So after we spent the week in Ankeny and then in Lennox we were so blessed to have Megan come home with us and be able to spend an extra night with her! The girls loved it! We were able to play with our new puppy Maggie, of who I still don't have all the pictures of b/c they are on someone else's camera, and to watch/help daddy put together one of the two super cool doll houses the girls got for Christmas. In talking about it I realized I never had a doll house growing up...crazy b/c I never really noticed, but I also spent hours setting up books into rooms across my entire bedroom floor to make a "house" for them. So this will be so great for the girls! Endless hours of fun I am sure. And the pictures don't do the entire situation justice b/c we have a small doll house that sits up in the window in the girls room with small dollies that the girls have to keep up there b/c "otherwise Maggie will chew it all up!" So you can usually find one of them standing on a stool in there playing with that one, and the other standing next to the big one along their wall. They do play together sometimes but the individual play is good too!
Megan and Gracie taking a minute for a quick pic...miss gracie is becoming quite the photogenic little girl!
Karys was entertaining all of us while daddy was working on the doll house, singing songs, making a boat out of pillows and busting out some pretty sweet dance moves! sorry this was the only appropriate picture of all of that that I could post ;) b/c she did it all naked!
Getting tickled by Meggie...the girls would get confused when we said Maggie b/c they would be like "which Meg/Maggie?"
Gracie helping daddy get started and figuring things out! So many big pieces!
I am not so sure that Daddy was making friends with the doll house, not quite as bad as the battle with the Christmas tree but quite the 2hour adventure!
But...he conquered it and it looked GREAT! What a man i have on my hands ;)
The girls and their "Big Daddy" in front of the finished product
I have two of these pic and I cant tell the difference between the one I took before bed and the one I took first thing in the morning ;) they were so excited to dig in!
The ladies playing with our Maggie girl, or Mag-pie as Rob so affectionately calls her....she doesn't really look interested in this pic ;)
She is cute, but don't let her fool you, she is still our little puppy and we are working on lots of things, peeing outside or even on the pee pad, biting everything in sight including our little girls ;) and seeking out new things to chew and new places in the house to hide. But Maggie really is a good puppy and has already become a great friend to our family...I think she has even found that little special place in Rob's heart!
The girls dressed in their APU shirts, bows in the hair, Maggie in arms, in front of the Xmas tree with Meggie!
On Christmas Day morning we got up and got all of our stuff packed and prepared to hit the road to Lennox for round 2 ;) I loved it though b/c Gracie had to get Grandma and Grandpa lined up so she could take their picture with her new camera. I was able to convince her while they were there that she should let me take a pic of all of them with my camera too! So we took this picture, they blessed up with goodies for the road and off we went!
For Karys, the first part of the trip went by really quickly...I think she was asleep before we were even on I-80 ;) And for me, but favorite quote she had the 2nd leg was, "Daddy, can I be nakey in my car seat?" She had already shed boots, jacket, socks, hat...and she wanted to be naked in the car! Wow!
Gracie is phasing herself out of the napping stage, but we were hoping with all of the festivities she would conk out in the car for awhile...she did nothing of the sort! Watched Veggie Tales, sang songs, threw everything she could find to the way back, and played a mean game of I Spy ;) However, she lost the battle when we had 6 miles to go to my parents house...we even drove over to a neighboring town and back just to make sure she was out!
I was pretty tired for this trip home, but caught my second wind on the 2nd leg and took my turn at the wheel. We got the chance driving back to make some calls to family, GG Lois and the Tolanders, and wish them Merry Christmas so the talking kind of woke me up I guess. It was funny b/c being the great parents we are we didn't really think through the fact that our plans for lunch were to stop and get food along the way...go ahead and say it! Christmas Day guys!!! Nothing open!!! So luckily we found a gas station, had some fruit and trail mix in the van and fed our girls a really nutrition lunch ;)
We decided that we would open gifts first just in case the little guy got worse that the Pella VL's needed to head out early. Chad and Heather did a great job of entertaining the kiddos while everyone else got things in place. They were having a great time playing twister and shaking out the excitement building in their hands and feet ;)
We also attempted to take the kiddos picture before we started opening gifts. Out of like the 15 I have this one turned out to be the best one!
Finally the gift opening was underway after Nathan and Gracie helped Big Papa hand out all of the presents. Everyone under the age of three was pretty quick to dig in ;)
Grandma Doreen was busy with her camera trying to pose the kids just right and have them look a the camera...I am not sure how successful it was but put forth great effort ;)
Each of the girls got new puzzles...Gracie's was letters and Karys' was numbers. Gracie was pretty excited about these....
