Snow Day

After a disappointing December, we finally got a little snow in January. And by little, I really do mean little. So far the most we've gotten at a time is about 5 inches. But it was enough to go out and go sledding with the new sleds that Santa brought this year. This time when we went out, every time I pointed the camera at Olivia, she would cheese it up. Sometimes Jesse participated.

Sometimes he supervised.

Olivia was not super thrilled about her getup though.

This was the first time we went out. There was only about an inch or two, but it was enough to sled on the little hill near our house.

Christmas in a nutshell

Our Christmas celebration started on Christmas Eve at Grammy and Grandad's house. The biggest hit? The superhero costumes that Graham got. Nate also loved his Batcave.

Olivia even got to open some presents!

Nate and Graham also loved the umbrellas that they got. Here is Nate ready to go on Grandad's motorcycle.

The Superheros (With cousin Meckenzie.)

Next came Christmas morning at our house. It didn't take Graham to get into his superman costume. Aunt Cammi was able to come up to see the boys open their presents. This year Nate just wanted to open and open and open. He was not interested in taking turns, or anything else. We breezed through all of the presents in about a half an hour!

After we opened our presents, and had some orange and nutella sweet rolls (not together) as well as a sausage/hashbrown/egg caserole, we headed over to Grandma's house. There were a few more presents for the boys there, and a nice uncle Matt to help Nate put together his legos.

But mom was the clear winner here. She was well taken care of this year.

So now we have finally covered Christmas. Not too much else has been going on with us. I think that mostly gets us caught up again!

Flashback!

So I just saw this picture, and well, I love it! It was taken this past June, but Nate looks about 2 years younger than he does now. This was his first time to stay up late enough to catch lightning bugs. It was when cousin Isaac was here. Look at the expression on his face! It tells it all. :)

Big Boys

The other day I was talking to Graham and Nate about something, and I was trying to explain that they couldn't go somewhere with mommy and daddy. So I ended up saying that it was not something for little boys. You could just see the wheels in Graham's head spinning and he looked at me and said, "what about big boys?"

7 months

Well, it's hard to believe, but this tiny girl is now over half a year old! She is closer to 1 than she is to 0! At the beginning of the year we went in for her 6 month check up, and she weighed in at a hefty 13 lb 14 oz. Yup, she's my 7 month old who is the size of a 4 month old. She loves to sit up and play now. I love it when they get to that point, so much easier to keep them happy. And she really is a happy baby. Well, not right now, she has her first real cold right now, and so life can get quite sad these days. But usually, she is so smiley, and she wins over everyone she sees. She still does that super cute shaking her head no thing, and she thinks she's so clever when she does that. She has also figured out that if she stretches out her arms that someone is likely to pick her up. And if she reaches to someone who is not holding her, then she will be transferred to that person. She has decided that mommy is her favorite person in the world, and she will still put up with being held by other people, but if mommy leaves the room, then she should probably cry. She enjoys her time with mommy so much, that she doesn't like to have it end just because it's the middle of the night. The past week when she was getting sick, she wanted to spend time with mommy during the middle of the night as often as 4 to 5 times each night. But mommy loves her anyway. All she has to do is smile, and usually all is forgiven.

20 pounds

OK, so eventually I will get beyond the Night before Christmas, but first, some other exciting news. I have dropped 20 pounds!
Here is chubby Lauren in September. Here is less chubby Lauren in December. (Never mind the crazy look on my face.)

Now, I have never made a final weight loss goal for myself. Do I want to get to the upper limit of what is considered "healthy" for my height? Do I want to try to just lose for as long as I can? Just keep going and going and going like the Energizer Bunny?

I have finally figured it out.

My final weight loss goal?

To be as svelte as a jungle cat.

'Twas the night before Christmas

... and right before I was able to take a picture of the kids in their matching jammies that Grandma made them, Olivia got kneed in the head, and would not be happy for any of the pictures.