Christmas Visit with Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs

Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs came to visit for Christmas. Here are some photos we've taken so far:



Linnaea's fake smile.




Elise and Grandpa.




Linnaea snuggles with Daddy on the couch.




Linnaea is looking at photos of herself on Grandma's camera and Elise wants a peek, too.




Snack time.




Mommy and Daddy got their first date since May. We went snowshoeing in the Poudre Canyon.




Kevin, trailing behind me the whole time.




My hat was a cool Christmas present from the Kovacs.




Our first Christmas cookies!




Elise has this habit of shoving a few mouthfuls worth of food into her mouth all at once.

Christmas Card Rejects

Well, I've been waiting and waiting for a good snowy day to get some winter wonderland photos for a Christmas card. We've been getting a good bit of snow but it's usually too nasty to go outside and get some pictures. We finally had a good dumping last night so we bundled up to go outside and snap away. We didn't get to stay out too long because the temperature was about 18 degrees and Elise wouldn't keep her mittens on. She has figured out how to pull them off with her teeth. Unfortunately, after all of that waiting, we really didn't like any of the photos we ended up with. The one of Kevin and I was pretty good, but the girls aren't in it so it gets a thumbs down. I love the one of Elise sitting in the snow by herself, but Linnaea just looks really cold in all of hers. Yes, it was pretty cold, but they had a good time.

Profiles

I thought I'd tell you a little about the what the girls really enjoy doing these days.

Linnaea

Weight: 25 pounds, 4 ounces

Height: 34"

Hair color: Still dark brown, but it has a golden sheen in the sunlight

Favorite Food: Anything! She is our little garbage disposal. She particularly enjoys graham crackers, carrots, broccoli, and yogurt.

Favorite word: Mama and any animal sound. She just learned juice (ju jush) and the sign for bunny.

Hobbies: include (but are not limited to) being carried by mommy, reading, running, watching Sesame Street, building blocks, "talking" on her cell phone, hiding, having her back tickled, and eating anything that mommy is eating.


Elise

Weight: 28 pounds 11 ounces

Height: 32 1/2"

Hair Color: still light brown

Favorite food: Peas, peas, and peas. And anything hidden in the spoon underneath a mound of peas.

Favorite word: Bye. She just learned juice (ju jush), baby and cracker (ca ca).

Hobbies include: Taking baths, dressing herself and putting shoes on, drinking juice, stealing Linnaea's diaper while mommy is changing Linnaea, stealing Linnaea's juice, hiding her spoon under her high chair tray then doing the sign for "where" and asking "ga?" (for go?), playing in the snow, carrying books and baby dolls around, using an adult fork at mealtimes, and testing her limits.

Pockets, Belly Buttons, and Headbands

"I have a belly button. Look! You do too!"






Elise discovers her jeans have pockets!






Aunt Carolyn sent us some headbands. Is this where it goes?






How 'bout here?






I think she's got it...and all by herself.






Even though the headband isn't really doing its job, it's still pretty darn cute.






Go Gators! We have so much fun wearing our Gator cheerleader outfits, even on non-gamedays.

Halloween Adventures

Elise gets to touch the pumpkin, which was very exciting as every day they had been passing the pumpkin sitting on the front porch step. Every time they passed it they would point and touch and babble and they finally got to play with it up close. And standing on a chair was a bonus since they're not allowed to stand on chairs normally.






As you can see, Linnaea is just tickled about these two special events. She's probably more excited about standing on the chair than cutting the pumpkin.








Daddy cuts the face on the pumpkin.





There is lots of cool stuff inside to play with.








Yummy...pumpkin guts.







We're on our way out the door to the Halloween Carnival. They had lots of games to play for older kids, and some fun stuff for little ones, too. Elise and Linnaea got to ride on a mini-roller coaster. The most fun thing Linnaea got to do was hold on to Daisy's leash, a Shar-pei dressed as a sailor that someone had brought.









Elise crawling through the play tunnel at the carnival. And another of her playing with the pumpkin. I just can't get that one to move to the top of the page!









Linnaea as a bumble bee.




Elise as a ladybug.


Ok, so the funny story is that first Grandma Kitty sent us two Halloween costumes of a ladybug and a bumble bee. Then Grandma Sue sent us two Halloween costumes of a ladybug and a bumble bee. So we wore Grandma Kitty's costumes to the Halloween parade at the elementary school. This went quite well even though I took the girls all by myself. One of their friends, who is one month older, was there and dressed as Elvis so they all walked around a little bit. Linnaea had the most fun walking in front of people who were sitting in the bleachers. She would just stop and smile and let them look at her in her cute ladybug costume. Then she lined up with the preschoolers and paraded with them a little bit. She was trying to follow the boy dressed as an airplane. We also went to story hour at the library and trick-or-treating at the courthouse. This was an adventure since the courthouse has lots of steps and Linnaea wanted me to carry her the whole time and Elise was ok walking but was REALLY slow. Afterwards, Linnaea had her first lollipop. I think she was just born knowing how to eat lollipops. And it was quite the scene when I had to take it away from her since she had gotten too close to the tootsie center.







Elise as a bumble bee.






Linnaea the ladybug. She actually enjoys putting the antennae on all by herself.





And the two of them together. Aren't they the cutest little bugs ever?

Happy Columbus Day!

Because I haven't totally figured out how to post photos and move them to where I want them, I can't put captions under each picture. So here is my photo guide:

Photo 1 (top): Watching a Baby Einstein
Elise and Linnaea just LOVE their Baby Einstein videos, so I put one in to get some work done in the morning. Elise is obsessed with taking her clothes off, but she usually only gets the left arm out as in this photo.

Photo 2: Our Little Snork
I've been practicing putting their hair in ponytails because it's getting long and I don't want to keep cutting their bangs. So this is the result. Again, Elise is watching a Baby Einstein video and being a couch potato. Who do you think she takes after?

Photo 3: A Morning at the Park
Elise's favorite thing to do at our little park is to climb inside the bushes and trees. Again, who do you think she takes after?

Photo 4: Stuck in a Drawer
Elise also very much enjoys crawling into small spaces. A favorite is the bottom drawer in our kitchen.

Photo 5: New Shoes
We finally got Linnaea and Elise some shoes with good soles for the winter. Aren't they the cutest? And Linnaea also says Go Gators!

Photos 6, 7, and 8: Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge
The ANWR of Walden, CO. This is a refuge about 10 minutes from our house and it is so cool. These photos are on their interpretive nature trail. The first time I took the girls there, we saw 3 moose REALLY close up. Then we went back a week ago and saw two beaver, which I thought was really neat. Kevin said his photo of the beaver wasn't good enough so unfortunately that photo will not appear on our blog.

Rocky Mountain High

Two weekends ago we got invited over to Kevin's boss's house for a Swedish dinner. We had a yummy meal and afterward we went out to his hay meadow and enjoyed the sunset. His wife is a professional photographer and she took these wonderful photos of our family and we are so happy to share them with you.