adorable! Then she started to act funny and wanted Shelley to take photos of her funny faces, just like they do on Yo Gabba Gabba. And yes, she really is wearing Princess top PJ's with Giraffe bottom PJ's. She picked it out herself and said she looked like a Princess. And she wanted her hair in piggy tails.

And then we have the second smile... Ophelia's smile as she begs to come inside!

Almost time!

It's almost Christmas!! Daphne is ready! And we've got the house all decorated...

1, 2, 3, Go!

Daphne and William invented a new game called "1, 2, 3, GO!" They would stand against the far wall (next to the TV cabinet) yell out "1, 2, 3, GO!" and then run as fast as they can and crash into Aunt Leah (or Mom in William's case). Jude pretended to play along, but he couldn't keep up with the big kids. Everyone was loving it! Including Leah!

More Des Moines Thanksgiving

Found some lost Thanksgiving photos! Even though Thanksgiving was only a few weeks ago, they couldn't really get lost, more like momentarily misplaced. But all that matters now is they are located and can shared by all!

Where there is food, there is Jude. That's a known fact by this point in time. Jude loves himself some good food! Especially Thanksgiving mashed potatoes! William and Daphne both ate at Grandma's little kid table. Oh the little kids table. We all hated it as kids and couldn't wait to get to the grown up table. And after we're grown ups, we wish we were back to the kids table! Grandma must have loved watching two of her grandkids eating the wonderful Thanksgiving meal at her little kids table though!

Grandpa Mark joined us for the meal as well. He loved seeing how much Daphne had grown since he'd last seen her.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We pray you all found something to be thankful for!

Little follower

Jude finally figured out walking is faster than crawling...his favorite target of course is Daphne.

Potty Trained...Carpet Trained

Daphne may not be potty trained yet, but she is carpet trained!

How Many Red Heads?

Just to make it clear to everyone - the myth's that redheads are going extint are FALSE. Our family alone shows how many redheads there are (even if we are only 2% of America and 4% of the world). And to back me up are articles from "How Stuff Works" http://science.howstuffworks.com/genetic-science/redhead-extinction.htm

Marlene wanted a family photo taken this year, so the camera timer got some good action. Seven red heads in one photo - Whew! Three little kids - Whew! It took us seven attempts and here's some of the mess ups as well as our favorites. First one - Jude not looking and William half hidden. Ian is almost in blink mode... Daphne is acting cold (but who can blame her, we were outside in November in Iowa!)
Ooops, Shelley accidently took a photo instead of hitting the timer button! But it's kinda a cute photo!

Here's one of the good ones

And lastly, the majority's favorite photo.

Thanksgiving with Great Grandma Kathleen

Great Grandma Kathleen has been transfered to a nursing home in Iowa, so when our family made a one day trip up for the holiday of course we stopped in to see her. She was in great spirits and very happy that we stopped in to see her! She enjoyed seeing all the kids, even if some of them *cough cough Jude cough cough* wouldn't sit still long enough for a photo! Leah and William came with us to visit her as well. All three kids running around her room sure gave Kathleen the energy she needed that day!

Daphne was nervous at first, but soon Kathleen was tickling her and getting Daphne used to the hospital type setting.

Mark was also there with us and loved playing with his grandkids for a while! Jude is currently in a kissing phase (watch out - it's open mouthed!) and William is in a hugging phase. Those two hardly parted....hugging and kissing. Phrase "kissing cousins" taken quite literally!

Great Grandma Kathleen, we loved spending time with you this Thanksgiving and pray we brought enjoyment back to you as well! Happy Thanksgiving!

Little Man

Shelley was taking photo of her new front porch and when she turned around and looked upstairs, she saw a Little Man smiling down at her. How precious is this?

The Laptop Part 2

See part 1 to hear how and why Jude has a laptop. Twice a week, Shelley works from home and keeps Jude at home with her. And now he can work with her. His new laptop is set up in the living room floor and the other day while Shelley was hard at work, he literally played on his computer for several hours straight. He was so proud of himself, too. And eventually he laid down to get a better view. He was in heaven not having to share the laptop with his sister!

