Oliver- 2 1/2 Years

Oliver is such a fun sweet little boy.  He is talking, talking, and talking and is doing a good job of saying "please" and "thank you".  He is really into playing with cars and tractors.  I have noticed that he is really starting to play with his toys and can entertain himself for quite a while sometimes.  He still LOVES watching movies.  His favorites are Cars, Toy Story, Veggie Tales, and he just watched A Bugs Life aka "Jumping Spiders" and is still talking about it.  He often asks to watch a movie on the BIG ONE which is the big tv downstairs instead of the small one in his toy room.  He loves his "Baby Girl" and does such a good job with her.  We are now working on sharing with her :)  One big thing that we have been doing is only giving him his paci when he sleeps or when we are in the car.  He is doing a lot better than I thought, only asking once in a while and has only had one meltdown.  He has been having fun playing in the snow with Andrew and had so much fun getting ready for Christmas.  He got to decorate his tree in his toy room and loved helping me make sugar cookies....

Love you so much Ollie boy.  You are such a blessing!

Emmerson 6 Months

I can't believe Emmerson is already six months old!  She is much more petite than Ollie was... that word was never used to describe him :)  At her 6 month checkup she weighed 16 lbs 2 oz which is in the 48th percentile and was 29 in long which is in the 98th percentile.  She is wearing 6 to 9 month clothes and some 6 to 12 because her arms and legs are long.  We started feeding her cereal a couple of weeks ago, even added a little banana or peas and she still doesn't want to eat it!  She started sitting up about a week after she turned 5 months and is a little mover.  She loves to be where the action is.  She is taking 2 or 3 naps a day and once in a while sleeps through the night.  She is really starting to be a momma's girl.  If someone else is holding her and she sees me, she will get really excited and fuss until I hold her.  She also gets excited when she sees her brother.  She loves "playing" with Ollie.  She is a very good, sweet, smiley little girl and we are enjoying her so much... 

first time eating cereal

We love you so much baby girl!

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving seemed to start early this year.  Dustin and Leah came home for Drew's football game the friday before Thanksgiving and surprised us with the news that they were staying a week!  It was so great to see them...

Saturday we all hung out at my parents house.  It was so great to all be together again.  I cut Leah's hair...

While the boys shot clay pigeons...

And then played a game of settlers...

We stayed overnight.  Here is Ollie playing "games" before we left for church...

And here is sweet Emmie...

We came back to Dad and Mom's after church and hung out all evening.  Monday and Tuesday Andrew had to work and then on Wednesday after our dentist appointments we drove up to Andrew's parents for a couple days. Thursday we had a wonderful meal and enjoyed time with family.  Friday the boys went lake raking...

While the rest of us stayed home and lounged around....

grandma watched toy story with ollie

And in the afternoon the girls did a little Black Friday shopping.  Had to get a pic of Ben and Sherry before we left.  So good to be with them again...

Friday night we drove back to my parents and hung out with all the family again.  We stayed overnight and Saturday got ready for the Massner Thanksgiving brunch...

kate and emmerson

the kids needed a little breakfast before brunch

It was fun seeing family again and eating more delicious food....

best of cousins

emmie hanging out with great-grandma 

That ended our Thanksgiving celebrations but we hope to do a better job of having thankful hearts and attitudes throughout the year, not just on Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for!

Football

 I am going back a little bit here but I really wanted to share all of these pictures my mom took at my brothers football games this year.  I think I have mentioned them in other posts but we got to go to almost all of Drew's football games.  He is a sophomore this year and got to play some varsity!  We had so much fun watching him.  Every day Ollie was talking about going to Drew's football game.  He really enjoyed watching the band play and got into the drums.  He did a great job of sitting on our laps and watching the games, especially good if he had candy :)  Emmerson started out not being a fan of football games but I think she finally came to terms with the loud noise.  Quite a few games she fell asleep laying across my mom's lap.  Such a sweet girl.  Anyway, Drew's team went undefeated and made it to the UNI Dome and almost won the state championship.  Andrew took off work for the game and Dustin and Leah got to fly home.  The week before the game we found out that the star quarterback tore his ACL and wouldn't be able to play.  We were all so sad.  It was such a nerve racking close game.  They ended up losing 15 to 17.  Way to go Bulldogs!

Here are some pictures of the football season:

 We are already excited for next football season :)

Ollie 29 Months

Our little buddy is getting so old! He is at such a fun age and is starting to say the cutest things.  He has been calling the wrinkles on his fingers after he gets out of the bathtub, "sprinkles".  He has also been calling his fire truck that he loves to push around, "fartee truck".  Love it.  He is such a sweet laid back boy.  We are so blessed.

Here are some other things Ollie enjoys:

cuddling- he will cry if he doesn't get to when he wakes up

putting money in his piggy bank

skyping with grandma

going to cbs (community bible study)

singing songs- love it when he comes home with a new one he has learned at cbs

reading books- he can read Oops all by himself (has it memorized)

reading his bible stories- only he always wants to read david and goliath and noah's ark

sleeping with cy (iowa state mascot), bear bear (a random bear), and bobby (bob the tomato from veggie tales)

jumping- he LOVES to jump

"booming" things- when he pushes something over or hits it he says, "i boomed it"

games- playing with g&g's ipad

football- he loved watching drew play football this fall and talks about it ALL the time

ollie with his buddies lady and jake

ollie with g&g's dog lady

watching mackenzie play "games"

fell back to sleep while cuddling with dad

"booming" the fort dad made with his "fartee truck"

we love you so much buddy boy!

Emmerson 5 Months

Today Emmerson is 5 months!  This month is just flying by!  Right now Emmerson is practicing sitting up and she can do it by herself for a little bit and can sometimes get her balance when she starts falling over.  We will keep practicing :)  The past couple days her new thing is making the spitting sound and making bubbles.  Yesterday morning she woke up doing it, so cute.  She is still usually a happy smiley girl and loves being around the action.  She still isn't into eating as much as Ollie was and usually only nurses on one side.  She will take a bottle but likes to sit up while drinking so she can see what's going on :)  She loves her bouncy exersaucer and watching her brother.  He can get her to laugh a lot.  She still doesn't always sleep through the night but will go back to sleep once she eats.  We are enjoying her so much.  We forget each stage Ollie went through (unless we go back and look) so it's fun to watch her go through them to be reminded... good thing I write stuff down!
 

On November 4th we dedicated Emmerson at church.  We stood in front of the church, with some other couples and their children, saying that we would raise Emmerson in the ways of the Lord and teach her God's truths.  It is great to have a church that wants to come along side us and help...
 

Love you so much Baby Girl!