Christmas Fun

Lindsey had a great second Christmas today! Among her favorite toys were the Little People Scooter, Bead Maze, and TMX Elmo. She did a great job opening gifts today--even though she wanted to open just one and play with whatever it was at the time. The coolest gift that William received, in our opinion, was a dirt bike!!! We rode it around the basement a few times and Lindsey absolutely LOVED it!!! We couldn't keep her off of the bike. She kept wanting to go around, and around. William also got a Wii and was busy playing with that while little sister Lindsey played with his dirt bike. Overall we all had a great day and look forward to more playtime tomorrow, and more time with daddy while he is on break:)

Merry Christmas!!! Lindsey's 2nd Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! Today is Lindsey's 2nd Christmas! These few pictures are from the last couple of days with the Hagen and Bower families. William will be home with us a little later this morning, so we will have to wait and see what gifties Santa brought for the kiddies :) More pictures to come a little later.........

She's in a Toddler Bed!

We converted Lindsey's crib into a toddler bed yesterday!!!! She figured out a few days back that should be climb into her crib. Initially, there was a box of diapers that she used to stand on and then figured out how to get in there. Her main interest still being to get in there to get her "Neenah's." But then a little later on she realized that she didn't need the box and still was able to climb into it. (This was with the railing down.) With all of that, she figured out that she could do the same thing when it came to getting out of there: leg up, hang it over, try to position hands just right, and go for it! So when I saw this I realized that it was time to convert. The nice thing is that daddy is home from work now until after New Year's so we figured this is as good a time as any.

We went about our normal routine for bedtime last night. She gave daddy a hug and kiss, and slowly we backed away, waving and blowing daddy kisses. Finally, I laid her down. She cried right away, but only sat up in her bed. I went in there a few times to reassure her, and within about 5 minutes, she was asleep--all before 7 o'clock, too! She had a very short nap yesterday so we knew she was tired enough to go to bed then...and we didn't hear from her until after 7 o'clock this morning!!! She did great!! We'll just have to wait and see how the next few nights go. She knows that she can get in and out if she wants to, we'll just have to wait for her to figure out that she can get out when it's actually bedtime ;)

Bower Christmas Party!

Last night was the Bower Christmas party at Aunt Linda and Uncle Eugene's house. The whole Bower family was there and everybody had a great time. Lindsey was particularly intrigued by the Christmas tree that actually had ornaments on it from top to bottom (unlike our which is only decorated from the top half up) and naturally, all the presents that surrounded it with pretty, shiny bows. We had a challenging time trying to distract her, but amazingly, she never grabbed one and listened very well :) She got to see all of her new little cousins (Mark is in the first picture with her) and even shared a couple of balls with Mark. She did ,however, become exceedingly jealous whenever I held a baby other than her. She had an absolute break down! William can't even sit in my lap without her crying. She is very mommy possessive! Lindsey even got a couple presents from her aunties and laughed her butt off when she was opening one with her Aunt Julie. Sooo much fun!!! I can't wait to see how she reacts on Christmas morning!!

16 Months Old

Little Lindsey Mae is sixteen months old today. She is growing up soo fast! I'd kinda like her to stop growing now and just stay my little baby forever:) I look back at William's baby pictures and that seems sooo long ago, and I really miss those times that we were able to share together when he was small. Just the two of us on our little outings...Such a pleasure. But anyway, I digress and times marches on. As you can see in the first picture, Lindsey has now graduated to a six piece puzzle--with some help, of course. That was one of William's puzzles and now she is trying her hand at it. I was washing sheets and blankets today. The best way that I have found to reassemble her crib is by removing the mattress and putting the sheet on that way. She thought this was hilarious and played on the mattress on the floor for a solid half hour. The second and third pictures are of her playing on it and the third one is specifically of her "blowing kisses" to the camera. What a ham!

Fun in the Snow

Well, we got about 4 more inches of snow last night.
While I was shoveling this morning, I put Lindsey out in the snow to wander around a little bit and play. She had a great time and even wanted to stay out after I was ready to go inside :) She is too cute all bundled up!!

Lindsey Can Do a Puzzle!!!

Lindsey has had this basic shape puzzle now for a few months but never really has taken an interest in it. She would try it occasionally, but became frustrated if she couldn't make the pieces fit and proceed to move on to another toy. But, starting yesterday, she started putting all of the pieces in by herself, in the correct slots (note that "square" is sideways:), and carried it around very proudly! So exciting!! I was able to take a few pictures of her doing it this morning. She still gets frustrated occasionally, but is determined to finish! (BTW, we got over 12 inches of snow yesterday by time it finally stopped snowing!!)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow....

