It was a Merry Christmas

My little cuties by our tree.

We had three Christmas Celebrations this year. One with each side of our family and one at home with just us on Christmas morning.

We celebrated first with my family at Auntie Sandy's. Here is Ellen opening her very first Christmas present ever!

Lucy had a few favorites this year. She loves to play dress up. Here she is in her new wedding outfit.
And look what else she got.

We were at home for Christmas morning. Here is Lucy again demonstrating her opening procedure. Neal on the gift and pull!

Here are Lucy and Ellen opening together. I kept putting the pacifier in Ellen's mouth. Whenever it wasn't in there, she would shove wrapping paper in.

The paci smile.

Later that day, we headed over to Jer's parent's house to celebrate with his side of the family. Here we are getting ready for a delicious dinner - notice poor Katie on the right 37 weeks pregnant and on crutches with a broken ankle!

Elle Belle going for a new toy.

Here is Lucy with her new chalk board. She is also wearing new jammies that came with a matching red tutu!

The fam. This picture was taken with my new remote for my camera!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas. . .

The tree is up at the Kobie Home. We went to the tree farm again this year and cut down the perfect 'little' tree for our house. Here are Jer and the girls checking out the tree that Mommy likes.

Lucy is supervising while Jer makes the cut.
Lucy was so excited to get a candy cane to eat on the way home. It was actually a good way to keep her awake until we got home, so she would nap in her own bed.

We brought the tree in while she was sleeping and she helped me decorate later that night. I got new ornaments at IKEA this year. It was a great way to have a cute, Scandinavian tree on the cheap. All of the ornaments were under $1, so if any of them broke while going on, it was no big deal. I bought some that were wood and paper and let Lucy do most of those.

Here is our finished product. What a beauty! It was up just in time to put the St. Nick stockings underneath for the next morning.

Here is Lucy on Sunday morning with her stocking.

Here is Ellen with a new Jack-in-the-box that was left in a load of St. Nick gifts from Gram.

Lucy with one of her favorite stocking stuffers.

This picture is a perfect glimpse of the girls right now. Ellen is stuffing something in her mouth and Lucy is stealing Ellen's new gift.

Cuties!

The girls got ornaments from Gram this year also. Ellen wasn't ready to have hers on the tree yet.

Both girls with their ornaments.

Merry Christmas to all. . .

Holiday Fun with Gram

Gram visited over Thanksgiving weekend. We had lots of crafty plans for the weekend. However, the girls and I all ended up sick and Gram took care of us, pretty much the whole time she was here. She managed to stay healthy so she could cook, clean, wipe noses, change diapers, take temperatures and worry about us until Sunday when she had to leave. . . Then she got sick too. We owe you some fun and relaxation mom!

We did manage to do a few crafty things before the bugs got us down.

It is starting to be a tradition for us to make a cookie house for each holiday. Gram brought us a gingerbread house to make. Here is Lucy getting started.

Carefully applying buttons to the gingerbread man
Here is the proud girl with the finished house

Lucy and Gram also made a huge gingerbread man. Here they are getting ready to put him in the oven.

Thanks for taking care of us and for the goodies Gram!

The Train

The Kobies took advantage of the Minneapolis light rail system last weekend. We took the train downtown for dinner on Saturday night. Lucy was so excited. She even got to have her own ticket. Here we are on the way to dinner.

Here are Lucy and Jer on the way home. There weren't very many people on the train, so Lucy got to pick her own seat. She thought the 'sideways' seats were so neat.
I have to say, even with both girls, it was pretty easy. I think we just might have to do it again sometime.

Ellen's 6 Month Pictures

Talented Friends

I have talented friends. I steal ideas from them all of the time. This one, however, exceeds my abilities. My friend from church, Melinda, made the most adorable hat for her daughter. I went crazy for it when I saw it. She said that if I got her the yarn, she would make one for my girls as well! At MOPS this morning, I got the hats.

A pink one for Ellen and not only a hat, but a matching scarf for Lucy!

Unfortunately, Lucy's hat was too small.
Sad about the hat, but she hasn't taken the scarf off since she got it.

I have more yarn. . . Melinda??

Happy Halloween

Despite our 'spooky' sickness this year, we managed to squeak in some Halloween fun. Lucy and I carved her pumpkin before we started to feel under the weather. One of the highlights for Lucy was sorting out the pumpkin seeds from the goop.

We baked the seeds with brown sugar and Cinnamon this year. We ate the seeds for a mid-morning snack. I had mine with coffee, so Lucy needed her drink in a little coffee cup too.
By Halloween, Lucy and Ellen had both been fever free for 24 hours, so we decided to let them dress up and Jer took Lucy to a few houses to trick-or-treat.

No candy for Ellen this year, but she did have sweet potatoes for her supper. At least they are orange. . .

Here Lucy is getting ready to fill her bucket.

If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, then I guess Halloween is a good time to be sick. Lucy had some M&Ms to wash her medicine down.

You Are My Sunshine!

Halloween Camping

On the long drive to Point Beach State Park, we had a wonderful overnight visit with Great-Grandma Kobielush. We arrived to a pot of warm delicious chili and had a very relaxing and cozy visit. Lucy had a great time exploring inside and outside in the woods with Daddy. Here is Grandma with the girls.

The next day we got back in the car and headed to our campsite. A spooktacular time awaited.
The very first thing we did was head to the lodge to pick out some pumpkins. Here are Mindi, Addy and Lucy decorating theirs.

Lucy decided to paint her pumpkin this year.

Then we got to do some general setting up and hanging around at the campsite. Here is Ellen and Jer.

Kelly and Ryan.

Addy Jane.

Jer and Ellen had a little rest by the fire.

Here is Lucy in front of our tent.

Here she is helping decorate.

It wouldn't be a Halloween celebration without costumes and trick-or-treating. Here are Snow White and Addy the Clown.

Snow White and a little Lion were stealing candy from our bin!

Addy and Ellen, my little Lamb.

Here are Kelly and I with the babes. Ry Guy was a little monkey.

There were some pretty amazing campsites this year. First prize when to a site that was the complete set of Sesame Street. Here are Lucy, Big Bird and Cookie Monster.

The cast of Scooby-doo were also camping this weekend. Check our their camper! It was a huge Mystery Machine.

The three happy trick-or-treaters.

It was a cold weekend, but so much fun. Next year we are bringing a camper. Then maybe Ellen and I will actually get to sleep at the campground.