2019

Today is the last day of the greatest decade of our lives - the decade in which we built a family.

Here we are at a friend's wedding at the beginning of the decade. These college kids had no idea what they were in for!

Now at the end of the decade we have aged a bit (or a lot!) and our hearts have grown exponentially.

Here is a recap of the last year on the blog.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

We're looking forward to the fun that 2020 will bring!

Christmas Highlights

We had a great week of Christmas fun!

We started the week with the O'Hallorans, and we had a beautiful weather day for fun at the farm.

Natalie helped make Christmas cookies.

We always look forward to watching the local Christmas light show set to music. This year the kids went in their jammies, and Emma had a front row seat.

We spent Christmas Day and the next couple days in Yates Center and didn't take many pictures but had a great time!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Sing around the Christmas Tree

I got to watch Natalie and Max sing Christmas songs around the Christmas tree in the gym after their class parties yesterday. I had a great view of both of them right up front. The kindergarteners got Christmas socks from their teachers, so that's why most of them are just in their sock feet.

And an unrelated but sweet picture of Max and Isabel ❤

Five Months!

Isabel is five months old today!

We have so much fun talking to her these days. She squeals and coos and giggles and blows raspberries. She is really starting to figure out how to move around with all of her rolling and scooting, and she is getting better at sitting every day. She nuzzles into my shoulder or my cheek when I'm carrying her around and she's ready for a nap. That's one of my favorites. She is a pretty good sleeper, and she is still growing well - weighing in around 19 pounds on our scale this morning.

The big kids' current nicknames for her are Iz, Izzy, Ibby, and Belle. She is everyone's favorite sibling and such a joy in our family.

This last picture of her trying to roll away from our photo shoot reminds me so much of Natalie's five month pictures here.

Snow Day!

Today was our first snow day of the season, and we had the best day at home. The big kids slept in, made cookies, and spent a good chunk of their day out in the snow.

Isabel spent her time scooting around the floor! She started on her play mat and ended up all the way over here. We are going to have a crawler soon!

Pajama Story Time

The little girls got to wear their Christmas jammies to story time at the library this morning. I bought Isabel's jammies before she was born, so I wasn't sure they would fit, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Newborn Isabel

I was looking through old pictures on my phone, and I found lots of pictures from Isabel's early days that I had completely forgotten about. The blog serves as my memory. If the pictures aren't on the blog, it's almost like they don't exist. I know I will want to see these pictures when I look back on Isabel's babyhood, so here they are - only a few months late.