Christmas 2013

We got to celebrate Jesus's birthday 6 times this Christmas season!  It was busy but so wonderful to spend time with family....

December 21st, we celebrated with the BIG Massner family first, and then the smaller Massner family.  We had so much fun catching up and playing games...

Sunday was a snow day and that evening we had our families "Christmas Eve".  We let the kids open their stockings...

And then Monday morning they got to open presents and we had donuts for breakfast.  It was so fun to see how excited Ollie was about Christmas this year.  My dad and mom got Emmie a kitchen for Christmas. Since it is so big, Andrew set it up at our house and they got to see it "Christmas Morning". Emmerson was SO excited!...

Monday evening we went up to my parents for a Christmas dinner and to spend the night.  We had a delicious meal and then my sister read the kids a Christmas book before bed.  I think it might be new tradition!  After the kids were in bed we played games...

Christmas Eve morning we got woke up and did our annual picture on the stairs before opening stockings and presents....

After gifts we ate breakfast, played with some new toys, and played games...

After naps we headed out to celebrate Christmas with Andrew's family.  Christmas was a little different for the Wiese's this year because we all stayed at a hotel.  It was perfect though and so much fun!  We went to a Christmas Eve service on Tuesday and then Christmas day we went out for lunch and came back to open gifts, hang out and play more games.  We all ended up staying until Friday.  The kids had so much fun in the pool and we even got to do some after Christmas shopping.  It was so fun spending quality time with family, especially Ben, Sherry, and Elliott because we don't get to see them very much.  We missed you AJ and Abby!....  

So we got back on Friday evening and then Andrew headed to church for a youth group lock-in.  He didn't stay all night because Saturday we headed over to IL to celebrate with my Mom's side of the family.  It was so great to see my Grandma and family but so different because my parents weren't there! We had fun anyway, playing games and doing the ladies $5 gift exchange.  I sent mom the picture of Nichole and I with Grandma so she knew what she was missing out on ;)....

We feel so blessed to be able to spend time with so much family.  We love our family and we love our Father!

Mackenzie's 9th Birthday

We had a fun time celebrating Mackenzie's 9th birthday this year...

I love seeing the beautiful girl you are growing into Mackenzie!  We love you!

Oliver 3 1/2 Years

Our sweet boy is 3 1/2!  Ollie is my little helper, snuggler, and is such a good big brother.  He still loves to learn and practice writing his letters.  He has such a sweet heart and usually wants to make the right choice instead of getting a consequence.  He a trustworthy little guy that I don't have to worry about what he is doing.  He is really into playing games lately, especially the ones he got for Christmas.  He also enjoys puzzles (hard ones that we have to help with) and still loves his trains, cars, and coloring.  He plays very well by himself and most of the time he plays well with Emmerson.  He is still into movies and one of his new favorites is Peter Pan.  He loves being with his friends, especially his cousin, Jake.  So blessed to have this boy...

I love that I am your sweetie pie and you are mine, Buddy.  We love you forever!

Snowy Day

Our first big snow this year was beautiful!  The kids loved playing in it and building a tunnel with Daddy...

Hoping for snowman building snow soon :)

Emmerson 18 Months

I can't believe my baby is 18 months old already!  And she even acts older than 18 months.  

For a while now she has asked to try going potty like Ollie and once in a while we would set her on the toilet.  Well, last week she actually went.  I don't think she really knew what she did.  But last night we went again and also this morning!  Not sure I am ready for this!  

At her 18 month appointment she weighed 23 lbs 11oz and was 2 ft 9 in tall.  We call her our little peanut :) She has started saying so many words.  For a long time if you asked her anything she would just say "yeah" and some times just shake her head no.  Well the last couple days she learned "no" :(  Some other new words are: "pac" for paci, "b" for blankie, "moo" for movie, "Ow" for Ollie, "go?" for where is it? She can say a lot more words and it is usually just the beginning sound of the word.

She is very good at following directions but doesn't always choose to follow them.  She still loves to get into everything, especially things she shouldn't.  She did her first art work on the wall the other day, luckily it came off!  She likes playing with Ollie's train set which she usually ends up breaking.  She actually likes doing most things that Ollie is doing and a lot of the time they play really well.  She is a great sleeper still but has recently figured out how to crawl out of cribs (thankfully not hers yet).  Christmas break wasn't so easy putting her down :(  She loves her new kitchen she got for Christmas and will play with it on her own for quite a while.  she still loves reading books and asks frequently.  She also likes pushing her new baby in her stroller with her purse in hand.  She still loves picking out a movie to watch (which takes forever) but doesn't last the whole movie.  Her favorites are: Bugs Life, Cars, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. She also has discovered a love for Play-doh and has recently been more cuddly than usual, which we love! 

We love your fun, sweet spirit Emmie Girl!  We are so so thankful for you!  Love you forever!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was extra special this year because it was the first time we got to meet our new nephew, Hutch!  We spent most of break up at my parents, spending time with family and hosting a baby shower for Hutch.  I got to put him to sleep many times and snuggle him while he slept, so fun!  The kids had a blast playing together and Emmerson warmed up to Dustin really fast and begged him all weekend to watch movies with her.  She didn't like it when anyone would hold Hutch at first, she was a little jealous :) We got to play games and us sisters even got to do a little Black Friday shopping.  Here are some pictures...

It was a fun, busy, crazy time but we are so thankful we all got to be together.  It had been since last Christmas!