Christmas

We had a few Christmas celebrations this year. We spent Christmas day with the Peters. It was a quiet Christmas with just us and Chuck and Jo Ann.

Grace helping to open Faith's present. Grace really got into opening gift this year and had a great time.

Trying out the sled they got from Grandma and Grandpa. Grace said "too heavy" to having Faith sit on her lap.

Grace and the animals at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She always likes to take them out and play with them.

Grace always plays with her hair when she goes to sleep. The other day I found her during her nap sleeping on the floor with a giant tangle in her hair.

The girls sitting on their new toy chest (okay, maybe this gift was more for me so that I can have a cleaner house:)

We were able to spend a very enjoyable Christmas Eve together with our little family. I made a fun supper and we opened presents together.

Grace trying out the sled.

Faith got a ride too, but I didn't get a picgture of it. Her she is all bundled up after her sled ride.

We celebrated with family the weekend before Christmas. Mom and Dad went out to Portland to visit Abby and Sam and Sarah were in Texas this year. We have a New Year's Eve get together with some friends on Thursday and then the extended Flantz Christmas on the 10th. I love all the family gatherings this time of year!

Nick thought this would be funny. I was in the house with Faith while they were cutting down the tree.

Grace's decorating. All the ornaments she put on ended up on the same branch.

Opening her birthday gifts

Marta and Faith

Thanksgiving

Guess I've been busy lately since I haven't blogged for awhile!

Gracie is now two! We celebrated her birthday with family on the 22nd. She didn't understand what was going on, but she certainly liked getting all the attention.

Marta and Sebastian were back for Thanksgiving. They were here for about a week so we got to spend lots of time with them!!! Of course Gracie just wanted to play with Marta the whole time.

The weekend of Grace's birthday Nick finally got all the corn out. It seemed like such a long harvest this year. I certainly did miss having him around in the evenings, especially with me being home all day. Grace got in a few combine rides so that gave me a break too! Nick took off Friday after Thanksgiving. It felt odd, but good, having him home for four days in a row.

Lately we have just been getting ready for Christmas. I only have one last gift to get and then I'm done with all my shopping! I've been playing Christmas music and baking Christmas cookies. This last weekend we got our tree up and decorated. We cut a tree from our yard and it looks great in the house. This was the first year Grace got into decorating. Only one ornament was broken and although she wanted to play with them instead of putting them on the tree, most of did eventually get put up.

Faith is growing and changing so much! She rolls over all the time. She wants to be sitting up and in the the action, but can't quite sit on her own yet. She has recenlty started to suck her thumb and had her first taste of rice cereal the other day.

Gracie is getting more talkative everyday (about 3/4 of it is understandable). She is doing well sleeping in her toddler bed and is starting to get the hang of potty training.

Trick or Treat

I always seem to post pictures in the wrong order. This was after trick or treating. They don't look like here, but they two very tired little girls.

Grandma with a bee and a flower.

Faith

Our pumpkins. Grace drew a face on this one.

Walking up to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

The little bee. She didn't want to get her picture taken so I didn't get many good shots.

Grace is a very neat and clean girl (except when it comes to picking up her toys:). She wouldn't stick her hand in the pumpkin to get out the seeds. I gave her a spoon to use, but that was still too messy because her arm touched the side of the pumpkin yet. FYI: she also doesn't like s'mores because they are too messy. She defianately takes after me with this rather then Nick!

Our big pumpkin and the beautiful bush by our steps.

Thought I'd try to get some pictures posted from Halloween. Gracie was a bee and Faith was a flower. We only went to the few places trick or treating, but Grace made a haul and it took us past bedtime.

Other happenings in the house:

I spoke too soon when I said Grace was sleeping well in her toddler bed. She does great at night, but the last few days she has not done well at nap time. It takes her a long time to get to sleep. For some reason she also thinks that she wants to nap on the floor (not sure where she got that idea). The challenge is keeping her in her bed for naptime. She stays in her room though so that is one positive.

I have been trying to start potty training. We bought Elmo and Dora underwear (Gracie's choices). She has had a number of accidents so I've been doing lots of laundry, but I think she is also starting to get the idea of it.

Faith on the other hand has been doing great with her naps. She is finally on a schedule and taking nice long naps:) Most days I can even get them both to nap at the same time for at least an hour!!!

Painting

Opps..guess I posted these in the wrong order. The first ones are the pictures after I painted.

After

After


Before

This was right before we moved in. It looked so nice and clean then; no kids toys!

Another before shot

Changes in the house

New beds and new paint!!

Friday I set up a todller bed for Grace. I didn't know how Gracie would do in it, but she liked it right away. She has been in it for a few days now and has been sleeping great for naps and at night. We still need to get Faith in Grace's old crib and give Sam and Sarah's crib back. Then we will finally have only one crib in the house again!

This weekend I painted the kitchen. I picked out a red color that ended up being more rust then I had planned, but I like it. I'll post the before and after pictures. Next I'm planning to tackle the sunroom.

Gracie also got to ride with Nick in the combine some today. She was quiet the whole time, but seemed to like it.

Fall Days

It finally feels like a typical Minnesota fall outside. The past two days the girls and I have been enjoying spending time outside. Yesterday we found a catepillar. Grace likes to copy almost anything I do. Lately she likes to bring her doll and doll stroller outside so she can push a stroller like I push Faith's stroller. I'm sure we look a bit humerous walking around the yard with our strollers:)

The nice weather has also brought more fieldwork. Nick has been busy trying to get as much done as he can before the next rain. It seems like this harvest has been so spread out already.

I try to keep myself busy with my own projects. I'm trying to do some very simple sewing. My mom taught me how to sew when I was young and I realize how much I don't remember, although some of it is coming back to me slowly! I have plans to get some painting down this winter. So far I'm just picking out colors. I'm not sure how far I'll get since I might get sick of it after actually painting a few rooms. The planning is sometimes the best part:)

Fifie

From the time Faith was born Grace has been unable to say her name. So she is usually called 'babie', which is how Grace says baby. The last two days she has been trying to say Faith. It comes out at 'fifie'. I don't know if that is any better then being called babie! Hopefully neither name sticks:)