Here's the views out my back door and out of my front door. We got about 6 inches of snow last night, and this morning it's still going because of the whole lake effect snow thing :) I'll get around to shoveling later. Not much of a point to it now! I'll see if I can't get a few more pictures of Lindsey playing in the snow a little later on. For right now, it is quiet and peaceful......

*Sneak Preview*

Here's some pictures that turned out cute from the past few days. I tried to take more pictures of Lindsey by herself, and in a different dress, but that proved to be futile, as well. I guess it's just the age and point where she just won't sit still at all! Oh well ;) The kids both had fun playing in our first snowfall this winter. It's supposed to snow here for the next 3 days, too! It's really cute to dress her up and put her out in the snow--she can barely move at all! We were able to shovel the driveway and sidewalks in the time that she tried to move around the front yard! So cute! Gotta love snow :)

Trying to get a good picture....

I was trying to get a nice picture of the kids for our Christmas cards, but Lindsey was not going to cooperate at all for me. Here's some of the mayhem that ensued....I'll try again soon to see if she's in a better mood. She just went to her 15 month well check yesterday and got 3 shots so she's still a bit feverish today...probably not the best time to try. Lindsey is still nice and tall (32") and light at (21 lbs). So far so good.......Just not for pictures!

(*Side Note* William just realized that he finally has a loose tooth today!! He was so excited that he forgot to bring his backpack to school! :)

What a Happy Thanksgiving

This year's Thanksgiving was like any other: running back and forth from house to house :) We did Thanksgiving dinner with the whole Bower family on Wednesday night and the kids all had so much fun playing together. Lindsey got a little bruise on her forehead from the ottoman that she was climbing on (in the above picture) and also ran into Bryn when they were chasing each other around the hallway, but other than that, all went well and it was a very nice night--it even snowed. The bottom pictures are of Lindsey eating the pumpkin pie that I made. She ate three pieces of it that day!!!

Ride 'Em, Cowgirl!!

I caught Lindsey riding her puppy this morning. It was so funny that I had to capture it on video! Notice The Wiggles in the background?!?!?

15 Months Old!

Lindsey is 15 months old today!! Lindsey loves playing more with her toys now. She really enjoys playing with her shape sorter house by stacking the blocks on the bottom and by putting the shapes through their appropriate openings. She also loves her star stacking ring and her Little People play sets--animals and all. She still loves to climb on everything. Lindsey is trying to talk more, too. She tries to say cookie, hat, and thank you--which ends up sounding like "gee ga." But, she says it at the right time, so we do know what she's talking about. Also, Lindsey had her first trip to the emergency room last Wednesday. She went down a covered slide with William and came out screaming in pain. I was afraid she broke her leg, or something, because she kept collapsing on the ground and screaming all at the same time. Everything turned out okay, but we never actually figured out what she hurt exactly. The doctor figured that she twisted or pulled something. She spent a good amount of time crawling, and now she is back to walking, but still has a little bit of a limp. She still loves to play outside and loves to chase and kick soccer balls. So much fun being a big girl! The video clip at the bottom is of Lindsey chasing Mongo with a dog toy (and vice versa). She thought is was sooo funny that he kept following her around in circles around the living room.
Next week is Thanksgiving already--can you believe it?!?! Gobble, gobble!

Spooky Big Brother!

Here's a picture of William from Halloween night! Lindsey didn't even seem to mind William's face being painted like that. I thought of painting my own face, but was afraid that she would be scared of me--or not even realize that it was me! We'll see next year:)

Extra Trick or Treat Pics

Here's a few extra pics from yesterday. Also, a brief video clip of Lindsey holding on to a bunch of candy. She kept wanting to take more, and more, and more and more.......:) We did eventually let her have two bites of a Milky Way.

"TRICK OR TREAT!!!"

Trick or teat was awesome yesterday!! The weather was great and everyone was over. Lindsey got to participate in trick or treating for the very first time. Last year she was only 2 months old and slept most of the time in costume in the stroller. This year was totally different! She thought this was the best thing ever. She walked up to just about every house, reached out for candy, and actually walked the entire way (which ended up being a couple blocks). We carried her only a couple times, but even though we brought the stroller with, we never used it for her! She had soooo much fun. And when we got back, Daddy had some fun by tossing her in the air, and then they played ball together. What a great day!!!