Hadley vs. Jonell

I have been wanting to do this for awhile and now that Jo is 8 months, I have a few pictures to use for comparisons. As Joni has gotten older, her facial features have definitely become her own. However, when the girls were babies, I think they looked a lot alike. I say that but people still say that Joni looks like her big sister. As far as milestones, Hadley is ahead of Jo in about everything. I can't believe we have 2 kids and its only been a little over 2 years ago that we had none! Time flies when you're having fun and it HAS been fun! So Hadley will be first and Joni will be second.

2 MONTHS

Joni has always been chubbier than Hadley. She has always weighed more and been in the 50% percentile on everything when Hadley was always in the 2nd :)

3 MONTHS

4 MONTHS

5 MONTHS

6 MONTHS

This picture of Hadley (below) and the last one of Joni (above) I think are pretty close! God has blessed us with beautiful babies!

7 MONTHS

When Hadley was Joni's age now, she was walking around while holding onto the furniture. Joni is crawling everywhere.....she prefers the army version but still gets where she needs to in no time flat. It is fun to have her follow me around now instead of staying in one spot and crying. She can stand while holding onto something but is still wobbly. We are working on that. Both girls are great sleepers and are doing very well sharing a room. Hadley sometimes comes in and stands by my side of the bed and scares the daylights out of me when I wake up in the dark and see her there......staring. Both sleep through the other one crying too. Again, our cups runneth over! Below is the reason why we really would prefer Hadley go back to bed instead of getting in with us.

Love to you all!

New Years, an Ice Storm, and a tree

Happy January everyone! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying winter which has definitely hit Louisville and your part of the country as well I'm sure! We are doing well, getting back in the swing of things and spending lots of time with Andy before school starts in a couple of weeks. Before we left for Christmas, we got a package with some dry ice in it. Andy was really excited and quickly decided that we needed to play with some before it was gone. Hadley thought it was pretty cool too.

We didn't let her actually touch the pieces but she liked to feel how cold the water was.

Cute girl still in her P.J.s

So....winter. Apparently in Louisville that means ICE. We didn't have an ice storm last winter we were here but we have been hearing lots about it. The year before we came they had an ice storm that shut off power for a week. Well we finally were hit by one and you don't really understand what its about until you have to break your car out of it....and by break I mean chip away at it so you can get your car door open in order to start it and then let it melt enough to slide it off the windshield in one big piece. It was really pretty on the trees though.

So it looks like water is running down the window but that is solid ice.

Ice, ice, everywhere.

Our grill we leave outside. Hadley loved it because even a couple days after it hit, we were still finding icicles that she could eat.

For New Years Eve and day we drove to Indianapolis to spend time with our dear friends Jon and Heather Hughes and precious baby Nolan. It was a blessing to just fellowship and relax. We came home on Sat evening and I'm pretty sure we all staying in our pajamas until well after lunch. It was a wonderful time!

New Year's toast (with sparkling cider).

Jo, Jon, and Nolan

The Hughes' with the kiddos....

The Hubers with the kiddos....we all had a great time playing! Love you guys!

Andy brought home a bag of clothes from a friend to see if we could wear any of it. There were lots of swimming suits for the girls and one for me and Hadley promptly decided that she needed to try them on (all at once).

We thought she did pretty good getting those suits on. She wasn't a happy camper either when she had to take them all off.

So for Christmas, Janet and Kemper bought us a season pass the the Science Center in Louisville!!!! It will be so wonderful to visit, especially when it's cold outside but we need something fun to do outside the house. We went the other day and they have a great kid zone section that Hadley would play in all day if we let her.

Our first trip to the Science Center was exactly a year ago and here is Hadley doing to same thing then. I can't believe how much she has grown in just a year!

Joni got to play in the "crawlers only" section and she loved it too!

Hadley hard at work....I mean play.

Going to the moon...

In the airplane....

Joni loved these metal beads they had hanging from the ceiling. I think they are supposed to be rain for the plane.

She loved them....

