Photo Shoot Rejects...

...the photos, not the kids! :) We tried long and hard to get the perfect picture of the kids...I think in the end we didn't end up loving any of them. But here are some that are pretty cute, just not good enough to frame...

Famliy Weekend

At the beginning of December we started doing some fun "Christmas-y" things together. On Friday night we went downtown to see the big tree in the "Grove" with hot chocolate and cookies.

It was really hard to get good pictures in the dark!
Then on Saturday we went to get our Christmas tree! U-pick farms in Boise leave something to be desired, so we ended up at a lot. But we got a great tree! They both loved decorating the tree..though Maren lost interest in actually hanging ornaments on the tree pretty quick. She just wanted to take them all out of the boxes and look. Joel probably hung 60% of the ornaments on there!
And Joel got to add the final touch.

Thanksgiving

With 4 days until Christmas, and the knowledge that I will have a new batch of pictures to share with everyone, I am finally motivated to post pictures of our trip to Reno for Thanksgiving!

Mom and her two youngest sons out for a walk...can you guess who's who??

Aren't uncles fun?

Greg took the kids out for several walks in the hills behind the house. The weather was beautiful the whole weekend, and they really took advantage of it!

Greg, Matt and older brother Steve going for a mountain bike ride.

And Joel got to join in for a small part of the ride!

Joel and Maren absolutely loved uncle Matt...could it be the similarities to Daddy?!
One day we all went for a walk together along the river. The people are hard to see in this one, but everyone is there (except me).

Joel with Grandma and Grandpa

During the walk we stopped at a coffee shop for a little something warm to drink. I thought this was a great picture of the guys.

The kids had fun climbing on rocks and running all around. It was about a 3 mile walk, so it was great exercise for them!

They were doing work on one part of the path, so there were lots of big construction equipment that they got to look at up close.

One evening we all watched Polar Express together (even Max, the dog!). And if you were wondering why I wasn't in many of the pictures...I read two entire books on the trip. But I did manage to go on a couple of walks and help cook a Thanksgiving dinner. :)

This was on the way home (at the beginning of the road trip).

The kids did great in the car (thanks in large part to the DVD player!), it was fun to see Greg's side of the family (part of it anyway) and and we had great weather. We have a lot to be thankful for!

Maren is...

I have been meaning to do this since her birthday (at the beginning of November) but as you can tell, I am behind on my blogging. So enjoy this little tribute to my sweet little girl and look for Thanksgiving pictures next!

SILLY, SASSY & SMART

these are the words that come to mind when I think of Maren. She amazes me each day with her humor, intelligence, and attitude!

She loves to read books, color, dance, and take baths. Her favorite foods are avocado, pretzles and chocolate chip cookies. She doesn't like sun in her eyes (it's hot), jello jigglers, smiling for the camera (a recent development).

One of the best things about a 2-year-old is the way they say things - here are a couple of Maren's that I love:

1. Mom, can you cut my no-nails (toe nails)?

2. My boogers hurt

3. Where's my mybles (marbles)?

4. You're wup-tum (welcome).

5. I need a car (while crying/sad about something). Apparently Hot Wheels comforts her!

6. Oh my shoot!

7. Oh my josh (gosh)!

We are so blessed by this little girl.