Tree Trimming

So we finally have our Christmas tree put up and decorated. Mike did all of the grunt work with the branches, while I did the lights and ornaments. The girls tried to help. They love it when I turn the lights on at night, and they certainly have their favorite ornaments. Bekah is enamored with one of a mouse holding a paint brush that I got from my Uncle when I was little. Needless to say, it is now at the very top, but she begs to see it all the time. I just wrapped some presents tonight, and Hannah helped pick all the ribbons. Then she put every present under the tree. I'm not sure they quite understand, but they know it's baby Jesus' birthday, and we're going to get presents -- but they should be Jesus' presents. It's really funny to see how their mind works!

Visiting Cousins

We were just lucky enough to have Jackie, Scott, and the kids in town for Thanksgiving. Even though the cousins only see each other at most twice a year, our girls absolutely love it when they come to visit. Hannah is usually shy around other kids, but the cousins (especially Kephas) are serious exceptions to the rule. They were all chasing each other around the house and playing "gym-o-naso-stics" (according to Bekah) on a blow up mattress in the basement minutes after they got here. Here's a few pics. The one of Kephas and Hannah really shows how much fun they have, but Felicity and Hannah stealing Chex Mix off the stove was priceless!

School is cool

Thanks to Aunt Julie for these Christmas presents from last year, the girls are rocking Truman State school spirit.

Sock it to her!

Bekah has been hilarious lately. She not only wants to do what Hannah is doing, but she also wants to do what Mom and Dad are doing, too.

So here are a few pictures of her playing copycat! Wearing Daddy's socks -- they went all the way up her thighs. And also wearing Mommy's belly brace.

Birthday booty

Bekah was very excited about her new tricycle -- and helmet -- that she got for her birthday. She and Hannah even wanted to help put it together. She got about 5 minutes outside with her new toy before we had to put it up for winter. She'll have a lot of fun playing with it in the spring.

Bekah's 2nd birthday

Bekah turned two on Nov. 3rd. We enjoyed a 70 degree day at the Indy zoo (amazing for November!) and then we finally had a little party for her last weekend. The girls love the zoo, but the aquatic animals are their favorite. Hannah loved to be surprised when the sharks swam really close. Both girls go nuts over the ducks ... I think Bekah would have dove in after them if she could!
Bekah loves Minnie Mouse, so mommy made her a Minnie Mouse cake for her brithday party. Of course the night before she tells me she wants a Michael Phelps cake (how she remembers all the way back to the Olympics I don't know!) but she was awed by Minnie Mouse when she saw it all done. The first thing she said was she needed birthday candles on it to blow them out. She certainly knows what to do with cake ... they love it when I bake and they get the scraps/beaters!

Guten Tag!

Ok -- so most of you know that Mike and I were able to go to Germany in October ... thank you Wheel of Fortune! The girls did great at home without us, I'm certain we missed them more than they missed us. We took hundreds of pictures, but here are a few of our favorite places.

The white building is a picture of the view out our hotel window. European buildings are gorgeous!

There's also a picture of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church that was bombed during WWII. 70% of the city was destroyed, so the new architecture all over town was amazing. The new church they built is the one just next door. Right next to the church was a mall/plaza where there were lots of street vendors. Our hotel was so close, that we spent quite a bit of time in this area. You'll notice the picture of Mike with all the fruit -- that was one of our favorite stands ... the guy was very nice.

Of course we visited the wall, couldn't go to Berlin without seeing it! There were several places around the city that had places dedicated to remnants and the history of it.

The Reichstag was the seat of German government and just an amazing building ... Mike's favorite.

The thing I loved most of Germany was the beauty of the city with all the trees and rivers running through it. Even though the zoo (me next to the giant elephant) was right in the middle of downtown, you would have never known it. The picture with the water and bridge was actually inside the zoo grounds, but we've got more like it from all over town.

We went tons of other places, but spent lots of time in the Charlottenburg Schloss (castle). It was the biggest castle in Berlin and also the seat of Prussia before it was Germany. The grounds around the castle were amazing ... hundreds of people were there with families, dogs, etc. There is a picture of the back of the castle from the other side of the lake.

Wow ... doesn't feel like just the highlights, but we did so much more! Mike says he doesn't want to see another "wurst" I'll believe that when I see it. :) The food was pretty good!

Fall

Here's the girls helping daddy rake leaves. Hannah had a lot more fun than Bekah, but Bekah puts up a good face for pictures. It was a little cold, I can't blame them. Hot chocolate was a must afterwards!!

Halloween

Here's our first blog post -- more to be coming soon! Hopefully we'll do a better job of blogging than we are of sending out batches of photos (we know, we know we've been terrible lately!).

The girls love Dr. Seuss books, so for Halloween we decided to dress them up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat.


The costumes were awesome, but the highlight was the crazy blue wigs!


They went Trick or Treating with Papa and Grandma and did surprisingly well -- no shyness whatsoever!