baby shower for baby craigo

my cute sister, katie, is all grown up and having a baby of her own!  i just love babies and i think baby showers are a lot of fun to plan.  we had an ice cream sundae table and i thought it turned out really cute.  i wish i would have taken more pictures, but these days i keep forgetting to pull out the camera.

 my mom is just amazing!  she sewed this cute chevron quilt even with a broken wrist.

 a picture with all the girls, except heather (who had to leave early).

mary ann, sjaanie, me, katie, canessa and rebekka

i love getting together with family, especially all of the girls.  katie is going to be a wonderful mother and i'm so excited for her and colin.  and, i just can't wait to see if this baby girl is a baldy like the leeflangs or has a full head of hair like the craigo's!

gwen's birthday party

 here are a few pictures from gwen's party!  i know it was a little over the top, but i sure had a lot of fun planning it.  and hey, you only turn 1 once!  the weather had been crummy all week and i was worried we'd get rained out, but it was sunny all afternoon... windy, but sunny.

 we kept the food very simple and just bbq'd hot dogs.

 pictures from every month.

 a few pictures of some of our lovely guests.

 we got a great deal on this awesome blow up slide.  it was so much fun and the kids had a blast.  you never had to wait your turn with 3 slides to choose from.  the kids were entertained for hours.  perfect!

 my sweet sister made gwen  this cute "smash" cake.  she wasn't thrilled when i put her in her seat and it went down hill from there.  haha!  still a super cute cake and baby, even when she's crying.

so we tried again today with a little cupcake.  she was feeling much better today and enjoyed the cupcake a little more.  still not a huge smile, but good enough for mama!

start of another school year

 woohoo!

 some of jack's little buddies from the neighborhood.

 jack has an absolutely amazing teacher and has really seemed to mesh with her.  i'm so grateful, it's helped to ease my anxiety about him being gone all day.

 i was a little sad to send him off to all-day school, but now that it's been a week and we're in more of a routine i'm actually kind of enjoying a little more time and a little less fighting around the house.

my little side-kick and awesome helper who starts pre-school next week!

happy 1st birthday to my baby girl

 i just can't believe my little gwen is ONE today!  since the last time i blogged was basically when she was born i thought it fitting to do a post today.  i just love this little sweetheart and can't believe that one year ago today i was in the hospital holding this tiny new bundle.  i do wish that time would slow down, i feel like this past year has just flown by.  although i have truly enjoyed this sweet baby and don't have any regrets with how i spent my time, particularly with her, i wish she wasn't growing up so fast.  she has been a delight and is such an easy going little gal.

1 month old  

 2 months old

 3 months old... baby blessing

 4 months old

 5 months old

 6 months old

 7 months old

 8 months old... LOVES bath time!

 9 months old

 10 months old

11 months old

 12 months... the only picture of her smiling at her party

 how she really felt about all the attention at her party

we had a big party for her last saturday.  she wasn't feeling 100% and wasn't very happy, so i'm going to let her dig into another cake when she's feeling better.  we had a great time and had lots of family and friends come to celebrate gwen with us!

happy birthday baby girl!

on a side note, i miss google reader and knowing when to check blogs.  i miss people blogging as well, i love seeing pictures of friends and family, especially those we don't see very often anymore.

poor neglected blog

i am sad that it has been so long since i blogged.  i love reading the blogs of family and friends and seeing all of their pictures.  i'm mostly sad because when i get a chance to scrapbook i use my blog as a  reference to what was happening at that time.  it's my only form and journalism and since i haven't been doing any blogging, i have no journal :(

i hope that i can do a little bit of catch-up with my favorite pictures or at least try to pick up where we are at now!

VERY Merry Christmas!

I'm so behind... but here are our Christmas pictures.  

News this year.  

New Dog, New Job and NEW Baby!  

We hope you have a wonderful and very Merry Christmas. At this time of year we are especially grateful for the knowledge and testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We love all of you and are thankful for your friendship.

gwen's baby blessing

after making it through jack's birthday and halloween we had gwen's baby blessing.  it was a whirlwind couple of weeks.  the day was beautiful and she was so happy!  it was special to get to have my family there, katie and eric, and matt's parents.  besides my parents, none of my siblings have been able to attend my kids baby blessings.  we did miss matt's sister, brother and their families and richard, katie and colin... wouldn't it be great if we all lived closer to each other!  gwen is such a good baby and i just keep thinking it's not real.  she's an amazing sleeper and just seems so content.  it's been a very different experience than with jack and sophie. we are so blessed to have her in our family.  i can't get enough of her sweet cheeks and smiles (none of which she was offering for these pictures)!

 

grandma and grandpa leeflang

yaya and bapa larson