Michigan Reflections

Our family took a trip with extended family to New Buffalo, MI this summer.  As usual I'm months behind in even getting the pictures off our camera!  Maybe I'll get our fall pictures posted in the right season.  Maybe.  Above is cousin Seth or Sef, in Hayden language. 

We spent a lot of time at the beautiful beach near our rental house.  It was fun and not very busy, but Lake Michigan water is always a bit on the cold side. 

Question: Which cousin is the glutton at meal time? 

More Christmas

Both kids were thrilled to decorate the tree.  Hayden didn't bat an eye when he woke up from his nap and there was an undecorated tree in the corner of our family room.  Here they are admiring their work.  If you look closely Jensen had wrapped two ornament balls around her ears to create earrings.  That girl!

Baby had to check out the tree.

Oma came over this year to help in the cookie baking and decorating.  Thank goodness for an extra set of hands!

Hayden was content to be entertained by Opa. 

Not really a Christmas picture, but he was so proud of his tower I had to include it!

Hayden with Mam Mam and Pap Pap watching a video of himself playing Wii bowling.  It's crazy how quickly he picks up things!

Getting schooled from Daddy on tools.

Probably the sweetest part of Christmas.  Unprompted Jensen saw a pair of black gloves that she wanted to use her money for to buy for Hayden for Christmas.  He was happy to receive them and to practice saying "mitten".  Jensen was excited to receive a Hello Kitty bracelet that Hayden "picked out".   

Jensen and her new dollhouse.  She was so excited she ran and gave Chris a huge hug when she saw it. 

More tools and time with Opa.

Was Daddy getting tired already?

Snow fell and covered everything the day after Christmas.  One of the two kids enjoyed it.  Hayden wasn't quite so sure this first time and stuck close to the porch until we forced him on the sled.  He didn't like that, but that may have had something to do with the rope burn he got on his hand.  Oops!  Sorry Buddy!

More to come!

Another First

Jensen got her first haircut...finally!  Shortly after Christmas we decided we all decided we were tired of the maintenance of long hair.  By now it was definitely long enough to donate it to someone who needed it through Pantene's hair donation program.  To make just one wig they need six ponytail donations!  I thought Jensen might be a little nervous or at the last minute really want her hair to stay long like Rapunzel's, but she did great!  She sat (relatively) still and was excited to see the result.  We went to Chick-Fil-A for a celebration meal afterward. 

A New Do

I was just about to post the rest of the Christmas photos when I came across these first haircut day pictures.  Needless to say the cut was definitely needed right after Thanksgiving, but Little Buddy looks so much like a big boy now it makes me sad. 

Happy New Year!

So I'm horrible about getting pictures off the camera so these are pictures from Chris' phone.  We had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas this year.  We saw Chris' parents the weekend before Christmas...Hayden's new car that plays music was a big hit from that time....lots of dancing.  Above Hayden is working on saying "Ho, ho, ho!"

Jensen LOVED wearing Christmas (fancy) dresses every day after Thanksgiving.  Luckily Oma and I found several dresses at yard sales for her to wear. 

Hayden and Jensen ready for the Cantata at church.

Choosing what gifts to buy from World Relief.  Jensen chose fruit trees. 

We spent Christmas Eve with Oma and Opa at church and then for dinner at their house.  Christmas morning was so relaxing!  The kids didn't know they were getting gifts so they slept in until 8.  I made apple cinnamon pancakes, we opened gifts and then Oma and Opa joined us for lunch and dinner and playtime with new toys.  Chris gave me a great gift and put in lighting in our dining room.  Yay!  Hopefully I'll post Christmas at home pictures later.  My siblings came in after Christmas.  The highlight was meeting cousin Seth who was adopted by Damon and Liz this past summer.  The cousins had fun playing together and the entire family had fun sledding (until we got cold!) in the snow we got on the 26th. 

The kids missed everyone after the holiday was over!  Baby Einstein therapy! 

Oh Jensen!

We couldn't get this child to hardly crack a smile when we were paying a photographer to take her picture, but when we get home this is what she does. 

Dora and the Pumpkin

It was a little chilly to trick-or-treat, but we made it to a few houses around Oma and Opa's neighborhood before the kids fingers got too frozen to put treats in their buckets.  Jensen Dora refused to wear her coat because she was so proud of her outfit (even declaring to a passerby that she was beautiful).  Hayden was a little confused as to why he had to wear a pumpkin on top of his clothes, but quickly caught on to knocking on a door and getting candy in his pumpkin bucket.  He enjoyed his first taste of candy after the adults concluded that we were done (we got really cold!).  Dora did wear a wig which we learned to never leave on a chair overnight...it could get confused as an animal the next morning.  Thanks goes to Opa and Oma who carried the little, rather slightly beefy, pumpkin around the neighborhood!