Just a lazy Saturday morning

Nothing beats hanging out in our PJ's on a lazy Saturday morning in bed.  Our bed- aka the pull-out bed in the family room at my mother-in-law's :)

Fun in the snow

We've gotten a decent amount of snow here in the past week.  Kaden has been enjoying the snow to the fullest, even despite the freezing cold temperatures last week!  This was our second decent snowfall this year- the first one melted away, so Kaden was excited for more snow to come again!  He loves shoveling, rolling around, and best of all, sledding in Grandma's backyard.  The hill behind Grandma Rysdam's condo is a perfect little hill for kids like Kaden, and he gets it all to himself!  Plus, I can watch him from the window in the basement without having to take the girls outside! :)

Woo whoo! More snow! :)

Shovel, shovel!

Watching Kaden through the front door

Hmm... what's he doing out there with that shovel?

He made it down the hill!

Silly faces through the window

Love those rosy cheeks!

Weeeee!

Trying to walk through the freshly fallen snow

Back up the hill

And down again

Hi, Mom!

The girls love to watch their brother outside :)

Whatcha doin', good lookin? :)

Notes from the crib: 15 months

Hi!  It's me, Maya!  Long time no talk to!  We are actually almost 16 months, but Mom wanted to wait until she had our official stats from the Dr., and she needed a free minute to sit down and actually give you the update.  I mean, I needed to find time to write this blog post. :)  At 15 1/2 months old, I weigh 20 lb 8 ounces, I'm 30.75" tall, which puts me in an average of about the 40% percentile.  I'm still pretty tiny, and wear 12-18 month clothes.  I am the loud one.  You can't miss hearing me, and everything I say sends a shrill to the ear.  My laugh, my cry, my yelling, talking.... everything is LOUD!  I love to have fun.  I'm a quick little girl and run all over the house.  I don't miss a beat and love to play and be tickled.  My laugh is contagious!  I don't like to drink milk, and food isn't really my favorite thing either.  I eat pretty well, but when I'm done, I'm done.  I can say a few words- Mama, Dada, cracker, all done, Nana, Kaden, Thank you.... some of them are a stretch, but Mom says she knows what I'm saying :)  I've turned into somewhat of a Daddy's girl, and love to cuddle and spend time with my Daddy.  If an adult is sitting on the floor, I like to back myself right into them and plop on their lap to just relax or have a story read to me.  I also love to throw things and play catch with my brother.  I sleep well at night, which Mom and Dad are thankful for.  I like to make what Mom and Dad call "my duck face."  Mom is working on getting a good picture of it to put on the blog.  I scrunch up my face when I do it, and it's just the most adorable thing ever.  Anyone who sees me do it just cracks right up!

It's me, Makenna!  At 15 1/2 months, I weigh 22 lb, and I'm 31.75" tall.  This puts my height in the 80th percentile and my weight in the 56th percentile.  I'm still 2lb bigger than my sister, which I've pretty much been all along.  I still fit into 12-18 month clothes, too, but 18 month fits me a little better.  So far Mom has lucked out and been able to put us in the same size clothes.  When I grow out of something, Mom just retires the outfit for both of us :)  I am a very happy girl, but boy, I can be mean to my sister.  Sometimes I'll walk up to my sister and hit her on the face for no reason.  I'm stubborn and I like things my way, and if I want something, I want it NOW!  I'm much more laid back than my sister is, though, and not quite as loud in volume as her either.  I say more words than my sister does at this point.  I like to say, "hot, mama, Kaden, thank you, pretty, Dada, uh-oh, Nana."  I'm pretty content walking around and playing with my toys, but boy... I love to get into everything.  I like to climb on chairs and I'm very curious about everything around me.  I'm different from my sister in this way.  She doesn't try to climb on things or get into things she's not supposed to.  Not me, however.  I try to get into everything, and I try REALLY hard to get into things I'm not supposed to play with.  What can I say, I'm a stinker :)  I still have cute chubby cheeks and a gentle soul.  I really love to eat, but I'm a pokey eater.  I'll pick at my food the whole time I'm in my high chair and will just keep eating anything that is given to me- except milk of course.  I take good naps and sleep well at night.  My sister and I are down to 1 nap a day and she usually sleeps for 1-1.5 hours, and I usually sleep from 1.5-2hrs.  We are still wearing size 3 diapers but we'll be switching soon, Mom says.

Mom says she loves us at this age.  We are so much fun to play with, and even though we keep Mom VERY busy, we add so much joy to our family.  Our personalities are really starting to shine, and we're growing into 2 fun toddlers.  Every day Mom says that we're acting more like toddlers and less like babies.  Sometimes that makes Mom sad, but she also loves being able to interact with us so much.  We'll talk to you again soon with our 18 month update!

