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...