December Tidbits

We decorated our house and put up our tree last weekend which was a lot of fun.  Grace was really excited and loved helping put on the ornaments.  It's so fun watching her as she learns more about Christmas and gets excited about holiday traditions.  A few days ago she asked if Jesus would be coming over on his birthday to celebrate.....aaawwwweeee:)

We went with the artificial tree this year just for simplicity with Anna scooting around and putting EVERYTHING in her mouth.  I figured that a fir needle down the hatch would be a bit of a problem!:)  It's not quite the same, but it works.  Here's Grace putting on Daddy's favorite ornament - the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile....:):)

We like to take drives at night to check out Christmas lights.  Here's a house in our neighborhood that is decked out.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.  It practically lights up the road even when it's super dark.  It's my favorite house to pass, so I try to go by it everyday on the way home from Marilyn's so that Grace can see it.

Fall Fun

November has been a beautiful month for doing yard work, and as as most of you know, we have lots of raking to do at our house. We couldn't have asked for better weather to get it done. It's been so nice to have the girls outside before the long winter ahead. I guess November was the October we never had!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy 3rd Birthday Grace

Here are a few pics from Grace's 3rd birthday party that we had on Saturday. She had a great time. Thanks to all of friends and family for making her day special!

Crane Orchards

For the past two years, we have gone to Crane Orchards in Fennville. It's a really beautiful apple orchard with wonderful options for "U-pick". They have a large variety of apples, but our family favorite is the Jonagold! They also have delicious cider.....and doughnuts:)

My Broncos

These are the two cutest Broncos I know....getting ready for a home football game!

Finally.....some newer pics. I've not been very diligent about keeping new pics up here lately. So, here are a few that I took about 2-3 weeks ago I think. It was one of the last very nice fall days. Grace has enjoyed riding her new bike that her cousin Emma gave her....thanks Emma!:)

Chicago Trip

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I started Anna on cereal and baby food this week. So far, we've done a little squash and green beans. She loves the cereal and has been a good eater.

Dustin, Hope and Trinity were in town for several weeks. We spent time with them at the Rocho cottage and in GR at Trinity's 1 year birthday party. She had a super cute ladybug party at Alpine Gymnastics. The kids loved it!

Rocho cottage with Claire, Grace, Trinity and Anna

I took some pics of the girls yesterday just hangin' out in the backyard. We had a great day just spending time together. Grace loves playing on her new swingset that Uncle Phil and Daddy built (thanks Phils...both of you!!). Gotta love summer!!

Sisters

How amazing it is to watch Grace and Anna interact. So far, Grace is much more smitten by Anna than Anna of Grace. I'm thinking that may change as Anna continues to get older. Grace is always so excited when Anna is awake and so quick to respond to her if she's crying or talking. What a blessing we have been given to have such happy and healthy babies. Hopefully we'll have thousands more pics like these!

Anna Baby

Our little baby girl is now about 4 months old. Here are a few more recent pics.

She's doing so well at holding her head up.

Oh man...those big eyes just kill me:)

This is how I found her in her crib the other day. She is now officially turning over. By the way, she is definitely a thumb sucker as you can see.

Binder Park Zoo

We took the girls to the zoo several weeks back. Grace really enjoyed it. The obvious highlight was feeding the giraffes.

Destin

We enjoyed another week in BEAUTIFUL Destin, Florida a few weeks back. It was sort of a last minute trip that we went on with our incredible friends, the Kilian and Lubbers families. With an 8 week old at the time, we (mostly I) was a little unsure how traveling 1000 miles would go. Both Grace and Anna actually traveled very well and we had no major problems (except the minor delay on the way back due to some van issues.....see the Kilian blog for pics:)). We had a great time and can't wait to go back. Destin is definitely on the top of my "most favorite places to be" list. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the week........and I say a few because I think I took like 300 pictures or something crazy like that.