Just like daddy and big brother

Our boys love their ball caps and Anna decided to see what the fuss is all about. She was playing with daddy's hat today and put it on all by herself!

The reason for the season

It's really important to Eric and me that our kids grow up knowing and loving God and understanding who Jesus is and what he has done for us. We want them to know that Christmas means more than just pretty lights, Christmas trees, Santa, and getting presents.

Ayden and I have watched a couple of DVDs this year about the birth of Jesus, but I didn't feel that he was really understanding that it was more than just another cartoon. A couple of weeks ago, we were over at Eric's sister's house for dinner and she had a nativity set that is especially for kids. I fell in love with it and saw an opportunity to give Ayden and Anna a hands-on lesson about the birth of Christ. I ordered one for us from http://www.christianbook.com/ and it was delivered yesterday. We had lots of fun playing with it last night. Ayden already knows the names of all the pieces, and Anna has chewed on all of them, even baby Jesus.

She's on the go!

Anna walked with the aide of a toy for the first time last night! She is getting very good at being mobile. She is even starting to transfer from one piece of furniture to another and cruise along things(albeit very slowly). I'll bet that she will be walking by her first birthday.

Some Sunday night family fun

Most Sundays all of Eric's family, including us, get together and have dinner. Tonight we all went over to his sister and her husband's house. One part of their house is an old shop that was converted into living space so it has cement floors. They have these office type chairs, the kind with rollers. Well after dinner a few of us were sitting in these chairs, on the cement floor, and discovered that the chairs rolled amazingly well across the floor. One thing led to another and before you know it, we all had a chair and were zinging around the room like crazy people! We had an absolute blast! Everyone got in on the action and we spent a good hour or better rolling to our hearts content.

I am so thankful that Eric happened to fix my camera today, because I got some priceless footage. This is the kind of stuff that will be looked back on in a few years and really enjoy. I had the funnest evening that I have had in a long time.

My hero saved the day!

♥♥♥♥ Eric fixed my camera!!! What a terrific guy I have! ♥♥♥♥

Oldies but goodies

So I've decided that since I can't post any new pictures due to my broken camera, I will post some of my favorite old pictures. You'll note that these are completely random, and that is mostly 'cause I'm lazy :o)

Anna's piggies

One of my very favoritist pictures of my Ayden boy

A boy and his grandpa: it's a beautiful thing

My water babies

Ayden's #1 fan . . . himself!

The other day Ayden was singing a-la-la over and over to himself in his own random, made-up tune. After listening for a couple of minutes, Eric told him "I like your song" to which Ayden replied, "yah, it's my favorite song."

Our elf-selfs cuttin' a rug!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Tragedy has struck!

I dropped my camera and broke it!!! I am so mad at myself. I was holding Anna and I wanted to get a picture of her cute bedhead so I picked up my camera with the unoccupied hand and turned it on, and then deftly dropped it. It bent the lens part that goes in and out when you turn the camera on and off, so now it won't move or work. I will probably take it to a camera repair shop and hope that it won't be too expensive to get fixed. In the mean time, I am without a camera. I feel crippled! Hardly a day goes by without me taking a picture of the kids and now I am looking at a couple of weeks. Sheesh, me and my butterfingers!

A few pictures of my cutie patooties

Ayden, trying to hide from mommy because she

was trying to get a picture of him in his new, cute beany

Daddy and Ayden goofing around

Anna is thoroughly enjoying eating grandma's chili

Here she is signing "all done"

Pretty in pink

Anna is 9 months old!

Wow, nine months already! Time sure flies! Here's a couple of the latest pictures of my cutie:

In the last month, Anna has learned how to crawl, pull up on things, climb stairs, and clap her hands. She is also the proud owner of a brand new top tooth! On one hand, I am thrilled at all the new things she can do, but then again, I'm not so sure I am okay with her growing up so fast. I can't wait to see what this next month brings!

p.s. don't forget to check back with the slide show of the kids' monthly pictures because I update Anna's each month.

