Christmas

We had a nice Christmas with family.  Grandma Becky, Grandpa Jim, Uncle Mark, and Raf came from Minnesota and Grandma Marilyn was in town to help celebrate.  Amelia had a great time with lots of presents.  The picture with Amelia and cookies and carrots is what she left for Santa and the Reindeer.  The video is of her coming down the stairs on Christmas morning.  Otherwise the pictures are of Christmas Day festivities. 

We have masses of pictures and video from Thanksgiving and our trip to Disney but the thought of getting them on here is a bit overwhelming at the moment.  After Christmas we will work on it.

In the meantime, here's some video from Amelia's preschool Christmas program. 

Amelia's First Preschool Program(me)

On Thursday, Amelia had her Fall Preschool Program.  Grandma Marilyn, Daddy and Mummy all thought she'd just stand there but she did a good job, especially on the songs she knew well.  It's a seven minute video but we've been having fun re-watching it.

Apple Orchard

This year Amelia and I bought a pass to the Apple Orchard.  We've been 5 times already.

For our first trip, Amelia and I took Cuddles who is a cat from Preschool who came home with us for a couple of days.  We had to write in a book about the adventures Cuddles had with us.  . . . he only almost got left in the corn pool.

Our second trip we took Auntie Suzie, Tom, and Abby. Tom and Amelia had great fun acting out the story of the Three Little Pigs.

This video isn't nearly as amusing as last years!

Then we went with Moms Club.

Kristy's Wedding

We had a lovely time at the wedding of a High School friend of Kate's, sat at a table with my old AP English and Calculus teachers.  Amelia had fun showing off her moves on the dance floor.

Fence

This summer has been the season of the fence.  After a lot of hard work (on Kevin's part) it's finally stained and finished.  This shot is of it almost done.

First Day of Preschool

Here's some pictures of Amelia's first day of preschool.  She is loving it, although only seems to talk when asked a direct question.

Pump It Up

We've been to Pump It Up a few times over the past year, primarily due to a few Groupons.  Amelia's been a bit hesitant to go on some of the bigger things so I was very proud of her for completing the obstacle course all by herself.

Minnesota

 We had a great trip to Minnesota at the end of August.

We started with a visit to Uncle Mark's new house where we celebrated Amelia's birthday and ended the night making smores around a fire.  Amelia's getting to know Raf (Mark's dog) and is getting much more confident around dogs.

Grandpa Jim treated us to a Twins game again this year.  We had fun touring the stadium and taking pictures with all sorts of things before the game. 

Amelia was a little more into the game this year than last but she conked out for a few innings.  She hasn't napped on us for at least a year or two!

After we took our family picture, Amelia had a go with her camera.

On the way home, Amelia picked up a map. . . Not too long before she's telling us where to go.

Iowa State Fair

Yet again, it's been a while since we updated the blog. It's been a busy summer. Back in August Amelia and I had our third trip to the Iowa State Fair. This year we went with Grandma Marilyn, Auntie Suzie, Tom & Abby and various members of Uncle Jason's family. Tom and Amelia had a great time exploring all there was to do and at the end of the day (after we split up) Amelia made a bracelet with her name on it. She was concentrating very hard.

Amelia's Birthday

Amelia turned three last weekend. On Saturday we had a Curious George themed party complete with yellow hat and banana cookies, monkey and cupcake cake pops (thanks Grandma Becky for the book), and a #3 cake. We had a scavenger hunt in the yard for the kids to wear their George masks and fill their goody bags. On Sunday (her actual birthday) we opened gifts with Mummy, Daddy & Grandma then went on a bike ride in Jester Park.

Tom & Abby Visit

Suzie, Tom, and Abby came to visit the week of Amelia's party. The kids had fun playing in the back yard and we went to Union Park to play in the wading pool and go on the carousel. We had a good time in spite of the sprinkles. This was our best attempt at a picture of the three cousins.