11 months

Ian is 11 months today! We actually went to the doctor today for his flu shot booster and the nurse weighed him in at 20 pounds even. She didn't bother measuring him though. He took his shot like a champ. Ian is still army crawling to get around. When he really wants to, he can pull himself up to his knees. He can stand when he's put in a standing position by furniture, but he can't pull himself up to a standing position on his own. I think he's going to be a late walker, like Audrey was. And as busy as he is army crawling, I'm good with that. Ian is definitely busy. He likes to explore and get into things he shouldn't be. His favorite thing to do is pull the cord out of our computer for our magic jack phone. He thinks it's hilarious to do so... He also loves to point. He points all the time. The other night he was actually double pointing. It was pretty cute. And when he's excited about something (like our Christmas decorations) he points and grunts.

 

This little guy is still taking 2 naps a day and he sleeps great at night. He's down to 3 nursing sessions and is having fun exploring table foods. The other day he got teriyaki chicken, rice, and broccoli. He was curious about the broccoli and loved the rest. Even though he doesn't have any teeth he does just fine gumming his food. Ian prefers feeding himself, so we're being creative about that. And usually mealtime is quite a mess. If I happen to put something in his mouth he takes it out and inspects it, before putting it back in. Silly boy! He also really likes cereal bars, yogurt, carrots, and crackers. And he LOVES bananas...

 

Here are a few or Ian's firsts from this past month...

First tractor ride with Papa Michaelson:

 

He was introduced to an outdoor swing and loves it:

He witnessed his first fish being caught. And he also got to be there as it flopped around in the outdoor sink and startled Grandma.

Ian was introduced to dogs and seems to like them quite well, especially little ones. He even enjoyed some doggie kisses!

 

He met Santa Claus and was especially curious the second time around:

And Ian sat in his first big boy chair all by himself:

It's hard to believe that his first birthday is right around the corner. Time truly does fly by and I feel like it's going by way too quickly recently. Ian is such a happy boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family!

Audrey turns 4!!!

Today is Audrey's birthday and she is so super-excited about turning 4! This morning when she woke up she discovered a new bike. She is thrilled. All morning long she rode it around the house. She has Joy School today, but I'm sure after school she'll be riding it outside. 

Miss Audrey is such a joy to our family. She has learned and grown so much this past year. She's a pro at writing her name and can write lots of other things if they are spelled for her. Audrey LOVES playing with Rachel. From the minute Rachel gets home from school until dinnertime they are busy playing. And it varies... Sometimes they play school, sometimes dog, sometimes on the computer, sometimes "sweetie", and sometimes outside. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's with her sister. And luckily when Rachel has friends over to play, they include Audrey.

Audrey is also a good independent little player as well. So on the days she doesn't have school or friends over of her own, she is happy to just play in her own little world. Sometimes we are amazed at the words she uses and the things she does. It's fun to see her learn so quickly. 

Some of her wishes for her birthday are an electric toothbrush (she's been told for years she has to be 4), a guitar, a haircut (just a trim), and fluoride rinse. Can you tell she has an older sister who she wants to be like? We are headed to the doctor tomorrow and she's not thrilled about getting shots. Hopefully all goes well.... She is around 40 inches tall and probably 27 pounds. I'll confirm tomorrow...

Our little 4 year-old can be quite the picky eater. There are many nights she just won't eat what we're eating. So unfortunately a hot dog or chicken nuggets get heated up real quick for her. Probably not the best habit to get into... But there's hope, because Rachel was once like that and now she's a really good eater. Audrey does love fruit though, especially pears. She also like almonds and pistachios. She's pretty adventurous, but once she tries something and doesn't like it, that's the end. She calls foods "too spicy" when she doesn't like the flavor. The other night we had bbq pulled pork sandwiches and the bbq sauce was "too spicy". Oh well, we'll keep on trying. 

