Saturday!

Almost every weekend day, I say I am going to get up early (the same time as a weekday) and get some work done while everyone is still sleeping. So far, it is has not happened- until today! Even though I usually only "sleep in" an extra hour or two on weekend (usually until 7), by golly it is precious and hard to wake up earlier than I have to. It is so busy on weekends with the girls that I hardly ever have a chance to sit down at my actual computer and do some things like photos editing, blogging, or other projects. 

After the busy time of the holidays, we have been enjoying some very laid back weekends at home. It has been nice just to be home with nothing on our agenda besides getting ready for the next week, watching basketball, and hanging with our kids. And laundry. Always the laundry, of course. 

I took these photos last weekend and then later that afternoon both girls started to get very cranky and run fevers. We kept them home for two days and took them to the doctor where we found out it was viral. They are still feeling cranky (now I think it is just molars) but no fevers and so it has been a long week of crabby, tired babies!! 

Anna above, Brynn below

The girls do a million cute things every day but most of the time it is so fleeing, I would barely capture it even if I had a camera in my hand. So I just try and take mental snapshots and go from there. Sometimes I can get a quick, "Scott! look at the girls!!" before they stop doing what they are doing, but even then sometimes Scott is too slow. I think it is the cutest when they sit next to each other and play or give each other toys. When one girl was crying when they were sick, the other one would just stand by solemnly watching, trying to hand her sister toys or sippy cups to make her feel better. Twice recently one has been up before the other from nap and they just wander around a bit lost before the other one wakes up! It is cute how they definitely think they belong right by each other. 

Sometimes I trick Michael into taking a picture by telling him I'm really taking it of his toys...haha! Tricked him! :o) 

Teeth report: Brynn above and Anna below. They are also working on both upper and lower molars (a few poking through, other gums very swollen-funny I don't remember that with Michael!). 

Peek a boo, I see you! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Christmas Day

Happy Friday!

I was re-reading some of my Christmas posts and I forgot to mention that we spent the day after Christmas at my aunt and uncle's house in West Des Moines with my mom's side of the family. We left Scott's parents mid morning and drove straight back to central Iowa just in time for dinner at 1pm! We had a lovely meal and it was nice to see members of my extended family in person (other than facebook!) and for them to see the girls and Michael. It was fun and low key and I'm glad we got to see my parents over the holiday. 

My cousin also did a great job in the role of photographer and took this great photos of our family! I know we all look a bit tired and like we've eaten too many Christmas goodies (mostly me) but it is important to document that yes, we were all there together. My aunt has a beautiful traditional style home and it always is so cozy at the holidays. I love it!

I think that should be my last post for Christmas festivities...my goal is to get all the decor down over the weekend!

Insta Update! Goodbye 2015!

I have a whole lot of instas to update today! I thought I better get them in before the calendar year flips over and I guess no time is better than the present. Looking back over these (mostly from the last month/month and a half) it gave me some time to reflect on the upcoming year. I feel good about the new year and I am excited for what it will bring. 

We burned off some energy this morning at The Playground, an indoor playplace. The kids loved it, especially the girls! 

Scott spoiled me with new red fiestaware to add to my Christmas collection. I love how happy it is! 

Christmas break: survival times. It has been a change of pace to be home with the kids all day but while its had its challenges, it has been good. The kids have had fun playing in the basement- lots of space to run and we brought some outdoor toys in for them to climb on. Unfortunately, we couldn't get our little playhouse through the door to come back inside for the winter. :o( 

Christmas Eve- Michael fell right asleep! 

New jammies and new toys! 

We had ugly sweater "week" at school for teachers to wear their holiday garb. I have nothing that is festive in the slightest, but I found these two shirts at Boone Walmart for under $8!! I was pleased with myself and actually wore them several times. I'm going to put them away with my Christmas decor so they won't clog up my regular dresser drawers until next year. 

My goal has been to get 10,000 steps a day on my fit bit. It is hard to do it every day and I can never get there without extra walking/exercising but it keeps me motivated and that is good. I do miss the nice (er) weather to walk at the park with the girls! The bottom photo is from my concert day where I do all the set up,  tear down, student wrangle, host and conduct a concert all in about two hours. My poor feet! 

Our family, minus the girls, went on an outing to see the new Star Wars movie the weekend it came out. It was SO good and I loved seeing it right away. I also got some new Star Wars shirts at...you guessed it, Boone Walmart for a great price! 

Christmas cards- my favorite! Love getting everything ready and putting them together for my friends and family. It is a such a great tradition! 

Michael got to be in the big kid Christmas program this year at church and he did SO GOOD!! We practiced the songs for weeks in the car and I loved how he was actually singing his parts in the program. The kids did so good and I don't know how they do it- it was a long program (about 45 minutes!!) and the kids were up there the entire time, no behavior issues at all. The audience was so good, gracious and respectful. I think it was a better show than his school program- we are so thankful for the wonderful children's programming our church does. 

Also- I had to tie dye (!!) a shirt for him to wear in the program. I had never done one before but luckily Boone Walmart pulled through for me again and had a really nice tie dye section. It was actually pretty fun to do! Michael supervised the process and it was not even a bit of mess. 

Michael completed another round of learn to skate lessons at the ice arena. He did really well and learned a lot! I think he will start hockey skills for the next round which is still mostly skating basics but isn't that the most important part of the game? 

We visited the festival of trees in downtown Des Moines the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was really fun and something I had never done before!! We just went for a bit in the afternoon and they had a fun scavenger hunt for the kids to do, looking for various aspects of trees. We actually timed it poorly as Disney on Ice was going on in the same area at the same time- I thought next year we should try and hit both on the same day! 

In late November, our washing machine broke on us and we had to do a few trips to the local laundromat. It was a huge pain in the butt! It wasn't so much the doing the laundry but the hauling it there and back that was hard. Our delivery of the new washer was delayed so we had to do an emergency second trip to the laundromat but that time Scott helped and we had a nice family dinner at the pizza place next door. The girls were so cute and were great entertainment for the other diners! 

The girls have LOVED this trampoline since we pulled it back out of storage and even Michael jumps on it daily. I remember us hemming and hawing over such a big purchase for Christmas the year Michael got it but it has really been great. I would even say it is one of the best things we have purchased- especially if you have the space for it. 

I can hardly believe 2016 is upon us!! Above is my most liked photos from instagram in 2015 and it makes me smile to see how much the girls and our family have changed just over a year. We are looking forward to so many wonderful things in 2016...Disney, an adult only vacation to celebrate our 10th anniversary, lots of summer fun, getting rid of baby things, and keep trying to stay on the healthy eating/exercise wagon. Stay tuned!