And it is here!!!

Yes, the big THREE - ZERO!!! Eeek! As my brother-in-law so kindly pointed out to me today, "Do you remember when you told us 30 was old?" Boy am I eating my words now! ;-) That was back when I was 24 and . . . 30 was old! Now, I think 30 is the new 20! Oh, I know, I will look back in 10 years and wonder what I was complaining about and how good I had it, but right now I am still in shock! Really. . . 30??? I just can't believe how fast 30 years goes by!

All joking aside, I definitely have a lot to be thankful for! A great husband, wonderful kids, a loving family, caring friends, an awesome job. . . yes, these last 30 years have been GREAT!!! I am one lucky gal!

Speaking of being lucky. . . my Dad, who I very seldom get an e-mail from (I think only two or three) since he first got e-mail sent this to me 4 years ago on my birthday. I saved it and look at it, usually on my birthday. (Dad, hope you don't mind that I am sharing it. . . but it is so special to me, I have to!) :-)

Hi dear Daughter: Many, many years ago, twenty-six to be precise, a little girl was born to us. Now they say that a baby can't smile, but I know that you did. It was forty below that day, with a stiff wind blowing besides, things were not going right, too much time was passing, a critical time indeed. As the nurse put you on the table there was no sounds, just a very blue baby was laying there so quiet, as the nurse worked you over, you suddenly smiled and in my heart I knew you were OK, as I looked over to your mom I could see complication. The good lord took over and everything came out alright. So every time your birthday comes around I say my prayers for being a lucky man. Again I say have a happy birthday dear. Your dad

Thanks Mom & Dad for bringing me into this world! Love you both! I am SO very lucky to have you as parents!!! ;-)

Go Vikes!

Well, they had a great season and have a lot to be proud of! Papa called us tonight after he saw the pictures and was wondering when our little quarterback would be ready to play and our little cheerleader, ready to cheer! :-) Pretty soon, Papa!

For Sale!

Yes, that is our house with a "For Sale" sign in front of it! For those of you who haven't heard, we have bought a lot and are getting ready to build as soon as the ground is ready to dig! Our new lot is a block east of the school. We are excited that it is so close to the school and that it is a wonderful neighborhood full of young families. We have our house plans almost finalized but there is still a lot of work to do picking out this and that, but we are hoping everything will come together as nice as it did on our current home. There is so much we love about our house that we have now, that we are modeling our new home off of it, so that makes things a little easier!

We just put the for sale sign up this week! How exciting and stressful all at the same time. Our builder told us depending on the spring our house probably won't be ready until later this summer, so we are in no hurry to sell, just want to get it out there to see how it goes. Wish us luck and if you know anyone interested in buying, send them our way! ;-)

15 month checkup

Wow! Can you believe our little boy is already 15 months old. It is sad how fast time goes, but we are sure having fun watching them grow! He is definitely ALL boy!!! He climbs like a monkey, does laps around the house so fast you get tired just watching, and you never see him without a horse or a basketball in his hand!

Today we found out that he weighs 22 pounds (20%), is 32 1/4 inches tall (85%) and his head is 17 3/4(50%).

Mommy had to look back at how sister measured up at her 15 month checkup and she was: 17 pounds (not on the charts), 31 inches tall (75%) and her head was 17 3/4 (50%). Pretty close to brother. . . except for the weight. Daddy weighed her tonight on our home scale and she was 25 pounds, so it won't be long before brother catches her. It is no wonder for as much as he can eat! . . . He definitely makes up for what she doesn't! :-)

Picasso?

She loves her new art easel she got for Christmas! Here are a couple of her latest drawings that she did all on her own!

She said this one is a Doctor!


And this one is a fishie!

Sledding Fun

It was finally warm enough to try out our new sleds! Mommy and brother got cold and went in early. But Daddy and I went up and down the big hill in the back yard over and over! Mommy thought maybe Daddy was the one who was really having all the fun!?!?

Giving Kisses!

Out of the mouth of babes:

This morning after she had eaten her pancakes and her fingers were all sticky from the syrup, she asked me to wash her hands. As I was getting a wash cloth, she said "Look Mom! My fingers are stuck together, I think they are giving kissies!"

For mean!

Our daddies won't let us through!


We are all better now, since we decided to climb into the the laundry basket to play!

Us cousins need to stick together!

Look what Santa brought!

We were so excited to see what Santa brought us! He must have like the cookies and Coke we left out for him, because he ate it all up and left us some good stuff! Thanks Santa!

Christmas with Nana & Papa

We had a GREAT Christmas at home! It has been almost 10 years since we spent a Christmas Eve together and it was wonderful! We were snowed in and weren't able to make it in for church, but we still were blessed with some good Christmas music, since Addi put on a concert on for us before we opened presents. She sounded pretty good for her first year playing the trumpet!


Look, she got a dolly with a matching dress from Nana and Papa!


She also got a stroller from them, which she loves! It has also been a good place to "hide" all her toys in from the babies!


Socks for everyday of the week!


Oh boy, did he get the loot!


He liked opening gifts!



Brother liked playing with Nana's decorations.


But then again so did Sister!


Here they are watching some Christmas movies on TV.



His shirt says it all, "I Love Presents!"


She should have had a shirt that said, "I Love Christmas Cookies!"


What a cutie!


Ho! Ho! Ho!

More Presents!

This morning, Mommy and Daddy let us open up our Christmas gifts from them early! We got a art easel and and mini-tramp, along with some other good stuff. The highlight was of course was the tramp. After we jumped for a bit, it was time to open the rest of the gifts (however brother didn't want his gifts after seeing the tramp, so I got to open all my gifts and his!. . . pretty good deal, don't you think?"

Yep, still on the tramp. . . however it isn't as much fun without sister on it too to help bounce me! :-)

An Early Christmas Eve

Last night we had an early Christmas Eve get together with Grandma and Grandpa (and family!) We had a great time, however we really didn't like to sit still long enough to get our picture taken!


Here is Grandpa playing some music for us to try to get us to look at the camera! He is funny!


It worked!

More Family Pictures! (Sorry E & A. . . somehow I lost the picture I had of you on my camera! If I find it again, I will upload it asap!)

We had a great time last night!

We LOVED opening presents!

She got her own computer! :-)

That everyone wanted to play with! Isn't this picture so cute! It is as if she is saying, "It is OK guys, you can play with my toy!"

Look at the pretty dress I got!

I had to go try it on right away!

Getting a ride on the sled from Grandpa!

It was a great time had by all! Thank you everyone for the great presents and even better company! Love to you all!