New Car

Rebecca is really enjoying her new car she got from Angie at daycare. She loves to ride it all over the house and keeps her little cell phone under the seat.She was also quite the little kitchen "helper" last night!

Oh Christmas Tree

Each year Dan and I go back and forth about a Christmas tree. I am adamant about getting a real tree and he is an advocate for the fake ones. So far we've always gotten a real tree :) We have always gotten our tree from Menards - no adventures to the tree farm, but it gets the job done. This year Dan was headed to Menards with the truck and I entrusted to him the task of picking out a tree. When he got home and I saw the tree he had picked, our conversation went something like this...

"Ok...were the trees pretty picked over?"

"No, they had a ton of them."

"And this is the best you could find?"

"Yes."

"Really? Can you see that it is shaped like the moon?"

"It's fine, just turn that side toward the window."

"I don't think that is going to help, but I'll try..."

In the end we got the tree standing up straight with only two bricks on the stand to help balance it. And when we cut the netting off there were no big bare stops. The tree only took a day to grow on me and now I think that it is one of the best ones we've had.

just because

Here are a few thing I wanted to catch up on.

Last week Dan gave me a dozen red roses "just because."

With Rebecca's fine baby hair it gets staticy very easily and Dan was having some fun with it! So that little project of puting a bathroom in the basement ended up being more work than we thought. We had to cut into the cement and redo the plumbing. Here is a picture after cutting and then after plumbing. Dan has filled in all the dirt again and poured concrete again. He's making a lot of progress!!

Thanksgiving

Here are just a few highlights from our Thanksgiving. We spent the whole weekend in Hills, MN with my family at my sister's house. Rebecca had a great time with everyone.

Rebecca and Joanna "reading" together before bedtime.

Mom reading to some of the grandkids.

We had a little early Christmas because my parents won't be back again for a couple months.

The whole family, except Rachel.

Just for fun

No, we are not struggling to pay our heating bill. Rebecca is fascinated with her new hat and mittens. She finds them lying around and carries them over to me to put on. This particular time she left them on for about 20 minutes.

Birthday Weekend

This past weekend Dan and I celebrated our birthdays by getting away for a night. Dan planned a night to the Hotel Patte in Perry. It was very quiet and relaxing. I didn't take any pictures, but here is a link to their website, http://www.hotelpattee.com/. We stayed in the Barry Kemp room. Rebecca stayed with Grandma and Grandpa De Vries.

On Satuday we had Dan's family over to celebrate birthdays. It is so fun to watch Rebecca play with her cousins Jessica and Allison. Rebecca and Jessica are 3 months part.

Here is a video that I took of Rebecca. She likes to be in the kitchen with me and is pretty good at entertaining herself. This is her favorite cupboard. The video is a long one, so sorry to those with slow internet :)

Let's just say her organization skills need a little bit of help yet :)

It's here...

...but hopefully not for long.

Kitchen Helper

Just some cute pictures of Rebecca being my kitchen helper :)

Our new little addition

No, no, not a sibling for Rebecca, we built a new porch!

I have never been a fan of the front of our house. There is NO curb appeal. Good thing we don't have a curb and most people drive by at 60 mph. This is an area that I have struggled with since we moved in. I've tried replacing all the plants and putting in bricks, but I'm still not very happy with it. I would love someone to come and tell me what to do and what plants would look good.

The porch good is a start to more curb appeal, but it needs a lot more. We used to have concrete steps going up to the front door and sad, mismatched railings. So we made some measurements, went to the store, bought the supplies, and whipped this porch into shape in two days. Dan did most of the work, I just help with a little planning and holding things in place. All it needs is a coat of stain. Rebecca loves it and I like it too because now she can't fall off the edge :)

Can you believe it?

I thought these days were gone for good.

ChapStick

I've long been a fan of ChapStick (I hesitate to use the word "addicted" but that might be true also). Back in college I discovered Vanilla Mint Chapstick and there is no going back. I recently ran out everywhere - my purse, my dresser, my desk at work, etc. I have looked in just about every store I'm in to see if they have it with no luck! I finally broke down and bought some Blistex and was only slightly satisfied - still longing for the best. This morning I found Vanilla Mint Chapstick and bought everything they had!! I was in Walmart and found a whole display of Chapstick and they had Vanilla Mint! I was shocked and oh so happy. I now have 4 tubes of Vanilla Mint that I will love every time I use it! I also now have the assurance that the company still makes it.

