Craft Time!

The girls love doing crafts at their little table and even though I am not crafty, it's fun to watch them get into it.  It must be Grammie's influence.  ;)  You can see that Aftin has started a nice little Playdoh ball and what I should have gotten a picture of is what it ended up looking like.  She was very proud of the multi-colored mess she had made and had to keep showing us her art.  She had a lot of tools to make different objects, but instead liked the ball better.  Notice Aftin has a Packers dress on.  She makes me so proud.

Christmas Has Begun!

We had our Christmas party at Tom and Linda's this last weekend and every year we have so much fun seeing all the relatives and eating all of Teresa's great cookies/treats.  The girls were a little shy when we first got there, but warmed up and were crazy with sugar rushes by the end of it.

Bailee loved Tom this year and couldn't get enough of him.  We were teasing Grampie that he had competition.

Brandon is so sweet with the girls and here is playing with Aftin and her new book.

The girls love Megan and it's fun to see the girl cousins together.

Tamara, Bailee and Megan

Blake didn't want his picture taken unless he had his hood up.  I like the look.

About to open gifts.

Aftin and her daddy.

Pictures from Grammie!

Grammie sends weekly pictures to Lance, Tamara and I which is so sweet.  I save them as my background at work and look forward to them each week.  Here are some samples recently of what she has sent. 

The girls wishing me a happy birthday.  Love!

Gotta love the river and Marine!

Grampie sure knows how to pile up the snow!

Time to test out the sleds.

Azlynn turns 3!

The girls were invited to their daycare friend, Azlynn's birthday party.  It included two bouncy houses, pizza/cake and swimming in the pool.  The girls had so much fun playing with all of their classmates.  Can't wait until we do this for their birthday party in February.

Aftin taking on the bouncy house.

Bailee posing for the camera before getting back in the bouncy house.

The birthday girl in red and her great Thomas cake!

Snow Bunnies

The girls are loving the snow and couldn't wait to do snow angels (though they flap their arms in the air versus the snow) and a snowman.  With all the snow that we got a couple of weeks ago we did just that.  Not a great snowman, but the girls were excited to have anything that slightly resembled one.

First snowman of the season

My snow angels

Bailee had a little snowflake on her nose.  It was adorable!

Bailee laying in mommy's snow angel.

These are the snow banks after the first time we plowed.  Still had a ways to go.

Time to go in based on the red, little face.

Snowfall!!

This is the day after our date night.  The snow was literally dumped on us!  The girls were beyond excited to use their new snow pants and boots, even though they could barely get through most of the snow.  We continued to get more snow past this and we made a little snow man that I have pictures of in the next post.

Date Night!

We did the annual date night in Mpls with the Pattersons a couple of weeks ago and the weather held off for us which was nice.  Rusty and Tamara joined us for the tradition too and we had a blast.  We did dinner and then hit the Shout House, which thanks to Michael knowing the owner got us free shots.  Lance had his first taste of oysters and did not become a fan.  Otherwise lots of great memories and we can't wait to do it again next year.

Headed to the bar.

The girls

Mike and Laurie

Tamara and Rusty - nice look on Rusty's face - you can tell he loves getting his picture taken.

Santa Time!

The girls got to see Santa at Bernards a couple of weeks ago and were so excited to get dressed up in their "Santa Dresses" and see him.  I thought for sure we would have another year of them screaming and not wanting to be on his lap, but it couldn't be further from that this year.  What surprised me the most was that Bailee was the first one on his lap, literally running to see him.  She's my shy one and not normally one to warm up to people very quickly.  Bernards did a fabulous job with cookie decorating first, then Santa, then some lunch.  The girls had a blast and did great at smiling when I took the picture of them with the green screen, but in the picture we got Aftin was in the middle of blinking so it didn't turn out as good.  Oh well, they loved it which made it totally worthwhile.

Not fans of taking pictures before Christmas cookie decorating/eating.

The smiles were priceless.

Much happier with cookies.

See what I mean about Aftin mid-blink.  :)

Packers vs. Vikings = Sad Lance

We had a mini football party at the McNamara house last Sunday when the Packers were playing the Vikings.  Although the pictures don't show it I did dress Aftin in a Packers dress and Bailee in a Vikings dress before coming over.  I would say it took about 2 minutes before all 3 girls were in dress up clothes.  They are such princesses and we still can't believe how well they play together.  We spent most of our time getting to snuggle Tommy and eat some wonderful appetizers.  Luckily for us Packer fans we had a victory and Lance being the only Vikings fan (sometimes the girls like the Vikings, but it's not consistent) was not as happy.  He was a good sport about it though.

Tommy holding onto Lance's finger while he sleeps.

Our princesses watching a movie.

Could he be any cuter?!  Love the hand over his face.

How we do it...

It's also the time that we need to start picking names for Christmas between all the cousins.  We have a pretty complicated system as you can see.  The girls are so excited to spend time with all their cousins over the holidays.

Buzzy Time!

We got our Christmas tree and decorations up this last week and the girls were great, little helpers.  We also got the Elf on the Shelf and the girls named him Buzzy.  They love looking for Buzzy each morning and he's a great addition to our family.

The girls were posing with Buzzy who was sitting in Lance's stockiing.  He has made his way all over the house over the last few days.

Time with Friends

We visited the Christopherson's last night because the Stevens were in town (unfortunately Lori's Grandma Pearl passed away).  The girls got to see Gretta and Caroline and I won't forget Mojo since they love him so much too.  We attemped another group shot and it was better than the previous ones I would say.  You can check it out here.

Winter Time!

Winter has arrived in Wisconsin and the girls got a chance to try out their new snowpants but not new snow boots since I waited to long to buy them and every store was already out.  Luckily they are on order and should be shipped this week.  We are also looking at new sleds since Aftin was nearly falling out the entire time.  She eventually just gave up and grabbed the baby sled and ran around the yard saying that Daddy was going to get her.  She's my silly one for sure!

The duo in their sled.

Lance running around with the girls and some progress on the shed, it has the roof done now.

Aftin running around because Daddy was chasing her, though he's no where to be found at this point.

One last shot before heading in to warm up.

Princess Time!

The McNamara family came over the day after Thanksgiving and I got a picture of the girls dressed up as princesses.  The first thing that the girls do when they get together is scream and run around the house and then get dressed up as princesses.  It is one of my favorite things.  One of my other favorite things is holding baby Tommy, which I don't know how I missed getting a picture of this last visit.  He's such an adorable baby and he was MVP that night as he slept like a rock for most of it.

Cinderella - Bailee, Rapunzel - Maggie, Dora - Aftin

Thanksgiving Time!

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house last Thursday and although the weather turned to winter it was a wonderful time with family and friends.  We are so lucky to have so many special people in our lives.  Terri, Roger and the boys showed up as well but I must have been busy getting the food ready because I missed getting their picture.

Lance, Rusty, Grammie and Grampie

Grammie and Grampie

Tamara, me, Alix and Bailee

Nana and Papa

Unclue Rusty and Bailee

Alix and Aftin

Lance and I

Alix and Nana

Had to post this one of Alix because it showed what we did most of the time, which was laugh.