Busy Week of Firsts

We have been trying to keep busy this month.  My college volleyball coach came down to visit for a day (he is retired now and can do that!).  He recently wrote Daniel a story and wanted the chance to read it to him in person. This was the first time they all had the chance to meet and the kids just loved him right away.  I think Coach would have spent hours and hours reading stories just like this if he didn't need to be home for dinner!

 



The next day I took the kids to Monkey Joe's - just to get out of the house and burn off some energy.  This was the first time that Abigail was able to really play.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep up with Daniel because Abigail just wanted to go down the slides all day. She squealed and laughed and had a great time.

A couple days later, on Saturday night, we took the kids bowling for the first time.  The game lasted a bit too long for Daniel's interest and Kat's Mom took Abby home early to put her to bed, but over all I think it was a fun night.  Daniel tried bowling with and without the ramp (I was afraid the ball was going to stop when he bowled without the ramp, it was going so slowly!) and Abby had fun sliding down the ramp and cheering on her brother.

Bowling lesson.

 

 

Final score (I let Daniel bowl some of my frames too, he had a hard time waiting his turn).

Elmo Live at Hershey

Steve and Beth took the kids, Jason, and I to the Hershey Theater yesterday to see Elmo's Super Heroes.  It was actually a lot of fun and both of the kids loved it.  They were entranced from the very beginning and Daniel was able to handle the volume now that he is a seasoned concert goer! I think we all had a blast watching the kids watch the show.  Beth got Abby an Elmo doll and the soundtrack for Daniel.  I am sure we will be listening to this one over, and over, and over, and over,. . .

Early anticipation!

During the finale they sprayed streamers and confetti  - this is what happened to Abigail - she loved it.

 

Finale

After the show Jason and I took the kids to ZooAmerica for some fresh air and animal sightings.  The weather was nice enough for us to wear light coats, and cool enough for the animals to be really active.  We saw the gorgeous ocelots for the first time ever! I could have stood there for an hour watching them pace, waiting for dinner to be served.

Abby pointing out the roadrunners and tortoises.

 

Watch how cute her toddling is - this is after less than three weeks of her first steps.

 

Little Girls Growing Up

Our little girl is growing up so fast!  She is 14 months old now and has developed into quite the character. Christmas Day she took her first steps (the video is too long to post) and now she is toddler suprema! She never did the cruising thing really, just stands up wherever she is and takes off.  She is now able to follow Brother around more easily and he thinks that is super cool.  He'll say. "come on Abigail" and they take off somewhere to play together.
While Daniel has always been a bit sensitive and cautious, she is neither.  She goes full bore into everything without considering any consequences and when she gets hurt she refuses comfort.  At this age, Daniel could form simple sentences, with annunciation as clear as day.  She still says very little, if anything at all, and does a lot of pointing and yelling until we can correctly guess what it is she wants. It is amazing how different siblings can be. (And no, I never dropped her on her head!)

 

First ponytail!

Third Cousins/friends growing up together!

PA Farm Show 2013

My kids, like most I assume, love farm animals and tractors. What better way to enjoy them all than at the PA Farm Show! My friend called and wanted to meet there so Mom and I packed up the kids and headed on over for an evening of crowds and smells that can only be found in one place! The kids had fun trying out all the tractors while Mom and Abby explored the animal exhibits on the other side of the complex.  The bunnies were apparently a big enough hit to encourage Abby to say the word "bunny".

We met up for a quick dinner, said goodbye to Ange and the kids and took Abby on a carousel ride, over, and over again. She screamed for it and would have nothing to do with anything else if those pretty horses were in sight!

Smug satisfaction.

Eventually we looked at our watches and realized that we were already out past bed time so we called it a night.  It was a good one.  Despite the crowds and the crazy meal time feeding frenzy, I think we should plan on it again next year!

Sledding

We had a substantial enough snow fall to take out the sleds this morning!  The kids got as bundled as they could and we headed over to the church for a couple hours of fun. 

The cousins left a few days later so it was great that we could have this chance to play in the snow before they returned to California.

 

Christmas with the Eriksens

I can't remember the last time I got to celebrate Christmas with my sister Laurel, and never before with her kids!  It was a lot of fun despite the circumstances that brought us together.  Christmas morning, the kids opened their stocking gifts from Santa.  We were blessed with a white Christmas morning and the kids got to play in the snow, have a snow ball fight and even build some (very small) snowmen.  Daddy would have loved it. Christmas was his favorite time of year and these little people were his greatest joys in this life.

 

We had a birthday cake for Jesus and all sung Happy Birthday.

 

Christmas for the household was the following day.  Lars's company arranged for all of Luke and Leah's Christmas presents to be shipped to my parents' house so there was quite a mountain of presents for everyone to open. 



Mom got this huge, beautiful, tiger for Abby and I think it was worth every penny! She loves it.

More Family Time - Meg's Family

Meg and Jonathan visit about once or twice a year from St. Louis and we had all been very excited that they would be home for a long week over Christmas this year.  Sadly, events as they were altered the amount of time we had planned on spending with them.  Rather than seeing each other nearly every day, we got together maybe six or seven times.  We all went to a lovely dinner for a pre-birthday party for Beth one night. Another night, we had them at our place for the kids to play. Abigail and Judah were adorable together, hitting it off right away.

 

 We stopped by as often as it was fitting, and the little ones were drawn to each other every time.

 

Little Judah - poor little guy had an ear infection but he was still as sweet as can be, and super cute!

 Christmas day was a Marquiss event!  The dinner was wonderful (thank you Uncle Ron for smoking all that ham and turkey!), and the atmosphere was filled with joy and love.  The kids had fun opening and playing with mounds of toys, and spending time looking at new books.

Grammy was in heaven having all her Grandbabies in one place!