Christmas Sunday

The Sunday before Christmas is a day I look forward too. This year I was particularly excited because I was in my hometown and would see a lot of families that I grew up with. I usually never make it back home on Sundays to go to church. That morning, Brycen scratches his cornea while he was getting ready. The poor li'l guy was crying all morning after that. There was no way Bryce was going to church, so dad volunteered to stay home and be with him (he wasn't to sad to skip church). So dad and Bryce slept the day away right on the couch. Brycen did ok, but he was really sensitive to light. Dad was great and held him almost the whole day. The next day we put a Band-Aid over his eye and he was fine. I wish I would have got a picture of that.

Me and my li'l sis Emily

Dad and B on the couch

Moms turning 49 again?

The holiday's at the Martin's started out by celebrating mom's birthday. We made her a Mississippi mud pie. Mom got everything she wanted since she made out a nice list of practical things. One of the items was a frying pan. My dad wanted to get her that but mom said that list was only for her children, he needed to be a little creative.

I know it doesn't look that great but is sure is delicious.

It was funny because Andrea just started crying when we were lighting the candles, not sure why. But the next day we lit more candles for another birthday and she started crying again.

My sister's inlaws came, they are very good friends of the family.

Christmas on Thanksgiving

We started off the Holidays by traveling to Norfolk, NE. to spend Thanksgiving with Tom's mom, sisters, and nephew. Tom grew up in this town. He moved to Kansas City when he was 24, wow so long ago. Like most of you know, I hate the cold, but some how over the years we have lucked out most of the time, this week was no exception. I only think we had one supper cold day.
She is a wonderful cook and always overdoes every meal. We always eat so good and have a lot of fun visiting and relaxing. I stared to read the Twilight series while I was there. I much say this will always be known as the year Twilight ruined Christmas. Just kidding, but I could not put the books down. I had to read them all (liked them, a little disappointed in the ending) which meant that I did not put up one Christmas decoration up in my house. We spent the Christmas holiday with my mom so she had a tree. Something had to give.

This was the Thanksgiving spread, made almost exclusively by Tom's mom. I made the roles (not shown) and the gravy which never really turns out that great. Betty also makes yummy pumpkin pies. The table included turkey, mash potatoes with gravy, crunch salad, a macaroni salad, watergate salad, sweet potatoes, and green beans. On our way up to Nebraska we were listening to a radio program that talked about all the different ways to cook a turkey: fried, smoked, in a paper bag lined with lard. Betty buys turkey breasts and cooks them in a crock pot. A cleaver way to free up the oven.

Andi tried the mash potatoes. It was a hit.

This is Alek, our only nephew on the Bollwitt side. He was 8 years old during this visit. He is such a good cousin to Brycen. He loves to play with him and has a lot of patience for Brycen. Alek has lots of toys at grandma's house for Brycen to play with.

This was our Christmas gift from Alek. A nice Chistmas letter and picture(not shown). As you can see he signed it "Alek or AK". When Brycen pronouced his name he says, "AK", like yak without the y.

Alek gave Brycen a train set that he played with when he was younger. Brycen loved it and still plays with it everyday. We have added a few pieces to it as well. Here is Alek and Julie with a few trains.

Bryce opening gifts

Alek opening gifts

Yes we are teaching him good manners. Here his is hugging his Antie Laura cause she gave him a train set too.

Grandma and Brycen

This is Fat Andi. Can't miss that double chin.

Andi Belle spending some quality time with Aunt Julie and Laura

Grandma looks great in this color.

Here is Brycen and Thomas, how he loves this train.

Daddy was great to set up the track for Brycen. Although it did not stay up for long since he put it in the middle of the kitchen.

Betty was so kind to take our picture, the only one of the trip. It is kind of funny because if you look at the past years pictures, we are always on this couch for usually the one and only picture.

Andi Belle happy.

Andi Belle sad. Such a fluctuation of emotion at this age. What am I talking about, at every age.

Snow Days

Well I am back. I hope everyone had a great Holiday, I know I did. I haven't written anything since before Thanksgiving so I have a lot to make up for. These pictures are from December 11th. I normally like to keep things in order, but I wanted to put these pictures first. The weather was nice this day and so I thought it would be fun to get Brycen all dressed up for some fun outside. He had a great time out doors and looked so cute in all his snow get-up. We chased each other around the back yard and I tried to get him to teach him how tom make snow angels. Of course I wanted to go in before he did.

Photo Shoot

Ok, for the past week and a half I have not even gotten on to the internet. My mother-in-law does not have it at her house and we were there for Thanksgiving, and then I have been trying to read the Twilite series in less then a week and a half. So needless to say I am not even looking at blogs until I am finished. Here is one that I already had put together, thinking I would post it when I got home on Sunday, oopps.

Having cute pictures of your children is priceless, I know, but getting them done can be insane. We went to local chain photography studio on the craziest day ever. Brycen would not sit still and just wanted to run around. This was the first time we ever put him in a studio so we were not sure what would happen. We were so stressed that I didn't get all the shots I wanted too because we just wanted to get home.

Here are just a few of the pics we took. I wish I could post them all, but not really up the have my little girl wearing just booties and a bonnet on the internet.

Opening a whole new world

So about a week after her turning 6 months we gave her some cereal for the first time. It went over pretty good. It's not like she spit it out, but she didn't gobble it up either. I am sure soon enough she will love her new food option.
Six months is such a fun age. She is laughing a lot and has so much personality. One of the advantages of this age is that she will stay where you put her, and since I am chasing a two-year-old, that makes a big difference.
She is starting to get her two bottom teeth in so she is chewing on anything she can get her chubby little paws on. She loves to role onto her stomach and play with toys, which is great until her come back and a pile of spit up is all over the floor. Yes, we do love our little sweetheart and are so glad to have her in our family.

Happy Birthday Andrew

My nephew Andrew's Birthday was this month and we went over to my sister's to celebrate. Here is a picture of all the grand kids minus my Brother's two kids. We did miss them.

He turned tree years old. His mom had cake and ice cream. We all sang happy birthday.

For some reason this is the only picture I took of him with a gift he opened. I got him a tie. I know, you have the rest of your life to get ties, what 3-year-old wants a tie for his birthday. Well he seemed to like it, or at least his mom did. He also got a remote control Thomas the train. Brycen smacked him in the head because he wanted to play with it. Yikes, sorry Andrew.

Grandpa and Andrea

It just so happened to be Andrea's 6 month birthday as well so I was trying to get a picture of her sitting up. It would work for a few seconds then she would face plant. To prevent that from happening, my niece Sarah was there to catch her so I could get the picture and not have to worry about her taking a dive.