Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went to Ben's sister's house for dinner and desserts and fun. We had a good time with everyone. We also got some cute pictures of Madisyn and her cousin, Hailey. Hailey is just 3 1/2 wks younger, but right now that makes Madisyn look really big compared to her (Maddy's up to 9 lbs now, and I think Hailey's about 7.5-8lbs). They're really cute together.

Madisyn (5 1/2 wks) and her cousin Hailey (2 wks)

Madisyn and Hailey

Maddy smiling

Maddy smiling again

Hailey (3 wks), Porter (19.5 mo), Madisyn (6.5 wks), and Parker (22 mo)

Here's a cute video of Madisyn being happy and playing. She smiles so much now!

Raking leaves

Out here there are lots of trees, which means there's lots of leaves during fall. So one day while Jess and the kids were here, we decided to help out and rake. Syd and Parker had quite the fun time playing in the leaves and "helping" us gather them.

Jess' visit

Jessica, Sydney, and Lincoln all gave me the biggest surprise of my life by coming to visit me!! Ben had arranged it (with help from Geary, my father-in-law too) and had managed to keep it hidden from me for a whole week before they arrived. Sydney and Parker were the best of buds once again, and had so much fun playing with eachother. They were here for two weeks (Nov 5-Nov 19).

Parker, Jess, and Syd playing on the hammock

Lincoln, Ben, and Maddy

Syd, Parker, and Maddy playing on the bed

Lincoln playing on the bed

Jess reading to Parker and Syd

Madisyn smiling!

Like I mentioned before, Madisyn is smiling more and more! We love it!! We've managed to catch a couple of smiles on camera, so here they are.

First picture of our smiling girl

Picture #2 a few days ago

Grandma's visit

Mom came to help out for a week, and to be here for Madisyn's blessing. Parker really enjoyed having Grandma here to play with. Mom, Jess, and the kids overlapped here for one day before Mom had to go back home. So we got some really cute pictures of her and the grandkids.

Parker (21.5 mo), Madisyn (3wks), Grandma, Lincoln (6.5mo), and Sydney (4yr)

Parker, Grandma, and Sydney

Grandma, Madisyn, and Sydney

Grandma, Parker, and Lincoln

Parker, Nic, Grandma, Madisyn, Syd, Jess, and Linc

Our new blog

Well, I finally got around to making a family blog. People have been telling me to make one, since I love sharing pictures and we have two adorable kids, so I finally have!

The family is doing well, and Parker and Maddy are both getting so big. Parker is getting at that really fun age where he's picking up all kinds of new sayings and making us laugh all the time. He loves to say "oh man!" when he drops something, and "um, I don't know" when people ask him questions. The other day he said "peace dude," which was quite hilarious. He's also at that age where he has to do everything he sees you do, which can be good or bad at times. He loves to "help" in the kitchen, especially when it comes to using measuring cups. He's obsessed with them! He's also obsessed with water and finding any way he can to play in it.

I can't believe how big Madisyn has gotten already. She's grown 2 inches in just 5 weeks! She's finally fitting into her cute outfits, instead of just fitting into sleepers like they all do at first, which has been fun. And she has learned to smile! She will smile at us when we get close to her and talk to her, and she stares up at us with her beautiful big eyes. A lot of the times she does this little crooked side smile which makes me laugh everytime she does it. She's getting so fun!

Well, enjoy our new blog!

Parker, 21 1/2 mo old, playing in the leaves

Madisyn, 5 weeks old

Madisyn and Parker