Colorado Trip

 We spent Thanksgiving day in CO with my mom and Tom this year.

Baby Emma snuggles

Grandpa time!

While we were there the girls got an early Christmas gift from my mom and Tom and from us. They were more than a little excited!!! So excited that they even napped in it.

My Alli! :)

We also decorated a gingerbread house when (soon to be) Aunt Katie came over to visit.

 Hannah ran in the Turkey Day 5K run with grandma and she did great!

After all of their hard work

The cheering section

Our stop by the Temple on the way out of town.

And the girls came home with Christmas dresses from Grandma.  Beautiful!

Papa's visit

Here is some of our fun from my dad's visit. He gave the girls some fruit snacks and fruit by the foot, a tradition that he and Nana started. We went and saw the movie Brave.  Nate's family came over for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. And we enjoyed a special trip to Culvers.  There was also the whole sandbox project! We had so much fun with Papa!!!

"Papa is here today!" Hannah was excited!

Emma was so happy to meet her Papa!

The Sandbox

My dad (Papa!) came to visit the weekend before Thanksgiving and we put him to work! The girls, especially Allison, LOVE to dig in the dirt and play in the little sand table that we have. Now they can SIT in the sand to play! :) Papa and Nate put the box together and the next morning the sand was delivered. Papa even hid some coins in the sand as it was coming out of the truck. So far the girls have found a quarter and a penny and were THRILLED with their treasures!  I also got a little bench out of the deal! Thank you for your help, Papa!!! As you can tell from the pictures, the girls were plenty of help as well.

4 months

It is hard to believe that this little munchkin is 4 months old already! 

Emma continues to be the best baby EVER.  I'm hoping that doesn't mean we are in for trouble as she gets older, but rather that she continues to be happy, patient, and so wonderful to be around. 

At her 4 month check-up she weighed 14lbs. 13 oz (56%) and was 25 1/2 in. (84%) 

She has perfected the shriek because you have to be LOUD to be heard, apparently.

Her latest trick (as of Nov. 11) is that she can roll over from her back to her tummy.

 Her new favorite thing: her thumb!  She is definitely not interested in a pacifier, but her thumb is pretty much permanently stuck in her mouth these days. It is stressing me out a bit...I know how to be done with a pacifier when the time comes, but I've never had a thumb-sucker before.  I am sure we will manage! It is pretty cute though :)

Our Library

One of our favorite things about Ames is the library. As of today our library is closed for a few weeks while they move to a new, temporary, location while the current library gets a face-lift.  We are super excited about having a bigger, newer, nicer library in the end, but are certainly sad to see our wonderful library condensed for a few years while construction takes place. Our usual routine is to attend the "Family Craft Story Time" on Thursdays at 10am (or 10:15...whenever we actually get there!). As part of our "good-bye" to our old library the kids each got to put their hand print on the wall. We will miss you, library, and can't wait to see the new you in a few years!

Camille's hand print is the red one just left of her hand.

The Shed

Nate's latest project was this shed in our backyard.  Since he has a riding lawnmower...he also need a place to put it. There goes our cheap (garage sale) mower! :) Really our garage is huge and we have space for it, but we also have a playhouse in part of the garage for the girls...and with the mower it was just too cramped for winter-time playing. So here it is: before, during, and after. We thought about buying a kit shed to put together, but we wanted it to look like our house.  Our house isn't exactly "normal," so this is what we came up with! Nate hired the framers who did our basement to help with this project, and, of course, the girls helped, too!

Nate really likes this picture because it shows how the shed "matches" the house.