Monday, January 30, 2012

Messy Monday Morning Breakfast

Cereal bars are sure yummy...but they are definitely messy.  More the mess, the better it tastes for these two munchkins!



Nice messy sippy cup, too!



Both Kate and Matt are loving to eat foods they can pick up themselves.  They seem to not be as interested in the runny baby foods.


Shove it in!


Hey, Bro...do I have anything on my face?

Nope.  Looks clean.  What about me?

Mommy has her hands full at mealtime. :)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Reading Buddies

A teacher's dream kids. :)  Plus, it melts my heart that they are 'reading' and playing together.








Kate's playing teacher and reading aloud to Matthew.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Daddy's Birthday and 1st Christmas

Friday, December 23, 2011

The four of us were able to come back to Iowa to celebrate Kevin's birthday on December 23rd. We spent the evening partying with the Willms', Dufel's, and Bernhardt's with O.P. pizza at Kevin's parent's house. The 23rd is also a birthday of our good friend/my second mom's, Carlene Stage. Carlene and her family also came over later for cake and ice cream. It worked out great because her daughter, Natalie, was also back in Iowa from D.C. Natalie's husband and twins, Landry and Gracie, had a good time playing with Kate and Matt. It was so good to see her and the twins since we don't get to see each other as often as we would like because of the distance. Maybe someday we will be closer.... :)


Kevin's a big Duke basketball fan so the three of us got him a Dri-fit shirt.
 Allie helped Uncle Kevin open all of his gifts.

Kater is loving the party!

my sister Kelly and Allie


The twins reading their new colors book together.

Happy 28th Birthday, Daddy!  This year's birthday party was a lot more fun than last year's spent in the hospital room.  This year you celebrated not only with family but with Matt and Kate for the first time.  The three of us look forward to helping you celebrate many more birthdays in the years to come.  We love you!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve afternoon we went to my parent's house to have our Christmas together.  We had lunch and then opened gifts soon after because we had some anxious little boys who were itching to unwrap their presents.  This was an exciting Christmas for Kevin and me.  We enjoyed having our first Christmas together as a family with the twins.   Tthe excitement and joy of Christmas you had as a young child returns again when you have children of your own.  Matthew and Kate were at a fun age for their first Christmas.  They weren't too interested in opening the presents, but they loved playing with the paper, ribbon, and boxes (and their toys, too!) 

Santa Matthew

Miss Allie B's

Daddy helping Matthew open his Christmas presents

Yay for Christmas gifts!


Let me see this!

Cousin Allie was a great helper with the twins or "her babies"


My crazy dad has a bucket list.  On this list is to grow a ponytail.  As you can guess our family is not keen on this idea, so my mom made my dad a hat with an attached ponytail for Christmas.  Now he can cross that 'awesome idea' off his midlife crises bucket list!!! (just kidding dad!)  :)

Aunt Kelly and Katers





 
Allie sporting her new scarf

Evan's loves Justin Bieber and got a paper jams guitar to rock out to Bieber songs.

Modeling her new princess gown.

My brother's new welding hat

My sister-in-law, Melissa

The twins got an activity table from Uncle Mike and Aunt Melissa.  They LOVE playing at it!  It plays so many songs and the kids love to dance by bouncing to them.  So cute!  And now Matthew has been picking up the toy phone and will then put it up to his ear and start to jabber like he's having a conversation.  Wonder where he learned that from?

Katers trying to eat the light up face.


hmmmm...what's this pretty ornament?

The kids loved the bows.

Family picture time!  I can't believe this year we were actually able to take pictures outside on Christmas!  When the twins get older we can tell them we didn't have any snow on their first Christmas.  I can't ever remember not having snow for Christmas.  Last year at this tim,e both Iowa and Minnesota had been hit earlier in the month of December with a big snow storm.  I commented to Kevin on our drive down to Iowa that it felt more like Thanksgiving time than Christmas because of this crazy, warm weather. 

All 6 grand kids

Adorable!


Allie, Grandpa Dufel, and Katherine

Grandma Dufel, Matthew, Andrew

Andrew, Kaleb, Evan, and Allie



Grandpa and Kate

Grandma and Matty


Miss Sassy

Mommy and Daughter



Big bear hugs for mommy!

After gift opening, my family went to church at Fredsville.  The twins did such an awesome job at church.  Matt slept through a lot of it (it was their nap time) while Kate had fun being passed around from person to person.  She decided she didn't need a nap.  Both Matt and Kate were entertained by watching the people in the congregation and loved the Christmas music. 

Peeking over the pew



Capturing Matthew's new silly face


Pretty girl

After church, the four of us headed to Kevin's grandparent's house for the Bernhardt Christmas.  Unfortuntely, I only got a few pictures before my camera battery died.

Grandma and Grandpa Bernhardt and grand kids and great-grand kids

Great Grandma and Grandpa Bernhardt

The Willms

Kevin and I are starting a tradition for Christmas with the twins.  On Christmas Eve night the twins will get to each open two gifts from us.  The two gifts will always be Christmas PJ's to wear that night and a Christmas book to read together before going to sleep.  This year it was hard to read 2 books to them, but they looked adorable in their Christmas PJ's!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas morning wearing our matching Christmas PJ's



our first Christmas morning together as a family of four


Grandpa Willms and Katers

Matthew and Grandma Willms

Christmas morning Kevin, Jenny, the twins, and myself opened our stockings from Santa.  Kevin and I also decided to do our Christmas together, too.  It's hard to find time to fit in our Christmas with ourselves and kiddos with being back in Iowa.  Kevin and I decided since the kids were little we weren't going to get much for them for gifts.  We got them the two Christmas Eve gifts, each a toy, and their First Christmas Ornaments.




had to take a bottle break...don't you like Matt's new way of eating :)  always got to be on the go!

Great Aunt Jan stopped by to see the twins


For Christmas lunch, Joyce and Larry had my parents come over and eat with us.  We spent the afternoon relaxing and playing with the kids.  Later afternoon we headed to Al and Cherri's house, Kevin's aunt and uncle.  The twins were great entertainment...especially for Kevin's cousins, Lizzie and Lauren.
Lizzie and Tater

Hanging out with Lizzie and Lauren

Matthew loved Lizzie's boyfriend, Ryan.  He would sit and stare at him, play, stare, play, etc.

Buddies

Great Uncle Al helping out

We got the twins all ready for bedtime at Cherri and Al's.  Matt and Kate were so tired from being up so late Christmas Eve night that they crashed on the way back to grandma and grandpa's house.  Kevin and I carried them into the house in their car seats and transferred them into their cribs.  Neither kid woke up at all.  They were completely conked out from their busy couple of days!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Monday afternoon we had Christmas with Kevin's mom, dad, sister, and her boyfriend, Drew.  We enjoyed a turkey dinner followed by opening gifts.
 
Matthew, Laura, Kate, Kevin, Jenny, and Drew

First Christmas with grand kids!

Kate got a motorcycle from Grandma and Grandpa Willms.  Matt and Kate love to ride around and have someone push them.  Matthew's trying to push Kate but he wasn't walking behind things yet. 

Having fun together!

Christmas is always a busy time, but we enjoyed every minute of spending time with our families.  The holiday season always seems to go by too quick.  I really enjoyed Christmas this year soaking in all the moments with Matthew and Katherine.  We took lots of pictures, go figure for me, and video of the twins, and I look forward to watching the video memories with the twins when they are older. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and remembered the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!