To Be Young Again

At Matt and Laura's, the boys (Ian, Mike, Marty, and Matt) got adventurous and went sledding in the backyard. The neighbor kids built a nice jump halfway down the hill. Mike and Marty both tried it, but discovered your body doesn't tolerate that kind of abuse when you get older.

The brothers three. Isn't this a great picture? Yay for Laura's dedication to great photo opportunities. She tromped out in her tennis shoes to get this. We framed it and gave it to Roni (Mike's mom) for Christmas. I'm still trying to figure out how they all fit in there.

Marty, Mike, and Ian flying down the hill. Poor Ian is in the back, hanging off the end.

Winona Visit

We got a chance to see some friends in Winona this weekend. We finally met David, the newest addition to the Yearous family, born in October. It was so good to see everyone!


Three amigos. Left to right, David, Halle, and Deacon. It's funny how different kids are, even so young. David is almost as big as Halle, and he's only 2 months, Halle and Deacon are 5 months. And Deacon is like a little ball of energy, constantly kicking and flailing, while Halle and David just lay there, taking it in.

Isn't Deacon just so charming?

One Down, Five to Go

This weekend we traveled to Winona for the first of many Christmas celebrations for the season. The Loos family celebrated at Matt and Laura's house. It was one of the first times we all stayed in the same house. Kaia had a great time with her cousins. It's so fun to see them play together now that they're all growing up.

Kaia singing and rocking her Dora ("Doh-a") doll and wearing a sticker she peeled off a shirt she got.

Where did Ian's teeth go?

Katrina wearing Uncle Mike's hat. As you can see, Mike is not happy.

Grandma and Grandpa singing to little Halle.

Kaia singing away and jammin out on her cousin's guitar.

Home Building Week 6

We had our Pre-drywall meeting today. We got to walk through the house and check all the little details. It was FREEZING! We will be able to close by February 17th. The house looks awesome! Mike took a ton of pictures, but it's hard to really see what things are and what it looks like without being there. But I'm posting them anyway!

Family room from the kitchen

The other half of the family room from the kitchen, fireplace in the corner.

Standing in the same spot in the kitchen, facing the foyer. From left to right, the basement stairs, the living room window, doorway to hall closet, doorway to half bath, and further to the right beyond the picture is the mudroom which leads to the garage.

Standing in the same spot, facing the rest of the kitchen. At the right is a sliver of the patio door, the window is over the sink, beyond the wall is Mike's office, at the very left is the doorway to the dinning room/playroom.

View of the dinning room (we will use it as a playroom for now) and living room beyond, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

Standing in the dining room, facing the living room and front door.

Standing at the front door looking up the stairs to the second level. This entrance is going to be amazing!

Standing at the top of the stairs, looking down into the foyer. The front door is behind me.

View from hallway into the master bedroom. Through the bedroom you can kind of see the bathroom, then around the corner, beyond the stairs is the master closet.

Bedroom 1, probably the guest room at first.

Bedroom 2, probably Kaia's.

Laundry room (on the second floor)

Full bath

Bedroom 3, probably Halle's.

View of the backyard from the patio door. Like our dirt piles? The yard will be flat when all is said and done.

Home Building Week 5

The roof is up. The windows are in. And I believe there is some heat. Woo-hoo! I haven't gotten the update from the builder yet this week so I'm not sure what comes next.

Big Sister

Kaia loves books and you can often catch her reading out loud to herself. It mostly sounds like jibberish, which must be what we sound like to her when we read. The other day, she plunked herself down next to Halle, and began to read to her. Halle kept looking up at her like she was so cool. These are the moments I appreciate having two kiddos.

The other day, Kaia was reading to her baby doll in her room. I walked in to check on her, and she looked up at me and said "Come sit Mama?" and patted the floor next to her. I was in a hurry, but how could I resist that? Kaia is good at reminding me to slow down and enjoy the moment.

Home Building Week 4

We have two stories!! The roof was being finished today. The shingles should go on this week. Windows are scheduled to be installed tomorrow. We'll have our pre-drywall walk through just before Christmas. I can hardly contain myself.

The Latest Clothing Mishaps

Here's a few more funny clothing stories for you...

Yesterday I set out a brand new dress for Kaia and asked Mike to get her dressed. He even remembered to rip the tags off. We went to church, and later that afternoon, I realized that the little matching undies were still fastened to the inside of her dress with the little plastic tag things. Oh Mike!

Last week, I was putting Kaia's winter boots on her and she started whining that her toe hurt. I examined the boot and found a wad of paper still stuffed in the toe from when I bought them. Thing is, I bought them last year! She probably didn't notice last year because her feet were small enough, but she's worn them this year a few times already. I wonder if she never said anything or if she complained and I just didn't understand. Oh Jenna!

Notice that in this picture Kaia is checking out the blog. She loves looking at pictures of herself and her friends on the blogs.

Christmas Tree

This weekend, we went and cut down our own Christmas tree. Well, Mike cut down the tree. Kaia, Halle, and I waited in the warming room eating candy canes from Santa. It was fun. The tree looks beautiful. It's a little naked, all our decorations are in storage. If we get time, maybe we'll make some popcorn garland or paper snowflakes or something. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Halle Girl

Demonstrating the correct weight regulation of an exersaucer.

Just ignore my feet. If I had time, I would crop the photo.

Baby Kaia

I came downstairs this morning to this....

Don't ask me how she got in there.

Later, I caught Kaia and Alex chewing on Halle's teething toys...

Can you say, regression?

Lil Helper

Kaia has been way into helping in the kitchen lately. As soon as I start making food or putting away dishes, she pulls up her little stool saying "ah, help you". One of her favorite jobs is to put away the silverwear. They end up in one big pile - we haven't worked on the concept of sorting yet. But they're in the drawer, she's out of my hair, and she feels productive, that's what matters.

I Love This Camera!

The Rest of the Weekend

We spent the first half of our holiday weekend in Oshkosh (through Friday). The rest of the weekend was spent in Green Bay, where we had another Thanksgiving dinner, and again, ate too much. Here's some more pictures.

Kaia, Katrina, and Kylie (yes, she's wearing a lei, it was Katrina's idea)

Halle in the crazy sombrero. Her cheeks make me think of a basset hound - they almost hang past her chin!

Big B

Sassy Cassie

Kaia snaggin some nose kisses from Grandma.

Lora and Halle

Checkin out the fishy.