Santa and His Reindeer

A visit to Santa was extra special this year because we petted real, live reindeer. One of Nick's offices told him about this spectacular event. Each year on the Saturday before Christmas, the Plainfield Kiwanis sponsor the reindeers' visit while you wait in line to talk to Santa at the Plainfield Plaza where the Ace Hardware is located. Above is a picture of Nick and Tenley with the female reindeer named Mistletoe.
We tried to pet Spirit, too, but he wasn't quite as patient as Mistletoe.
Did you know that reindeer lose their antlers ever year? In fact, one of the little elves told us that the antlers stop growing in August and they usually lose them before Christmas.

Spirit and Mistletoe live with one more reindeer, Nutcracker (they say he earned his name:)). Apparently, he's quite the firecracker and he doesn't get to travel with the group even though he and Mistletoe are brother and sister.

Ho, Ho, I don't think so!

So his reindeer are great, but the jury is still out on the big man in red!

Merry Christmas to me

"Hello Lover"

I am no Carrie Bradshaw and this beauty certainly isn't a pair of those Manolo Blahnik's

she covets. Meet my dual fuel, double oven free standing range. Yes, for those of you who had the pleasure of meeting my "Lady Kenmore" (yes--"Lady" was part of her actual model name. Apparently, being "PC" wasn't a concept the marketing folks worried too much about in the late '60s), finally met her metal maker a few weeks ago. Her illness was short. She didn't suffer. One Thursday evening, it seemed she was having difficulty reaching the 400 degrees I begged of her. The next night, she couldn't muster any heat for a Papa Murphy's pizza. As I began to give her the once over, I found the culprit of her demise--the lower heating element had actually deteriorated to the point that it cracked. While she served me well for the last eight years, I must admit that I had been thinking about a replacement in the months leading up to her departure. And that my friends is where this GE Profile came into our lives. Let me list a few of the features that I LOVE about this range:

*Dual Fuel: Yes, cooking with the best of both worlds. This range has a gas cook top for excellent temperature control, while the oven is electric allowing for more even heating. I've read that electric heat produces a drier heat than that of a gas powered oven--important when wanting to make crisp things just that--crisp.

*Convection option: I didn't know much about convection and have only used this feature twice, but I'm already a fan. Convection heat circulates the heat around the oven via a fan producing more even cooking temperatures. It browns the outside of things while keeping the inside nice and moist. Just last night, Nick said, "Hmmm...12/20/10, the day I found out what cookies are really supposed to taste like." Last night I did something I had never done before....I cooked two cookie sheets of cookies at the same time. I didn't even rotate the shelves and they came out beautifully. The manual says you can actually bake three cookie sheets of cookies at the same time. I don't even own three cookie sheets! Thank you convection heat!

*Griddle: Once I started exploring new ranges, I quickly spied an option I knew I had to have--the cook top griddle. In the middle of the range, there is an oval shaped burner which you can cover with a burner grate or the griddle. Today, I made three grilled cheese sandwiches right there--no electric skillet:) I'm anxious to make pancakes, fry bacon, and brown sausage right there!

*Baking Drawer: So the bottom drawer of this range can be used for more than just storage--it can actually bake up to 450 degrees. Perfect for baking a ham in the larger upper oven while simultaneously baking scalloped potatoes in the lower oven on Christmas Day!

Nick loves it because all I want to do is cook and he doesn't have to shop for a Christmas present for me. I have all I wanted this year!

Snow Day

There is nothing better than waking up to fresh snow. Three fluffy new inches of snow joined the blanket we already had. With the below normal temperatures and all of this early snow, we haven't been able to walk as often as we'd like, so the girls took full advantage of some backyard playtime. Lainey loves to play fetch. Nick kept throwing snowballs for her. Her she is looking for one. We finally just started tossing them straight up in the air so she could "find" them. She caught every one and promptly ate each!
Abby, Daddy, T-Bird, and Lainey Lousie

Tenley is getting really good at coordinating "Hi!" with her wave. I didn't venture into the snow this morning opting to serve as photographer in the comfort of my jammies from the door:), but I caught some big smiles and waves!

