Happy Leap Day!

We woke up this morning with no snow on the ground and now at 8pm we have at least an inch and expect another 5-6 inches tonight and tomorrow. We went out briefly today as the girls really wanted to play in the snow (snowpants are at daycare). We stayed out for a few minutes but it was coming down pretty fast and was pretty cold. Hope everyone has a great Leap Day. It appears that our March is going to come in like a lion and hopefully out like a lamb. :) Enjoy the pics.

January Happenings

We've been pretty busy this last month and I just haven't had too much time to blog.....obviously by the lack of posts.

Disney on Ice was one the highlight this month. Lily was so excited. She was smiling, clapping and dancing the whole time. Alaina started out the same way but they took a little nap in the middle of it, but woke up for the finale. We all had a great time.

so happy to see Minnie and Snow White!!

First ponytail

"look what I did Mommy!" Luckily they are washable markers. ;)

My crazy girls

Playing Princesses in the castle from Gma and Gpa! They love it!

We got a Wii for xmas to try to exercise more especially in the winter months. The girls love to dance with us.

Have to end with GO PATS!! I'm currently posting this during the Super Bowl so you can tell I'm really into the game. Hope they win though as it just makes everyone out here much happier.

Xmas...finally

Sorry we haven't posted in over a month but it seems we've been a bit busy over the holidays this year. We traveled back to Iowa and were blessed to spend quite a bit of time with both sides of the family. Lily and Alaina were both spoiled rotten, but of course they loved it. Here's a few pictures of our holidays. Hope everyone had a great xmas and New Years.

Making sugar cookies

Our Xmas morning before we flew out. Lily was especially excited for Santa coming this year and she got a new roller carry on bag to take on the plan. Just what she asked him for.

How Alaina spent most of present opening....she wasn't too excited to open most presents. She'd prefer to sit on them. :)

Lily giving Leah a hug.

Brinkman Family Pic...very difficult to get 3 kids to look at a camera that is on a timer.

how we spent a lot of our trip....sick, taking lily's temp.

Lily had to go sit in the tractor with gpa even if it wasn't moving. And she wanted to go look at the cows.

The only nap she got the whole trip!

Small Family pic

Happy Bday Gpa Small!

3 year pics

Lily Turns 3!

We had a great last few days celebrating Lily's bday. She loved getting the mail this week as everyday there was a package for her. Talk about an excited girl! Thank you everyone for sending her gifts. We had a small party today with neighbors and cake and ice cream. Fun time had by all. Ended the night going out to eat at Bertucci's, Lily's favorite restaurant b/c she gets to play with pizza dough. :)

Per Lily's request a Minnie Mouse cake

Singing Happy Bday

Blowing out candles

Opening present...Minnie Mouse PJs!

We love dominoes

We can't believe she is 3 already. These years have flown by and you have grown to be such a "big girl." You love playing with your babies and princesses. You even like to play with Alaina when she is cooperating with you. You are such a protector to Alaina and if she is doing anything that is "dangerous" you don't let her. Such a great big sister. You love to swing outside, play board games, and color. You have a great laugh that makes me smile every time I hear it. We love you Lillian Marie!

The Halloween that Almost Never Was...

We celebrated Halloween on Nov. 6th due to our city's power outages. The weather was not great, but not freezing like last year. Enjoy our pictures of our little duck and ballerina princess. Yes that is what she called her costume b/c she couldn't decide what she wanted to be. I think it worked out to be both. :)

Alaina preferred to climb up on the table (our new favorite thing and she can do it all by herself) and grab the candy. She was pretty quick at grabbing it at peoples houses as well.

Happy Halloween....a little late!

Lots of pictures, very random order.

Hopefully it won't be a month from now when I post their Halloween costumes. Tonight is our trick-or-treat.

Just starting to snow...

the next morning....of course we're going to build....

...a snowman!

Making Halloween sugar cookies

Carving pumpkins when we were out of power.

Everyone loves to go and pick apples!

The next are from our trip back to Wisconsin at the beginning of October. We went back for Shannon and Tom's wedding and then Grant and I got to celebrate our 5 year anniversary with a few days to ourselves while the grandparents watched the girls. It was fantastic, Grant golfed and I went to the spa. We went to an art museum (pic below) and of course ate lots of cheese. :)

Beer and cheese stop

View from our hotel room

Cave of the Mounds National Landmark

Shannon and Tom's wedding. The girls loved dancing!!

Best family pic we could get

Hard to get them all 4 looking at the camera

The ceremony on top of the ski hill was beautiful.

Random lunch outside in September ( I know this is an old pic)

Loving our new swingset

and this has happened many times