Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Easter 2014

Here comes Peter Cottontail, Hopping Down the Bunny Trail... Hippity Hoppity Easter is on its way!!

Making the traditional Bunny cake! 

 Julia sorted her candy by color as she opened all her Easter eggs!  What an organized girl!
 Quick pic with cousins at Uncle Emmett's for Easter dinner! *Julia was stealing jelly beans from the cake!
 It is hard to get these kiddos to sit still for a second!
Julia had lots of fun searching for eggs at Grandma and Grandpa Rudebusch's house too!  What a lucky little girl to be so loved!


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Palm Sunday

Julia got to wave her palm branch during the Palm Parade today at church.  She even got to stand up in front of the church with the kids to sing songs.



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Eviction Notice

Julia seems quite happy about the "notice" she was given.  She is smiling so big her eyes are closed.


We are thrilled and look forward to a new baby in about 6 months!  

My baby bump picture from the cruise (at about 15 weeks).
)

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Happy 2nd Birthday Julia!

Has it really been two years? Our sweet little girl turned 2 years old today.  She is reminding us daily that she is no longer a baby as she continues to do new things every day.

Reminiscing... 


 Jeff and Julia- taken Saturday when Jeff was watching the Bison win again (3rd straight National Championship). Jeff and Julia watched the 1st National Championship together too when she was just hours old in the hospital.


We had a small birthday party for Julia today, but family will be coming later in January. We did get to Skype with grandparents though, so that was great. Plus Julia and I got to hang out all day since there was no school today for me due to the extreme cold.  The week she was born we were in the upper 50s.  What a difference.

This girl loves Sesame Street, especially Elmo ("Melmo" as she calls him).  Holding up 2 fingers!


Checking out her new toys!

Julia was eyeing that cupcake.  She worked pretty hard at blowing out the candle, but it always lit back up. Sneaky thing.




Julia's first time eating cake at her 1st birthday party last year.  Why does this Mommy always do red frosting?!?!

Julia and I made cupcakes for her to bring to daycare. Well, Julia contributed by eating lots of marshmallows! 

Now, for a little summary of what Julia is up to these days so I have a record of it! : )

Julia is starting to say more and more words every day. She will usually try to repeat words you say if you ask her to try.  She is getting really good at colors and is able to tell us what is green, red, orange, blue, pink, yellow, etc.  She tries to count to three, but it is difficult to understand what she is saying.  For some other words like pickle, sticker, blanket, cookie she just says the first syllable ("pick", "stick", "blank", "cook").  "Clip" is "blip."  She has a few other words where she mixes up one of the letters.  She does a few multiple word sentences like: "Where'd he go?"  "There it is."  "Bye-Bye Gus."

She has lots of toys that she likes to play with.  She loves her dolls and enjoys wrapping them up in their blankies.  She got some great gifts for Christmas that she loves to play with, too.  She really enjoys having Daddy and Mommy listen for a heartbeat with her new toy stethoscope. (I am hoping that her playing with the Dr. kit won't make her 2 year appt. next week so scary!)  She still loves puzzles and is even starting to do the jigsaw ones now.  We read lots of books.  We have piles of them, but I think you can never have enough books!  

This child LOVES to watch Sesame Street (Elmo), Dora, Bubble Guppies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Honestly, she would love it if her mommy would leave it on all day for her (sorry, little girl, not gonna happen).  She will usually just sit in a chair or on the floor and watch and every once and awhile she will go and play for a bit.  She also wants to take over my phone.  She has a few apps on my phone that she gets to play with every once and awhile.  However, she has figured out how to get on to Netflix and YouTube on my phone so she can watch Elmo or Curious George.  Unbelievable.

Favorite foods:  clementines, soup, chili, tator tot hotdish, applesauce, bread with PB (not chunky, I found that out today), MILK, juice

She and Gus are still good buds.  Gus got some new toys for Christmas and they play tug-o-war with them or Julia throws it for Gus.  She just giggles and giggles when she plays with Gus.  It is adorable.  She will also pet him very nicely and give him kisses.

We absolutely love this little girl and are so thankful for her health.  Praise God!

I'm sure there is so much more I could write, but I've gotta go clean up the kitchen before I head to bed.  It was nice having a few days off of school this week due to the "Polar Vortex" (too bad we have to make them up in June).  




Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Christmas 2013 Part 2

Here are some more pics from the last part of our week up in Roseau.

 The kids all got new John Deere PJ's for Christmas... getting ready for bed!
 Time to open gifts from Santa!  Julia was still a bit sleepy.  


 This is one lucky little girl!
 On Saturday afternoon the kids decorated gingerbread houses! 



 Julia ate quite a bit of the candy, but she also did a nice job decorating her house!

Julia loves playing/watching Elmo on the computer. 

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas 2013- Part 1

Merry Christmas to all! 
We have had a wonderful time up in Roseau as we celebrate Christmas.  It is wonderful to see family. Julia has been spoiled and enjoys her time with family.     

Julia got a nice blanket and pillow from Great-Great Aunt Eva!

We had Christmas with the Didrikson family on Sunday afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Lee's. 

Jonas and Julia had a little time to get to know each other.  Jonas is about 4 months younger than Julia. 

 They were giving hugs!  Cute!

Christmas Eve was our celebration day with the extended Lee family (at Emmett's).

Julia liked exploring different rooms.  Auntie JoAnn found her in the laundry basket after dinner.  

It can be a challenge to get everyone to look at the camera.  Here we all are!  : )

 Julia absolutely loved helping Emilee pass out all the gifts at Emmett's house.  She also had fun opening her gifts AND everyone else's gifts, too.
Snack time with Grandpa Lee (chocolate and cookies anyone!)

 Christmas Day was spent with the Rudebusch/Sorteberg family.   Again, Julia was very spoiled by Grandpa/Grandma and Auntie and Uncle Rudebusch.

 Gus has had lots of fun with the other little dogs the last few days (Bear, Lexie and Lucy), but is ready for some rest and relaxation.

Our family by the tree.

This little girl was VERY tired.  She was falling asleep in the high chair at dinner.  It is tough on an almost two year old to not have her regular routine/naps/etc.  She has had a few meltdowns this week, but I guess that is to be expected. 

It seems Julia is in deep concentration about her new toy from Aunt Brieann and Uncle Paul.  Actually, she thinks it is pretty awesome when the horses start going down the ramps of her Princess castle!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Thanks for everything! Jeff is BACK!

We missed Daddy terribly while he was away in Thailand.  We were so happy to have him come home safely on Saturday afternoon.
 
We were fortunate to have my parents come down and spend time with Julia and I.  It kept the nights and weekends from getting so long without Jeff home.  They were a huge help, too.  I loved that dinner was in the oven when I got home from work! : )  Thanks so much Mom and Dad!
She was one happy girl with her Grandma and Grandpa around.
 

 Great Aunt Eva gave Julia this beautiful porcelain doll named Pamela.  Pamela is the name of my mom's sister that passed away when she was a little girl.  What a special gift.
Julia loved sitting in Grandma's lap watching movies and playing games on her iPad.
 
Grandpa was good at entertaining Julia.  She led him around all over the place by the hand.

 Jeff made some new friends! 
 
"What are you looking at?"
 "Raff"  - that is what Julia calls them.
 
 Jeff being Jeff.
 
 Jeff being Jeff, again.  Read the red sign...
 
By some very old ruins.