Christmas Concert

Last night megan shined in all her reindeer glory as she sang her heart out at her pre-k Christmas concert.


We had a great time cheering her on... and got a little teary eyed to think that next year she'll be in Kindergarten and we won't have these fun little concerts.
Megan and Nicole LOVED getting to hang with their cousins.


And Nicole said... no worries - she'll be on stage next year!

Cookies and Santa

Christmas celebrations are in full swing around here.  Nicole got to meet up with some friends for her first real cookie decorating party... and she actually got to decorate a cookie this year.  Last year she wasn't walking so she just played.  Its strange to think back to that and realize how much our baby has grown in a year.



I dont think she actually ate the cookie... but the icing and decorations kept her busy and happy!


We also had Breakfast with Santa at Megan's preschool.

Megan had a great time seeing Santa with all her friends. Nicole... she likes saying "Ho, ho, ho!" but that's about all the santa she wants.

Bear with me as I work to figure out all the little details to get blogs up and not use too much space.

valblaisdell's photostream

valblaisdell's photostream on Flickr.

Hard to believe my baby hit's 25 the 25 month mark today. We had a fun family photo shoot a few weeks back - here are mommy's after shoot shots.

Why no posts?

I know our family in MN is wondering... why no posts?
I promise I'm working on it.....
Unfortunately I've maxed out my free space on blogspot so I'm trying to decide what to do... more to another site, pay for extra space, etc....
As soon as I get that figured out, I'll be able to post some more stuff

2 Year Stats

A quick little mommy update on Nicole's 2 year old stats (since this is my baby book)....

Nicole weighed in at 34 lbs (97%) and was 35 1/2 inches tall (90%).

She is a healthy growing girl! When the nurse came to get us he asked, "now is she 2 or 3?" I get that a lot.

Just to give myself an idea of her growth... at this age, Megan was 29 lbs and 34 1/2 inches (75% in both).

Nicole was in 2T clothes for about 2 weeks... just long enough for me to wash and hang it up. And now she's consistantly wearing 3T clothes.

I'll try to get a post with pictures up soon!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope that you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with knowledge of all the blessings that our gracious God has bestowed upon us and in our lives.  We spent the day with our wonderful extended family at my cousins house in Alabama.  Here are a few of those sweet blessings...

 It's so odd to not be at the kids table anymore... but it was definitely a full table!

 My cousins and I had a little glimpse of our own childhoods as we watched our children play games (indoor and out) - just like we would do together.  It was so sweet and fun to see.

 Once we got back home, the kids were sacked out..... and slowly I started to take down our Thanksgiving decorations.  The one thing I just can't bring myself to take down yet is our Thanksgiving Tree.  We have had so many laughs, smiles and discussions about the things and people that we are thankful for.

 The girls had such a good time with this tradition - I think they'll have a bit of withdrawal when they realize it's not on the table anymore.  We would pull out our leaves and markers and Nicole would start yelling, "I tankful! I tankful!" She loved telling me something she was thankful for (usually cheese or pizza or someone in our family) and then she got to help tape the leaves on the tree. Megan loved being able to write the things she was thankful for.

 Tomorrow we'll have to have the conversation explaining that our season of Thankfulness isn't over - we are just ushering it to completion.  We are moving into a new type of thankfulness - reminding ourselves that we are thankful for the blessings that God has given us BECAUSE He first gave us His Son.

 So while the girls slept, we moved all the Christmas boxes upstairs, set up the big nativity..

And put up the tree and lights (the things that would be a LOT more difficult with little helpers) and tomorrow..... we decorate!

It's hard to believe that Advent starts in 3 days.....  I can't wait to show you all the things we have planned.

More Leaves

Our trees are almost bare... the wind, the rain, and gravity have all taken their toll on our beautifully colored trees.  But the girls did have one last romp before Daddy started to get all those leaves up. 

Megan dedided that it would be fun to try to drive through a big pile of leaves - with Nicole following her big sister, or course...

 Leafpile wipeout....

 Nicole decided that leafpile driving was for her big sister... instead she'd start a leaf war with her Daddy....

Still Fall Here...

It's still fall here - to prove it, we just went to another fall festival right down the street at a local shopping center.  They really did it right - from the free hayrides....

 the visit from the fire fighters (and a tour of their truck)....

 the jumpy houses....

 the fun games for the kids to play.....

 and our FAVORITE part...
Free juice, cookies, cotton candy and popcorn.  Oh Yeah!
Here's Megan's before and after shot.....

 Nicole's cotton candy promptly fell off its stick but thankfully we were able to snag a bag for her.

 Oh yeah - that's pure joy (or a sugar high starting)....

 And what does that much sugar do to two cute little girls???????

How about turn one of them into an elephant, and another into a pirate....

 Now with that picture in your mind, add the sound effects of Megan trumpeting like and elephant and Nicole going, "Ahoy matey!" (I'm still not sure where that came from).  Let's just say we weren't the "quiet" family walking through the little festival.

And we couldn't leave without a little rainbow!

Birthday Stool

This past week we had a super fun trip to Grandma Snazzy's storytime.  It' always fun to hang out with our friends (like Emma)...

But this week was a little different.  My little 2 year old got to take a turn on the "birthday stool" and have Grandma Snazzy sing Happy Birthday.   I was pretty sure that there was no way Nicole was going to get on the stool - at least not without Mommy a few inches away.
Boy was I surprised....

My baby has suddenly matured into a little 2 year old who's a bit more brave and adventurous.  WOW. 

And then again, maybe it was having other good friends nearby (like Will)....

Fear not, he's on Daddy's pre-approved list (for either girl).
And as usual bth girl loved getting to have a  little craft time together...

The Great Fall Frolic

Every fall, we have a little tradition - passed on from my childhood and now I get to pass it onto my girls.... the GREAT FALL FROLIC!

Ok, perhaps it didn't have a title before now, but it's always been a fun outing for a perfect fall day - like today!!!!!

Add a few rakes to a bunch of leaves and the fun is ON!

Our trees have been dropping tons of leaves this week and it was forecasted to rain this afternoon/night (which it has) and I knew our window of opportunity was closing.  So as soon as we got home from school, we girls headed out to rake and romp!

 Megan's favorite game was burying herself in leaves and getting Nicole to find her.  A little outdoor leaf pile hide and seek...

 And a few leaf battles were had....

 To say it was "fun" is such an understatement!

 Nicole had a little issue when she found a little beatle crawling on her arm (see the blak spot on her sleeve).  But once that was brushed off, she recovered pretty quickly.

Of the fun of fall!  Hope you are all having as much fun with your leaves as we are.