Christmas 2013

 Nabholz Christmas





This year we started our Christmas in Ottumwa with the Nabholz side.  The weather was perfect for the drive down but then about 8 inches of snow fell during the night.  Keenan then took it upon himself to shovel moms many walks and her large driveway and deck all by himself. He was really feeling it the rest of the trip.

Riley warming up after a bath and eating breakfast with daddy

Mom was busy making all of her usual Christmas candy and to Keenan's delight she was also making chex mix. He found the smell irresistible and ate some before it even made it to the oven.

Liam and Olivia look so cute here!

It was fun to see everyone. Aunt Wanda came for the Christmas meal and Diane stayed the night.  Liam, Riley and Olivia seemed to really enjoy opening their gifts. Liam was going to pass out presents until he realized that he can't read the tags yet. Next year will be even crazier with another kid in the mix.

Gehman Christmas

      
 On Christmas morning we had to wake up Riley.  She was sleepy but still smiled as she was coming around.  That's more of a me thing and less of a Keenan thing. At least I have that, he likes to credit himself with her ability to sleep through the night well. I do appreciate that skill.
     She enjoyed exploring what treasures were in her stocking and playing with them before going to the kitchen to eat the traditional coffee cake ring. Yum!

Grandma reading Piper and Riley one of their stocking stuffers

  


Riley is opening her big gift! She started playing with her new kitchen before it made it out of the paper. Grandpa and Grandma did such a beautiful job. She even has a cute pink kitchen ornament to remember the Christmas that she recieved it.

 The slopes/ bunny hill

I was surprised at the warm days we
had to play in the snow during our visit because it has been so cold since we got home. It was the perfect day for Ainsley and Kaleb to build such a nice snowman.  Riley and Piper are learning to play better together. Provided everyone has had their nap and eaten recently, haha. It was cute watching them mimic Ainsley. Riley is chattier when she is around them.  Too bad we don't just live a little closer.

 Family Picture Time

Riley photo shoot

           Through some experience I have found that taking photos of a very active 1 year old is a challenge. She sits for seconds at a time then rushes off for her next adventure. This is part of why I haven't posted very frequently. During the course of this shoot my model was happy, sad, shy, thoughtful, adventurous and at times rebellious. In the end I think I got the money shot. Sure took some patience and a quick trigger finger to get it. Thank goodness my house has so many windows. It allows for pretty good light even on an overcast day.  I did get some blur in some of the photos which is frustrating but she moves at the speed of light.
    I am a little sad because I think all of our snow is going to melt before arriving at the grandparents and I packed a cute pink snowsuit for Riley and was looking forward to testing it out on the bunny hill

This girl makes me laugh

This ones my favorite!

          Merry Christmas!

Christmas time!

Fall Flashback

           Fall went very fast this year.  It went from hot weather to very few 70 degree days before it was 50 degrees or less.  I was a little disappointed because Fall is my favorite season and I didn't get to have the backyard campfires that I dreamed of. My branch pile will still be there this spring then I can have all the toasted mashmallows that I want.  

         Riley got to be our little helper when it came to cleaning up the abundance of leaves that end up in the backyard every year.  She loved running around and throwing them into the air and gettting buried in a leaf pile by daddy.  While we were playing one of her shoes came off. Just try finding a tiny brown shoe in a leaf pile that takes over 20 bags to clean up.  It took a while but I found it. I was afraid it would get bagged and never be seen again.

 December

    I am excited to make Christmas a magical time of year for Riley.  Just like I remember as a child. Nothing is quite the same as an adult when there is work and bills to be paid.  But as a child Christmas is such a wonderful and beautiful time.  A time when snow was an exciting thing to go play in and not a burden to be cleaned up.  My sister and I would listen to Christmas carols and bake sugar cookies together then enjoy decorating them while watching a Christmas movie.  It was so much fun to decorate gingerbread houses every year. I look forward to sharing that tradition with Riley when she is old enough to enjoy it. 
     It is going to be a white Christmas this year so maybe we will get to experience sledding for the first time. I am packing her snow suit just in case. All of those firsts are so exciting and so special.  It's fun to see how much Riley has grown and changed.  I am sure she will make an excellent big sister.

 I am busy getting ready for the next baby. It is exciting to rearrange Riley's room.  She seems excited about the toddler bed that is in there now. I also had fun sewing up some small diapers for the new one. We are due to meet him or her come March.  It's far and fast approaching at the same time.  I already feel quite large and the baby hasn't even started to fatten up yet but it sure does a lot of tumbling around. How exciting!

      Riley isn't quite old enough but I but on some jazzy Christmas music and set in to make some sugar cookies with her. She actually stayed on a step ladder really well and enjoyed playing with the cookie cutters and the dough.  It was snowing outside so what a perfect day for baking up a batch of cookies.  She especially enjoyed getting to try the final product.

 Can't wait to see everyone for the Holidays! Should be fun this year as always!

Fall 2013

Galena, Illinois

        Keenan and I enjoyed our weekend trip to see the historic town of Galena.  It was a nice chance to take a trip before the new baby comes in spring.  Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Gehman for watching Riley for us.
        The Main street shopping district was fun.  I especially loved the specialty food shops.  Its neat to find things I wouldn't at home.  I enjoyed just driving around to see the town.  The rest of the town was really hilly and had many beautiful old brick homes.  Keenan got to show off his parallel parking skills by getting one of the few available spots which also happened to be on a steep slope.  The fall foliage was pretty but because of the strange season we have been having many of the trees hadn't changed yet

Riley just being cute

These pictures were taken when Mom and Stacy stopped by after going to the Boone train ride for Liam's birthday.  I got to hold Olivia and Riley got to play with Liam for a bit.

Liam's 4th Birthday party

Halloween 2013

 This was Riley's first Halloween where we dressed her up.  I think she and Liam made a cute Batman and Robin.  She seemed to enjoy her cape.  I am sure she didn't really understand the trick or treating part yet but Liam seemed to have fun.  She has been difficult to take pictures of lately. She always wants to sit on my lap.  Sure was easier before she could move!

20 week Ultrasound

    Today we went in for the ultrasound.  It was fun to spy on the new baby, see what they are up to in there.  I have been wondering what all of this kicking is about.  They were really active during the ultrasound, everything measured ok and the tech said everything looked great.  Now we are halfway to meeting our new family member!