Daddy, are you sure this is how you build a snowman?

Happy 1st Birthday!

My friends from Maine know all about handling the cold weather. I found this birthday present waiting for me. Thanks Peter, Allyson, Andrew, and Olivia!
Cake--I can't believe I have been deprived of this tasty treat for twelve long months!

My birthday cake was a FunFetti cake. It's my favorite and Daddy's favorite, too.

Grandma Patty and Grandpa Steve got me this cool little kitchen. My mom always wanted a play kitchen set, but never got one and reminds Grandma Patty of it often. G-ma P wasn't going to make that mistake again!

I got a lot of miles out of this cool pink curly ribbon. It's a staple in the diaper bag now and it keeps me entertained at church.

What? I got a new winter coat and a snazzy pair of jeans? Did you see my ribbon?

The Burley

This spring after Tenley was born, Nick got a mountain bike. He's had such a good time riding different runs with his friends, but when he came home trying to explain the difference between "crashes" and "wrecks" (apparently one involves actually hitting another object such as a tree while the other means that you just fall down), I knew the true mountain biking wasn't for me. Give me a gentle breeze in my face and the smooth pavement of a neighborhood street, but if we wanted Bird to participate in the fun of neighborhood bike riding, she'd need some sort of bike seat. At first Nick really wanted a high back bike seat. He researched the brand and set our neighbor Melissa who is a garage sale expert on it. Sure enough she called with a killer deal one Saturday morning and we were the proud owners of a brand name bike seat for the low, low price of $5. I told you Melissa was an expert! In the meantime, my student teacher happened to be an avid cyclist (check out Sierra Siebenlist on the Marian University cycling website!) who grew up around cycling and even worked in a bike shop. When I mentioned (with enthusiasm) the anticipation of taking Tenley for her first ride in the bike seat, I got that nice smile with no comment from Sierra which just meant she was too nice to say what she was really thinking. But with a little prompting she shared her concerns about bike seats (balance issues and falling over--which apparently Nick does every now and again) and how her family always had a Burley. A Burley? New concept to me, but WOW the reviews (and the price tag) were incredible about this particular brand of bike trailer. While we weren't too keen on spending big bucks on a brand new model, I found one on Craig's List right in the Burg for a fraction of the price of a brand new one.
Next, on the "To-do" list was to find Tenley the smallest helmet ever made. When the Bicycle Garage had their big summer sale we headed over and found this little pink gem.

She'll learn to like it...right?

Actually, we've been on a few jaunts around the block and as soon as Tenley figures out that she can't pry that piece of foam and plastic off of her head, she settles down with her thumb in her mouth and is out like a light riding in the Burley!

Tuckered Out

We spent a beautiful August afternoon at Josiah's 2nd birthday party at Williams Park. Josiah, his cousins, and our other neighbor Carter know how to wear a girl out! After all that fun, Tenley's found a great place to snooze.

While this wasn't taken on the same day as Josiah's party, it gives you an idea of what our neighborhood fun entails. Josiah and Carter found a brand new use for Lainey's bed. I grew up in a neighborhood that was boy dominate and I credit those boys with teaching me how to play basketball, baseball, and kickball. I fully anticipate that Josiah and Carter will do the same for Tenley!

Summer Cutie Pants

You may be wondering why there's an inflatable pool in the middle of our living room. You may even wonder why T-Bird is in a pool while clearly not wearing her swimsuit, but if you look closely you'll see that we didn't bother to put any water in that pool in the middle of our living room. Actually, the pool became a fixture for a few months in our living room completely by accident, but stayed for good reason. You see, Nick with his love of the water, was so excited to buy Tenley a pool pretty early in the season, maybe before it was actually warm enough to go swimming. He's like a kid with a new toy...just can't wait to get it open. So, he got this for Tenley and the weather wasn't up to pool standards that weekend. That's didn't stop Nick. He blew it up and sat her in it in the middle of the living room, but we discovered two pretty exciting things. One, the dogs were a little leery of the pool, so they wouldn't step in it, which greatly reduced the possibility of a tale to the face (not pretty, but she's learning to duck!). Two, at the time (this was actually taken in May, I think), Tenley was just really getting the hang of sitting by herself. If she tipped over, she fell right into the inflatable parts of the pool. Genius by accident. Notice that big smile...

