Why, Hello There!

its been six months...six months!?!  

i hardly remember how to do this anymore and it looks like blogger up and changed everything on me. 

some of what you've missed: 

we spent Christmas in az/ut

dan and i celebrated our 8th anniversary

he turned 31

madison turned five 

dan spent a week in alabama 

(we might be moving there next year!)

and part of another in chicago

madison finished preschool

we attended the kansas city temple open house

i ran walked a half marathon

the girls started gymnastics

we joined a pool

they started swimming lessons

and i've become a shuttle service :)

as for jake... he's learned to sit up, crawl, stand, and almost walk. he had his first haircut, survived his introduction to peanut butter, and says mama and dada.  this week we turned his car seat facing forward. he's practically all grown up now.  

these last 6 months have raced by and it makes me nervous the next 12 will too.  i wish our time here in columbia could go on forever...

 **next up - most embarrassing moments

iPhone Snippets

if i stop blogging about the present to write about the past, i'll always be playing catch up.  

so, here's a little something current.

LOVE this picture!

Christmas pjs from grandma skinner (thank you!)

have i mentioned i trained for a 5K the last two months?

yep, the jingle bell dash.  

last saturday.  

between a cough, the rain, and being wimp - i didn't run it.

BUT, i ran four miles today, in the snow, and that's a record for me.

my santa socks and elf skirt are put away for next year.

 

jake is madi's mini-me with darker coloring.

sidenote:  we were decorating the tree and madi kept asking for more "hookers". 

i reminded her that ornaments hang on hooks, not hookers. 

then, in her prayer that night she said, "please bless my eye brows and eye lashes, all the stripes, the dresser, and all the hookers." :)

learning to sit up is still on our To Do list but we're getting close...

outing to twin lakes - heavenly.

my boys.  so dang cute.

Christmas skirts (made by grandma!) and sweaters.

is madison saying cheese, or what? :)

the mauling dan is greeted with when he gets home from work.

we are well- 

racing between responsibilities and perfecting the art of tag teaming

loving the bits and pieces of time we spend together here and there

laughing at the hilarious and adorable children we have

counting our many blessings

and enjoying this Christmas season.

Yard (March/April 2011)

last spring, we dan spent forever working in the backyard.  he raked bags and bags and bags of leaves, shoveled a pickup full of dirt into our grow boxes, tied up the pampas grass and cut it down with the chain saw, hauled debris away and planted strawberries with the girls.  i love seeing him tackle a project and our backyard had plenty.  he even planted dozens of flowers in our front planter right before jake was born so i wouldn't have to bend my super pregnant body in half to do it myself. 

what can i say - i'm a lucky girl!

ps- the pictures at the bottom? sweatpants, princess shoes, high waters, costume jewelry, and goldfish.  hilarious and adorably unstaged.  so glad i caught those moments of sisterly love.

St. Louis Trip (April 2011)

last spring we had an awesome 36 hour vacation as a family.  one last hurrah before jake joined our family.   i mentioned it here.

we:
attended the st. louis temple while some friends watched the girls at a nearby chapel
explored forest park
treated ourselves to Ted Drewes - twice
stayed at a hotel overlooking the arch and mississippi river
and swam in the pool
met up with friends from college
stayed up half the night watching william and kate's royal wedding
dinner at zia's at the hill (best italian i've ever had)
day at the city museum - the girls LOVED it.  at 35 weeks pregnant i was mostly an observer so dan got quite a workout

we loved every minute that we spent together and can't wait to do it again!  

the girls tried out their cute new swim suits from aunt lindsay.  we forgot a swim diaper :)

just looking at these pictures make me claustrophobic.  they climbed in and out of these re-bar tunnels, stories above the ground.

so, so pregnant.

Piano (Feb 2011)

what do you get when you combine birthday money from your parents, in-laws, grandparents, and grandparents in-law?  

enough for a piano on craiglist!!  

do i play? 

barely.  

but i love it.  

so do the girls. :)

Madi Turns 4 (Feb 2011)

madison's 4th birthday party:

preschool friends- hallie, jackson, brylee, cohen, lauren, and parker

pin the the gold coin in the pot under the rainbow

duck, duck, goose

lunch

pinata

spin the bottle (to choose who gives their present to the birthday girl next :)

and rainbow cake, same as the year before

Lindsay's Visit (Feb 2011)

we LOVE getting visitors!  lindsay came out and we did all our favorites - cosmo park, the carousel at the mall, the MKT trail, and bonkers.  it happened to be madison's birthday and she was a huge help with that too.  we miss you lindsay!

The Blizzard (Feb 2011)

we survived and even enjoyed our first and only blizzard last winter.  we stocked up on food and water, bought a camping stove in case the power went out, and weathered the storm at home.  after it snowed 18 inches or so, Dan's clinic was canceled and we enjoyed time as a family for a couple days.  dan spent hours and hours shoveling our driveway and helped the neighbors afterwards as well.  it was an adventure!