But not near as excited as she was about her new Barbie camera from Grandma Great. This definitely won her heart. She was so excited to get ppl lined up and take their picture, she even got one of everyone sitting at the table b4 dinner, one of the few I am sure.
Karys was excited about Barbie as well...She got a purse with all of the accessories from Grandma Great and just couldn't put it down.
Gracie did a great job of keeping the secret from Nathan that we got him a puppy for Christmas. Not one peep, but she was very excited to give it to him. Here she is coming down stairs to tell everyone to get ready for Falco's grand entrance!
Nathan anxiously waiting for his surprise...as you can see in the background I think everyone else was anxiously awaiting it too just to see the little guys reaction and capture it on film.
Nathan checking him out...is he really mine? I think it took a minute for the reality of it all to sink in, and the poor guy mustered up all of his energy just to meet the puppy.
But it wasn't long before Falco was in Nathan's arms and they were off. Gracie did a great job of helping Nathan learn how to hold Falco and filling him in on all of the things we found the puppy to like in the previous 36 hours ;) However, Nathan soon had to leave his little friend b/c his cough was getting worse and he was feeling less and less spunky :( Chad and Shay took him upstairs while the rest of us hung low and watched for falco to not potty ;) There was something different about Nathan when he came back, but I was slow to pick up on it...
However, when I opened the little gift Chad and Shay handed out and listened to the realizations that those around me were having I soon realized what was going on...Nathan was going to be a BIG BROTHER!!! Yay! I knew it ;) The night before when I saw Shay and gave her a hug I knew right away that she was pregnant! We are so excited to have another little cousin that will be so close in age to our little one :) They are due the end of July, she it the third person I know to be due that last week now so I can't keep each person's exact due date separate in my head ;)
After all of the gifts, it was off to the talbe for the full meal, turkey, stuffing, veggies, etc...however, this is the only picture I took all during dinner. Nathan started to feel really cruddy and his cough was causing him to have periods of time where he was short of breath or having a hard time catching his breath b/t spells. Within 15 minutes of being seated the decision was made to bring him in to the Dr. It felt like as quickly as we sat down everyone was up again helping them get to-go plates ready and gathering up all of their belongings. It was a pretty emotional time, so hard to see such a fun-loving, high-energy little guy struggling so much and feeling so cruddy :( We had a prayer time then for all of the Pella VL's and they were gone and on their way...we adults did make our way back to the table to finish dinner and dessert, but we were all fairly exhausted
It was a tough decision to make but little Falco stayed up in Des Moines instead of heading off to Pella as well. He was able to head over to the Comfort's and make friends and hang out with Riley and then Heather and Seth brought him down to Pella that next day. I had to take my picture with the little guy b/c if you know me at all I am not a dog lover...and I got pretty attached to the furball in the time we hung out. I can't say he was my fav at 4 in the morning in the freezing basement, but hey that is puppy love right?
Heather and the girls playing with the big doodle pad Gracie got from the Comfort's. It was all in all a whirlwind of an evening, but we were able to get to bed on time and get a good nights rest b/c tomorrow meant on the road to the next stop on the tour!
After not sleeping much on the drive down and just the hecticness of the day, Gracie and I crashed on the couch Monday night before supper. If you look close you can also see Falco passed out by my side.
While Gracie and I were sleeping, Grandma Doreen, Daddy and Karys were busy frosting Christmas cookies to bring to Grandpa and Grandma Great the next day. Again as before, most of the frosting ended up in Karys' mouth instead of on the cookie ;)
Then on Tuesday evening we headed over to the Comfort's to celebrate Christmas with Dad and Kris VandeLune. Heather and Seth were kind enough to open their home to all of us and prepare a dinner as well. They are a couple that is so gifted in the area of hospitality. They did a great job with a meal, the atmosphere, and even just having stuff for the kids to do and a great flow to the evening. They are both so giving of themselves and that is especially evident in the ways that they love their nieces and nephew. I love it, What a blessing! It was so good to see Chad and Shay, and Ron and Kris as well and spend the evening together.
The kids playing play-doh and coloring before dinner...they were so entertained and just excited to be playing with each other again.
Gracie opening her gifts intently...she loved the princess ornament, the clothes, make-up, Veggie Tale DVDs, and the Radio Flyer wagon!
Karys left that bow on her head the entire time she sat with Heather and opened her gifts. She was pretty tired but paused often to say cheese and get her pic taken!
Nathan got the sweetest Iowa Hawkeye Football uniform. I would say this was a highlight of the evening! Everyone had to have a chance to try on the helmet and pose and if not they were too busy being entertained by his football poses and faces ;)
Daddy trying to teach Nathan a tough-guy, offensive line, kind of face ;)
Rob reliving his football days and getting pumped up for the upcoming bowl game for the Hawks!