Hadley in a bubble....

Hadley in a bubble one year ago.

BATH TIME! Both girls love taking baths and we have been putting them in there together (with Joni in her tub) and they laugh and play and giggle and splash and kick and love it!

We got some video I'll post later of Joni laughing at Hadley...it was so funny.

She was sucking on the head of this duck too....and laughing at the same time. Apparently that Hadley is quite the comedian.

Our cute Joni. This was the first time she sat in the high chair and she thought it was great. We have a bumbo she usually sits in but Hadley and I were playing with play dough and Jo just wanted to watch.

This kid loves play dough!

Sisters.....so sweet.

We pray they become best friends....as of now they are well on their way.

My winter tree! Since I love Christmas trees and it makes me sad when I have to take mine down, I decided to have a winter, Valentines, St. Patricks Day, Easter tree (long story). Last year I decorated the giant tree and it took a long time but we found this little tree at a yard sale this summer and it's PERFECT! Don't worry, I'll post pictures when I decorate it for the other months.

Love to you all!

Christmas Part 2

And a new year is here and Christmas has come and gone again. We had a wonderful time in Wyoming and we have lots of pictures too so enjoy. The night before we left, our church had a Christmas candlelight service and Hadley's class sang a couple of songs to start off the evening. Our little girl in her first concert....she's all grown up! If you haven't seen it yet, here is the link so you can....I promise, it's entertaining! Click here!

So we flew to Wyoming without any difficulties except an hour longer flight than planned due to a 130 mph head wind. We spent the first part of the week just hanging out at home, keeping busy with errands, shopping, and getting ready for our trip to Sheridan on Christmas Eve. Hadley made fast friends with the cats....she gave them lots of kitty treats and because of this, they really liked her too!

She helped Oma in the kitchen making cookies (mostly eating the batter).

Opening presents from Uncle Ben (of course you can't go wrong with Cars stuff).

And a welcome home dinner with the Brazzales, our dearest family friends!

Melinda made Joni the cutest little quilt and we love it! Becca and her are trying it out.

Uncle Benny with his nieces.

The only picture we got with Hadley sitting on Santa's lap.

Our Joni girl. She had a great first Christmas if you ask me. She won't remember it but she had a great time.

So we drove up to Sheridan to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my sister's house. My mom and dad bought this rocking horse for the girls. Hadley was professional little cowgirl by the time we left (although Hadley would have loved if we carried it on the plane, we had to leave it in Wyoming).

"Yeehaw!"

For Christmas Eve dinner we had fondue with my family and my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Gillette. It was quite the meal....beef, buffalo, pork, chicken, deer, and shrimp in oil, beer batter bread in cheese sauce, and fruit and chocolate fondue for dessert. Yeah, I gained like 72 pounds in 2 weeks :)

Opening presents Christmas morning...Janet bought the girls these so so cute Christmas morning PJs. So stinking cute!

Hadley and Koda waiting for breakfast.

More presents.....

....Joni in her cowgirl/western themed presents. My mom makes these bibs and the slippers are boots.

The quilt/table-topper I made for Court.

Jo loving her new little puppy.

While we waited for Christmas dinner to get done we went to my sister's school where she teaches Kindergarten. She loves turtles so she bought one for her classroom. It is really tiny and really cute and she named him Squirt which totally fits.

Hadley had to go down the slide a few times and go swinging since we were so close and the weather was actually really nice. I expected to go home to Wyoming to see snow on Christmas but it was sunny and beautiful!

Our matching PJs!

Jo and her puppy again.

More cute Christmas outfits that my mom sent before we left for Wyoming. Thanks again Mom for the great clothes!

My mom has a recipe for some great homemade play-dough. I haven't gotten or made her any because I thought she was eat it but she did great! We are going to make some more again soon!

More cookies.....more eating.....

more darling outfits!

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and are enjoying the first few days of the new year. Andy doesn't start school again until February so we are enjoying the break. If you want to come visit, now is the perfect time! :) Love to you all!