Fancy Pants - 13 Weeks

At thirteen weeks old this little man was ready to show off his fancy pants. 

Well almost ready.

He is beginning to enjoy his tummy time.

There are his fancy pants.  :o)  TR2 found these "designer" diapers on the clearance rack just a few weeks after Pumpkin was born. Now he can barely keep his cute little cheeks in them. 

All covered up.

 And his argyle fancy pants. Pumpkin is all boy, yet he is brave enough to enjoy a nice fluffy PINK blanket too.  Thank you Sweet Pea for sharing.

- Sam

Christmas: Take III

While visiting Grandma and Grandpa R, the gang was able to take part in Christmas number three on New Year's Eve.  :o)  (Unfortunately, photos are few and far between on this day.)

Sweet Pea loved her fancy kitty dress from Grandpa.

Sweet Pea and Little Pumpkin posed for a photo with Auntie Em.  She spoiled all of us rotten with all of her hard work over our visit.  Thank you!

Grandpa posed with his gift from us. Wait, that was Grandma's gift.  Grandpa's looks almost the same. :o)

Red, pink, green, and blue make a great color combination.

Pumpkin's first Christmas.  His shirt says it all.

Ho, ho, ho toes!  ;o)

- Stew

Discovery World

The next day TR1, TR2, Sweet Pea, and Pumpkin packed the car up, and headed to Wisconsin.  The car ride started out tough, but ended on a happy note. Warm hugs and smiles galore!  And those were just from Auntie Em.  ;o)

The next day they decided to hit up Discovery World.

Little Mister hanging out in his car seat stroller.

Auntie Em and Sweet Pea at the indoor rainstorm.

Standing on the fish with Auntie Em and Auntie C.

Pulling on the pulleys with Auntie C.

On the way home with Grandpa.

- Sam

Windsock

As many of you know our little Sweet Pea loves airplanes.  NO, she LOVES airplanes.  Chalk that up to TR1.  One of the wonderful things about airplanes is runways and windsocks.  Our new house happens to have one of each of these.  Sweet Pea is tickled pink.

TR2 also insists that TR1 picks out and buys a special Christmas gift for the kids all on his own.  She hopes that it will help her little ones to understand how incredibly special they are to both TR1 and TR2.  Well this year's special Christmas gift to Sweet Pea was her very own windsock.  Quickly after she opened her gift up she asked to go outside to watch her windsock in the wind.  

She LOVES it!

- Stewart

Christmas at the "New House"

Sweet Pea continues to refer to our home as "the New House", so during a long drive from the farm the anticipation of opening gifts at the "New House" was just the thing to get her through.  As promised the next morning we opened gifts at our home.

Pumpkin was only awake for a small portion of his gifts.  Luckily, at almost three months he has little interest in checking out his gifts.  Chewing on his hands held all the excitement he could bare.  (Just wait until next year.)

Sweet Pea had a "Very Wintery Christmas".  All of her gifts were centered around the snow.  This tube will make sledding down our hills perfect this year.

And these goggle will be perfect to keep the wind out of her eyes when on the snowmobile or sled.  Plus they match her new snow jacket and pants perfectly!

Even TR1 got a new tube from the kids.  Who would have thought that this would be the year we would barely get any snow.

I guess Sweet Pea's wish should have been for a white winter.  :o)

- Stewart and Samsonite

A Letter from the President - 12 Weeks

As with Sweet Pea, TR2 sent a birth announcement to our President of the United States of America.  We were not disappointed when he and the first lady sent us a not of congratulations!  No matter what your political preferences are, we think it is pretty cool that someone as well known as the President sent our little Pumpkin a note.  (Even if it wasn't actually their hands that wrote or signed the card.)

Some one is very excited to document his 12 week!

We are also excited to see your dreams fulfilled.

 Thank you Mr. President.

- Stewart

Happy 50th!!!

On December 22nd, 1961 my Mommy and Daddy tied the knot!  They have been an amazing example of a beautiful marriage to me.  A marriage that has withstood the hard times, celebrated the great moments, and embraced the entire adventure along the entire way.  A love that is shared with each other as well as each their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  Your marriage has taught me to speak my mind thoughtfully, listen intently, and most importantly to bind my marriage around our heavenly Father. 

Happy 50th Anniversary!

After much deliberation, we decided to enjoy an entire day together as a family. On Christmas evening we all headed to a nearby hotel and played the night away.  Swimming, chatting, and filling up on Christmas goodies was a wonderful way to enjoy our day together.  The next morning we started our celebration with some family photos.

Here is the whole crew!

Mom and Dad with the grands and the great grands.

After photos we packed everyone up and enjoyed a wonderful meal together.  (One with no cooking or cleanup.)  It was a lot of fun to work together with my brother and sisters, chat with those we don't get to see everyday, and a time to enjoy being with Mom and Dad.

Bowling was the next event on our agenda...

Fifty years later and he still has great form.

Mom bowling a 200 game.

Some of the ladies.

Pumpkin bowled his first game.

It's always an accomplishment to catch T with his eyes open in a photo.

These ladies found the brightest balls in the ally.

Yes, Pumpkin and I did bowl two games.  Yes, he did sleep through both.  And, Yes, I did get an amazingly low score even with the bumpers on the lane.  ;o)

We ended the evening with a little pizza, swimming, and chatting by the fire.

In my opinion, it was a wonderful day together.  I love each one of my family members, and I was so excited to spend time with them all.  

MOM and DAD, words can not express the love we have for you.  Congratulations on 50 beautiful years together!  We love you.

- TR1, TR2, Sweet Pea, and Little Pumpkin

First Christmas Sunday Duds

Pumpkin's first Christmas was spent with lots and lots of family!

Hello, Mr. Snowman and Big Sister.

Great Grandma L was able to get a little cuddle time in with Mr. Pumpkin and his brand new afghan.

Miss JR chatting the afternoon away with Great Grandma.

Auntie TD assisted Sweet Pea.

Cousin J graciously offered to hold Pumpkin.  :o)

Trying on his new reindeer hat.

These beauties are my cousins!

- Sam

Cookies for Santa

At the very last moment TR2 remembered to help Sweet Pea get ready for Santa's arrival.  Together they prepared a plate of goodies for the man in the red suit and his evening transportation.

Three yummy cookies, a few carrots, a piece of broccoli, and a cherry tomato. 

Plus one big glass of milk to wash it all down.  :o)

- Stew and Sam

A Very Victoria's Secret Christmas Eve

After church the crew headed over to Uncle T and Auntie M's house for our traditional Christmas Eve supper.  Mmmmm, oyster stew.

Pumpkin enjoyed his chat with Uncle T.

After supper we were able to watch Uncle T's family open a few gifts.  Since Doodle Bug is employed at Victoria's Secret, everyone got a gift from there this year.  Yes, EVERY gift was either purchased, wrapped, bagged, or boxed in something Victoria's Secret.

Even Sweet Pea received some of Victoria's lip gloss.

She was kind enough to share with TR1.

Whoops, I guess there was one gift that had John Deere paper instead.  :o)

- Sam

Christmas Eve

This year TR1, TR2, Sweet Pea, and Little Pumpkin were able to make the trip up to the farm for Christmas.  This year's celebration would allow every single member of TR2's family to be at Grandma and Grandpa H's farm.  Christmas Eve started out calm.

A few photos by the tree before attending candlelight Christmas Eve service and Grandma and Grandpa's church.

The kiddos.

Family photo.

Hummmm, who isn't looking in this photo?

A Mommy and her babies.

- Stewart and Sam