Smiling and "Talking"

Maren just LOVES her big brother. In the last couple of days she has started making little noises and almost giggling when he talks to her. It is SO cute!

Mimi comes to town!

My mom came to visit at the beginning of January and we had so much fun with her here. We mostly stayed around the house and she made us great meals and played with Joel a lot. Having her here made me miss home even more than I already did...and made me hope that this next year (4 months until graduation!!) will bring us closer to family. Thanks for making the trip out here, mom!

Greg took Joel and Mimi to the Nature museum one day and had a great time seeing the butterfly room and playing in the kids area. I stayed home and took a long shower and read my book while eating breakfast in peace!

Cute Girl

Maren's personality is really starting to come out and she is smiling and cooing so much lately. Here are a few recent pictures...

She LOVES the bath and the sound of running water - this is the only trick we have for getting her to calm down or go to sleep...too bad the bathroom isn't somewhere we want to hang out for very long.

Christmas Morning

Christmas was quiet here, but we still wanted it to feel special. So I made eggs and bacon and home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We then opened presents and spent the morning playing here, then had Christmas dinner with the Helgeson's (our friends who live below us here). Overall it was a nice day!
Here's Joel opening his stocking before breakfast (notice the stocking I made for him last year!). And below, Joel's big present this year was his remote control train...he LOVES it!Maren slept through most of the day...here she is in the sling while I am making mashed potatoes, and below in her Christmas outfit!