Santa's Little Helper

The kids and I headed over to Cedar Falls the last couple days to spend some time with my dad and Sharon. Malia was a little disappointed that the dogs were at Sharon's boys, but soon got over it and enjoyed all the attention she was given. Sharon tried her best to get some pics of Malia, but she was being her quirky self. I stole this one from Sharon's blog. She truly is a "cheeser". Abram was again sicky-face so we opted to limit the photo shooting to the oldest ham. Now Malia also has a nasty cough. Ugh... I wish my kiddos felt better.

A Visit to Santa

Last weekend the kids and I were strolling Walmart (surprise, surprise) and they announced over the loudspeaker that Santa was there and you could get a FREE picture with him. I'm not one to pass up anything free! When we got over to the Christmas area I was afraid we would have to wait in line, but there was only one other person there. In our journey across the story Malia was super excited and was babbling with all of the things she was going to ask Santa for. Once there, however, it was an entirely different story. As soon as she sat on Santa's lap, she shut down. He tried joking with her and asked if she wanted a tank for Christmas. She looked at him like he was a moron. Next he asked if she wanted her driver's license for Christmas. She did perk up at that but still wouldn't take her hands away from her mouth or make eye contact. Then he asked if she wanted a baby doll and she nodded her head emphatically. Then we tried to take a picture and well... you see...a LITTLE bit of an attitude.


Abram on the other hand played along. He just stared at him when he was talking. I'm pretty sure he was strategizing how to pull his beard off in one single motion. When it came time for pictures, my little man was all smiles...

I can't get over how grown up he looks. Abram, that is. He was 9 months on Thursday! Time is going by so quickly. Abram is super proficient at the army crawl and occasionally gets in position for the more traditional crawl. He has his third tooth coming in up top to add to his two bottom teeth. He is a super sweet boy, even with all of his sicky-ness and allergy drama. I just love him to pieces.

To be fair, a little on Malia. She is as sassy as ever! Her newest pastime is playing computer games online. She still LOVES anything to do with painting, in fact that is the game she plays most often online. She is obsessed with determining the timing of everything. "Where we going tomorrow?" "What are we doing next?" "We did that last week (more often than not, we just did it that morning)". She is so loving and constantly tells me that she loves me. And EVERYONE is her best friend! She just got to go to her first official birthday party this morning and loved it. I am so grateful for her loving spirit and the assured laughter that she brings to the day.

5 weeks from today! David said I couldn't count days because it makes it seem too long. I was however given clearance to measure in weeks. :) I can't wait to see my man. I miss him and love him SO much. Just five more weeks!

Snow Day Activities

Blizzards are fun! Especially when you are trapped inside with some of your favorite people. Britt and the kids came over Tuesday knowing that the weather was going to get crazy. Nothing but fun ensued...

Best buds... Nathan and Abram. Nathan dotes on Abram...

Malia and Nathan passing some time playing computer games... Note some of Malia's drawings in the bottom right corner. Just these last few days she has been drawing actual people. She was even drawing a picture of David and asked, "Does papa have eyebrows?" and proceeded to add eyebrows. Quite the artist!

Today we braved the outdoors for a whole five minutes! Needless to say Mali was pretty excited to go out...

Nora and Malia showing how much snow we got in 24 hours... We went from nothing to pure craziness!

Making the long awaited snow angels. She got to stomp around and make her footprints too. We tried making a little snowman but it just wasn't packable snow...

On to decorating cookies... as you can see Malia was pretty stoked about this...

Mali got a little crazy with the flour...

Adding her favorite part... the sprinkles...

Ummm... A bit much! She was the first to use the sprinkles... over half gone!

The finished product and the proud artist...

All in all, a great time. It was fun to see how excited Malia got about the snow. She took forever to settle down last night because she couldn't wait for the snowfall. I hope she got her fill of angels and footprints in the snow. Love that all of the cousins get to spend time together. Malia kept saying that Nathan and Nora are her best friends. Sure do love those kids! Mom and Chris were trapped at home also. Lots of fun just hanging out with family. Good times!

National Mississippi River Museum

Today the kids and I took a "field trip" to the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque. It's actually a Smithsonian affiliate and pretty impressive for our area. I was a little disappointed they didn't offer a military discount. At the same time, if I was staying in the area longer I think I would go ahead and get the year pass. Malia had a blast checking out fish, otters, frogs, snakes, lizards, ducks, alligators, and craw fish. She still, however, wants to see animals but will just have to wait until we get to Phoenix.