Audrey loves all things girly. She loves being able to put make-up on, getting her nails painted, and she loves deciding what to wear and how to do her hair. Her favorite hairdo right now is a back bun. Audrey LOVES shoes. Every time we walk near shoes in any store, she wants to stop and try on. I try to avoid the shoe department. She is a good little errand runner though. Every once in awhile we get whiny, but for the most part she tags along well. 

We are so blessed to have Audrey in our lives. It's so crazy to think that she's 4. She's my little baby who I was brave enough to have over in Amsterdam and she's growing up and doing so much. Sometimes I just want to freeze time, but we've all wanted that and it's not possible. So, here's to enjoying another year with our little Audrey! 

Alvin Christmas Train

Last night we met up with the Mackays and drove out to Alvin so we could ride a "Christmas Train". A local church puts this on every year and we thought we would check it out. Definitely fun for the kids! 

Pictures in the lobby:

 

Checking out the Christmas Village:

Pictures where Santa should be, but we just wanted to snap some pictures before they started charging:

 

 All aboard!

 

 

 

We rode through some tunnels and saw a lot of lights. Here's one picture of our train ride:

After the train ride checking out the manger scene:

 

Daddy fooling around with Audrey:

Story time with Mrs. Claus:

A picture on a real train:

Family picture at the end of the night:

The Nutcracker

One of Rachel's good friends from school, Emily, was an angel in a local production of The Nutcracker last night. We thought it would be a great idea to support Emily and would be fun for Rachel to go out on a date with her daddy. Audrey was a bit disappointed... I told her next year we'll make it a girls night out and all three of the girls will go. It's tricky when you're a nursing mom and have a baby who would need to be fed right in the middle of the performance. This year Daddy stepped up and I think both of them had a great time. Audrey and I enjoyed a movie night at home once Ian was put to sleep. We only got half way through the movie before she asked to go to bed. She was tired. I was surprised she wanted to go to bed without her sister, because they share a room. But she really was tired. When Rachel got home around 10:30 I thought she would be tired. But she wasn't! She had a great time at the performance and I enjoyed her telling me about it. Her daddy spoiled her and bought her a special ornament of Clara.

Before Andy and Rachel left on their date I grabbed a quick picture:

Before the performance they ran into some church friends. These three little girls were all born within a couple months of each other and were all our first babies (Rachel, Lindsey, & Nicole):

I'm glad Rachel enjoyed The Nutcracker. She was excited to see Emily on stage. I think we may have started a new holiday tradition...

Sinterklaas

We have tried to continue the tradition of Sinterklaas coming to visit our family. There seem to be more questions each year as to why he comes to visit us. But our response is that if you live in Holland for any period of time, then he continues to visit you wherever you may move. It's worked so far... The girls get pretty excited about it. On December 5th shortly after Daddy came home the doorbell rang and the girls went out to see what Sinterklaas had left them...

 

The kiddos each got a new pair of pajamas, a chocolate letter, and some kruidnoten. Thank heavens for the Dutch store here in Houston! Ian scored by getting 2 chocolate letters in his package and he enjoyed his first taste of chocolate:

 

The Real Santa Claus

We have some friends who invite Santa to their home every year and open their home to friends. We love getting pictures with this Santa every year, since he looks so much like the real deal. On Sunday, December 2nd, we headed to their house. The girls did great:

 

Ian wasn't too sure about Santa this time around:

Eventually he stared him down:

Family picture:

Two Santas in one weekend!!!

December 1st

As much as you try to plan and shop ahead, the Christmas season always come too quickly. And this year was no exception. We're pretty busy around our place from October on with birthdays and holidays. By mid-January it slows down... This year we were also late in decorating for Christmas due to our kitchen update. Luckily it was a one week job. So, on Saturday, December 1st, I spent the bulk of my day putting the kitchen back together. But that didn't stop us from making sure we had some fun on the first day of December. Andy and the girls met the Mackays at Home Depot for a kid workshop. The three big kids (Rahel, Audrey, & Chase) had fun making their frames:

That evening we were off to our church Christmas party. The girls liked making snowmen out of marshmallows:

And everyone got a chance to talk to Santa:

After the party Ian tasted a candy cane for the first time:

This little guy cracks us up how he doesn't mind laying on the tile. The carpets not that far away, but we find him like this quite often:

Our first day of December was busy, but we had fun ringing in some Christmas spirit!

