Christmas with Mom's family

Last night we made a quick trip down to Mt. Ayr to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family. We had a great time. We intended to only stay a couple hours, but that turned into almost four due to Grandama's stories and Christmas game fun. We give her a pretty hard time, but we sure get a lot of laughs!

Becca, Chelsie, Becky, & Melissa
Me and my aunt Janet from California. So glad she could celebrate Christmas with us this year!

The weather driving last night was just rainy headed south. We are hoping to be able to make it to Spencer safely today to beat the winter storm. Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa's Lap

We made a quick trip to the mall on Tuesday night so Becky could sit on Santa's lap. This was the first year where she really got it, was excited about it, and loved it. (Last year, he just got a high-five!) This year, she climbed up on his lap, told him exactly what she wanted, and even gave him a hug. She was so good she got two treats!

Then we had to write a letter to Santa, just in case he wasn't listening!

A trip to see Santa wouldn't be complete without a ride on the train to ring the bell.

busy weekend

We had a busy weekend filled with family and friends. We did Christmas with my brothers and families and Dad and Patti. Then we had my cousin Dustin's wedding and then another Christmas in Mt. Ayr and then Survivor finale at the Boedings. We were all pretty tired on Monday! Good thing we get a few days of relaxing in Spencer this weekend!

Al had the camera and I had the videocamera, so there aren't as many pictures of present opening as I would have taken. But here is one of Becky with her new purse and her "lips". She can't go anywhere without her "lips"!

The three of us at Dustin and Rebecca's wedding.

My whole family all dressed up from left to right:
Darin, Darla, Al, me, Becca, Becky, Patti, Kaitlyn, Dad, Dawn, & Eric. Thanks Aunt Janet for being patient enough to get a good picture!

Becky gettin jiggy on the dance floor.

snow day!

Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned snow day? We are all home today. It's scrambled eggs and ham in the morning, movies on TV, homemade pizza while watching Star Wars. Who knows what fun the afternoon will bring. Does it get any better than this? The only disappointing thing about this snow day is that it is so cold outside, we can't go play in the new fallen snow. Good thing this 14.5 inches will be around for a while so we can go play! Hope everyone has managed to stay safe in this blizzard!

Christmas cookies

We got to watch our nieces the weekend after Thanksgiving. We had so much fun. We went swimming at the Urbandale indoor pool, went to Chuck E. Cheese's, and Kaitlyn got to visit the downtown library. That was all on Saturday! On Sunday, we just took it kind of easy. We did get to make sugar cookies though. It was a lot of fun. Becky and Becca were a mess by the time we were done, and their cookies were loaded with sugar. Kaitlyn was much more creative and careful. She even lasted until the bitter end with me, while the younger girls gave up to go play.

Tthe girls in decorating action!

Christmas tree

finished tree

We put up our Christmas tree a couple weeks ago. Becky had a lot of fun this year looking at all of her ornaments and hanging them on the tree. You may notice that our tree is a little lop-sided this year because all her ornaments are hung in one area. But that's what it's supposed to look like when your kid is still little; right?

We did get manage to get her to hang a few up a little higher!

Disney on Ice

I took Becky to Disney on Ice. It was all princesses this year. It was so much fun! I was a little worried about Becky sitting through it all, but she loved it. She thought it was really neat that all the princesses came with their princes to Cinderella's wedding. Why wouldn't they?

enjoying some cotton candy at intermission

Cinderella's wedding

I of course took a lot more pictures to be able to memorialize the event in a scrapbook someday, but you know how they turn out at these things . . . not very good. At least we had fun!

Playground

Al and I took the day off on November 20th to spend time with Becky for her birthday. We went to Playground in Ankeny with Julie and the boys and to McDonald's for lunch. Then we did some shopping so she could spend some of her birthday money. Here are some pics from Playground. As you can see, none of the kids had any fun!

Drake

jumping

Drake, Chase, and Becky

not a toddler anymore

I forgot to take Becky's yearly photo with the bear last year, but this is two years ago. She has definitely become quite the little lady. Hard to believe how much she has grown and changed the last year. I am blessed to have such a wonderful little "princess" to call my very own.

Happy Birthday Becky Rae!

Becky's 4th birthday

Becky was excited to wake up on her birthday and find more presents! She had become quite the pro at opening them . . .

and showing them off!
She only got to open one in the morning, so here she is opening the rest.

Then we were off the Chuck E. Cheese's with friends!

Making the kids take time off from playing games to eat pizza. Drake, Chase, and Owen came to help her celebrate.
Posing with Chuck E. Cheese himself. We had to wait a good five minutes or more to get this picture, but she was so excited that there was no way I could tell her no. Quite a big change from a year ago when she wanted nothing at all to do with him!

Becky's 4th birthday party

Here is the cake I made for Becky's princess birthday party. I was a little dissatsified, as it appeared to be leaning, but I think all in all it was a hit. Becky did say to me, though, "Mom, I think it needs some curtains." I asked her why, and she said, "So people can't see in." Great logic. However, due to the falling windows, there was no way that was going to happen!Here a few pics from our photo shoot before company arrived. She's becoming such a pro!

She got to open a couple presents early because people couldn't stay for cake and ice cream. What 4 year old doesn't love that?

Here she is with some of her loot.

Here is my grandma (mom's side) with Becky, Becca, and Katilyn.