Rowan calls my mom, Mor Mor (mother’s mother, in Norwegian).
Rowan LOVES her. Seriously. Always talks about her, and asks if we can go to her house. I think it’s the cutest.
She is always a good sport and the minute she walks in, Rowan takes her by the hand and leads her off to play “Fireman,” or “Bob the Builder” or Mickey Mouse.
I also spend the majority of my day in the fireman hat, NO JOKE! :)
This had to be my most favorite Christmas to date. Now that Rowan is 27 months… he is SO FUN! I thought last year was fun because he was getting a little more excited about presents and such, but this year brought it to a whole new level. He loves Christmas trees, his Nativity scene & baby Jesus, Christmas lights, talking about decorating cookies, opening presents, etc… Snowflake lane was pretty amazing for him too but I forgot my camera (cell phone pics didn’t turn out too good!)
It was also Isla’s first Christmas and there’s just something so sweet and precious about that.
I often look at my little family and feel so much joy. I also think in this season about how Jesus was once just a tiny little baby and how weird that is to fathom. It also puts things into perspective for me, thinking about how God brought His Son into the world, as a sweet little babe, knowing he would later die such a terrible death, just for us.
Happy Birthday Jesus! Next year I want to bake a cake for Him with the kids.
Here are some photos of the day:
Here’s our tiny little tree at home. We bought it the first Christmas we were married. Someday we will go out and get a real tree but for now this works great for us. We haven’t been able to use it for the last 2 years due to a little blonde guy that happens to live in our house ;-) He was actually really good about it this year.
Isla checking out what’s under the tree. Love that you can see her little ginger hair in this photo. 
Mickey Mouse Christmas Jammies! 
Rowan’s two obsessions: Mickey Mouse…and most importantly, HELICOPTERS!!!!!!! 
After a nice quiet morning at home, we headed to my mom’s for more fun. 
and then home for bath time and a story before bed. :)
Merry Christmas!
Our little Isla girl is 4 months old. She gets so fixated on the camera, that it’s still hard to capture one of her many smiles, but I promise she has lots of them! 
She has been cooing and laughing up a storm, especially at Rowan. She now loves her baths and cries her little eyes out when I take her out. It’s pretty much the only time of day she does cry. She wakes up twice a night to eat, and still naps every 1 1/2 hours throughout the day. She’s started grasping at toys and putting her little hands into her mouth all the time. She startles easily and has become quite attached to me.
Here are her stats:
Height: 26 1/2 inches (still over the 98th percentile)
Weight: 15 lb 7 oz (75th percentile)
I looked back at Rowan’s stats and they are literally the EXACT same size. Isla is ONE oz bigger, but they are the EXACT same height. I think that’s so funny because I swear I keep thinking Isla looks bigger than Rowan did. maybe it’s her cheeks. :)
She’s our sweet little love!
We celebrated my mom and Brian’s birthday this week. I made beef and butternut squash beef stew, and for dessert we had a delicious chocolate mousse cake from Trader Joes. It was nice to have them over and of course Rowan is pretty much obsessed with my mom, so he was absolutely thrilled. He’s in this “show off” mode now that he’s 2. Sometimes it’s funny, and sometime’s it drives me crazy, haha. Some photos from the evening:
Rowan waiting patiently for the cake
Little princess enjoying the festivities
Saying that he is #1….. oh boy
Squishy little cheeks. You can see a wet mark between her eyebrows where Ro kept kissing her. 
I bought Rowan a little foam Christmas tree to decorate. I’ve been trying to have special little “dates” with him whenever possible. Yesterday Isla was asleep, so we put on some Christmas music, ate a few candy cane m & m’s (amazing!) and made his tree. He thought it was pretty cool. I really love my little man.
Pretty proud of his finished product (that is until he ripped the stickers off and the foam a few minutes later…)
Who gets the stomach flu on Thanksgiving??
This girl.
Worst day ever to have the stomach flu.
The night before Thanksgiving I started feeling pretty queasy. I knew several people who were sick…but I hadn’t been around any of them. I was hoping it would pass, but it pretty much continued getting worse. On Thanksgiving we went over to my mom’s, thinking I was okay and just being paranoid, and had to leave about an hour after we arrived. My mom set a beautiful table as always, and I could barely make it sitting through the meal. When we got home I crawled straight into bed and Russ took care of Rowan and Isla.
On Thanksgiving, I was especially thankful for a husband that takes care of me, and the kids. I seriously don’t know how single mom’s do it. I was also especially thankful for my overall health. It’s amazing how a small fever and flu can make you feel so miserable and helpless.
I did however, manage to get a few cute photos of the kids in their Thanksgiving outfits. :)
Playing with Grandpa’s remote control helicopter
