Christmas

The build up to Christmas this year was a lot of fun. Emily is at the perfect age to enjoy all of the wonder and excitement that Christmas brings. She was very excited to get our Christmas tree and help decorate it. She loved pointing out the beautiful Christmas lights around town and always could see Santa . After all of the preparation and excitement our family ended up with the stomach flu over Christmas. All four of us were sick for a couple of days. We spent several low key days at home baking cookies and playing other fun indoor games. We were eventually able to see both sides of the family and celebrate Christmas. The girls both loved all of their presents. Emily can't stop telling people that Santa brought her a kitchen and Eliza got a new puppy. Christmas really is the most wonderful time of year. I just hope that next year we can skip the being sick part. 

Potty Time & 5 months of Eliza

We have had a busy couple of months with football, family get togethers, and work. Kevin officially became a shareholder of AEI on November 15th. We couldn't be more proud of him and all he has accomplished in the last 10 years. It has been a wild ride but totally worth it. Kevin and I were also able to attend the Big 10 Championship game to watch the Badgers run all over Nebraska. It was a great weekend. The girls enjoyed a weekend at Nana and Papa's. Papa enjoyed spending some much needed time with his granddaughters.

We have started potty training in our house! Emily decided that she was ready and we have been working with Tanya's. She seems to finally be getting the hang of it. She loves wearing pull ups and getting potty treats. She is so proud of herself when she goes. Emmy is definitely a big girl these days. I love the conversations that we have. She is very excited about Christmas this year. She notices all of the Christmas lights, snowmen, and Christmas trees while we are out driving. Last week we had the TBH (daycare) Christmas show. Now that Emily is in the two year old room she has to sing a song on stage. They sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas and had the cutest dance to go with it. She did such a great job!

Today Eliza is 5 months old! Some days I can not believe how quickly the time has gone by and others I can't remember life before her. She is rolling and rolling and rolling. She likes to sit in her Bumbo chair while we eat dinner and is close to sitting up on her own. Eliza has started having some oatmeal and bananas. She prefers the bananas over the oatmeal. Soon I think we will start some sweet potatoes. Introducing new foods is always so much fun. Eliza thinks her big sister is hilarious and is often laughing at Emily while they "play" together. She has become quite the smiley baby and often is sticking out her tongue when she smiles. Eliza is sleeping through the night for the most part. She still wakes up occasionally but over all does pretty well. She loves to play in her exersaucer and jumperoo. She has even started reaching for us to pick her up.

All and all Kevin and I feel very blessed. This Christmas season has already been so much fun with the girls. I am looking forward to spending Christmas as a family of four and all of the surprises that come with that.

Big 10 Championship! 

Andrea and I met Ron Dayne! 

Yeah Badgers! 

Emily ready for the Christmas program

Sisters! 

Emmy on stage with her friends 

Liza Lou

Christmas!! 

Happy Baby 

5 months old

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween Emily insisted on being a princess. She was so excited about wearing her costume she talked about it for weeks. After initial hesitation while trick or treating she finally got the hang of it and we made up and down our whole block. Eliza was our little moo bossy this year. She came along trick or treating riding comfortably in the pack. We had a great time!!

My little princess and cow 

Family Fun

Trick or Treat time! 

Eliza's Baptism

We celebrated Eliza's baptism on Sunday October 28th. It was a beautiful day with family. We feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful family. Eliza did pretty well while being baptized. While we were up in the front of the church, Emily kept saying I be baptized too. After the church service we had everyone over to our house. Which was nice since most people had yet to see our new house. We feel very blessed to have little Liza in our lives. We are a very happy family of four.

Em standing in front of church

Eliza's godparents my cousin Stacy and Kevin's cousin Dan

Pumpkin Farm!

We were able to make it to Treinen Pumpkin Farm again this year. It has become one of our favorite family traditions. Emily was very excited to go to the pumpkin farm and pick out her own pumpkin. It was a fairly nice day. We did the corn maze first. Emily like helping choose which way to go in the maze. She walked almost the whole thing. Eliza slept most of the maze

Helping with the map

Let's go this way

Sunny family photo

Loving the corn maze! 

After the corn maze we got to ride on a house drawn wagon to the pumpkin farm. Emily found her and Eliza's pumpkins right away. We all had a great time and can't wait for next year! 

Here's my pumpkin! 

Me and my little pumpkins :) 

Wagon ride back after picking pumpkins

Emmy is this tall! 

Little Roller

Eliza has started rolling. Actually I think she has been rolling for about 3 weeks now. Now her favorite sleeping position is on her tummy. In fact in her crib she wiggles her way into the top corner on her tummy and sleeps soundly from there. Occasionally she still gets her arm stuck under her body but she is getting the hang of it. When you put her on the floor she will do at least two rolls in a row. Every time she rolls Emily yells for me to tell me that Liza is moving! I don't think she is too big a fan of the fact that her sister is now (sort of) on the move.

Eliza also has her first sinus infection. If I remember correctly it is right around the same time that Em had hers. After a couple rounds of antibiotics we are back to being (relatively) healthy. Liza is also smiling a lot. It is so cute to see her two dimples. She has even giggled here and there. However getting her to smile when the camera comes out isn't as easy. When Em was her age she smiled happily for the camera, Liza not so much. I am hoping to capture a couple sooner than later.

Almost caught the smile 

Enjoying her fingers 

Rolling

Holding her head up like a big girl