stringing popcorn

i thought it might be fun to string some popcorn for the tree, but with the peculiar child and peculiar cat it was impossible. elly m. tried to swallow the popcorn on the string and the cat obviously thought it was the latest toy, so to say the least, it wasn't going to happen.

isn't there a better way

We have had colds, i mean the three ladies in the house have had colds, so elly m. is sick of snot coming out of her nose, i guess this is how she deals with it, because i have found her several times doing this. hilarious to me, probably gross to most. i am eager to show her this picture in about 13 years...

Oh Christmas tree.....

Nothing in our family takes a short amount of time, why would putting up a Christmas tree???? I guess before we moved to Sweden, i kept everything for the tree except the stand, so we had to buy one. We bought our tree from the optimist club and then Walgreen's was the closest thing by to buy a stand from. we spent 8 dollars and should of known when it said "fits 7 foot tall trees", that our 5 foot tree wouldn't fit. to much of our dismay, it didn't work, so jonathan tried to tie it up with some really strong yellow rope... that worked for a short while and seemed really clever, but i realized with the peculiar child and peculiar cat that we have in the house, it might need a little more than that. elly m. really thinks she is figuring this thing out for us. hilarious. so the conclusion was to call uncle david and borrow the saw. but thank you so much jonathan for your innovated way of being. better luck next time.

the finale...

of course you can see that jonathan is the one taking the picutures, so they are raw as can be, meaning no focus at all this time. i like to make sure that you can at least tell what is in the pictures, not jonathan, let's try all the doodads on the camera and who cares if they turn out or not. so anyways... elly m. enjoyed putting ornaments on the tree, but it eventually came to me carrying her back and forth across the room. we would hang one up and she would say "Please" so that i would go get another one.... hilarious. and ruthie, she watched the whole thing. so precious.

we go together...

the girls have started interacting more recently. i think that elly m. has decided that she better make the best of this sister sitting her all day everyday. she isn't leaving i think is the thought that she has had most recently.

only in iowa...

Elly m. got her dose of good ol' iowa fun. she played in a couple 5 gallon buckets of corn... to dan's dismay,but oh well. the whole time her and shelby were playing, dan was biting at the bit for it to be cleaned up. anyways.. she had a ball. an absolute ball playing in that corn. i think i might have to go get a couple bushels and fill the little swimming pool for an indoor winter activity.

What is all that white stuff Mother???

why it's snow. something that we always say to miles when it is snowing out, because thumper says it to his mother on bambi. anyways.. it snowed in iowa while we were there. we were all pretty excited about it. the only regret i have is forgetting to take ruthie's picture in it. she just wasn't herself that day. it could of been because she got her first tooth that day... eek. three and half months and already has a tooth. crazy girl.

best friend time

It is crazy to say that brooke and i have been friends for almost 10 years, but we have. it has been so fun to be her friend too. i often miss having brooke around. but we both drove 2 hours to just eat dinner together, because as brooke said "life is just different with kids!!" to say the least. it is hard to focus on adult conversations when two children are screaming their heads off because they are tired.. i love you brooke. i miss you and am so glad that i got to see you. you rock.

Turkey day

Here are the ONLY pictures i took of the girls on thanksgiving..what kind of mother am I??? you can't even tell it is thanksgiving. anyways..here they are. elly m. and brooklyn got along so well. it was so fun to see them become friends. we opened presents from all the cousins because we will not be able to make the trip up there for christmas. but we had a wonderful time at thanksgiving.

the wegener's

the wegener's are my second family. i used to watch their son miles, whom is 18 with autism. he is not really so little anymore,but it ALWAYS a treat to go to their house. i have more pictures later from our second trip there...