The kids checking out the frogs...

Abram and the BIG fish. Malia was acting terrified of them but Abram just thought they were funny...

Malia actually took this picture... An aspiring photographer...

At the learning center they can "pet" the craw fish... Malia wasn't so sure...Abram touched the craw fish before Malia would even think about it!

After sometime she gave in. Later when we were telling grandpa about the day I said that she "pet" the craw fish. She countered, "No I didn't. I just touch it with one finger. Just one finger!" Glad we got that clarified!

Abram and his cheesy grin...

Malia checking out the microscopes in the learning center...

At the end we got to watch the Rhinoceros Lizard get fed. The kids thought that was pretty cool...

It was a great day. I wish we would have gone sooner. You think I'd learn with moving around as much as we do. It's always a good idea to find a museum or zoo in the area that you know you can enjoy repeatedly and go ahead and get the season pass. With kids, especially mine, and their desire to be out and about, it's great to have something you can do any time and is well worth your money. Any suggestions for the Phoenix area my friends?

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family and some friends. My mom is the oldest of 8 and 4 of the 8 and all their kids were able to make it this year. We had 50+ people! Once again we held it at the cultural hall of our church. It works out quite nice. The food was delicious as always. We were also joined by my sister Brittney's in-laws and some of mom's (and now ours, too!) friends from work. It was great to spend time with so many awesome people. Everyone played BINGO and we got some sweet prizes.


My grandma brought little figurines for the grand kids to paint. It was supposed to be one figurine per kid but Mali went nuts! She LOVES painting. She ended up painting her's, Abram's, David's, and mine! ( and yes I still get counted as a grand kid!) In the end she even painted another one, for a grand total of five. She was so concentrated and had a great time....

Here's the little man contentedly chewing on a car...

How grandpa and Abram spent the afternoon, post grubbing...

Here is me contemplating my next move in Scrabble. Apparently I should have thought a little harder... my uncle Eric whomped everyone. Although, let it be known that had Eric not gotten 2 50 point bonuses for using all of his letters, I would have been close. After that we played a rather intense game of spoons. Blood was drawn, shoes lost, and chairs knocked over. Good times...

Here was one of my contributions to the feast... Little Acorns. I got this from my friend's blog. Aren't they cute? Donut holes, melted peanut butter chips, toffee chips, and a pretzel piece. Delicious! Thanks to Britt and her awesome photography...

It was my second Thanksgiving in a row without David. We are in no way getting used to having him gone, but it was nice to be surrounded by family and friends. Can't wait for next year when I will actually get to celebrate the holidays with my man.

We also got word on when his leave will be... January 16th he should land in Phoenix. I can't wait!!!! David's sister, Liz will fly up here on the 14th and help me drive back to Phoenix. I actually bought the plane ticket before I knew when his leave was for sure. They had said it could be January (the latter part), February, or March. Leave it to the Army to mess with my plans! Hopefully our traveling will go well and we'll get there BEFORE David does. I don't want to waste a minute of the precious two weeks we will have with him.

After that the kids and I will be staying in Arizona for a while. It will be a great opportunity for the kids and I to spend time with David's side. Not to mention work on our Spanish! I am very excited to get to know everyone better and have them get to know us as well. Often when I tell people my plan to spend time with my in laws the give me horror stories of their own and tell me that I am crazy. I personally am excited for this opportunity. I am sure there will be challenges but the benefits will definitely outweigh them. Can't wait to see everyone!

Some Swinging Time

This is mostly for David... Mali loves swinging with her papa... So here you go, honey...



May not be that exciting... but I'm sure I know a man that would give anything to be here for it.

Playing at the Park

While boating at Delhi, we got to play at the park. Britt and her family went out on the boat first, and while we waited Malia got to do one of her favorite things.... SWING!


Then we tried a little combo sing time. Abram wasn't quite so sure at first...


Even in motion he wasn't quite so sure!

She even enjoyed the big, scary, ancient slide...

Abram mostly just hung out on his blanket...

This was SO two weeks ago, when I could sort of keep the little guy on the blanket! Now he is everywhere. He has mastered the "army crawl" and gets to whatever his heart desires. Every now and then I catch him lifting his belly up and rocking on his knees. My little boy is growing SO fast!