Christmas #3

Adam, Harper and I had a very non-tradition Christmas Eve/Christmas this year. Everything closes at 6:00 p.m on Christmas Eve. Well, we had hardly any groceries in the house and every place in town that sold food was closed. So, for supper on Christmas Eve Harper and I shared a frozen Weight Watchers meal and Adam had to fend for himself at work. Wait, it gets better. Our Christmas dinner was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese :) But we didn't mind - we had our fair share of food and Christmas goodies the week prior.

Adam had to work Christmas Eve, so Harper and I hung out by ourselves. We watched Christmas movies on TV and we made sure to Read 'The Night Before Christmas' before she went to bed. Adam also had to work on Christmas day, so we just bummed around in our pajamas all day - it was actually kind of nice to relax.

Harper was very excited to see that Santa had visited our house. She was shocked to see that Santa had ate the cookies and milk that she had left out. She loved her presents - I think she was actually sick of opening presents because she was pretty much just going through the motions of opening gifts - wasn't really paying attention. She was more interested in playing with the puzzles that Santa brought her!


Harper with her toys from mom/dad and Santa: 4 wooden puzzles, Mrs. Potato Head, 2 books, watercolor paint book, Home Alone, Hawkeye hooded sweatshirt, baby doll, Elmo slippers, hooded bath towel, candy, toothbrush/toothpaste, and a sippy cup

Opening up her stocking - she is just noticing that she has "Kevin" (Home Alone) in there!


As for Adam and I, we didn't exchange gifts this year. We haven't really bought each other gifts for awhile now - we usually just go on a date or something. However, we did receive some excellent gifts from our families. I think we got almost everything off our lists - thank you again to everyone for a great Christmas! We love you all.

Now that Christmas is behind us, we wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!

Christmas #2

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We spent Friday (12/23) at my parents' house and celebrated with my mom's family in the evening. We woke up on the 24th and exchanged gifts with everyone. I know Christmas isn't about presents, but when you have a 2-year-old, it seems as if that is the only thing she can understand. Once again, she loves handing out presents, as well as opening her own.

She liked helping mommy and daddy open gifts too. Thank you Mom & Dad our my canvas wrap of our little family!

A few of my favorite people: Kaitlyn (Michael's gf), Michael, Harper & Brett

Do you think she likes being center of attention?!

Once again, Harper got SPOILED! List of goods: coloring book, doll, baby carrier, candy, doll house with additional accessories, 2 ornaments, hooded sweatshirt, jeggings, little baby with nursing items, toy school bus, Barney & Dora stickers, Minnie Mouse & Dora socks, and a princess tent!

Check back tomorrow for a Christmas post about just the 3 of us. I hope you all are enjoying this special holiday!

Christmas #1

We survived our first Christmas of the season! We celebrated with Adam's family last weekend. It was a great time - LOTS of yummy food and a lot of laughs and lounging around as a family. Each family was responsible for making a soup, bread of some sort, and an appetizer or dessert. I made mushroom and wild rice soup, garlic bread, pickle roll dip, and Oreo balls. I was miserable by the end of the night!

Harper got totally spoiled - as I predicted! She enjoyed handing out the gifts just as much as she did opening them. Here is a picture of Harper with all of her goods....this is just from Adam's side!

Harper received: baby pack-n-play, Elmo puzzle, wooden rocking chair, PJ's, jeans, Hawkeye stocking hat, little doll figurines, 2 babies, diapers for her babies, sweatsuit outfit, slippers, Jingle All The Way book/dog, chap stick, candy, baby gear (stroller, play mat, swing, high chair).

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I think we need a bigger toy room! We are heading to my parents house tomorrow for Christmas #2!

I Did It!

It came down to the wire, but I did it. I got all A's this semester, which landed me a 4.0 for the first time in my life! I came close a few times during high school and while I was at UNI, but the idea of earning a 4.0 seemed 'unachievable' to me. I don't know why, I guess I just never pictured myself to be the 'straight A' type.

So now I can check that one off the list!

It was a long semester. Microbiology was not my friend. But I loved my OB/Pediatric nursing class and clinical experience. I think I would like to be an OB nurse when I finish school. (which is only a short 6 months away!)

It's time to move on to my final semester of nursing school! Everyone says it's going to be challenging, yet achievable. Wish me luck!

I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Adam, for supporting me and encouraging me through nursing school. There are days/weeks when I am not physically and/or mentally available as a wife because I have so much school work to do. Thank you for understanding and being patient with me. I love you!

