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You might have guessed- Daggers turned one and we had a family party to celebrate. Now can you guess the theme?

BIRTHDAYS

Right after Christmas birthday season started in our house. Here are some snip-it’s from mine and Joel’s.

 

 

 

Almost ready

Here’s a peak at the house as we get ready to celebrate Christmas. This year is already so much fun since our little guy is actually excited and asking every day if its Christmas yet… almost buddy, almost.

Also, Daggers started crawling 3 days ago. Well kind of crawling. She won’t actually get up on all fours. Instead she kind of scoots her butt because she keeps one leg in front of her. Sadly it looks a lot like a dogs butt scoot. Not too attractive but she sure can get around. It’s funny that she decided to crawl once we put our tree up because that is what motivated her brother 3 years ago to do the same thing. But the cool bows and wrapping paper are really just a coincidence. Her big motivator was me. I left her playing on the living room floor so I could go work on a gift for Joel in the bedroom. Next thing I know I see her snotty, tear-stained face peeking up over the bed… she had crawled after me screaming the whole way. Oh my little girl and her will to get to me no matter the obstacle. I had a video of her crawling but I can’t upload video to my blog. I’ll just leave you with one last picture.

Thanksgiving Deep Creek Style

We spend Thanksgiving with my family and this year we found a house at Deep Creek that was big enough to house the whole lot of us and then some. It was a little pricy but that’s what you have to pay for all that space and being right on the lake. Did I mention that? I mean check out the pictures from our bedroom. It was a great place and a it was a fun time having all of my family together. It was crazy and busy and at times tense but it was fun.

My dad and I took O and his cousin J to a nearby nature center and some of the pictures were too good not to share… I mean check out the schnoz on that turtle!

Super Mario Bros Super Show

O is obsessed. He loves Mario and we found this 1980’s tv show on Netflix that he watches over and over again. So he was adamant that he would be Luigi this year for Halloween. He was happy to have the rest of us dress up with him and I was happy to make the costumes. It took him a couple of weeks to call us mom and dad again and not Mario and Princess. I actually still (and it’s now almost Christmas) get called Princess from time to time… I haven’t made up my mind how I feel about that…

Gaver Farms

Gaver Farms is a big deal in our area in the fall. I had no idea. I didn’t even know this place existed. But one of my sisters suggested we take all the kids for a day out and now I get it. It is a big deal.

There’s a “pillow” bounce, hay rides, pumpkin picking, 2 huge slides, a corn maze, games, animal petting and feedings and more… it is a wonderland for kids and this needs to happen again.

Pumpkins

Every year my sister Tessa and I take our kids to pick pumpkins. The actual picking part takes like 10 min but we are always there for an hour letting the boys play and trying to take pictures that we’ll be able to gush over later in life. This year was the craziest. Thankfully our sister Laurin came along. We got some good shots and tried to force others… I honestly don’t know why I even try, clearly the babies aren’t having it. Oh well. So the pictures aren’t “perfect” but they sure do capture our lives right now and THAT is what I want to remember.

Roughing it

We have taken plenty of trip and vacations since Joel and I have been married. But all of them have been with our extended family or with friends. This weekend we made our very first family vacation happen for us and our kids. The weather was still really nice so we decided to pack it all up and go camping. The park we chose was attached to a children’s amusement park, Dutch Wonderland. It wasn’t as “rough” as Joel would’ve liked but that will have to wait until the kids are older. For their age it was perfect. Everyone slept and we had a great time. I think this trip will have to happen again.

High Hopes

I had to include this picture on the blog. It’s one of my favorites. Look at those smiling faces and high hopes… remember how I explained a couple post’s  back that it’s actually December and I’m just catching up on blog posts and dating them earlier? Too bad I know now that our season is pretty much over. At least I still have this great picture of all of us (plus Joy).

First Tooth

Today Daggers first tooth popped through. This picture captures so much… The tooth, the many many tears, and the move away from that newborn phase.