Merry Christmas!

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Abby and Addi playing in the snow together!
Abby looking cute in her pigtails!
Connor, Abigail, and Addilyn sledding! (Abby & Addi's first time!)

We love having family around during the holidays and we've taken full advantage. Connor woke up this morning saying, "We're going to Grandma's house today, huh!?!" Surprisingly I had to say we were staying home today. It feels like we've been living over there...Connor loves all the attention he gets from uncles and aunts and Abby loves playing with her cousins! 2 days before Christmas Abby got tubes put in her ears, which made her a very happy little girl for Christmas! She's had multiple ear infections and it was time! We spent Christmas Eve in our home as a family and enjoyed acting out Christ's birth with the kids...Connor was Joseph, I was Mary, Mac was the donkey, and Abby-well next year she'll have a bigger role in the story. She enjoyed holding Jesus (her baby). Christmas morning came bright and early and the kids were so excited to see that Santa visited our house. Favorite presents: Abby-kitchen and baby stroller; Connor-nerf gun! Then we headed to Talmage to celebrate with the rest of the family, enjoying Christmas breakfast at Lynn and Cheryl's, then opening more presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The whole family was together on Sunday and it was really nice to play games and just chat!

Our little dare-devil going head first!
Abby was pretty expressionless on her first sledding adventure, but I think she liked it!

He just has to have his tie over his vest!

Lately...

Our family has been bombarded with sickness the past few weeks, but we did manage to get outside and go to our newly renovated neighborhood park on one of our warmer days! Here's Abby all bundled up in her new snow suit. She loved it... except when she'd fall down....she couldn't get up on her own (too cute!) Her favorite thing at the park are the swings!

Connor kept saying, "let's go on the tater-totter!" Did I say how much I love this little boy?!?
And here's a snapshot of our sick little boy down with the stomach flu. He was the first to get it and then passed it along to the rest of us. Mac was the worst and spent a few hours at the ER. They couldn't believe how dehydrated he was...4 liters=1 gallon of fluids put in him. He was sick. Thankfully, we're all feeling tons better and just in time for the fun stuff!

Abby's O N E ! ! ! ! !

Our baby girl is 1!! I can't believe it. Abby is still our oh so sweet little girl. Some of her favorite things are DANCING, baths, going to the park (on nice days), ice-cream, stealing Connor's toys and running as fast as she can the other way, tickles by daddy, and playing with all our shoes. She's sayng "No, nononono" a lot now. As soon as she touches the TV she'll turn around and mumble "nonononono." It's so cute and she knows how cute she is! Just this week she has gotten about 3 teeth, so she's really being a trooper because I know it hurts. She's growing and now weighs 20 lbs and stands 30 1/4" tall! We love her and can't imagine our family without her.

Abby's Birthday Party!

Abby turned 1 yesterday!! We celebrated with family, Grandma & Grandpa Burton, Uncle Coy, Aunt Jill, cousin Grace, and of course the four of us. It was such a fun night watching the kids play together, eating, more eating, and great socializing. Abby was a great hostess and shared all her new toys with everyone! : )

Connor was really sweet to Grace.
Abby and Grace had such a fun time playing together!

Not sure what she's thinking here.

Yum!

Happy Halloween!

Mac and I dressed up as zombies...if you look close enough you can see Abby is stabbing Mac with a Knife!! ; )
Cutest little ladybug ever!

Connor (the frog) and his friend, Rooks (The Bumblebee-Transformers) trick or treating!

This year has made me a fan of Halloween...we had such a fun time! We started the evening off with trick-or-treating with friends, then headed home for Connor's favorite part (handing candy out), and then we headed to Roosevelt for a Halloween party! They had fun games for the kids and even the adults too, great food, wonderful company, costumes, and an awesome Haunted House! I've always been a scaredy cat when it comes to haunted houses, but even Mac said his heart was racing. Really great night, kids were up WAY past their bed times, ate WAY too much candy, but WAY worth it!

Family Pictures

A week ago we took some family pictures with a very talented photographer, Mindy Smith! She just sent me these two pictures and I can't wait to see the rest! It was a perfect cloudy day for picture-taking and the kids seemed to have fun! I love seeing the two of them together laughing!!

More from Kansas

I love this picture of Abby at the camp fire.
Truck loaded up with the piano and ALL my sister's house plants. Thanks Sheila!

Mac trying to shoot Jim's bow.
Loved cheering Justin on at his game!

Almost 11 Months!

Abigail is 4 days shy of being 11 months! It's hard to believe next month we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday! For the past 2 weeks Abby has started walking...she first could only take 3-4 steps at a time, but now it's up to 7 or so steps. I can't believe how fast she's moving already. She says, mama, dada, and her newest word is "Hi!" It's the cutest thing because whenever she hears me say hello on the phone, she'll turn and wave her arm and say it in the cutest, sweetest little voice. I love it! I think her favorite time of the day though is when she hears the front door open and in comes daddy. She starts smiling, giggling, stomping her little feet and flailing those cute little arms until daddy scoops her up into his arms. I think she may already becoming a daddy's girl.

Yes...she finally has enough hair for me to put it up in a little "Pebbles" do!
Love those little legs.
Showing off her waving skills!
Abby loves helping in the laundry room!

Our Trip to K A N S A S!

You should be able to tell that we Really do LOVE seeing family since we drove 14 hours to visit my sister's family in Haysville, Kansas last week! It was great to visit with them and say our goodbyes since they'll be moving to Germany next month! We were able to catch one of Justin's Varsity Football games as well and had a great time cheering him on! We also brought back my mom's piano to store at our house while they're gone...thanks Jim, Justin, and Ty for helping load it up for us! I've already been playing it a ton.

GO Justin! #68


I absolutely loved roasting marshmellows on this fire pit! There's something so fun about sitting around a fire on a brisk evening enjoying each other's company!

September

Jill and Grace came out for a quick visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house while Uncle Darrin was visiting and you can see the girls had a fun time together. I do need to have a little pep talk with Abigail next visit though and remind her in order to make friends with other little girls there can be NO hitting with or without toys. Abby really wasn't trying to be mean, but she does have a problem flailing her arms, so watch out if you're in her midst! I think Grace forgave her though!

This is Connor's first day of pre-school! He did so well and he loves his "Teacher." He has 6 girls in his class along with 4 other boys. He tells me he colored, painted, glued, read stories, and played with Cameron almost every time I pick him up! He's growing way too fast!
They love their Uncle Darrin!
Playing with Grandma in the play house!