This is what happens when you don't blog for a month

Happy New Year! I hope the new year year will be good to us and you, so many adventures await!

We had a great Christmas where the kids got a lot of toys, but they love playing with them, and that's what matters.

Milo should start school this fall (depending on which school district makes their cut-off September 1) and Jesse's half-way through his first week of being Chief at work. I haven't killed him yet, so the stress must not be too bad (ha!).

Lena is still happy, most of the time, until Milo does something she doesn't like, then she screams. yeah. She has 13 teeth (As I'm trying to count them in my head) and is still so much better at that than her brother!) and sleeps anywhere from 11.5-13 hours a night! Woo hoo! And still takes a nap or two, depending on when she wakes up and her attitude.

I decided that if Milo's not going to pre-school then he needed to start on a workbook. My uncle did not know this and bought him one for Christmas! It's a K workbook, so we'll see how far Milo gets before I feel that it's too much for him. Each morning after breakfast we do a few pages. He seems to enjoy it, the only part he doesn't like is me making him write his name on each page. Hey, he'll have to do it once he gets to school...

Here are some pictures, sorry there are so many, it's my own fault for not updating sooner.

Lena playing with a curtain at Harley and Michelle's house on New Year's Eve.

I wanted a new project so I asked for a pasta roller for Christmas. This is Milo enjoying some of the first noodles to be made, he LOVED them!!! He also helped me to roll out the pasta.

Lena, in her necklaces, of course, enjoying the noodles, too! Maybe I should make another batch sometime soon.

Pasta drying on the rack.

Lena got two baby dolls and some accessories for Christmas. Apparently she thought she should get in the pack-n-play. This wasn't the only time she got in it. She also tries to get in the stroller...

Opening a present Christmas morning!!

Milo opening the gift he's been waiting for for MONTHS-his How Wheels wall track! He was with us when we bought it, so he knew he was getting it and every time he would ask about it we would say, "What are you talking about? We don't have anything like that." Luckily he knew we were playing with him.

This is how we spent a quiet Christmas Eve at home, the kids playing "train" while Jesse and I started packing for all of our traveling.

Grandma Bunny reading to Lena while we were in Cleveland for Hanukkah.

We try to combine seeing family with doing something new when we go to Cleveland. This time we went to their Children's Museum. This was an awesome climbing toy they had, it made a big arch.

Lena loved the water table! This girl will be a fish, she loves the bath, being in the hot tub, and playing in the cat water. She even gets excited watching Milo at swimming!

Milo loved the water table, too! This is him building on a spout. What cracked me up was that the spout was close enough to the edge that if he swung it around the water poured on the ground. I'm not sure they planned for that when they built it.

Milo talking to Santa downtown South Bend. He wouldn't sit on his lap, but at least he talked to him. This Santa wasn't very prepared, Milo asked him where his reindeer were and he didn't have an answer...really?

Same day at the Chocolate Company. Both kids (and Jesse) were okay with Rudolph.

My sweet Santa Baby!

Our first real snow (I say that before we had the storm that gave us about a foot) of the season. Milo couldn't wait to go out and play in it!!!

This is what happens when Daddy and Milo go shopping without us, Lena gets Milo's space shuttle and flies it around the room! Milo would've had a fit if she'd done it while he was home!

He was so proud of himself for making this "garage" for the space shuttle. He looks like a little boy in this picture, not the little man I see every day!

The kiddos sledding!!! Jesse pulled them around the house, even Lena liked it. Milo must've been outside for over an hour with Jesse shoveling, sledding, and playing out back! He slept very well that night!

I don't know if Lena was trying to take off her shirt or what, but it got stuck like this. I thought it was funny, grabbed camera, and Milo did it, too. Of course then Lena got mad that it was stuck and I had to put it back down. She looks like Butt-head doing Cornholio!