2 and a Quarter

Ok - here is a quarterly update on miss Harper. She is now 27 months - or 2 1/4 years!


Weight:

Diaper Size: I am VERY happy to report that Harper only wears diapers when she is taking a nap or at night, which in that case, she wears size 4. Otherwise, she wears 2T pull-ups and 2T underwear :)

Clothing Size: 24 mo/2T bottoms, 2T/3T tops

Shoe Size: 7

Teeth: Harper's 2-year molars finally made their appearance on the bottom - no evidence of them on the top yet...

Eating: If it were up to Harper, her diet would consist strictly of yogurt, cottage cheese, apple juice, milk (white or chocolate), apples, cheerios, apples, ravioli, ranch (it's a food group in her eyes), m&m's, & chips (any kind). Harper continues to be a pretty brave eater - she tries almost anything and usually likes it.

Sleeping: Harper is still sleeping in her big-girl bed and does pretty good for being 2. There are some nights when she wakes up in the middle of the night and wanders into our bedroom - but we put her right back in her own bed. She stays in her bed 95% of the time and crawls out of bed in the morning to wake us up :) She is still taking one afternoon nap - and goes to be b/w 8:30 and 9:30. She usually wakes up in the 8 o'clock hour.

Speech: Harper can hold a pretty lengthy conversation with us now. She is so smart and picks up on everything we say. I don't even know where to begin. In the past 3 months her speech has grown exponentially. Let's just say that she is a talking machine! Sometimes she gets so excited about what she is trying to say that she stutters a little bit, which is normal.

Favorite Toy: all of her babies and baby blankets

Favorite Activity: coloring, singing, running around the house while we chase her and play hide-and-seek, JUMPING (if she were an animal she would definitely be a rabbit!)

New Things:

• wears a pull-up or underwear during the day and uses the big-girl potty
• sometimes call us Adam or Brooke ???????????
• can drink out of a cup with no lid
• puts on her own shoes
• likes to wash her hands
• LOVES LOVES LOVES Barney
• starting to watch TV - has about a 30 min attention span
• HAS to pick out her own clothes
• very good with manners - please, thank-you, welcome, bless you, excuse me, sorry

I know I am leaving out so much stuff about Harper's development; so much has changed in just a short 3 months since my last update. Everyday with Harper is amazing - we are so blessed to be the parents of such a sweet, silly, and lovable little girl. Our hearts are overflowing with love for her - it's so hard to describe the love that you have for your own child - it's something amazing that we are so thankful that we get to experience.

Video Message from Santa

What is everyone looking at?!

Everyone is watching a video message that was sent to Harper from Santa! This was the perfect way to bring Thanksgiving to a close and start gearing up for Christmas. It is the neatest thing ever; I wish the internet would have been around when I was a child! If you have young children, I highly suggest that you check out the website below and make one for yourself. It's FREE! I'm not sure how long it takes to make, as Harper's Uncle created this for her. Awww! Thanks Brett! That was very thoughtful of you! {Gary and June, you MUST watch this:)}

Harper's Video

Make Your Own

Christmas List

Remember making a Christmas wish list as a child? Spending hours browsing through the toy catalogs and the weekly store ads. We received a toy catalog in the mail last month and Harper has enjoyed flipping through it. I told her to circle the toys that she wanted, knowing that this was totally beyond her cognitive ability. Here is what she came up with:

Looks like she may possibly want Elmo or a guitar....

Or BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell the girl LOVES her babies and all the accessories to go along with it?! You can't make this stuff up - here it is in black and white! I love her! This made my shopping for her (and everyone else that knows her) very easy!

Tree Farm

I have no clue what is going on with Blogger - I can't seem to get my pictures to stay in the correct order. Sorry folks.

Anyways....Adam, Harper and I made our 2nd annual trip to Aldrich Tree Farm to pick out our Christmas Tree. We went on the day after Thanksgiving while the weather was still somewhat 'mild.' We had a great time again this year. Harper really enjoyed herself. I think her favorite part was getting to sit on my lap in the front seat of the truck as we idled through the rows of trees.

Clark Griswold himself.....

Harper and I with our tree!

Happy Harper :)

This is something we forgot do to last year - it will be fun to track her height throughout the years.

Our tree skirt made by my Grandma Betty - isn't it amazing?!

O' Christmas Tree~

See - the pictures are out of order.... cute picture of Harper & Daddy

Christmas is only 23 days away! Time to start Christmas shopping!