7 years ago on January 16th we met and had to say goodbye to our darling daughter Kyla. I miss her and think of her often.
This year we purchased 7 yellow roses as a way to remember her on her birthday. The nurses at Mary Greeley dressed her for us after she was born and brought her back with a yellow rose. Now they always make me think of her.
August's Birthday
On January 7th August turned 6! He is such a silly, imaginative boy. He can come up with a game almost anywhere he is with no toys, his imagination amazes me!
We celebrated his birthday at home with a rice crispy cake, chicken and waffles for dinner and gifts after dinner.
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| He wanted the balloons to be in the picture! |
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| August made this catapult the next morning with one of his gifts from Grandma |
August and Ainsley's shared birthday party
August is 6 and Ainsley is 13.
Nora licked the whisk after I was done making frosting! 
The cupcakes are ready for the party 
Pulling on Daddy
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| ...and now they are stuck! |
We enjoyed a nice break together to play games , play in the snow, do puzzles, watch movies, and for Riley to learn to sew. She had been asking for me to teach her for a while but we hadn't had time. She followed instructions well and learned quickly how to use the machine. She just learned the basics of how to make a straight row and lock her stitches when she is done and to turn corners. We will do a small project soon.
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| Putting together a puzzle |
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| August loves playing with these and learned to put them together to make big transformers |
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| This card was for Fuzzy, Riley's bear, for Christmas |
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| This was from August to me for Christmas |
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| Made by August |
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| Nora playing in the water beads |
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| August loves playing games |
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| Riley and I learning to play racko |
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| Riley learning to sew |
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| Keenan reading the kids The Hobbit |
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| This is my favorite Gluten Free bread recipe! I have been making 2 loaves every Sunday! |
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| Riley loves building snow people! |
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| August playing with water beads |
Decorating for Christmas
The kids and I decorated the house for Christmas together. They loved hunting through the ornaments and talking about their favorites.
Gingerbread Houses
I love continuing the tradition of making gingerbread houses. I now make them out of buckwheat so that they can be gluten free. The kids hover when they see that I am baking and getting them ready. This year I made myself a house so that I could do it with them!
August's House
December 12th Snowfall
The kids were so excited to see enough snow to play in! They can spend hours outside trying to build things. We ended up going sledding as a family the next day. I didn't take the time to take pictures of that but it was a lot of fun!
The kids first flight with Dad: December 20th
On another occasion the kids asked how planes fly and Keenan explains the principles of flight to them.
Before their flight he showed them what he does for pre-flight of the plane. They each got to go on a short flight with him and it was really special.
Decorating sugar cookies: December 22
Riley likes to make each cookie look like a work of art. Nora likes to use a lot of sprinkles. August really took his time making his cookies special also. They look forward to picking one out to eat and Nora likes to share so she is always offering me one of hers.
Mom came up for a spur of the moment visit. She bought pizza at lunch and brought Riley a gluten free Aldi one. We decorated cookies in the morning and the kids and I went outside off and on to visit. Then after lunch it was just such a beautiful day that we wanted to take the opportunity before it got cold the next day and we went to Ada Hayden to walk and look for geese. There were a lot of geese but someone got close to them shortly after we got there and they all took off in a hurry. It looked amazing to see that many take off at once though. We had been discussing that migration is one thing that animals do during the winter and wanted to see if there were any left in Ames.
It was great to visit with Mom and to spend part of the day outside on a warm December day! I hope maybe we will get another one but if not I guess we will try to get out anyway.
