Early January - Xmas in Little Suamico

We waited to celebrate Christmas in Little Suamico so we could all be together and look at all of the awesome chaos at Granny Joy & Grampa Tim's house! Great Grandma Hogan came over to dine with us and open presents. I brought my camera out to take photos, but then forgot, so we only have a few. Stella was having lots of fun with her cousins Sean & Seth, too.

Early January

Stella (and Remy) absolutely love Stella's new take-care-of-baby set, which included a high chair, swing, and stroller. Notice that Stella also has a roller in her hair - that came from her beauty set, which included a blow dryer, rollers, comb, fake lipstick, etc. She's all about the girlie stuff right now. We stopped at the Library and Remy played with the bead set. On New Year's Eve, Stella wanted to set and decorate the table all by herself. She covered the bench with Holiday towels for a table cloth and set up little chairs.

The New Year!

We've barely gotten any snow this winter - here we got just a light dusting and the kids wanted to go outside to play in it. We had a play date at Lindsay's house and I couldn't resist taking a picture of Remy standing next to Kendall, who is just 4 months younger than him! I know he's a boy, but he looks like a giant compared to her (probably doesn't help that I have him in the puffiest jacket ever)! We took advantage of me having a couple of weeks off at work and went to Jumps & Downs and out to eat at Tommy's Malt Shop. OMG - it's probably a good thing that I always work on Tuesday nights because kids eat free and I'd want to go their every week.

End of December/Into the New Year

The days after Christmas involved lots of hanging out at home (which we enjoy anyways!) because all the kids wanted to do was play with their new toys. We played with their new Moon Dough and Playdough sets, danced, and made mini pigs-in-a-blanket for lunch. We celebrated Uncle Lee's birthday at his parent's house with an awesome dinner and had another night out to eat at Dickey's Barbecue - Yum!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

We set out a few of our homemade Christmas cookies for Santa to enjoy and, of course, a carrot for the reindeer. It only a took a few minutes of not paying attention and all of the cookies were eaten by Stella and Remy. After refilling the plate (little stinkers!), Grammie Chris read them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Christmas morning came and Stella got a big doll house from Santa and Remy got a race car tower from Grammie Chris. We all had such a great time!

Christmas week!!!

It's always nice to have a full house around Christmas time! This year, Grammie Chris and Seppy were our guests. Our vacation days were busily spent cooking, playing with new toys, and we had great intentions of making delicious cocktails and playing games after the kids went to bed, but in the end, we eventually ended up relaxing to a movie or falling asleep on the couch! One night, we rolled and cut out sugar cookies (and frosted the next day). Remy made sure to get out his broom and dust pan and clean under the bench after our evening of baking. He's a cleaning machine! Remy and Stella got to open up an early Christmas present from Grandpa Darrell - a SWEET police car! Stella cruises all over outside and thank goodness Remy doesn't mind being a passenger, as his legs are just a bit short.







It's always nice to have a full house around Christmas time! This year, Grammie Chris and Seppy were our guests. Our vacation days were busily spent cooking, playing with new toys, and we had great intentions of making delicious cocktails and playing games after the kids went to bed, but in the end, we eventually ended up relaxing to a movie or falling asleep on the couch!

Mid December

Every year we have such a wonderful time at Staywell's Christmas party at the Mendakota Country Club. The kids had a blast meeting Santa, receiving a present, decorating cookies, and busting a move on the dance floor. Since it was the start of Christmas vacation, Gracie and Scarlett got to come over and play! Gracie showed me who was boss in regards to making fake flowers. I was a major FAIL and hers were beautiful.

Mid December

Stella had her 1st Dance Recital. She was so excited and proud of herself. Before her recital, her Tiny Kix class had a practice session in front of Santa.

Early December

We love Ikea - we bought our shelves for the toy room. When I first met Mark, he couldn't drink Kool-aid without getting hyper - this is what I find after he drank a Mt Dew at Ikea. LOL! Now Remy insists on having cups without lids. Below, I'm not sure how Mark is always this lucky, but Stella always wants him to pretend to sleep and both of them set up meals for him to eat, etc. I never get to pretend to sleep! Puzzle time!

Early December

Mark and the kids are assembling a neat, little tree that Grammie Chris bought for us when she was in Germany. Mark had to work late, so Stella, Remy, and I went to downtown Savage's Winter Wonderland. Here, we're going for a carriage ride. It was freezing out - s'mores and hot cocoa were welcomed with open mouths:) Remy has really enjoyed arts and crafts or maybe he just likes doing anything that Stella does. They're painting all the time. Whew, I'm super relieved to be done with our Forever TV video shoot for The Photoboxx. This pic was taken right after our video shoot - still in front of their green screen. After each Early Childhood class with Remy & Stella they have to run up and down a big hill. When the weather's nice they roll down it, too. Remy always has to hug the tree at the top.

End Of November

Mom took us out for a delicious breakfast at Jensen's Cafe. I'm surprised you can't see our strawberries and cream French toast in our eyes - we were booth stuffed (and exhausted after shopping all weekend)! We enjoyed Thanksgiving in Wausau at Grammie Chris's house. While she was preparing an AMAZING dinner, we were able to enjoy the unusually warm weather. Every time Stella & Scarlett play together I'm blown away by how much they love each other. Constant hugs and kisses, sharing and joking together - they are so sweet together. In these photos they were playing with Faith's old baby carriage and saying that "there's enough room for two to push!" Then Lee came to the rescue after their baby went flying out of the tipped carriage. The last picture is from a few days before we came to Wausau - Remy was sick with a 72 hour bug - thank goodness it passed quickly!