3 1/2

My little munchkin had her 1/2 birthday last Friday.  We don't really celebrate half birthdays in our house, but they do at school for those summer birthday kids.  She brought some cookies to share with her friends, they sang "Happy Birthday," and she got to take the first bite!  Oh yes, and the 3 1/2 birthday crown was a hit as well!

Pictures

January tends to be a slow month in blogging and picture taking.   So looking back at my camera, I see I took 3 whole pictures so far this month....3!  Pathetic.   January has never been one of my favorite months.  It's cold.  There is usually some sickness (which we have luckily escaped anything major so far *KNOCK ON WOOD*) We've had plenty going on.  Jackie started gymnastics.  We attended a wedding last weekend in Des Moines.  John is traveling this week for work.

We will be gearing up for some festivities in February..so stay tuned.  I promise I'll have something exciting to blog about, or at least some pictures to share!  Until then, enjoy my 3 pictures.

Gwen doodling and Beau content watching..

I've always wanted to do a picture gallery on this wall up the stairs. Finally I purchased some frames for our family pictures we had taken last fall. And I give you...a picture gallery!

A close up of the pictures. Great..2 of my pictures from this month are pictures of pictures. Pathetic!

Belated Mehmen Christmas Pics

I hijacked a few pictures from my Dad from the Mehmen Christmas and thought I would post!

My kiddos are always up bright and early when going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Jackie and Beau getting in some morning snuggles on the couch.

Grandpa and Jackie hanging out doing some work on the calculator.

Gwen and Uncle Paul have become big buddies.  Probably because she knows he has an Ipad and he will let her play games on it :)

Gwen showing the big girls how it's done.

Aunt Jana and Gwen doing a little coloring.

The girls patiently waiting for gift opening time.

Yep, looks like Christmas!

Thanks Mom and Dad!

All in One!

I realized today, I haven't been on the computer for over 20 days...other than to maybe send or check a quick email.  Christmas and the New Year passed us by, and not one single post.  Apparently having everyone home, traveling for extended family Christmas and playing with new toys have kept me occupied in the last 20 days.

So here you get the "All in One" deal!

 Jackie dressed up for her Christmas program at school.  Such a great program they put on.

 I was lucky to be able to attend her class party too, and it was fun seeing her with her classmates.  Here they are pinning the birthday candles on Jesus's birthday cake.

 Christmas break officially started and the first thing on the agenda was to decorate a gingerbread house!

 Uncle Paul and cousin Connor came for a quick visit to go to the Chiefs/Colts game.  It was fun having them here for the weekend.  Beau is showing Uncle Paul how to play Elefun.

 Snow right before Christmas sure helps put everyone in the mood!

 

 It was fun having Jackie home over Christmas break.  I told them to say "Cheese" in the picture above and Beau stuck his hand up in the air and said "Chiieeeefs!"

 A little cousin time on Christmas Eve day for lunch.

 My handsome little guy!

 John and the girls got some more snow playing time in on Christmas eve afternoon.

 Pretty girls! Getting ready to open up a few gifts on Christmas Eve.

 Daddy got a remote controlled helicopter from the kids...I was told it was "the best present ever."

 New Christmas pjs!

 Settling in to watch "The Grinch Stole Christmas"

 Christmas morning didn't disappoint...other than I didn't take very many pictures.  Beau was just not in the "Christmas spirit" that morning until after a much needed morning nap.  So John and I passed him back in forth while trying to help the girls with their gifts.

 It was fun to see all of the kids play with each other's toys.  They pretty much took turns rotating between their own goods and the others.  Gee, that Santa is a smart person bringing them things they all can enjoy :)

 

We traveled to Iowa for the Mehmen extended family Christmas the weekend after Christmas.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.  I did take a bunch of pictures on my Dad's camera, so I'll have to wait and post those pictures some other time.  Here Beau is on the gift he received from Grandma and Grandpa Mehmen.  He loves it!  (the stuff on his face is just some cinnamon from his French toast, so please ignore!)