Inseparable!

The longest I've ever been away from Nicole is about 6 hours! Recently my Dad offered to let Nicole stay the night at his house with Zaiden so Dave and I could have a night together. But I just couldn't do it! Dave thinks that I'm over protective but I just love her too much to be away from her that long.
Am I a little crazy or over protective? I don't know, maybe.

How much smarter can she get?!

Nicole is just over 21 months old now and she continues to amaze us! About 3-4 weeks ago, out of no where, she counted from 1 all the way to 12! We'd heard her say 1-4 before but never over that. She must have been practicing in private or something.

And she can now also identify about half of the alphabet. She really loves letters and spelling. She's always pointing to words and saying "I want spell this one".

She's Amazing! We love her more than anything!

Basement Bathroom

Here is a look at our new basement bathroom! Dave got it almost completely finished about a week ago. There are just a few minor things to finish up. He's worked really hard and he did an awesome job!!!

BEFORE (Well- at the beginning of work)

AFTER

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Nicole is old enough to really start enjoying it. She really got into Santa Clause, Christmas decorations, lights, and of coarse presents! I took all the decorations down on the 2nd and she keeps telling me "Christmas all gone" in a sad little tone. But she has nothing to be sad about because she got way more presents than I was expecting. Only a few were from us and the rest were from Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles. And speaking of Grandparents, Dave's Mom stayed with us for a week for Christmas. We had lots of fun going out to eat, bowling, shopping(lots of shopping!), and just hanging out. I was glad that her and I finally got to know each other a little better. And Nicole loved getting to know her Grandma Lynne too and is still missing her!

Nicole with her Grandma Lynne.

Nicole about to open her big gift from us, a doll house!

This isn't even all of her gifts!

Playing in the wonderful Christmas snow!

First lesson in bowling...... don't run down the lanes!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

For the Fam!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I saw one of these Elf videos and couldn't resist. It's hilarious!

New Basement!!!

So after MUCH time and $$$$$ the basement is done, well almost done. The carpet was installed this past Tuesday and it made such a difference. Now we've been able to start using the space! It's soo exciting! It's almost been like living in a new, or different, home!

Living Room

Stairs

(still need a stair rail)

Laundry

Bedroom



I don't have before and after photos of the bathroom because that's the area that's not quite done yet. The shower and sink aren't completely installed.


And now we finally have our Christmas Tree up. I was waiting for the carpet to be installed so that I could put it up down there. There is much more room down in this living room for those messy Christmas mornings!



And I've already got my Christmas present. Our new sofa that is now in the basement living room.

I LOVE IT!

Talking, Singing, and Just Being Silly!

It's been awhile since I posted any videos of Nicole and I know that the family really loves when I do, especially the Grandmas, so here are a couple.

Nicole is really talking A LOT now, pretty much non-stop!

But she seems to be a little camera shy because she won't say much when I put the camera in front of her. Here is a little bit of what I

have been able to get on video.

Nicole's always been a big fan of music, singing, and dancing. Here is a little clip of her singing the Elmo song and doing a little dance at the end.

Now a days when you ask Nicole to smile this is what you get....

She is a silly girl!

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

The family always gathers at our house for the holidays and this year has been no exception. We love to do the cooking and we love feeding everyone. We always have a lot of fun and tons of laughs when we get together.

Dave, as usual, cooked the turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. But he still got in as much football as he could with his dad and my dad and brother. Amber hung out in the kitchen a lot of the time with me while I cooked and helped to watch the kids.

Here's a peek at some of our oh so yummy dinner!

Halloween!

Halloween was soo much fun this year! We took Nicole out for her first Trick or Treat and she did awesome! She loved it. She was knocking on doors and quickly learned how to say "Trick or Treat". I hadn't been Trick or Treating for about 12 years and I loved seeing her enjoy it as much as I used to. But she may have enjoyed it a little too much. She's been asking us to go Trick or Treating all weekend and just doesn't understand why we can't go again.

Amber and Zaiden came Trick or Treating

with us in our neighborhood.

Nicole loved having her buddy Zaiden

as a Trick or Treat partner.