the whole fam dam

Another one I forgot to add. This was taken at Thanksgiving and my parents used it as their Christmas card. Pretty good looking bunch. Not sure how we got everyone looking at the camera and mostly smiling.

Christmas #4

The weekend of New Year's, Renny and family came in town for our last Christmas celebration. We didn't do a good job of getting pictures though. Luke and Madison got a long well. And Ella is getting old enough that Madison enjoys playing with her more too. Here are Luke and Maddie looking at a toy catalog. Oh and there was more good food!

Christmas vacation

Rick took the week off between Christmas and New Year's. We had lots of good weather and Christmas presents to play with. It was fun to have Daddy home that long and we were sad when he had to go back to work.

Princess puzzle and Lego house.

Christmas #3

Later Christmas morning we went to Rick's parent's for another Christmas. And more food. Cheese grits, herb bread and Banana cake. Yum.

Christmas #2

We came back to KC Christmas Eve. We had a fancy dinner that night, which meant dressing up, candles and Madison got to eat off a plate that wasn't plastic. The next morning Madison was in our room about 6:30 ready to go downstairs and was very frustrated that she had to wait for Parker to eat first. Once again she had to help Parker open all his gifts. Madison got a Pizza Playdough maker (which she had been talking about for months) and a Millennium Falcon and lots of small things from Santa. Parker got a set of musical instruments, Woody and a dump truck.
Then we opened presents under the tree, which Madison opened them all again. And we finished the morning with Christmas casserole. Perfection.

Christmas #1

Christmas in Wichita. We went home early this year for Dad's retirement party. After 41 years in the business and 35 years at the same company, he finally called it quits. We are looking forward to seeing and spending more time with him, and Grandma too.
So Friday night we did Christmas with my family. Madison had a ball with Isaac and he has learned to say Madison's name which she loves. Madison helped everyone open their presents and wanted to play with everyone else's presents before they did, even Cy's cookbook.
Then the next morning Santa made a special trip to bring gifts for all of our stockings. Not sure how long that one will fly, but we'll see.  It was a pretty amazing Christmas.

From the Star Wars Advent calendar.

Making cookies for Santa.

Madison helping Parker open his presents.

Matching Sarah and Colin.

Madison helping Cy open his present, a cookbook.

Christmas dinner, silly hats and all

Christmas pajamas

Isaac, Parker and Madison posing with their KU gifts.

the belly laugh

Here is a video from right after Thanksgiving that I missed. Too many devices with photos/videos these days and hard to keep track of them all. Anyway, the original video is over 2 minutes long, but I had to edit due to nakedness. I guess we have blackmail video for later. Not sure where Parker got this laugh, but his sister is usually the only one that can get him going like this.

Parker - 8 months

Parker turned 8 months old on Dec 22nd. The same day of my dad's retirement party! So we were in Wichita to celebrate and have an early Christmas. I haven't gotten the pictures from Dad yet from that night so I'll add those when I get them. At 8 months, Parker is sitting up without support. He still has very little interest in being on his tummy, and therefore is not even trying to crawl or scoot. All he really wants to do is stand up, which is hard on my arms. I'm afraid he may skip crawling altogether. He is starting to talk more, but not really saying any words yet. He is still eating and sleeping well. He is eating Turkey and Chicken as well now.  Overall Parker is a very happy baby. He likes to play peek-a-boo, and he'll got look for a toy. And he was good at helping me shop for Christmas!

crafty

Almost everyday Madison tells me she wants to do a craft. Some days we come up with better ones than others. Here is a stocking we made. I suggested she draw Santa or a Christmas tree or something like that on her stocking. She decided to draw her and Parker. Even better!

Mary's debut

For several weeks at school Madison's class practiced their Nativity Play. They all took turns playing different parts and the actually learned the speaking parts. Madison was always disappointed when she wasn't Mary. So on the 14th all the parents got to come watch. We didn't know until we got there that morning but Madison got to be Mary. She was super excited. Although she had no speaking parts... After the play we the Angel Band played. I think Madison's favorite song was "All I Want for Christmas is My 2 Front Teeth." Check out the video.

Christmas Photo Shoot

After Thanksgiving came and went and we still didn't have a picture for our Christmas card, I knew it was time for a photo shoot. So on a whim one day, when everyone seemed like they were in a good mood, I jumped into action. And somehow managed to get both kids to sit still and smile. Pretty cute kiddos :)

Parker - 7 months

So I'm a little behind, but bear with me. Parker at 7 months. He got his first tooth at about 6 1/2 months, his bottom right tooth. We had some rough nights until it came in. He also started eating solid foods. We started with squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, avocado, apples, bananas, cararots, pears and peaches, all with cereal mixed in because he won't eat it by itself. At first he wasn't sure about the food, but now he can really put it down. He is also a huge fan of Cheerios. At 7 months, Parker was sitting up but would fall if left alone too long. He was rolling all around but no interest at all in crawling. And he still loved watching his sister do anything.