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!

Titus, Our Elf on the Shelf, and other things

Happy December! We have been having fun, especially since our Elf on the Shelf, Titus, showed up! He's a funny little thing that will be getting more mischievous, or so my gut tells me. :) This morning he was found on a shelf in Milo's room, sitting on top of the Snoopy that Milo sleeps with every night...Milo LOVES to find him every morning and laughs when Titus is doing something funny.

Lena is such a girl! She loves to put on necklaces and shoes, she cracks us up! She is also developing a temper, if Milo is in her way or doing something she wants to do she yells and tries to move him out of her way.

Her hair is also getting long, when she gets out of the bathtub, it's actually past her shoulders! Well, the back of her hair is, the top is growing s.l.o.w.l.y.

Here are the pictures!

Lena this morning, wearing her necklace, and playing with Milo's pinwheel.

My Uncle Gary refinished this rocking chair from when he was small and gave it to Lena for her birthday! She loves it (probably even happier since Milo's too big for it!) and rocks away, sitting forward and backwards. This is also her new face whenever I pull out the camera...thanks, Target Portrait Studio.

Milo started his soccer lessons last week and this is an action shot of him kicking the ball. I love how the instructors have them play "Simon Says" once they show them a few techniques!

Milo is showing where Titus was on the 4th morning! He laughed so hard when he found him and kept asking how he got up there. We also have him tell Titus one good thing that he did during the day before he goes to bed.

Once again we went to Hensler's Tree Farm in Hamlet to get our "beautiful" tree. Milo being a big guy and pulling cart (it was raining this year, but it wasn't too cold).

Milo actually cutting down the tree!!! He's the one that keeps calling it our "beautiful tree". Milo and Lena also got to help decorate three trees this year-Grandma and Grandpa's, Grandma and PawPaw's, and ours!

Lena making funny faces while Daddy and Milo decorated a gingerbread house.

Decorating the gingerbread house! It takes a lot of concentration, apparently.

I'm sure that Hanukkah and Christmas will come a lot faster than I'm ready for, so bring it on, December!!!

We have a walker!!!

Yes, we FINALLY have a walker!!! Two weeks ago Lena decided to just take off and walk across her bedroom! We were very excited and later that morning I was doing a "tooth check" and discovered 2 molars! Holy cow! We realized there had been one night earlier that week where she didn't sleep well, and that might've been the cause. Then earlier this week I stuck my finger in her mouth again, and found ANOTHER molar! That might explain her poor sleeping habits while we were in Cleveland last weekend, we had just thought it was because we were in a different environment and in the room with her. Oh well, I'm not complaining if that's how she teethes!

I have a lot of pictures, so I'll just get right to it!

Lena LOVES her baths! This is at my cousin's baby shower, Lena walked right over to it, climbed in, and played. She's actually doing the sign for "bath" in this picture.

Our little scientist! While we were in Cleveland we went to Lake Farmpark. It was really neat, they had over 50 animals and this was an exhibit on growing tomatoes hydroponically.

Lena trying to fit through the hole in the fence to get to Jesse.

This scene is common in our house, Jesse "craning" Milo around!

Playing in the leaves!

Our little firefighter! It looks like Jesse has a feed bag.

Lena sitting in the same high chair using the same sippy cup that I used as a child at my grandma's house!

Milo having a campout in his room! He slept in there for two nights and would probably still be sleeping in there if we'd let him!

Beware the dresser monster!! If you leave Lena's bottom drawer open for too long, this is what you'll discover!

Halloween! A fireman and his dalmatian!

Playing in Milo's tent.

Lena coloring. I keep all crayons out of her reach, otherwise I'd have colorful walls!

Lena in the race outfit!

Milo WANTING to paint! This rarely happens! And it hasn't happened since...

Silly Lena! When she took down the strainer there was a noodle on her forehead!

Milo and Lena playing play-doh together outside on a nice day.

I have no idea how the quality of this will be, but it makes me laugh every time I watch it!

Milo is taking seven weeks of soccer lessons (Thanks, Groupon!) that start this week! Every day he tells me that he has soccer tomorrow. We even have a countdown on the calendar. Wednesday will be a very busy day for us, he has soccer at 11:00 and swimming at 4:45. He will definitely sleep well that night! Oh, and I'm going to see the new Muppet move while he's at swimming on Wednesday!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Lena's First Birthday and Other Things

Well, our Sweet Little Lena has turned ONE!!! She had a great birthday and we just had her party yesterday. I have a lot of pictures to show, so I won't write much now.

Lena went for her one year check-up on Thursday and she's 31 inches and 22.5 lbs. According to Baby Center's growth chart she's 90-95% for height and 50-75% for weight. She also received 6 shots. She did great, only cried for a few seconds. I probably would've cried longer!

Lena can walk between furniture but she won't walk across a room. We think she's just taking her time (aka being lazy). :)

That was a good party! Jesse laid her down and started rubbing her head and she passed out!

I got a cash register just like Maizie's from Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Playing outside during the party!

This is on her actual birthday, she's sitting on the car holding her new baby, both from Grandma and Papa.

We got Lena a xylophone for her birthday, and she was very happy. I love the expression, and the closed eyes crack me up!

Back to the party-the kids going for the candy from the piñata!

Milo and Maizie enjoying the owl cake pops!

We went to Leininger Farm's last weekend to do their corn maze and this is our family photo. Not the best but it'll do until the kid's yearly pictures in a few weeks.

Milo and Lena on a tractor at the Farm.

Milo taking a break in the corn maze. This year's shape was the state of Indiana. They also put questions throughout, we missed five of the 20. Not too bad considering all the guessing we had to do... :)

Lena enjoying her cupcake on her birthday!

We bought a new climber a few weeks ago and the kids love it!

This is the shirt that I modified for Lena's party! It's supposed to look ragged.

Have a great week! I'm partied out, good thing we have about 10 months until the next one...