Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to brave the 16 hour car drive with the whole family and go to Wyoming to be with the Streeter side of the family. Other than some illness when traveling both ways the drive went really well, the babies were perfect for the drive. We were able to visit our friends the Raabs on our way. Kiddos had the entire week off of school so we were able to stay for a week. My brother and his family live nearby and my sister and her family came from Minnesota for part of the time we were there. Kiddos had such a great time with all the cousins and everyone got to meet Kate and Liam and we finally got to meet Bentley who is 1 now. This is A LOT of pictures which you may not appreciate if you are not related to me.

Having fun with the cousins.

Bentley is tiny... Liam is huge.

Uncle Jared is a pretty popular guy.
So is Grandpa.

Jared had more fun than the kids in the snow... this huge snowman was pretty hard to get together.
My sister... see the family resemblance?

The 6 cousins between 4 and 7 (4 of them are 5).

Uncle Heath and Liam napped together quite a bit.
Kate and Aunt Bri.
The whole family.
My sister's family.
My brother's family.
All the grandkids.

Claire and Brighton were good little buddies and loved looking at the black friday ads together.

Grandpa made a rocket out of water, a pop bottle, and an air pump... the grandkids loved it. Grandpa and Heath and Jared got a little wet.
Just to clarify... Kaci was standing on the hearth, she is not that tall.
Grandpa spent a lot of time rocking babies in his chair.
Bentley.
I even got to see Jan (a good friend and my college roommate) for a little bit while I was home.
It was great to be there... Mom made great food as always and kept all the grandkids happy with fun things to do. Now... maybe I can get some Christmas festivities posted.

Entering a new phase

The babies are starting to use their exersaucers.... I love when they do that! Also, I think they may be getting teeth, haven't seen any yet, but they gnaw on everything (Kate especially). This is a typical Kate face... chewing on her hand and staring with wide open eyes.

Liam loves this because he loves to be stiff and standing. The big kids have also spent a lot of time playing with the exersaucers.
Pictures of the Ugly Sweater party to come soon (hopefully).

5 months

Our babies are 5 months old. Wow! That went so fast. I was just thinking the other day how much fun I am having with these 2 little babies... I loved being a mom to Jacob and Claire as babies, but I feel like this time I have really been able to enjoy being a mom to babies more. They are both such good natured babies and they are so easy to get smiles from and to put to bed and are great sleepers, I want to remember those things!

We recently moved them to their own cribs, it is kind of sad and seems lonely, but they transitioned really well and have been sleeping well in their own beds.

Kate is such a smiley girl. She loves to spit and she loves to make lots of noise. She also has earned the nickname 'Patsy' because she spends about 75% of the day patting things with her hands.
Liam is a big laid back dude. He is very stiff and it is much easier to get him to stand on the couch than to sit. He smiles a lot and mostly cries if he is hungry, but it is a very sad and desperate cry.
Neither baby is showing much interest in rolling over, although Liam will turn on his side sometimes. They both are loving solids... mostly they love all things food (can't you tell?). Kate is doing much better with the bottle... not perfect yet, but so much better, which is good because I have 3 concerts this weekend and she will be with Daddy that whole time.

Bottomless Pit

This boy eats a lot and he is hungry ALL the time. The minute he wakes up he wants food, the minute he is home from school he wants a snack and basically from the time that snack is gone until dinner he is wanting more snacks. Also, when he asks me what is for dinner he always says "and what else," it doesn't matter how many things we are having for dinner he always wants to know "and what else." He is a funny bottomless pit though.

Today as he and Claire were getting on the bus I yelled "have a good day kiddos!" Jacob turned around and yelled "have a good snack when we get home." Classic!

(ps- my friends at laughingstarsphotography.com took this picture)

Fall fun

Jacob and Claire made some wild turkeys out of pumpkins and brightly colored feathers!

We went for a Sunday stroll! Baby girl loved it!
And kiddos and I ended up rolling in the leaves
And the babies tried baby food for the first time! Kate wasn't so sure she liked it. It took her a few days before she decided she really likes baby food!
Liam loved baby food right from the start! He may be a little too eager, and makes a big mess. He reminds us a little of Jacob in that he has to eat constantly... and that if food isn't coming now, he gets his feelings hurt!
Both babies eventually lose their patience and start sputtering... their food goes everywhere! Liam blew half a spoonful onto his toes the other night, and tonight he shared a few small drops of his peas with me... they don't taste very good!

11-11-11 11:11:11PM

Thanksgiving post to come... but first, 11/11/11!!!

We had Jim and Mel over and celebrated by eating foods that are shaped like 1's!

Chicken wings

Fries (both regular and sweet potato, pictured below)
taquitos!

It was a fun spur-of-the-moment party with our good friends! Thanks, guys, for celebrating with us!

4 months old

These sweet babies are four months old. They are SO happy and smile at just about anyone who will look at them and talk to them. They have fussy time in the evening and night when it is time for making and eating dinner like every child seems to do, they don't like to go to bed early, but when they do go to bed they sleep really well through the night most nights... last night from 10 to 10. They are starting to bat at and grab a few toys. Kate is not a fan of bottles still which we continue to try to fix. Liam loves all things food. They both had their first solids a few night ago... pictures to come.

Here are the stats:

Liam 15 lbs. 6 oz. (66%), 25.5" (77%)

Kate 13 lbs. 3 oz. (45%), 24.75" (75%)

Such an appropriate picture!!!

When both families were here in September for the babies' blessings, we gave them a tour of the office. Uncle T found a poster that describes Jacob perfectly!!!

Soccer Season (the first of many, I'm sure)

Jacob and Claire finished their soccer seasons last week. Here are a few pictures of the action!

Jacob scored 2 goals in his 2nd to last game of the year! Here he is after one of the goals.

Here's Claire dribbling the ball. She often runs with her arms in the air.
Claire scored a goal early in the season. The other team cheered when the ball went into the net... but Claire was pretty excited anyway to have kicked the ball into the goal!
The kids really had a fun season. They really improved from the start of the season. It was fun to get to know their teammates and watch them play.

We lucked out weather-wise. There was a game that it rained lightly for part of it, and the last practice with Jacob was in a pretty steady rain, but other than that, we had good soccer weather.

Happy Halloween

This is the best picture of Jessi and Buzz together that we got... seriously, this was the best picture. I guess we should've taken the picture AFTER trick or treating!

The whole crew!

At the ward party, Dani was an artist!

I was a luchador! I also sported the costume today at work. You should've seen the shorts!

And I found this picture on the camera of a pumpkin trifle Dani made for our friends Jim and Mel's pumpkin party. It was even better than it looked! Yum!