Blow Pop-Pop Up!!

This is a fun game that Pop-Pop invented with Megan. She uses the pump to blow him up bigger and bigger like a balloon. He starts out bend over and slowly gets bigger and bigger until he pops, then he flies around the room and so does Megan and the dogs! Needless to say this is a big hit and she requests this game often.

Dad and Susie Arrive!

Dad and Susie arrived on Sunday at 1:15am. We all slept in a little on Sunday and then slowly got moving. We opened presents with them and Megan was a real pro by this time. This makes for Christmas #5. She knew just what to do! She is very meticulous about the wrapping paper, every inch of it must be gone! She had a blast opening animals and puzzles and a new train set. She was very excited about the train, she kept saying "choo choo train, no make noise...like library" She doesn't especially like the GeoTrax that Luke and Adam (cousins) play with because it makes noise but this one she really liked because it doesn't make noise!

Last night Megan had Michael and Dad wear the aprons she made for us while they were cooking. I think it's a cute picture unfortunately you can't quite make out the many designs she drew on there. My mom and Megan worked very hard on them. Megan did all the artwork and decided where each picture should go!

The last picture is of Megan playing with the Poodle 'Puppies' She was slow to warm up at first but now she chases them around and loves to play with them. They are also here for the week with Dad and Susie!

A Day of Rest!

A day of rest! On Friday we did a little shopping but mostly stayed home and played with Megan's toys. She has warmed up to the dollhouse quite a bit now that it's put together and she's opened all the accessorries that go with it! We also took a wagon ride to the playground at the church and she really liked that of course! It was nice to relax and play with her. Because of work, doctor's appointments, and shopping it felt like it had been forever since I played with Megan so it was really nice to have a day with Michael and Megan to play!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was full of fun, family, and food! We started the day and our house with Megan opening gifts. She loved the candy in her stocking of course and she really got into opening presents. She really didn't seem to care too much for the dollhouse and accessories at the time but that's ok. She Ooo'ed and Ahh'ed when opening them so that was fun. Michael got a surprise present that was disquised as Megan's present. She was getting tired of opening presents (just wanted to play) and I asked her if Michael could open one, she said yes so he started to and she helped but all of a sudden he was surprised by the contents of the package!

After we had our family Christmas we got in the car for about an hour and drove to Jerome/Rolla for my mom's family Christmas. We had yummy taco's and a lot of fun. Megan held her own when her second cousin (10 months) hit her on the head, she told him "no hit me" and "be nice."

After a few hours there we got back in the car for another hour or so to drive to Michael's parent's house for Christmas there. We were able to spend a little time with everyone before they had to go to other functions. It was fun to see everyone open the presents we picked out for them! Megan got a cash register full of money and some really great outside toys for playing! More pictures to come for Christmas at the Dierkings! It was great to see everyone and it was really great that Norm was home from the hospital for Christmas. We missed Matt and Alicia because of the bad weather up in Iowa but it's better to be safe! After all of that we got back in the car to come home...ahh! We feel very blessed that we have many Christmas's to attend and we really loved spending time with everyone...even if it wasn't as much time as we would have liked!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a busy day. I didn't pass my first glucose test for gestational diabetes so I had the pleasure of sitting for 4 hours Christmas Eve morning to get retested with the 3-hour test. During this time I was able to write out our Christmas cards and get them ready to be sent so it was actually quite nice...aside from the getting poked 5 times! (By the way my test came back just fine so no problems there!) The Christmas cards weren't sent until today the 30th but they should be arriving soon! Better late than never.

During this time my mom watched Megan and they had a blast. Megan sat on the counter for 2-3 hours making cookies. She had a blast as you can see from the picture! She loves cooking so this was an extra special treat!

We went to church that evening for the Children's Service. Megan stood for most of it watching the kids sing and play bells. She took the candle holders and pretended to play the bells herself. At the end of the service we sang Silent Night and lit candles. Megan held onto the candle with Michael for the entire song, we were amazed!

After church we ate pizza and watched the Rockettes dance on tv. Megan was glued to the tv. After that we opened presents with my mom. She got Megan some animals in her stocking and Megan wasn't interested in opening anything else for a while! She also received $ to buy her very own fish, she definitely knows what money is! She also loves her wagon. She kept telling Michael to put the wheels on. Overall Christmas Eve was a ton of fun and jump started the celebrations!

Megan's Christmas Pictures

We decided to take Megan's pictures for Christmas ourselves again this year. Megan and I had a blast, much more fun that I thought we would have. I made lots of silly faces and sounds to make her do a real smile. She really likes to smile to the side or say cheezzzzze which both look a little silly! She had fun getting into different positions and posing for the camera! My favorite is the first picture below! It's amazing how old Megan is starting to look. We haven't taken many pictures lately and all of a sudden she's growing up!

O Christmas Tree...

We are gearing up for Christmas, we put our tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Megan was a lot of help...for the most part! The second picture is of her helping Daddy hammer the stand for the tree! On Sunday, Michael's brother Jon came over to help hang lights outside. It was snowing and very cold that day! It turned out great although we are still waiting to see some of them turned on because we needed an additional extension cord. Hopefully that will happen soon!

Wild West Day...Long Lost Photo's!

Wild West Day was a while ago because it was a very hot day, which is hard to believe because it's so cold outside now! Megan was able to do a lot of fun crafts and activities. We also went on a hayride complete with a robbery and everything!

Fall Fun

Here are a few pictures of Megan enjoying her time playing in our huge leaf pile. She had a blast playing outside and helping with the leaves. Unfortunately we still have the front yard to go...