The Laptop Part 1

Just before Gramps and Grammy left for Arizona for the winter, Gramps gave the kids his old broken laptop. The screen will still come on and applications loaded directly on the PC will still open. But it's rather old and doesn't work the way it should anymore. The kids are fascinated with technology and love to watch any screens - phones, netbooks, PC's, laptops, etc. So Gramps gave his old PC to the kids. You would have thought he gave them a million dollars. For hours upon hours, they sit playing with that silly machine! They've already figured out how to use the mouse finger pad (kinda) and hitting keys will do certain things.

Pretend Piano

At some point, Daphne must have watching someone playing a piano. Last Saturday morning, she pushed her comfy chair over, then sat down in her doll's stroller and rolled up to the knocked over chair. Then she started to "play the piano". Ian and Shelley were both amazed, she was moving her fingers as if she was truely playing. Then she proceeded to hum and sing along!

The Diner

The digital camera has a placeholder on the kitchen counter; with two little kids you never know when you might want a photo RIGHT NOW, thus it's easily accessible. There are some nights when Ian or Shelley might take a few somewhat random photos, nothing worthy of getting enlargments or wallets made but good quality memories. One night playing with the kids at the diner was one such night. First Jude was "eating" the table...

Then Daphne tried to mimick him, but check out Jude's face! Priceless! To only know what he was thinking...

Then Shelley turned the camera around and tried to capture the image of both kids climbing on her lap.

Daphne is quite the little ham when she wants to be...

Jude's hair grows in very strange. The top is straight and sticks straight up in the air. The sides and back is very curly, and as it grows longer it knots up. After some hesitation from Shelley, Ian convinced her that buzzing it off would look the best. Naturally, Jude hated it, but his hair finally looks good. See photo below for proof. And Shelley just loves his expression - this is his classic face he makes rather often.

Moving day!

Before you freak out, no our family is not moving. But our friends Nate and Devon did move from our neck of the woods up to Nebraska. On their final moving weekend, we dragged them up to our house for one last night of food and games before they left town. And you can't exactly play games without Dan and Laura coming too! Above and below are two photos of all the girls... We were trying to set up a group photo, and Shelley accidently hit the release button instead of the timer button. Made for a funny photo of Nate though!

After which, Shelley told everyone to get in place and correctly set up the timer. Jude was already fast asleep so that's why he's not in the photo. Left to Right: Shelley, Daphne (notice her hamming it up!), Ian, Oliver, Dan, Laura, Nate and Devon.

Nate and Devon, we will truely miss you. You both are dear friends of our family, but we must remember that Nebraska is not that far away. And the Lake house is calling your name every summer! May the Lord bless your family as you start this next chapter of your lives. Good luck with new positions and as your settle into Cornhusker territory.

Five pairs

Even though Daphne is approaching three years old, she's still not potty trained. It's hard to potty train when you only have a few hours in evening and weekends (oh the joys of two working parents). But Daphne adores her "pannies" as she calls them. One day she came out of her room and said, "Mom look! Pannies!" And she had not one, not two, not three, not four but five pairs of underware on....on top of her diaper nonetheless! She was so proud of herself...

Daphneisms

Daphne and Shelley sit down to eat dinner. As both start to eat, Daphne suddenly stops and says, "Mom! You didn't say 'Thank you Jesus, Amen!' "

After Daphne has been asleep in bed for several hours, Shelley goes in and turns off the lamp. Instantly, Daphne sits up and whimpers in the saddest most pathetic voice, "Mommy, why did you turn off the light?"

"I won't" in Daphne language means "I will."

Daphne: Daddy, can I play game?
Ian: Not right now.
Daphne: Mommy, can I play game?
Shelley: Daddy said no.
Daphne: Maybe I'll ask Jude. Jude, can I play game?

Daphne and her friend Oliver were playing. "Run with me Oliver!" Daphne asks Oliver. Oliver does not want to run with her and stands still. Daphne leans down and gets within several inches of Oliver's face and says sternly, "Listen. Run with me!"

Shelley: Daphne, finish eating lunch. We have to take Jude to the doctor.
Daphne: Jude sick?
Shelley: Yeah.
Daphne: Me sick, too! (She's not)
Shelley: Oh yeah? What's wrong?
Daphne: Me go to doctor too! My tummy hurts.

Daphne and Ian are driving down the road. Cornfield is alongside the road and is tall and ready to harvest. Daphne says, "Daddy, that grass is bigger. You need to mow."