Updated

July 2012:

November 2012:

It's done...for the most part! We're so excited. We still need to hang up the blinds and I want to do some type of valance. I need to also figure out a few decor items. But the wallpaper is gone. The forest green backsplash is gone. I have 4 burners on my stove top!!! And a really deep sink, which I love. Doing dishes, baking, and cooking has all of a sudden become very enjoyable. And it's only been completed for 2 days. But the kitchen is put back together for the most part and functional. Merry Christmas, to us!

Our Bike Riders

Andy took Rachel's training wheels off her bike several months ago and never had the time to really work with her. My smart mother had the idea that we should haul Rachel's bike up to their place over Thanksgiving. Andy would definitely have the time to work with her and they have a great training area, a long driveway that they share with their neighbors. Rachel first started out on a little bike that my parents had. Andy took the training wheels off and Rachel mastered that bike first. She felt more comfortable on this bike because it was easy to stop herself and just stand, rather than fall over while on the bike. She really didn't get much help from Andy. She then got brave enough to try her own bike and within a couple of tries, she was off:

 

Andy then put the training wheels back on the little bike and Audrey figured out how to ride that one. This was great since she was getting a bike for her birthday in a few weeks.

The girls love riding their bikes! This time of year is actually a great time of year to do so. We love mild days and when schedules permit we spend quite a few of the daylight hours outside riding bikes.

Thanksgiving

We had so much fun the week of Thanksgiving! We were brave and took Rachel out of school for 2 days (Texas is quite strict on students being absent). This allowed us to go up to my parents' place for the whole week. It was so nice! It had actually been a year since we had been up there...  Grandma was able to take the whole week off from work. The weather was PERFECT! We enjoyed spending a lot of time outside.  Here's some of the fun that was had...

Tractor rides:

  

Wagon rides:

Ian met dogs for the first time and loved them:

Rachel mastered riding a bike without training wheels. She first gained confidence on this little bike and soon moved on to her own bike.

Playing with minnows while Papa and Daddy fished:

Success! Papa was the lucky one this time:

 

 

Swinging was enjoyed by everyone. Ian's the only one we took pictures of! :)

We had lots of fun inside once it got dark. There were puzzles to do, games to play, snuggling with Papa, playing with the toys, and dressing up with exercise bands (even though Grandma has plenty of dress-up options):

 

One day we ventured to Atlanta State Park. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, the playground, and a mini outdoor theater.

 The girls had fun throwing rocks down the slide.

 They also enjoyed playing on the mini stage.

The Mackay family drove up later on in the week and joined us for Thanksgiving. Aunt Natalie put together a turkey hunt for the kids Thanksgiving morning. They had so much fun listening to the clues and finding the correct turkey. They also had fun setting up the turkeys themselves and sending the adults on a turkey hunt. Here's the kids in action:

It was Ian's first Thanksgiving, so we had to get a picture of him in his turkey shirt:

One day the dads took the 3 big kids out on a boat ride:

 

And of course after the weather got cooler we just bundled everyone up for a tractor ride:

The babies didn't go on the tractor ride. But Landon made sure to give Ian an indoor tractor ride:

 

We enjoyed our week! It was fun for the adults to play games in the evening once all the little ones were in bed. We also introduced my parents to the movie Bernie, which one can only really appreciate if you've spent some time in Northeast Texas. I'm certainly thankful for my parents who live 5 hours away. It makes little trips like these possible and hopefully it won't be an entire year before we head up there next!