Unfailing Love: Thanksgiving Trip!

Vincent Gerard

This is my hubby. Also known as Vinny, Dowey, Dowebally, and (as of last night) Pickle Juice. (You may learn that I have an affinity for nicknames, comes from my daddy!) Unbelievably, the hubs and I have been married for 9 years! I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday I was a freshman in college and my friend introduced me to this hunky senior with a hot red car! Vince is working hard to support our family and traveling here and there. Vince is a WONDERFUL father and his girls (all of us) are the most important things to him!

Barclay Kathryn

What to say? I'm Barclay, usually known as Barclay (not much you can do with Barclay). I was an elementary teacher for fours years until I had Bella. Now I am doing the job I have wanted to do ALL of my life, being a mom. I love these two girls more than I can possibly express and it is my joy and privilege to be able to spend each day with them. I recently entered the blog frontier, and although my blog followers will probably be able to be counted on one hand, I thought it would be exciting to be a part of something so neat. I love that there are many other moms out there facing the same joys, hardships, questions, surprises, and challenges that I am. I also hope to be a sort of medium to spread awareness for others that need prayers, help, or just someone to walk through life with!

Isabella Kathryn

Usually referred to as Bella. As well as Bells, Bellie, Belly Boo, Bellsie Bubs, Bubs, Bubba, Bells and Whistles.... Bella is our first born daughter. She is 6. Bella enjoys school, reading, riding her training-wheel free bike, she could color and write for hours, she loves singing to the Momma Mia soundtrack, anything princess or pink, having bows in her hair, playing dress up, and her little sisters! God blessed us with Bella a month early but she was perfectly healthy. In six years she has become such a bright, outgoing, sensitive, and fearless little girl. Bella really is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is eager to please. If she hurts or disappoints someone it literally crushes her to tears. This last year she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior and we could not be more proud!! Love this sweet, blonde, blue eyed beauty!

Bryanna Karina

Usually known as Brynn. As well as Brynnie, Miley, Miley Moo, Geegs, Geegers, Brynnie Boo, and many more. Ten days before Bella turned 2 years old we were blessed with another beautiful, healthy girl by planned c-section. This time I was able to see my baby right after birth, watch her get weighed, bathed, etc. I couldn't wait for Bella to meet her. Brynn is now 4 and keeps me laughing all day long. Brynn, since she was about 2 months old has been the smiliest baby I have ever met. All you need to do is look at her and she will flash you a world class smile. Brynn is smiley, more shy and reserved about things than her big sis, can be quite the clown when she feels safe or gets in a silly mood, amazingly brilliant, she's been speaking full sentences since she was 19 months and continues to amaze us with what comes out of her mouth. She loves doing whatever her big sister is doing, dressing up, looking at books, her blankie, being held, twirling in her dresses, singing, and dancing whenever she hears music! Brynn is my compassionate baby, she hates to see people hurting. We just love this sweet, shy, snuggly, smiling little girl!

Brooklyn Blythe

Also known as Brookie, Brookie Cookie, Cookie Lu, Lulu B just to name a few. Sweet, sweet Brooklyn is our family's latest addition! We welcomed Brookie into our family on August 23rd 2010 at 12:23pm by planned c-section. I was nervous she would be a bit high maintenance since she came out screaming bloody murder and continued to wail anytime anyone touched her- get her footprints, take her temperature, etc. Amazingly, she would instantly stop the moment the Hubs touched her or began talking to her. And since her birthday, we have barely heard a peep out of her..... And fast forward 18 months, she definitely makes plenty of peeps now! :) We are full blown in the the terrible twos (which IMO last from 18-36 months) I believe. To make matters worse she's also cutting her 4 molars. She definitely knows what she wants but can't quite articulate it, so gets frustrated. Eating is also a hit or miss these days which is very foreign to me. Mixed with the crabby days though is the funniest personality ever. She is a riot! She LOVES chasing after her big sisters or having them chase and imitate her. She also has this adorable chubby face and will peek out of the corner of her eyes and just melt your heart! She is definitely shy at first but if you can get through to her she will keep you in stitches with her antics. We love you little BB and couldn't ask for a sweeter addition to our family!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Thanksgiving Trip!

Sorry picture overload!

So this year we drove up to Minnesota and met my parents up there. We got there a day (Tuesday evening) before my family so we visited the hub's Aunt Millie and Uncle Ted on Wednesday.

The girls of course ate up the attention and had fun playing with silly Uncle Ted. :)

Some fun shots from our hotels:

(we moved where we stayed the first 3 nights of our vacation- two hotels and then to my aunt and uncle's)

Brynn LOVES her Tag books, sitting quietly with her headband making her look like a 80's punk rocker, reading her books. :)

These girls could also color literally all day.

Watching a movie and snuggling. :) After the movie Bella said she wasn't tired and then......

....this was her literally 5 minutes later. :)

Wednesday night my family arrived and we happily spent time with them and my gramps, or Papa Bear as the girls call him.

Thanksgiving day Poppi was a trooper and gladly played Barbies with girls while Papa Bear looked on.

We just hung low and just spent time together as a family.

My momma whipped up a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, that Cookie slept through. :)

The turkey hit our bellies and we were cashed!

That night I hit the shops! I told the hubs I wanted to go solo so I didn't have him rushing me and such but boy do I sure wish I had him around for some of the lines! :) This was the Target line, can't really tell but the Target is to the right around the corner of JC Pennys here. If it hadn't been in the 50s I wouldn't have stuck around but it was really mild. I definitely prefer the sales starting at Midnight or sooner. I'm much more of a night person than a morning person!

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to go and explore my aunt and uncles farm where we were staying. The girls loved seeing all the open acres and neat farm buildings.

This pic cracks me up, apparently this is how my parents like to take walks. :)

Papa Bear loves Culvers so we took him out for a special lunch.

Poppi said he wasn't that hungry yet somehow he kept ending up snacking on everyone else's food. :)

After lunch Mormor and Poppi took the girls to see the Muppets.

And then one last family dinner all together at Olive Garden, yum my favorite!!

So thankful for these three little beauties!

Saturday morning Brookie having special snuggle time with Mormor.

Saturday morning we had our pretend Christmas. I made some yummy Swedish Kringle and then after breakfast we let the kids open presents. We sent the men to pick up wrapping paper and they of course didn't get enough, so most of the presents were creatively wrapped. :)