Nellie and her brothers

Nellie is such a good dog.  She's getting up there in age, but hasn't really started to show it.  Other than her grey hair on her chin, she looks great!  We just had her at the vet, and she checked out well :) What a relief.  I am not looking forward to her aging :( The boys love her, and I'm trying to have her out more so Callen can get acquainted.  I know when Easton was young, she was out more, but I also had more time to clean up after all the dog hair ;)

 

Easton loves Nellie too :) He is always sure to tell her good-bye when he leaves for daycare, and hi when he gets home.  Both boys love her ears, they are so soft to pet!

 

Enjoying the outdoors in January?!?!

Yes, in Iowa! It was a very weird January for weather.  We had our share of cold days, don't get me wrong, but also warm days.  Warm enough to take little ones out for a stroll!  It was nice to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.  The kids liked it too.  Callen was awake for half of our walk, but slept the whole way home.  Easton went inside for a nap, and Callen stayed out with me why I took down Christmas lights.  I don't think I've ever taken them down in January.  Usually seems like March.  My evergreens outside are turning brown already, so that does say something about the weather.  I'm not complaining, but I don't think I got my money worth this year!! At least it looked pretty for the month of December. 

We also got to check out Uncle James' new farm.  He bought an acreage, the house isn't much but he got a barn and a couple of sheds.  Now he has a place to store his tractors he's started collecting :) He plans on putting his cattle, along with some sheep, chickens, etc. out there.  They've been working on getting the barn cleaned up as it was used previously as a bar.  The boys will have a little haven, I can't wait for summer to spend more time out there!

 

 

Sesame Street Live- Denny Sanford Center, Sioux Falls

Easton was a lucky boy, we got tickets awhile back and had awesome seats! We were in the second row from the stage.  He was a little timid to get too close, but I got to touch Elmo's hand! Now, I wish it would have been Jason Aldean or Eric Church, but you can't always have the best seats :)
He warmed up fast, and wanted to dance with all the kids.  It was really fun watching him.  He was very excited and told my parents all about it when we got home.  I'm sure if Easton had a bucket list, that was on it- check!

Daddy said no to the souvenirs!

#8monthsold!

Callen is now starting to sit on all 4's and rock. He's so close to crawling but just hasn't taken the leap!  He rolls all over the place.  You set him in one spot and look over and he's across the floor!  Usually if you hear him fussing, it's because he's made it to his belly and wants to sit back up.  He's also starting to pull himself up on furniture or bar stools which because dangerous fast!  Easton loves that he's getting older.  He now sits in a seat at the island, and they both think that's pretty cool :) Callen had his first double ear infection in the month of January, but he was still a happy camper!   I wouldn't have known to take him in other than he had a cough which scared me.  So with that also came his first round of antibiotics.  The Dr. couldn't believe he had never been on them before, so that made me feel good.  Maybe all that breast milk did it's job :).  Glad it wasn't anything more serious. 

 

 

 



 

 

Happy New Year!

We went to Todd & Stacy's house for New Year's Eve this year.  They invited everyone bowling first, and then back to their place  It was fun and very low key. 

We had a babysitter for the boys, but they did get to go to the bowl games at Todd & Stacy's later that weekend.  Easton had a blast chasing around after all the older kids, and Callen was in heaven with all the girls paying attention to him. 

Christmas celebration continued...

We were so happy that our relatives from Boone were able to join us to continue celebrating Christmas through the weekend!  Jess & Jon stay with his Mom, Megan & Marty stayed with us and Marty & Renae stayed with my parents.  Grandma Joan was still here to take in the madness :) We had everyone over for enchiladas on Friday night, and then we all went to my parents on Saturday night.  All the kids had a blast playing together.  We were lucky to get snow the day after Christmas, (would have been nice if it happened on Christmas Day) so we took the kids out sledding. It was really cold and Easton wasn't feeling well.  He woke up with an ear infection on Saturday morning.  Poor buddy was miserable!  I took him into the clinic and got some antibiotics, and he was feeling much better by Sunday.  One of his ear tubes fell out a week or so before that, and unfortunately he got an ear infection right away :(  But all in all we had a great weekend, and it was wonderful celebrating with my extended family. 

Maddox, Callen & Mikail

Megan, Alice, Maddox & Mikail. You can see Easton holding his ear with his blankie, poor guy :(

Teddy giving Easton a hug & kiss good-bye!

Merry Christmas!

We woke up and the kids got to play with some of the new toys they got last night.  Mark and I stayed up putting them together :)  

If you see the powdered sugar on his face, yes we did have donuts :)

Then we went to Mass and low and behold- SANTA came!  It didn't take long to unwrap and enjoy all the gifts!  Easton was almost overwhelmed this year.  I think we all learned that you really only need to get him a couple things.  He wants to play with each thing he opens, and sometimes didn't even care to open another.

 

Next on the agenda was NAPS! 

 

But after that, we went back over to my parents house.  We enjoyed a delicious feast Mom & Dad made apple glazed pork chops, they were awesome!

We had a beautiful Christmas.  I love my family, and love this time of year.  There is just something so magical about it!  It was great having my Grandma Joan there to share it with us.  And having Bob & Dee over was great too.  The more the merrier! We are use to large crowds on holidays, and that's something I hope never changes.  Mark of course spoiled me this year, I was so happy with my gifts.  A beautiful Tacori ring from the boys, a blanket fit just for a Mommy, and a Fitbit.  I should never under estimate his gift giving skills, he always comes out on top! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, we sure did :)