Random February Pictures

Our sweet friend Anne sent thse flowers to us in the middle of our 3 weeks of sickness. They also happened to come on the same day that I got the bad hair cut and was really sad. Good timing...thank you Anne!

Maren is in a coloring phase...so cute.

My Aunt Ruth came to visit the third weekend in February and we had SO much fun in the short time she was here! She got right in and played with Joel at Camelback park! We also played lots of games and she played with the kids A TON! They loved her just as much as I did growing up (and still do!)

Posing...

Happiest when she has Daddy to herself...

Joel fell into a wrought-iron fence at school and caught himself using only his mouth. He had a fat lip for a couple of days, but it didn't bleed too much and Uncle Doctor said it probably wasn't bad enough for stitches. Ouch!

We went to The Ram on the last day of the month...they were having a "kids eat for $1 special" in February, so we wanted to take advantage of it! The kids got balloons and that is always a treat. Notice Maren wearing Joel's t-shirt...she wanted to wear it to bed!

I almost forgot!!

I went in for a trim a couple of weeks ago and I went in looking like this:

...I came out looking like this:

(Ok, so I didn't have the top hat and bow tie on, but other than that it is identical - long flaps over my ears and very short in the back)

She had messed it up so bad that I had to go pretty short again in order for it to look good. Here is the after, after:

I actually really like it, it was just hard becuase I had just spent the last 1 1/2 years growing it out from VERY short! And Greg has said that he prefers it this way, so I may just keep it like this!

Almost back...

Is anyone else getting sick of seeing my boring Valentines Day pictures?! Me TOO!! (I'm not crazy about the new background either....) I realize that it's been almost a month since I have posted anything - Sickness is to blame for most of it, lazyness for the rest. :) I'll be back with some pictures soon!

Valentines Day

Someone in our house has been sick for about week, so Valentines Day was very low-key. The kids had a few little treats to open and then we had a family movie night.
I had made these little heart books for each of them - they have pictures and little notes inside. It was fun to make them and they really like looking at the pictures.

Monkeys

January Recap

January was a pretty uneventful month and I didn't take very many pictures - until the last week when I took pictures of EVERYTHING for a Week in the Life project I was doing. See My Creative Blog (link on the right) for pictures from that.

The really big news this month is that Maren is POTTY TRAINED! We are on week 2 of her being completely potty trained and she has only had one day in that time where she had an accident! We are so proud of her...she really did this herself and she is already going all night and naps without a diaper. Yay!

Also, Greg had his final ordination interview in Chicago last Sunday and he passed with flying colors! He now has the green light to be Ordained at the Covenant Annual Meeting in Portland in June! I am so proud of Greg and all his hard work to get to this point - and we are looking forward to the the Ordination ceremony in June.

Greg has had his fish tank going since about October and we are loving it! The kids love helping feed the fish every day and looking at all the critters in there.

Ballerina

Auntie Christina found this sweet little leotard and tutu for Maren. She loves prancing around in it!

Keeping Warm

On the Saturday after Christmas, in the midst of a snow storm our heat went out! I think it only got down to 60% in the house, but it sure felt cold! The kids and I snuggled up in my new blanket and watched movies until they came and fixed the heater. It was a good reminder of how fortunate we are to have a warm, safe place to live.

Christmas

Yes, I know...we have already forgotten that Christmas was less than three weeks ago...but I couldn't not post these!

On Christmas Eve the kids got to open one present each - new jammies! And then we let them open one that was for both of them...Joel is holding the big Curoius George book. We then snuggled up on the couch with popcorn, cookies and hot cholocate and watched the Polar Express. I think this will be an annual tradition. It was so fun.

In the morning after Greg got home from work we opened all the rest of the gifts. I didn't get pictures of all of them, but you get the idea...

This is a dollhouse that Maren got...it folds open and has little wooden dolls and furniture in it!

Maren tried to open her gifts with some tongs she got as part of a cooking utensil set...creative.

Greg got a fishing pole - well, not the actual pole, but enough $$ to go buy one!

Joel got his first video game - and it's educational! This will be great for long car rides, too!

"Happy Birthday Jesus"

Winter Pictures

Here are some pictures of us out enjoying the snow (when I say "US" I mean "Greg and the Kids").

This exercise mat is the best sled ever! Here Greg is dragging the kids around the yard on it.


These pictures are from the first snow of the year...way back on December 8th! Since then, the snow has been much drier - making it hard to make snowmen.Greg and Amit went "skate-skiing" the day after Christmas. It's like cross-country, except that there's no traction on the bottom of the skis.

Beautiful views!