Merry Christmas Emmy and Brenner!

This was our first Christmas spent away from family. While it could have been a sad one, we had so much to celebrate! It's Brenner's 1st Christmas, and Emmy is getting at that age where the magic of Christmas is alive! Well, not really. I had the presents sitting under the tree all week, and she never got curious, which I thought was pretty funny. She didn't really understand the concept of Santa, although she knew that he said, "Ho Ho Ho!" I didn't even take the kids to see Santa this year. Shopping with these 2 has been quite the task, and the long lines seemed never ending, so maybe next year!

We woke up Christmas morning, got a few goodies prepared, and headed over to the Harpers for a Christmas brunch. We had some great food including biscuits and gravy, ham, french toast, cookies, monkey bread, apple crisp, Bloody Marys and Mimosas mmmm... Thanks Harpers for such a wonderful time! What great friends we have to celebrate these wonderful holidays with!

Then we came home, opened up presents and spent the evening video chatting with our families. I'm glad you all got to see Emmy and Brenner via Skype. Well, Brenner fussed while skyping with my family, and he was fast asleep while with Wade's family, but you get the idea. He's our future linebacker. He likes to eat and still fusses quite a bit. But despite that, he really is a happy baby. He laughs and smiles like no other. I had him sleeping through the night for about a week, and then Wade got home. That seemed to mess up his schedule because now he wakes up almost 4 times a night! We'll get that little guy back on schedule soon I hope. He's been discovering toys lately. He likes to watch tv and look at the fun lights on toys. He can grasp things in his hand. He hasn't rolled over yet. And tummy time is not his favorite, so Mommy needs to work on that. We love that little man!




And Emmy is just a crack up. While video chatting with my family, she fed her new baby doll. She got to see the whole family. She hasn't seen Skylar or Austin for a year! Yet, she calls all 3 of my brothers "Skylar." And Wade's family got to video chat with Cinderella, Ariel, Princess Aurora, and Snow White! Emmy decided to play dress-up and wanted to show them all of her neat costumes. And then she'd ask Caitlyn and Colten, "What costume are YOU wearing?" (On a side note, yes, those are bruises on her face. Emmy is quite the klutz. She got those beauties from running into the door and into a glass table. She is very accident-prone. Wade has learned that "chasing" is not a game to be played indoors.)
Emmy got a Snow White doll from Santa.

She got ABC stacking blocks. This is her famous "Ta-Da" pose.

And it wouldn't be complete without her pony on top.

One more Ta-Da!

Emmy and her "Giggle, Giggle, Quack" book. Very excited about this!



I'm so glad we got to "see" you guys! Emmy and Brenner were officially spoiled this Christmas. Thanks to our families for all the fun gifts! We love you so much and we are looking forward to seeing each of you soon!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve, we decided to get together with our great friends the Corbetts. Both of our families stayed in town, so we thought what better than to spend the day with each other. We spent the day at their house watching the girls run around and the sweet baby boys sleep, eat, and play. We are truly grateful to be in the same town as this wonderful family. Here are a few pictures of our fun day. Thanks for letting our family invade! It's always a fabulous time! Love you guys!

Derek, Drew, Wade, and Brenner


Kamryn and Emmy
Emmy got a fun pony with snap-on accessories and books from Kamryn.

Brenner got a shirt and a spinning toy from Drew.

Kamryn got Guess Who and a shirt from Emmy.

Drew got a couple shirts and teething keys from Brenner.

I got some Polka Dot Riesling, a cute scarf, and really cute earrings from Lindsay.

And the master barbecuer got some BBQ ingredients, and he can't wait to grill!

Lindsay got mixing and prep bowls from me.

And Derek got Gentleman's Jack from Wade.

A Playdate with Our Friends...and a Turtle Too

We have been pretty busy this month. They just re-did a section of the aquarium in town and we went to meet some friends for an afternoon playdate. Emmy had so much fun running around and exploring.

Emmy, Mitch, and Gracie

Liz, Peter, Me, Emmy and little Brenner who is hiding

We couldn't take this picture fast enough for Emmy. She had other things to do...

Mitch, Emmy, Gracie, and Peter
This was one of the new parts of the aquarium. It was like going through a tunnel of water. The fish were swimming on all sides of you. It was really neat. The pictures didn't turn out very well. But it looked really neat. Emmy really enjoyed it.
Brenner will be 4 months next week. Yes, I know, 4 months already, how can it be? Well, I decided to weigh him the other day, and he's already 17 pounds. He has nearly tripled his birth weight! His belly laugh gets me everytime. When I'm getting him undressed he laughs, especially when I lift his arms up. H'e very ticklish. And he's quite a kicker. He's always kicking his legs. He found his hand last week. I love when they discover things. He held his little hand up in front of his face and moved it around and stared at it in amazement. Like, "Wow...look what I can do." And about 3 nights ago, he decided that those hands taste really good too! He'll sometimes spit his pacifier out and go to town on his hand. He still ooohs and ahhhs at Emmy. Noone can get him to talk like she can.





Emmy's a little mommy. She puts a blanket over Brenner and makes sure that he's nice and cozy. When he spits up, she runs to get a burp cloth.
She'll hold her baby doll and say, "I got you, I got you..." It's so incredibly cute. She likes to run around in her diaper now. She was playing dress-up in her princess costumes. And then it turned into dressing up in her pj's. And now, it's just getting naked. I don't know how dressing up turned into that!
She's such a caring little girl. She tells Brenner, "oh, you're alright," when he cries. And she's put his pacifier back in his mouth. I'm so grateful to have my little helper. Emmy, you really are the best!

More December Pictures

We couldn't decide if we were going to put our Christmas tree up this year with Wade's crazy schedule, but I decided I would do it all by myself. And, somehow, I did it! Emmy had fun taking each ornament out of the box. She was such a big helper. Here is Emmy posing next to our tree...






And here are some pictures of cute, little Brenner. He's quite the talker. His favorite word is "guh." It's so cute! His favorite time to talk is at night around 9:00 after his feeding. He enjoys having a full belly!





Poor Brenner, everytime I use the bright flash on the camera, it scares him and his eyes get big and wide. So sorry Brenner boy. Mommy takes too many pictures of you 2.


I like this picture because it shows how fascinated he is with Emmy. Everytime she gets close to him, he gets the biggest grin across his face and ooos and ahhhs. They've got something special together already. It's going to be so much fun watching these two as they grow up.

These Are a Few of Emmy's Favorite Things

Dressing up and marshmallows...

Meet Cinderella, the marshmallow princess.

Brenner's 3 Months!

Little B turned 3 months last Saturday. He is such an amazing baby. He has the cutest smiles and sounds. His little chunky face, belly, and legs make me laugh. Emmy was not at all a chunky baby. I've just been eating him up. Happy 3 months Brenner Man!