Notice that big smile start to fade...

Who's barely smiling? Maybe she realized that that onesie she's wearing is on completely backwards!

Different day, different outfit, whole new smile:)

My Little Lamb

So, let's pretend it's February because that's when these pictures were actually taken. We always think of lambs at Easter but really lambs are born in January or February. My grandparents have a small herd of sheep that they use as "lawn mowers" for the hilly areas of their farm which are hard to actually mow. Sometimes the mothers aren't able to care for the lambs and then they get to come inside. This little friend was spending sometime in his "Pack and Play" (aka a laundry basket) in my grandparent's kitchen. If you think this is cute, you should see how cute it is when they're bottle fed!

Tenley does not seem to see the "cuteness" of our little lambie friend.

Things seem to be a little better when she is being held precariously in the laundry basket in such a way that she can't actually see the lambie. Gosh, I can't believe she was only 3 months old here. She's changed a lot!

Mmm, Mmm, Good!

You want me to do what? Eat my dinner with a spoon? Sounds like A LOT of work!

Hey, I didn't get too messy....yet!

I'm not sure if you two know what you're doing, but I'm going to play along to keep your first time parent self esteem up.

Cereal....check! Where's dessert?

Go Dawgs!

Yes, the Madness of March has passed, but we did cheer on those Butler Bulldogs....this Butler Bulldog is just a little slow getting the pics posted. Being a little on the superstitious side, Tenley wore the same Butler T-shirt and her glitter jeans for every game. When the Dawgs played after bedtime, her lucky attire hung right on her crib rail.

Tenley also had a pre-game ritual...a quick nap before tipoff.

Go Dawgs!

Cheering those Bulldogs on can really tucker a girl out! Anyone seen my headband?

All Smiles

Daddy is so funny! He cracks me up!

Tenley also loves her Mrs. Knottie doll. Mrs. Knottie always elicits big smiles and laughs from little T-Bird. Thank you Michele for saving a Mrs. Knottie back for us. She was well worth the wait!

?!?! Relaxing ?!?!

Tenley is starting to gain a lot more control of her head and neck. We thought she might be ready to try the Bumbo that our neighbors let us borrow (thanks Jason and Melissa!) for a few minutes. What do you think? A picture is worth a thousand words...some of them may not be very nice! Look everyone is practicing "Sit." Some seem to be enjoying it more than others:)
"Really? Really you thought this was a good idea?"

Lainey knows exactly what toys belong to her. I hate to tell her that Abby is way too l-a-z-y to try and get her Nylabone let alone chew on it and Tenley's not really into bones.

Now this is a proper way to sit! Who needs a Bumbo when you have a daddy like this one?

Yes, most newborns spend time IN their swings, but Nick has discovered that Tenley really enjoys checking out the swing from below. They pretend their working on it like you'd work on a car.

Whale of a Tub

Check out my new tub! It really is called a "Whale of a Tub" and Tenley loves it! She outgrew the foam bath sponge that just sat in the sink. She let us know in two ways...1) She screamed and screamed and screamed a little more and 2) While she was...you guessed it--screaming...she stretched her entire body diagonally across the sink. That's when the Whale of a Tub came into our lives and oh, what a scream free blessing:)

"Seriously, do you do this to the dogs? I don't think so. The last time I checked, they only had to get a bath every six weeks and they go to a fancy salon!"

Ho Ho Ho

Good (Bribed) Girls!

Merry Christmas!



Okay, so Abby is now fully cooperating for family photos. Once she realized that Tenley was not going to cut into her treat rations and that she wouldn't have to share the guest bed with T-Bird, her personality only continued to improve. I'm pretty sure that "Christmas card picture day" is Abby's favorite day of the year! It only took a half a bag of Pupperoni's to get the girls to sit nicely AND look at the camera.

We're losing a little hair, but our eyes are open more often!