Day 187

This is a card Hadley made for Marta (a lady at John’s work).  She showed it to John and he started laughing, and I asked him why and here you go:

She did not like this card after we started laughing.

Day 186

Here Emma and Hadley are playing “Guess Who” on a Sunday afternoon.  I took it down and played with them originally, and they are still so funny.  My favorite question they asked was “Does your person have lips?”  They definitely understand the game, but it takes them so long to play a round.

Day 185

This picture was taken a day late, but this is the cheesecake we made to celebrate our anniversary.  We made a cranberry orange sauce and kind of made it up as we went along, and it ended up being excellent.  Cheesecake is a great way to celebrate any event.

Day 184

Here is my new Bosch.  John gave it to me for my anniversary, and I’m so excited.  I had my other one for nearly 10 years.  I can’t wait to try it out.

Day 183

Here’s this cute little bag of Gavin’s toys.  I went in to his room at night and saw this little bag all tied up and ready to be played with the next day.  He’s so darling!

Day 182

Oh, this day was wretched and difficult.  Fortunately, it ended up being ok, but not before we had a lot of mess and a lot of anxiety.

Day 181

Hadley is obsessed with Christmas decorations and making these little paper wreaths.  The hangs them on everything all over the house.

Day 180

Today Gavin and I had a battle about him stealing cookies.  Here is one victim as it lays on the floor after I made him throw it down and go to time out.

Day 179

The kids got pretty into their Wii game today, and Gavin pushed Hadley who sat on the plate my plant sits on and broke it.  I remember my mom saying you can’t ever have anything nice when you have kids, and it’s true.  They break so many things!

 

 

 

Day 178

The kids all had suckers today and left their wrappers on the table (of course).  The wrapper reminded me of when I was little and how I would always look for the picture of the Indian shooting the star.  It was rumored that you got a free sucker if you found this, but obviously it wasn’t true.  It sure was fun to search the wrappers though.

 

 

 

 

Day 177

Here’s to being 30 and senile!  I forgot to take a picture this day.  Bad Mel.

Day 176

Here is a picture of me trying to open gifts while letting Grey sit in his snugli.  I’m definitely a multi-tasker lately.  Hooray for Mel and turning 30!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 175

Here is a picture of me the last night I was 29.  I can’t believe I am already 30, and I honestly can’t believe that my 20’s are over.  How did they go so fast?

Day 174

The girls made their teacher some cards today for Christmas.  We took in some homemade bread and jam to her, and they were so excited to make the cards.  I’m glad they are learning how fun it is to give gifts to other people.

Translation:  Dear. Mrs. Kooyers, thanks for letting me get the decorations (something she let her do at school)  and calling me sweetey.  Love, Hadley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 173

I took this picture a day late or so, but this is some puzzles Gavin was doing the other day.  He is so good to keep himself entertained, and I love that he likes to do puzzles.  Puzzles are awesome!

Day 172

This is a picture of what happens after a long, long day.  Laundry stacks up in all corners of my room.  This is such a wonderful, intense, and insanely busy time of my life.

 

 

Day 171

This is a picture of a bathtub they used in the NICU to bath Hadley.  I found it in Gavin’s closet when we were cleaning things out.  I can barely believe she was this small once.  She’s getting so big, and it’s been nearly 7 years since she was born.  It almost made me sick to realize how fast time goes.

Day 170

Bad, bad Mel.  I can’t find a picture for this day.

Day 169

I feel like I’m so behind lately.  I finally got the advent candles up, 2 days late I might add.  And, I was holding Grey in one arm and trying to get the candles set up with the other.  Life is hectic, but wonderful!

Day 168

Mom left today, which was really sad.  However, I did get a picture of her holding baby Grey.  She thought he was so cute, and always said he had such a “sweet face,” which he does!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 167

Today I came across a list I had made a few months back when we were trying to decide on a baby name.  Ironically enough, on the same desk I had Grey’s baby announcements.  Grey’s name was on our original list, but we had thought about spelling it with an ‘a’ instead.  Of course now I can’t imagine him as anything other than Grey, but for a while, he could have been any number of names.

Day 166

Gavin said he was going to throw up this morning, so I gave him a coke to settle his stomach.  He drank the WHOLE thing, in 10 minutes no less, and wanted more.  He loves soda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 165

Here is a picture of my clean, clean table.  Mom is fantastic and cleans so well, and it made me feel good to walk in and see my clean dining room.

Day 164

John tried to get some Christmas pictures today, and it was sort of a disaster.  No one wanted to cooperate, but at least they had fun.

Day 163

And here is the first pie I made in nearly 9 months.  John and I ate the whole thing ourselves (minus the small pieces we gave to the kids).

Day 162

I love orange rolls.  They are such an essential part of Thanksgiving, and I think mine this year turned out great.

Day 161

The day with no photo.   GASP.  I cannot even remember what I did this day, so I guess it serves me right for not taking a picture to remember it.