Arizona

Blake and I made a quick weekend trip to Arizona with my mom and Gillian. We had a great time and Blake was a very good traveler. I had so many babysitters on hand that Rachel and I went to the mall for a few hours on Saturday to catch up and shop. It was wonderful to visit my Grandma and all the other family even if it was a short visit!

He's getting ready to take off!

Blake's nightly entertainment

Snow Day

We had our 5th snow day of the month today. James loved getting out and playing in the snow. Todd took James to an elementary school nearby that has a great hill for sledding. Blake and I stayed in where it was nice and warm!

6 teeth

In the last 2 weeks Blake has gotten his 4 top teeth so he has 6 total!

Christmas Carols

James keeps asking for "Jingle Bells" and "Christmas carols" at naptime, bedtime and driving in the car. He doesn't seem to understand that we don't listen to Christmas music after Christmas. Time to learn some new tunes to keep him happy!

Recent videos

Chicago for New Years

I'm still catching up on blogging from the holidays.... Here are some pics and videos from our time in Chicago with the Schneider's. I didn't get a lot of pictures and most of them were with our phones so they aren't the best quality. As you can imagine, it was a little busy with 5 kids, 3 and under all in one house!
One day we went to Bouncetown near their house. James loved it and it was a good place to get out lots of energy!

Here are the kids all having breakfast. This was about as mellow as they got.

This is how our husbands spent their time.

Baby Blake spent a lot of time hanging in the highchair. He has really gotten into eating the last month. I think he is following in his big brothers footsteps!

Who does this look like? I think he looks just like Todd in this pictures. There is no mistaking who Blake's daddy is!

Sweet baby Calvin. Blake and Calvin are only 6 months apart and will soon be best buds!

Ringing in the New Year with Mojitos and Sprite!

Blake already has his eyes(and a hand) on Corinne. :0)

James loved their train set

AND their grocery store! Lots of fun new toys to play with!

Thanks Schneider's for hosting us! We had a great time!!!

Big Helper!

James has to help me with EVERYTHING! It is very sweet but it is hard to get anything done quickly. I've found it is easier to just let him try to help me because he is so determined too.

Favorite Christmas memories of 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas in SD and MN with Todd's family. You can view my favorite Christmas pictures in the book I made a few posts ago. The things I will remember most about Christmas 2010 with my family:
-Blake, You were such a happy baby and traveller. You are getting so social and love being around people/activity. I'll also remember how you got me up at 2, 4 and 6am Christmas morning. Thankfully by the end of the trip you were sleeping through the night again. I think you prefer your crib verses your pack-n-play.
-James, You LOVED your third Christmas. You are really starting to understand everything this year and I know by next year you will really be able to look forward to Christmas and Santa. Your favorite part of Christmas this year was delivering/giving presents to everyone. On Christmas Eve at Grandma Rose and Grandpa Warren's house you handed out presents over and over again. This went on for atleast 30-45 minutes. You did this again on Christmas morning and we had to remind you that you had presents to open. I love that you have a giving spirit and you are learning that Christmas is more about giving than receiving. I want to continue to teach you this as you get older. You also got to play a lot with Shawn and Tatiana. They are so patient with you. You enjoyed playing the piano, making a gingerbread house and playing in the snow with them.
-I will remember what a big help everyone was with James and Blake. James is the kind of toddler that you can keep up until 9-10pm and he still wakes up before 7 am. Ashley and Tatiana were a huge help and let Todd and I get an extra hour of sleep each morning. They got James' breakfast, changed diapers and played with him. We were very spoiled!
-Poor Grandpa Steve woke up with the flu Christmas morning and didn't feel like himself, but still put on a good face to open presents with us all.
-Grandma Robin and Ashley made lots of yummy food for us all to enjoy. Her caramel rolls are legendary! She also made a pork tenderloin that was the best I've ever had!
-Grandma Robin giving Blake a bath in the sink.
-Playing the Wii with Ashley, Todd, Justin, Shawn and Tatiana and burning off all of those Christmas cookies we ate. That was so much fun that we decided to get a Wii for our house!

A couple Christmas videos

Sparkling Drink

James enjoyed his first Sprite on New Years Eve. I was laughing so hard at all of his faces.

Happy New Year!

We returned last Saturday night from our 10 day holiday extravaganza! I have been playing "catch up" ever since and I finally feel like we are starting to get settled again(caught up on laundry and Christmas decorations are down). We made a big circle of the Midwest during our 10 days. Through NE, IA, SD, MN, WI, IL and back through IA to get back to MO. WHEW! It makes me tired just thinking about it! We visited Todd's family in SD/MN and then headed to Chicago to visit the Schneider family. I will be posting some highlights soon.
Here are some pics of the boys at the hotel in Minneapolis. I try so hard to get a good pic of the two of them and this is what I end up with!! We stayed in the cities for a night on our way to Chicago. Ashley(Todd's sister) watched the boys for a couple hours so we were able to sneak out for a nice dinner.





Even though I didn't get the "perfect shot" I love how much they already LOVE each other!