Christmas and Jenna Updates

We had a fun Christmas. The boys are posing in their pajamas from Grandma Chris and Caleb is modeling is unrestricted access to chocolate.

Caleb and Mitchell were very happy with their presents this year. Caleb is a big playdough fan. That is what this smile is all about.
This is how Mitchell feels about Legos.

Santa visits my parents home every Christmas Eve. Caleb makes us laugh on a daily basis.

Cousin Love

Mitchell adores his cousin, Zach.

This is how Jenna spent most of her Christmas.

Updates on our home. This is getting ready for stucco.

We have drywall!

Jenna updates:

A few days after coming home.

First Bath

A few weeks old.

Mitchells 2nd or 3rd time holding Jenna a few weeks ago. He hasn't held her since. He claims he is scared of her. Silly boy. But he loves her. He tells us that too.

I love this picture!!

One month old.

She is always making this face. I would worry except Mitchell did the same things as a baby and he still turned out intelligent....thankfully.

Announcing.....Jenna!!

Early Sunday morning (the 20th) we received an early and very unexpected Christmas gift. Little Jenna was born.....3 weeks early. This is the first time we've had a baby before the scheduled induction date so this was very new for us and I felt like a first time mom when I went to the hospital. I was sure they would laugh at me and send me home but, thankfully, they didn't. Jenna was born at 4:11 am and was 6 lbs 10 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She has dark hair and blue eyes. Her fingers are very long which is different than both of her brothers shorter, thicker hands. Mitchell is very excited about his new little sister. In response to a question about his parents wherabouts he answered, "They are at the hospital with my baby, Jenna". He is also proud to know that his sister looks very similar to him. Caleb isn't fully convinced that Jenna isn't our good friend's baby, Spencer, even though Spencer is 6 months old and a good 10-15 lbs heavier than Jenna and a boy. But he is excited to help out when asked.

Our Christmas Gift

One of the first time opening her eyes.

Getting dressed to come home.

Ready for home. Her aunt Katherine bought her this outfit that will match her cousin's outfit when he is born. His due date was the day before Jenna's! The yellow blanket is the one I came home in when I was a baby.

Getting Out

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day in Wyoming with Clint's family. The food was great and the kids had a fun time playing outside in the warmer weather. I forgot my camera though so the only Thanksgiving picture we have is of Mitchell with his turkey apple he made in preschool. He was very kind and let Caleb eat most of it.
Thanksgiving weekend we took a trip to the Gateway Discovery Museum. It was awesome. The kids can touch everything and they loved it. We will definitely be going back there again someday.

Here are Caleb and Mitchell as police officers.

Caleb loved playing in the water.

They have a great place to build with really big blocks. Mitchell loved the crane and Caleb loved dressing up as a builder.

Earlier in the month Grandpa helped Caleb and Mitchell build a snowman. It was great in it's glory. This is after a few days of melting. Their favorite part was when its head fell off.

More building progress--Walls and Trusses

We took a ride to go visit the property. We were excited to be greeted with trusses and walls! The pictures are showing different rooms in the house.


This is our kitchen.


This is the top of the stairs looking into the bed rooms.

This is the great/family room.

This the bonus room lookin east.

This is looking out the dormer window south.

This is looking at one of the bedrooms in the bonus room.

This is the other side of the bonus room facing west. (The window is wrong. It is going to be two windows in each bedroom.

This is the cold storage room.

This is the basement roller derby rink.

This is looking toward the bathroom, stairs, and bedrooms in the basement.

Basement bedroom

This is the kids bedroom.

This is the garage entry ways. The kids are in the pantry doorway.

Here is a better picture of the doorway into the pantry.

And last, but not least, an outdated picture of the house. As of today, we have the caps on the trusses and sheeting on the roof in the bonus room. Let the fun begin!

All I want for Christmas. . .

Dear Santa,

Mitchell, Caleb and I went to the stores to get some ideas for Christmas. We thought it would be a good idea if we took some pictures so Santa would know what to find. I thought it would be fun to post some of the (poor quality because of cell phone) pictures.

Mitchell is writing the following list:

1. AT-ST

2. Flashlight (really he wants one that goes on your head)

3. Millennium Falcon Lego Set

There were a lot more things on his list, like transformers, X-wing, construx, books, lego indiana jones for wii, and so on, but I didn't take the time to take pictures of everything. He was writing his list and while I was demonstrating how to write a list, he started copying what I had written. I guess it's easier to spell when you can copy than having to think about it. It was pretty funny. Now he's going through the toy books and saying things like: "Nope, don't want any of those" and "Wait a second, that is awesome" and my favorite "Mom, do we have (Fill in the blank) in the storage unit, I really miss that". Becca and I joked last night how Christmas will come again once we start unloading the toys and stuff from the unit again.

Caleb was a little more busy and less specific. He wanted to push buttons on any toy that had them. He did slow down to pick up and pose for a few things. This was his list:

1. Lego TIE Fighter

2. A Cars fishing pole

3. A Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger.

He wanted Thomas stuff today and a flashlight to go on your head as well. He is really funny about Christmas. He is learning that he gets toys and candy. I think Mitchell may have something to do with that. We'll see what we can do to help him learn a little about the real reason. . .

It's been fun with Caleb because he can see the neigbor's Christmas lights. One night, they were a little late in turning on the lights and Caleb talked Grandma into calling them up to turn on their "Critt-mass Wites". There is a nightly check to ensure the neighbor's lights are on, and of course they have updated their timer to ensure that the little boy won't be disappointed.

Scary frights and building sites

We have had a fun Halloween! It started with fun pumpkins that the kids drew and then carved.


Mitchell was a bat and Caleb was a ghost. They loved going around and getting candy.



Mitchell wanted a scary pumpkin.



Caleb wanted a skull with a coy smile. I thought it looked a little like Jack the Pumkin King

A few days prior to Halloween and today, it snowed. The kids love the snow!

The weekend in between gave us 60's so we went to the Zoo and found some turtles.

They loved the play part of the zoo more than the rest. It was a fun trip.

Nice weather brought us a lot of progress on our house. Caleb is dancing on the floor.

Mitchell and Caleb almost gave their parents an aneurysm as they would show us where the stairs should be (look for a hole right behind the boys).

We have WALLS! And I'm not talking about Keven and Cary.

The weather was nice the rest of the week, and we came by today to see a huge change.

The kids played in their bedrooms.

Ross, Susan, Becca, and Mitchell are looking at where each of the rooms will be. (They are standing where the master bath will be.

This is the door from the garage.

And last but not least, a view from the front. This is the garage side, but it's easy to say that we are pleased with the progress. we hope to have the beginnings or all of a roof on next week. The weather is turning cold, so we better hurry!