Snow Snow Snow!!!

This snow happened so long ago and I'm just now blogging about it! Megan and Jacob had a blast playing with their cousins in the snow. Megan is starting to enjoy sledding all by herself down the hill which is a huge accomplishment. Jacob also had a little fun in the sled. Unfortunately he couldn't sit very well with all of the padding but he enjoyed the swing!

This doesn't look too comfortable!

Weeeee!

Ahh, the benefits of having access to a steep driveway!

Poor Jacob was just sitting taking it all in.

Cute group shot of the cousins!

Runge, RockBand, and More!

Here are Megan, Jacob, and cousin Adam posing for a picture at the Runge. It was a great time.

Adam and Megan looking at the bees!

Jacob playing with Grandma Dierking looking on!

Megan was ecstatic when it started to rain this week. She has been anxious to try out her new umbrella! We stomped in the puddles and found huge drops off the side of the house to splash in!

This is what I found the other day, Megan inside her shopping cart and Jacob holding on to it!

While I was on the phone Jacob decided to help himself to my wallet. Earlier in the day he also helped himself to the spaghetti noodles!

Megan playing RockBand! She really like to play along. Michael and I are also enjoying the game after the kids go to bed.

Ahhh, Megan riding the ride-on toy with Jacob holding on to the back for dear life. This has become a favorite game of theirs lately.

Megan was dressing him up with a headband and bells!

Here is Princess Megan. She really got into dressing up for about a day and hasn't touched it since!

Jacob's First Steps!!!

Jacob took his first steps today! He has been cruising forever and is finally ready to walk. He is also really starting to experiment with language. He can say dadada, mamama, rarara, bababa, owowowow, and I really really think I heard him say ball yesterday. He is changing so quickly it's scary. Today he managed to dump an entire container of spaghetti all over the floor and then 10 minutes later found my wallet and dumped it out. His favorite games are "So Big" "Peek-a-Boo" and clapping. He now has 4 teeth and is biting everything in sight! He is starting to show us his true colors and I think we will have our hands full very soon!

Megan is starting to become a little more adventurous as well. She loved sledding and playing in the snow. She is great at riding her tricycle and I can't wait to see her on her bike. Today we played in the rain with her new umbrella that Santa brought her. She has been using the umbrella inside since Christmas and was ecstatic when it was raining this morning. She continues to love reading books. Lately she has been on a Dr. Suess kick...the loooong books. She gets to read 2 books before nap and bedtime so we have been reading 4 long Dr. Suess books daily. Her favorites include Bartholomew...Oobleck, The Lorax, Scrambled Eggs Super, and the list goes on! She is also starting to recognize letters. We worked on an alphabet book for 3 nights where she put random things on the paper for each letter (sprinkles, glitter, gum, cheerios, etc.). We used a different material for each one. I will post pictures soon! She is really proud of it! She is also into volcano's right now, she loves to read about them, see them on tv, pretend with them, etc!

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year seems to have flew by, it's already the middle of January and we are still recovering from all of the fun Christmas celebrations! This year Megan really understood how it all works. She had a great time at church Christmas Eve night and she was able to hold her own candle for "Silent Night". She was so proud of herself! Jacob managed to not get burned which is really a feat in itself.

Christmas morning was amazing. Part way through opening presents Megan said "Santa listened to me!!!" Of course Jacob didn't really understand but that's ok. He had fun trying to eat the wrapping paper!

Surprise...

OK, so these pictures are over 2 months old but I am trying to catch up! Unfortunately I only had time to add 4 pictures and there are sooooo many more but alas, Megan would be upset if I didn't show up to pick her up from preschool!

Awww!

I think he looks like an old man in this picture...with his biter biscuit goatee and all!

Smile for the camera!

Jacob and his friend Stella, they are 4 days apart! He really enjoyed having her come and play!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Wow, where did the year go? I still need to go back and add several pictures from the previous month but these were loaded onto the laptop which makes it much easier to get to the blog updated! We had our pictures taken mid-October and I got the CD last weekend. There are so many good ones, I chose a few favorites to put on here and I will probably add more when I have more time! Christmas cards are going to be late this year...again, but this is something everyone is probably used to!

Jacob and Megan are getting along great still. Jacob is starting to get into all of Megan's things, and Megan is learning where to hide her favorites! Megan is in her first year of preschool and loves it, she especially likes going in the gym to play on the tricycles. She was referred for speech so we are waiting for that ball to get rolling. I didn't realize it was a problem until the speech pathologist screened her at the preschool so we'll see what happens! Megan continues to love the outdoors and would never come in if we let her.

Jacob is a beast. He is all boy and is barreling into being a toddler, he crawls faster than I'd like, he is cruising everywhere, pulling up, and letting go, no steps yet but soon. He is also babbling all of the time, he says ahhhh, dadada, mamama, bababa, rarara; his favorite being dada! His absolute favorite thing to do is take a bath, I end up completely soaked and he crawls all over and splashes, his baths last only a few minutes and I always feel like I need a drink afterwards!

Michael is working for the state. He stays busy with that and the kids of course! He cancelled his World of Warcraft subscription because there just isn't enough time. He is the greatest, he is the most patient person I know.

I am working for PAT and loving it. I still struggle balancing work and home since I work out of our home but I think it will always be a challenge! I managed to take a little time lately to read a Jodi Picoult book and I am hoping to read more over Christmas break.

Merry Christmas!!!

Pictures from Sue!

We have been busy as always. Megan and I enjoyed the Nutcracker this past weekend, a birthday gift from Pop-Pop! She loved it and watched the whole thing, even when another kid kept trying to play with her.

Jacob is finally starting to feel better, he's been sick a lot lately. He's changed a lot in the past month though. He is loving games like peek-a-boo and soooo big. He loves to take his lovie and put it over his face and pull it down for peek-a-boo, his giggles are super cute! He is also crawling away really fast when I say "what are you doing?" He continues to babble dadada and rarara. He is also cruising and taking risks with balancing on his feet. Poor Megan keeps putting things up higher and higher to keep them away from Jacob.

We put up our Christmas tree and those pictures will hopefully appear here soon. Until then, Sue took pictures at Thanksgiving of the kids and our family.