Winter

We spent A LOT of time at the cabin this winter.  It has been so much fun having a place to go for winter activities.  The boys have become AMAZING skiers. . .they are so fast and the poor kids have to wait for their mom to catch up with them.  It has helped that they've been skiing with Nate at Tamarack almost every other weekend. 

We also went to the sledding hill, built snowforts, rode snowmobiles, went to the McCall Winter Carnival, and hosted several families at the cabin throughout the months of January and February and March.

 Brooklyn LOVES her 4-wheeler rides

 

 Sledding

 

Brookie was very sad she couldn't sled this year. . .we couldn't get her out of the tube :)



 McCall Winter Carnival

 

 Another cool sculpture. . .the kids were able to walk inside this one.

 

 

 

 Nice Jump, Bran!!

 

 Ryan's Jump. . .

 

 Brandon

 

 Ryan

 

 Ryan and Brandon's snow fort

 

Brooklyn at 18 months. . .

Well, we've made it through some big milestones and our Brooklyn just keeps on getting cuter and cuter. . .

 

What's new with our "baby"?

 

• She's walking/running places
• She's just getting her last top right incisor tooth
• Brooklyn LOVES reading stories
• Her attention span is non-existent
• She's VERY busy and does not sit and play with anything for any amount of time
• If it was up to Brooklyn, she'd be outside ALL the time
• She's still not a great eater, but is growing by leaps and bounds in spite of her food pickiness
• Brooklyn is going to be a big girl. . .Right now she's in the 93% for height and the 80% for weight
• I'm desperately hoping that my baby girl starts talking more (AND SOON!!).  She does A LOT of grunting still which is very frustrating to listen to all day and I'm sure it's frustrating for her since she can't communicate exactly what she wants.  She is saying, "Mom, Dad, Whas At (translation What's That), more, eat, and up."  Her doctor said I shouldn't start freaking out yet (but I am anyway).
• Brooklyn can make a dog, cat, lion, and snake noise. . .the boys have her make those sounds for EVERY single new person she meets.
• Brookie still loves cheese
• She loves to pray before we eat.
• Her hair is growing EXTREMELY slow
• Oh. . .and doesn't she look JUST like her big brothers?

 

                        

                             Is this the cutest baby you've ever seen, or what?

 

 

 

Christmas

Christmas Eve. . . .

We attended Christmas Eve Service at church and then returned home to open presents from our Hoffmeyer/Granrud family.  Brooklyn had a great time tearing wrapping paper off presents and the boys had a great time opening their gifts. 

After opening gifts, we headed to Aunt Darlene's for pizza and time with family.

Christmas Morning. . . .

Everyone came to our house Christmas morning to open presents.  We had breakfast and spent time playing with our new toys :)

 New Boise State Sweatshirts. . .

 

 Mom and Dad got us an XBOX w/ Kinnect

 

Christmas Dinner. . . .

Then we got ready and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Lowry's for Christmas Dinner with the rest of the family.

 Heather was home from Berlin. . .Yay!!!

 

 Uncle Nate and Eli

 

Uncle Josh and Uncle Mike trying out Ryan and Brandon's new Ripstiks



Christmas at the Cabin

Christmas this year was SO much FUN!!  Not only are the kids at really fun ages, but Mike, Carlene, and Eli were able to fly to Boise to be with us this year.

We spent a few days up at the cabin before the holiday to enjoy the snow and go skiing.  The kids seemed to have fun, although poor Eli ended up getting sick.  We made snow forts and took the kids for sled rides. 

Festival of Trees 2012

The kids were so excited to go to The Festival of Trees this year.  They asked Grandma Connie to come with so she met us there and we also joined up with Josh, Jo, and Luke. 

The boys were able to write their letters to Santa and the kids were able to get their picture taken with Santa.  Afterwards, Ryan and Brandon participated in the Scavenger Hunt. 

 Writing letters to Santa. . . .

 

 Checking out the decorations. . .

 

 See. . Dad can have fun at The Festival of Trees, too

 

 Brooklyn wasn't impressed with Santa this year.

 

 Brooklyn's showing Grandma around.

 

How cute is Lukey?



Stanfill's Visit

We were lucky enough to be able to spend time with Tim, Melissa, Jack, and Emma when they back to Boise for Thanksgiving.  I was not very handy with my camera during their trip so I'm so bummed I didn't capture a picture of Emma with all the other kids.  I managed to get a few shots of the babies playing together.  (Well, I guess they aren't REALLY babies anymore.)

Halloween 2012

Ryan and Brandon decided that they wanted to be Star Wars Clone Troopers this year.  I found the costumes online which, compared to the store costs for the same costumes, saved us a bunch.  This is actually the last year that we are buying costumes for the boys.  Starting next year, they will have to make or create their costumes. 

I found a super cute elephant costume for Brooklyn.  She was less than excited to wear the thing, but it looked adorable on her.

We had Nate's family over to our house for our Annual Halloween Chili Dinner.  Josh and Jo were able to bring Luke over for a little bit so we could see his costume and the grandparents and great-grandparents were able to get pictures of the grandkids before we started trick-or-treating. 

We took Brooklyn with to a few houses, but she didn't last long.  She is OBSESSED with dogs lately, so she threw a complete fit at every house we stopped at that had a dog because she didn't want to leave.  Brookie and I headed back to the house where she helped me hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters.

 The boys were in charge of carving their pumpkins by themselves this year. . .

 

 they turned out pretty good, huh?!

 

 I love my cute trick-or-treaters!!

 

How cute is this little Republican?

 

Brandon and Cousin Luke