Injured finger

Poor Makenna slammed her finger in the drawer of one of the end tables last week.  It got worse and worse looking every day so we took her in to see the doctor.  Thankfully x-rays revealed that the finger wasn't broken.  The pediatrician had to burn a small hole through her nail to release some of the blood under the skin.  The poor girl screamed like crazy!  I, of course, had all 3 kiddos by myself, during naptime, at the doctor, in the middle of a snowstorm.  Not fun.  I felt so badly for Makenna.  You could tell that she was in a lot of pain.  A few days later the nail fell off, and it's now healing nicely.  Hopefully the nail will grow back quickly, but we're finally back to normal now :)

The injured finger

Maya entertaining herself with puffs at the Dr's office :)

New Year, New Questions

For the past 2 years, we've had the tradition of answering the same set of questions on New Year's Day.  Andy answers them, I answer them, and Kaden has answered them.  Next year we'll even get the girls to answer them.  This year all the girls chose to say was "Dada" "Hot" and "Nigh Nigh." :)  Last year I posted the video of Kaden answering the questions (you can view that here).  We did take video of his responses this year, but I thought I'd give you his answers on here instead of the video this year.  I love this tradition because it gives us a small glimpse of what is on our hearts at the time, what our year has been like, and what our goals are for the next year.  It's fun looking back on how we answered them the year before.  Some questions we answer the same every year, some are quite different.  Some answers show personal growth, some show areas to keep working on.  I won't share all of the answers to my questions, but I will share some of my wishes for this year.  If anything, they can help me be accountable to all of my blog readers :)  In 2013, my wishes are: rely on technology more (i.e. spend less wasted time online), continue to help my children grow to love the Lord, and be more content with what I have.  All 3 of these are tough, especially with the pressures of the world around me.  It is my prayer DAILY that I can choose to make these wishes come true and use them as opportunities to grow in my relationship with Christ.

Here are Kaden's answers to the questions this year:
1. I'm a little afraid of... sharks and lions
2. My favorite thing to do is... go golfing 
3. If I could go anywhere in the world, I'd go... to Disney World
4. If I had 3 wishes, they would be...
        1. to see Santa and his reindeer (oh the irony coming from a house which openly tells him that Santa is FAKE :))
        2. more gifts (you can tell what was on his mind)
        3. to be in my new house
5. When I grow up I want to be... a gymnastics player
6. My best friend is... Benjamin Batts
7. God blessed me this year by... dying on the cross
8. The people I love are... Mommy, my sisters, and Daddy
9. One way I want to serve others this year is... being nice to my sisters
10. Something I would like to do in 2013 is... go sledding
11. My favorite gift I got for Christmas was... Buckey (Jake Pirate Ship)

Christmas picture overload

Yes, I know that putting too many pictures on a blog is a blog faux pas, but since this is my way of sharing our life with friends and family far away, and since I make my blog into a photo book each year, I've created my own rules :)  Enjoy our Christmas in pictures.  As you can see, we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas together here in MI.  I love seeing Christmas through my kids' eyes; their wonder, joy, excitement in the simple things.  Thank you, God, for your gift of Jesus to us!

Kaden checking out Uncle Steve's gift

Birdhouse building project

Yay!  Got the Anthropologie serving utensils I wanted :)

Opening gifts

Daddy opens his gift.  I think Kaden was excited about it too! :)

Helping Uncle Brian

Daddy hanging out with Maya during snack time

Rosy-cheek Maya- very common site! :)

Showing off my new UA sweatshirt

Maya takes it all in

Helping Aunt Kelly open her gifts

Yay!  More diapers!

Cuddle time with Makenna

Makenna is excited to see what Mom is getting!

New Jake sheets from Grandpa and Grandma!

Kaden's gift for Grandpa- he asked to get something and pick it out all by himself for his buddy :)

Yay!  Daddy finally got his Apple TV

New Veggie Tales pirate movie

Makenna enjoying her new toys

Kaden trying out his new Spiderman glove

Makenna concentrating on opening up a present.  I love how her cheeks hang and her tongue sticks out when she does that :)

More concentration on presents

Excited about our new L&L shoes! :)

I think the girls had more fun playing with packaging :)

Oooh, we could use this luggage scale

Checking out the videos

Kaden was very excited to get some real tools.  Bye Little Tikes tool chest, hello big boy workbench!! :)

Opening up new tools while Grandpa tells them what they're for

Opening up presents is fun!

That looks like a good book, Grandpa!

Maya relaxes with Grandma Rysdam

Maya and Daddy

Maya checking out her goodies

Annual Christmas picture with new coordinating PJ's.  Love this tradition.

I especially love this tradition.  Kaden opened up his final Christmas book (We wrap 25 days of Christmas books), and the Christmas Day book is always the new one.  This year I chose Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story.  Kaden was hot, so he enjoyed the book without his shirt on :)