Life Lately

It is time to do another life lately post to catch up on all the things we have been up to.  Things have been busy, even though when I look at my pictures from the last week it doesn't seem like we have done a whole lot.

Hannah looks so grown up and mature in her riding gear

We straightened her a little bit one day and it makes her look like a teenager

Hannah had the great idea of going to get a pedicure last weekend, so Scott stayed with Evan and Nora while we enjoyed some pampering.  It was some nice one on one time with my oldest.  We had some pretty deep conversations.

Say Cheese.  This little goofball gets funnier every day.

She loves to wear her doll Ergo and puts all kinds of things in it, not just baby dolls.  She is such a little pack rat and wants to bring a billion different things with her every time we go somewhere

We have been playing "Birthday Party" a lot lately.  We make food and cupcakes in our play kitchen, eat the food, wrap a gift and sing happy birthday. Then we switch and its somebody else's birthday.  We have been going through some rolls of wrapping paper.

Evan was exited to get a remote control car for his pretend birthday party

I love their imagination even though my brain is not wired that way.  I am way too realistic to play a lot of their pretend games (I can do the birthday party, but some of the other ones are way out there)

Nora is starting to like puzzles as well

She is still by far our best eater.  Here she is eating a bowl of spinach with dressing.  She loves to eat brussel sprouts and asparagus as well……

Evan's fashion choices have been a little questionable lately…..

Princess dress, coat and Hannah's boots

PJ bottoms, a jacket as a shirt and Hannah's little heels…..

Evan is such a chatter box and talks constantly.  He makes up lots of stories and its quite funny.  We were driving in the car and he was talking to Scott about KU basketball.  He said "KU was playing the Steelers and daddy you wouldn't like this, but the Steelers won"

Evan got some golf clubs for his birthday and we have gone out into the yard a few times to practice.  

Patience is key here.  I am excited that he wants to learn and I think he will do well once he gets some lessons in the Spring.

Then Hannah wanted a turn and she still had her roller skates on……she actually hit it pretty well.

The kids had the great idea to make some gingerbread houses last week……it was cold out and we didn't have much going on, so we made some frosting (that was like glue) and made some houses out of a few graham crackers we had left and some leftover candies from Halloween.

When Nora woke up from her nap she wanted to participate, but we didn't have anymore graham crackers, so we used some Club crackers to build her a little house :)

Hannah is finishing up Girls Scout cookie sales.  She set a goal of selling 150 boxes and she is getting pretty close.  She has done a great job of doing this herself with only a little help from us.  She has quite the sales pitch down now.  She tells everybody "if you don't want all those cookies in your house you can still help me out by donating some boxes".  She has become so much more confident doing this.  

We made her a little cookie crown to wear while selling cookies…..haha!

Last week was the 6 months anniversary of my dads death.  I am always surprised how time can fly by and stand still all at the same time.  How has it already been 6 months, but on the other hand it feels like  it was just yesterday and the grief is still fresh.  Since we spread his ashes in the North Sea my mom went to the Rhine river last week and dropped some flowers in the river,  which will lead to the North Sea.  It is still so hard to believe that he is gone.  I still catch myself wondering if it is real or of I call my parents house I expect him to answer the phone.  There will forever be a whole in our lives.