Hope your day is just as happy :)

Growing...

Rebecca's hair is slowly growing. This my seem insignificant to most, but as her mother and a fan of girly things like barrettes and hair ties, it's exciting to me. Although the barrette looks SO CUTE it really doesn't stay in well because her hair is so thin. I guess I just need patience. I also need to remind myself that when her hair is long enough to put up, it will probably be a constant struggle between the two of us to keep barrettes and hair ties in!

Ready for snow?!? Rebecca thinks she is. The other day she was playing with her boots so I decided to see how her coat fit. A little big, but looks warm!

She is also doing a great job at standing on her own. Still a little timid of taking steps, but we're sure it won't be long.

13 months going on 13 years

Rebecca just loves to talk on the phone!

The Pumpkin Patch

Last night we had a family outing to the pumpkin patch. Rather then just buy a pumpkin at the store I thought it would be fun to go pick out our own - and it was. Rebecca loved the hayrack ride because it was so bumpy. She can also almost say "tractor."

Dad said she had to find a pumpkin with a green vine and stem. Is this green?

I think she found a keeper.

She really liked the big one until she found one that was more her size. And here we are back at home with our pumpkins.

Ba-Bye for now!

Lazy Fall Days

That title is what I wish my days were like lately! They have been the exact opposite. When the weather starts to turn cool I just want to put on a warm sweater and go for a walk or curl up with a good book. But life with a one year old is anything, but relaxing. Rebecca is always on the go, exploring, demanding, and eating! For such a little person, she sure eats a lot. There are a few quiet moments here and there. The other day I got out this chair and Rebecca just loved it!It's the season for apples and we've made quite a bit of applesauce so far with more buckets to go. It also seems to be the season for weddings. We have a college friend getting married this weekend and we are looking forward to catching up with old friends!

Farming Fun

As Rebecca gets a little older it's fun to introduce her to a few farming things. So far she seems to enjoy all of them. "Driving" the truck through the field with Dad. "Mooing" at the cows. Riding in the tractor with Dad. She also likes riding on the ATV with me, but we don't have a picture of that.

Who needs toys?

Like most kids, Rebecca loves to play with anything that is not a toy. Yesterday she had a great time pushing the bar stool around and playing peek-a-boo with it.

Bouncy, bouncy

Rebecca is back to her regular happy self again. Here is a short video of her new favorite thing to do - bounce on the ottoman.

On a different note, last week we had a baby shower for one of my friends at school. I found a picture of a diaper cake in a magazine and decided that I would give it a try. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I put it together in about an hour. I few people said I should advertise and make them to order, but I'm not so sure about that yet.

Rough Week

Rebecca has had a rough week. She had her one year checkup last Tuesday and is weighing in at 21 lbs. 2 oz. and is 30 inches long. Her checkup also included shots which really did not agree with her. She got 2 different shots that she had had in the past and a new one - the Chicken pox vaccine. She was not herself for 3 days after the shots. She had awful body aches and hardly moved or wanted to crawl or cruise around. We gave her Tylenol which helped some. Here she is laying on one of the pillows holding the Tylenol, she loves to chew on the rubber top.

Then on Saturday she broke out in a rash that started on her head and spread down to her stomach. Sunday the rash got worse and so did her temperament. We've never seen her so cranky or heard her cry so much. It was awful. This morning I took her into see her doctor, but other than the rash, which is now fading, and her irritability she is fine. Her doctor thinks that she had some allergic reaction the the Chicken pox vaccine so all she said was we would not repeat that vaccine again at age 5 when most kids get a booster. Today I gave her some benedryl and she took a great 4 hour nap and is feeling better. So I guess it is back to school for me and to daycare for Rebecca.

Even amid her aches and pains, she still had enough smile to show off her new pearly whites!

Birthday Bash

Our little baby turned 1 yesterday!! It's hard to believe that a year has already past, but it's been full of blessings and we had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday. We had Dan's family over on Saturday for a little party. Here are the highlights.

Balloons, presents, and chocolate, cream filled, caterpillar cupcakes.

Making birthday wishes...

...and digging in!

Opening presents.

The favorite present of the night - a new pink cell phone :)

We concluded the night with a bonfire down by the pond, marshmallows and all.