Out of the mouth of Ayden . . .

This morning, after Ayden went peepee in the toilet, he asked for some chocolate in a rather cute way. I was kneeling down beside him, helping him put his undies back on, and he had his arm around my neck for balance when he said, "I want chocolate, ya big fella". Needless to say, he got the chocolate.

First year photos

Ayden

Anna

A jam session

Today, while my Papa was over for a visit, he picked up Eric's guitar and started playing a song for Anna. So of course Ayden had to go find his guitar so he could play along.

. . . and then my camera stopped recording because it was full. Stinkin' camera.

Dancing queen

♫ "You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life. See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen . . ." ♫

Anna is crawling!

Anna has been super close to crawling for a couple of weeks. She army crawls, but had not figured out how to crawl on her hands and knees, until today. Well, technically she knee, foot, knee, foots it, which is pretty cute. Anna still has to be enticed to crawl across the floor, hence the remote control.

A double feature

Ayden going through the stages of wanting my camera but not getting it:

Anna's air-swimming act:

So much to catch up on!

Okay, I've been pretty lazy about posting in the last week, so I'm gonna catch you up on what's been going on.

Here is a cute nakey picture of my sweet Anna girl:

On Tuesday, my washing machine flooded the laundry room/hall. Luckily, Eric works for a restoration company that also does water mitigation. The vinyl and underlayment had to come out so we will be remodeling sooner than we had planned. Ayden had a blast while the workers were here! He kept telling them that all the water came from the "toinet". He was also saying things like, "that's mama's broom" and "that's daddy's hammer". He had to gather up all of his hammers so he could help the guys, it was really cute.

Thursday, I took the kids to a local church that, during the fall and winter months, hosts playtime from 10 to 12 on Thursdays and Fridays. They have all kinds of toys including stuff for crawlers, balls, cars, trikes, slides and stuff to climb on, play kitchens, a basketball hoop, and spring horseys. It only costs $1.25 to play and it is so worth it! Ayden was having a great time playing with all the different kinds of toys. He had so much fun that we are going to start going there every Thursday to play.

Here's a fun one of Anna gettin' down an' dirty with her chicken lasagna:

Last night (Friday), Ayden had found Eric's basketball in the garage and brought it in the house to play with. When I called him for dinner he decided that the basketball needed to sit at the table, also. First, he put it in daddy's spot, but was told that daddy needed to sit there. Then, he put it in his own chair, but realized that it couldn't sit there because that was his seat. He decided that it could sit on one of the stools at the end of the table, and sit there it did. About halfway through dinner, Ayden held out a spoonful of dinner in the general direction of the end of the table where the ball was and said, "he need a bite". This is also where the door to the backyard is, so I thought Ayden was saying that he wanted to share his dinner with Otis (our dog), who was at the door begging to be let in. I then proceeded to lecture Ayden about how we are never supposed to feed Otis food from the table. He cut me off mid-lecture and said, "I gonna' share to the basketball!" and he leaned as far as he could toward the basketball with his little spoon held out there for it to take a bite. Being a smart little fellow and very observant, Ayden soon realized that, "he doesn't have any mouth". I was quite tickled!

After dinner, I used a wash cloth and cleaned Ayden up. As soon as he got out of his chair he picked the rag up and started cleaning up his basketball so that it too could be excused from the table.

And now, to all you listeners out there, here's something from that Cool Cat, Ayden Knepprath . . .

Whew!

Eric and I watched my sister's kids Saturday. Boy did we have a house full with a three year old, a two year old, a 10 month old, and an 8 month old!

An act of sharing:

Mean ol' Aunt Misha gives Toby a time-out

"You wanna' play baseball batter?"

Four little tornadoes can make quite the mess

My cutie nephew, Levi

The piano teacher and the student

How many babies can you find in this picture?

A rare moment of playing quietly