Six Years!!

Happy 6th anniversary to us! Drew made a great video for me on the last post. But you have to look at a lot of pictures of me, sorry. We had a fabulous anniversary celebration. I think it's what I look forward to the most of anything each year. We have done basically the same thing for the past few years. We went downtown and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and exchanged our annual love letters to each other, did some shopping, stayed the night at the Hyatt, and ate at a cute crepe place the next morning. It was absolutely perfect. I know it is probably boring or annoying for everyone else to read how much I love him, but it's my blog and I can't help it:) Every year we have been married is better than the last. I don't believe in soul mates, but there are so many times I think that he was made just for me. He is the best man I have ever known. Our kids are so lucky to have him as a dad, and I am SOOOOO lucky to have him as my husband. I have said this before, but I will NEVER be able to express how much I love him. There is just no way to put it into words to adequately say how I feel. All I can say is I love him more than anything in this world. Happy anniversary!

6th Anniversary Tribute

Here's a little surprise for my wife. Happy anniversary!!! We love our wife/mom!!!

Christmas 2012

It has been a great Christmas. Drew has had three glorious weeks off, and it has been wonderful. I wish he could be home ALL the time. We have had a fun time going to Christmas parties, getting together with friends, an ugly sweater party, and just relaxing at home. 
Melanie was a lot more fun this year for Christmas. She really likes opening presents and then being able to play with them immediately. So we tried to give her some time to play in between each one. It took a while, but it was fun to watch.
 I love Christmas! It has been so great. Here are some pics from the past couple weeks.

We had some friends over to go caroling. We brought some chocolate covered pretzels. I love making them and I am addicted! Here is Melanie showing her excitement for her friends to come over to carol.

I love everything Christmas! Melanie is such a good helper:)

Melanie helping leave cookies and milk for Santa!

We went to my sister's house for Christmas Eve. It was a blast. Melanie had SO much fun with her cousins Kyla and Brayden. I was trying to get a picture of her new jammies but the woman could not be still for a second!

I decided to make stockings this year. I like them for the most part.
And the tradition in Drew's family for looking in the stockings is, when the kids get up in the morning they go into mom and dad's room, and dad goes and gets the stockings and they open them on the bed.

Christmas morning. She is out of control! She had to wear everything she was getting. 
Yes, she loves Dora. 
And I think it's funny that I got her a mini broom set. She loves to clean with me.

Drew got us some sweet electrical toothbrushes. The man loves teeth what can I say? 
I collect Willow Trees and Drew got me a father holding his daughters. I LOVE it. My grandma had gifts wrapped in her house for us for months. She gave me another Willow Tree that is of twins. It was pretty special to have a gift from her since she passed away.
Don't mind the extra kennel in the way. 

Christmas at my parents house. My niece and nephew were crazy with their new cameras. They took pictures of EVERYTHING. It was so funny. Oh and check out all the crazy shirt patterns.

Sawyer got to have his best friend Flower over for a couple of weeks. These two love each other. Some friends and us swap dog sitting when we need to. They can get pretty crazy so when the babies are on the floor they are outside!

Here is Ralph, our elf on the shelf. He is in a new place everyday. He reports back to Santa if everyone was good or bad. Mel woke up every morning and said, "Ralph! come on, let's find him." Maybe next year she will actually care what Santa thinks.

Our traditional delicious breakfast!

I have enjoyed get togethers with good friends. This is Jandi, Andrea and I at Olive Garden. This makes me never want to move.

We were able to meet up with our friends Adam and Susan in Estes Park. We had a great time catching up, and watching our kids play.

Four Months Old!

These little beauties are four months old. I can't believe it. It feels like we have had them forever, and at the same time it seems like we were just in the hospital with them. They are such great babies. Seriously, they are the sweetest. They have different personalities, but are very similar at the same time. It's like they are twins or something. I feel like I was meant to have twins… at least these ones. I really do love it. Of course it can be hard, but just because something is hard doesn't mean it's bad or that you can't like it. I mean seriously, just look at these cute faces.  They both smile so easily, and they laugh when they are being tickled. They roll over all the time, they sit in a bumbo, suck on their hands, and love watching Melanie and Sawyer.

We went to the doctor today and here are the stats:

Abigail:

weight: 12.2 lbs (20%)

height: 23 in (15%)

Lacey:

weight: 14.4 lbs (55%)

height: 24 in (25%)

So obviously Lacey is bigger than Abby still. Lacey has some serious chunk. Abby is still bigger than Melanie was at this age. Abby just looks so much smaller compared to Lacey. 

Double Trouble! 

Snuggle time in mom and dad's bed!

These are kind of dark. Notice how often someones head gets cut off in the picture. Oops. A lot of times Abby will be smiling so much I will get my camera out and then right when she sees it she is in a trance looking at it. 

 

First time trying rice cereal. I couldn't get good ones of Abby, but she was the one that actually ate some. Lacey just kept sucking on her tongue. 

Here is Abigail. Oh sweet Abby, she is soo happy all the time.

Here's Lacey. She is a big time snuggler. She is also a very happy baby. (unless she is tired or hungy, watch out!) 

Melanie loves to read books to them. And they LOVE it too. So cute.

Melanie Turns Two!

It has happened.... Melanie has turned two! On Saturday she had an ice cream birthday party! It was so much fun. The weather was fantastic. We were outside most of the time.

Also,to see some awesome pics my neighbor took of the party click here . I would have posted them, because they are much better than mine, but I had already done the blog.

The invitation

Sorry this is a little dark, but you get the picture right?

Party favors, toppings, and ice cream cone cupcakes!

This is Mel's friend Clayton. I didn't get a picture of both of them doing this, but it was so cute.

All the kids helped her blow it out.

Pin the cherry on the sundae.

Presents! It is so fun now that she is old enough to really love it!

Melanie is either hugging Clayton or pushing him. She likes to put her arm around him and say "Friends!"

Playing with friends outside. Melanie and Clayton LOVE the sled. I can never put it away.

And here are some random pics.

She likes to be called "Princess Melanie" and let me tell you that crown allows her to be BOSSY! And as you can see she is the destroyer of all cleanliness in the house.

I find stuff like this all the time. I love it. Kids are so funny.

This is Mel after fighting taking a nap for two days. She learned how to get out of her crib and open the door. It was rough. So we transitioned to a big girl bed and put door knob covers on. The first few days were not pretty. She was like a caged animal in there. I found her asleep at the door a few times. It was like closing a garage door. I would throw her on the bed and run out. BUT now she loves her bed. What a relief!

Melanie is definitely 2!! The terrible two's literally happened over night. There were a few days of non stop tantrums. I had my first experience at Walmart with a screaming kid on the floor, while people are trying to maneuver around her. I fit right in I guess. It has calmed down a little bit. But she cries MUCH easier, and tries very hard to get her way. Overall, my sweet Melanie is still there. I just remembered yesterday after I said the opening prayer at church I heard "Yay good job mommy!!" It was VERY loud. I love her, I just have to be careful not to upset the beast side!