Gingerbread Houses

We went to our annual Gingerbread House making class at Country Kitchen last weekend.  We brought Ben along too for his very first "cooking class".  Taylor was so funny explaining all the rules to him, "Now Benny, you have to listen when Miss Kelly is talking and you have to wash your hands and you can't eat all the candy.....". 

Taylor was determined to do it all by herself and she pretty much did.  It took her over an hour and she was the very last one done in the class.

 Ben and Troy worked together on his house.  Daddy squirted the icing out and Ben stuck all the candy on.  He did a great job, sticking with it the whole time!  Even the instructor commented on how well he did for being one of the youngest.  I think he gets to go back next time!!!

 We also went to the Festival of Lights at Franke Park on Saturday night.  We took some random pictures of the kids.

 Drew was working on "smiling on command".

 Couldn't quite get it figured out!

 This could've been a great picture.  At least it makes me laugh!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We travelled around to all the grandparents over the long Thanksgiving weekend.  I forgot my camera so these are all from my phone....not the best quality!

Thursday was so nice....we were at Grandpa Rick and Grandma Cyndi's house.  We spent some time playing outside!

On Friday we went to Oma and Opa's house.  We helped decorate the Christmas tree.

On Saturday we were at Grandma and Grandpa Parker's.  Vladi and Ben tried the wishbone....neither had a clue what to do!

We got to sample Grandpa's new Orange Julius smoothies from the Dairy Queen!

On Sunday we were at home and we decorated for Christmas! If that tree is still standing and in one piece by Christmas it will be a miracle!

Family Pictures

We had not had a "real" family picture taken since Ben was a newborn.  My neighbor helped me take some pictures this Fall.  It was hard, but I think we turned out with some decent ones!

Park

Since the weather has been so nice we went to the park one afternoon last week!

 The highlight of the trip was seeing one helicopter take off from the hospital and two landing!

 Taylor ran to the top of the hill to get a better look.

 And rolled all the way back down!

Drew's 1 year checkup

Drew had his one year appointment last week.  He weighed 22 lbs. 2 oz. and was 29 1/2 inches long.  He says several words now and can stand on his own for a long time.  Instead of trying to take steps, he just dives to whatever he wants.  The kid is a monkey.....climbs on EVERYTHING and uses stools, toys, or anything else he can push around to help get on top of things.

The doctor officially diagnosed him with a peanut allergy even though he won't see an allergist and go through testing until he is two (it will be more accurate then).  So now we carry an Epi-Pen and Benedryl with us.  He also had routine bloodwork done and we found out that his iron levels are low so he now takes a multi-vitamin with iron.  Besides all that and 4 shots, he had a great appointment :).



Halloween 2012

We had a fun Halloween this year.  Taylor was really into it, so that made it fun.  We carved pumpkins a couple nights before Halloween.  Nobody would touch or help with "the guts", but they loved seeing them lit up on the porch.

 Taylor decided at the last minute that she wanted a haunted house.  Our printer was not working so I couldn't print a stencil.  It actually looked pretty neat when it was lit.

 Halloween night....it was cold and rainy!  This is my only picture.  Drew made it to one house, Ben went up and down the street, and I think Taylor would have stayed out all night had we let her.  They had a great time despite the weather!