let's catch up, shall we?

Yikes; I have been terrible about blogging lately. However, I think I've had a good reason for being busier... more on that later. ;)
The end of November and the first 10 days of December have truly flown by. The Christmas season is in full swing and I am already behind! Let's catch up in photos.

^^nov. 25th. my 32nd birthday. matt took me out for a yummy breakfast and we celebrated with cake in the evening. 

thanksgiving. we went to matt's side and I was in charge of bringing the stuffing and salad. emmett was my little helper/sampler. 

he thought I cut up all of that bread so he could drive his trucks through it.

we spent the evening after thanksgiving at the children's museum with our good friends. ezra and emmett had fun together!

^^that night, ethnie's friend ella got to sleep over for the first time. they had a blast together. (at one point, we had 5 kids in the house with names starting with the same letter: ethnie, emmett, ella, ezra, eli!!)

My mom came for a visit, but I didn't get any pictures. :( However, she was gracious enough to stand out in the snow with us and take some family pictures. Thanks mom! You are a trooper.

^^believe it or not, emmett was more cooperative than ethnie was. he was so well-behaved.

^^my dapper man

my dolls

 ^^at this point, the kids were done. we were all getting pretty cold.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we went to Papa and Grammy's to celebrate uncle Franz's birthday and help decorate their tree. This was the first year Emmett was interested in helping. :)

doing a great job!

^^cute moments.

^^lining up the candy canes

proud grammy :)

Dec.

^^emmett has been more interested in board games. the three of them have been playing candyland.

^^this picture was sent to us from emmett's speech therapist at school. emmett said, "I made a castle. I made it out of big blocks and little blocks." two great full sentences, buddy!

Last weekend we went to the annual Christmas party at our church. There was dinner, a service project for the women's shelter in St. Paul, and a visit from Santa. Each child got a gift from him.

^^ethnie knew he wasn't the "real santa", but sat on his lap anyway. she wants lego friends.

emmett looked him in the eye and told him what he wanted. a new thomas the train. :)

Our tree is up and the house is decorated. I'm starting to get in the mood for Christmas. :) Unfortunately, Ethnie and I are battling strep throat this week. She will be able to go back to school tomorrow and hopefully I will feel the effect of these antibiotics soon! 

stay healthy!