Daphne: That truck is up ahead. (Shelley passed the semi truck on highway)
Daphne: Now that truck is back of us. (Shelley was impressed at Daphne's spacial knowledge)

Shelley: Daphne! Guess what? We have friends coming for dinner tonight!
Daphne: Roger and Susie and Ben?! (She doesn't know a Roger or a Susie)

Thanksgiving (Early)

Before Grammy and Gramps could leave for Arizona, we had to celebrate Thanksgiving! So we gathered the family together and ate way too much food! Here's Daphne with Katee! Grammy got in some Jude loving!

And here's some photos of the family. First up, Ethan and his girlfriend Emily.

Second, Katee and her boyfriend Luke.

Can't forget Uncle John and Aunt Kathy!

And of course, here's Grammy and Gramps!

Only missing is our family, which we didn't realize until later we didn't get a family shot! At least the food was great!

Tennessee Camping Trip - Smokey Mountains

Last month in October, our lovely family plus Grammy and Gramps packed up and did a big roadtrip to Tennessee. We spent the night in Nashville, to visit with Shelley's brother Eric and his new family - Courtney, Drissy and Tatum. After the short visit, we all drove over a few hours to the area around Smokey Mountain National Park to camp and hike for a the next week. The area is chuck full of "tourist" attractions, but we avoided all those. Instead, we went bear searching, waterfall searching and mountain view searching! Here's a couple of our favorite mountain photos. First one shows off why they are called Smokey Mountains! Next one is a great sunset shot.

Along the tip ridge of the mountains is a wonderful overlook where you can see for miles!

Along the same ridge is the Tennessee/North Carolina state lines, too. Daphne couldn't resist the photo op... (Okay, okay so Shelley and Gramps couldn't resist the photo op, we just forced Daphne to be in the photo!)

The Great Smokey Mountains are known for their bear population. But we only saw three total, and one was just shot and killed (see post down below for more details). One was a tiny bear cub. It was about sunset and the cub ran across the road right in front of us! It happened so fast we didnt' get any photographic proof of the cub. We stopped and waited a few minutes to see Mom, but we never saw her. The next day, we were driving in the park and a ton of cars were parked. A Ranger was standing there and we asked what was going on. He said, "Bear" non-chalently (this is daily adventure for him, unlike us from Missouri who have NEVER seen a bear - if you don't count the small cub). So Ian and Gramps looked for it and spotted the bear up in the trees eating. Look in the middle of this photo and you'll see some black bur. It was easier to see in person....

See tons of posts below for many more of our adventures!

Tennessee Camping Trip - The Sinks

Back in October, our family traveled to Tennessee. We spent a day in Nashville with Eric and his family, then drove a few hours to Smokey Mountain National Park to hike and camp for a week. Our family stayed in a tent, but Grammy and Gramps were in the same site in their mini truck camper. When it wasn't raining, we either went on a hike or drove in search of waterfalls. We found one called The Sinks just off the road. Since it was easy access, everyone got to go see it together! Here's our entire family checking out The Sinks.

With the massive amounts of water falling over The Sinks, it was rather loud. Jude was fascinated with watching the water!

Here's the entire camping entourage in front of The Sinks!

Daphne said she wanted to go swimming. But we knew it was way too cold for that....and not to mention it was rapid water! So she went "swimming" in Grammy's arms!

Tennessee Camping Trip - Laural Falls

Back in October, our family traveled halfway across the country to Tennessee. We went for two reasons, one to visit Uncle Eric and his family, and two to hike and camp in the Great Smokey Mountains. One of our first days in the Park, we decided to try an easy trail to Laurel Falls. It's a short 1.3 mile hike along a paved trail. So we decided to take Daphne on it with us. And let's just say it's a very glad thing that Shelley didn't see this sign until we were leaving the trail... Daphne loved walking the trail with Ian, Shelley and Gramps. Well, the little that she did walk; she rode on shoulders quite a bit.

Laurel Falls was divided into two falls, with a bridge inbetween.

With the way the rocks are layed out with the falls, it was easy to play along the top section of the falls. Daphne loves to splash in water, so she was in heaven!

Gramps climbed down to the bottom of the lower section so that he could get a full photo of the falls. What a beautiful waterfall!