Sheepish. (2010 edition)

Amelia was a sheep in our church's nativity play last Saturday. She was so excited to be in the play and did a great job singing all of the songs. I didn't even catch her picking her nose like last year. This was Amelia's second year as a sheep and she said she was looking forward to next year when she might graduate from the flock.














And a picture of Elsa just because.

News from the North Pole

Amelia and Elsa received a fun surprise in the mail...a letter from Santa sent from the North Pole. We have a friend who happened to be at the North Pole last month and he hooked us up with this fun surprise for the kids.

I was not expecting such a reaction out of Amelia. She was thrilled and AMAZED that Santa would send a letter and she couldn't believe that he knew her name. She was literally jumping for joy when she saw the letter. She has been telling everyone about it and is especially excited that she has an actual photo of Santa.

Quiet Moments

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's a pillow...it's a pet...it's a...

super annoying commercial jingle you can NOT get out of your head.

Amelia got a pillow pet from my mom several months ago and LOVES it. Elsa just may be getting one from Santa this year so she stops stealing Amelia's.

Amelia's favorite part of Thanksgiving weekend was getting to stay at a hotel with Grandma, Grandpa, and Stephanie. And swim in the hotel pool...until a kid threw up in the pool and everyone had to get out.

Steph took these photos of Amelia at the hotel. She looked down on the floor where Amelia was sleeping and saw this:





And a few shots from the visit to the American History Museum via Steph:




(ruby slippers)

First Bath

Oliver is lucky to have two very loving sisters who are always eager to help.

Blessing Baby Oliver

We did Oliver's baby blessing at church last Sunday (Nov. 28) when my family was in town. Ben gave him a beautiful blessing and he looked adorable in the outfit my mom made him. (She made the pants and hat and probably would have made the sweater if she had more time.)



































On a side note, Elsa was a huge fan of my brother Dan. As soon as she saw him, she climbed on his lap and cuddled up with him. She was always asking "where's Dan?" She doesn't see him often so it was surprising, but very cute.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a really relaxing, low-key Thanksgiving. Well, maybe not so relaxing for those who did most of the cooking while I took it easy. We were so happy to have my parents here, as well as my sister Stephanie. My brother Dan was able to join us the day after Thanksgiving and spend the weekend with us. He was in town doing an interview for his medical residency.

It was so nice to have other people here to help with all the cooking. Plus, we got to enjoy my dad's pies.

Oliver spent the day sleeping:





Grandpa Olsen with Oliver (Elsa calls my dad Grandpa Bob)

The girls put on a puppet show:








Amelia had fun creating a house in the leaves:


Grandpa was kind enough to hang out in her house for awhile:




Elsa was definitely a fan of the chocolate pie:


Elsa shows her toys to Steph:


Everybody headed downtown on Saturday and went to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the American Art Museum, ate lunch at the Reagan Center, and went to the American History Museum. I enjoyed some quiet time at home with Oliver and received a fun visit from our good friends the Dyckmans who were in town.

Saturday night my parents treated us to a feast of Indian food in honor of Ben's birthday since he would be out of town on the actual day:

What do we do now?

My mom left today after spending three weeks here helping out. It is going to be hard to adjust to her absence, especially with Ben traveling most of the month. She helped us out tremendously and I'm so blessed to have such a selfless mom who would spend so much time away from home to do things like change diapers, bathe children, and put up with a certain five-year-old's sassy behavior.

I would often walk past a sink of dirty dishes and make a note to do them and the next time I would pass by, they would be gone. Laundry was done, meals were made, my microwave got cleaned, the girls' hair got cut, and I was able to run errands without kids and get Amelia to and from school without taking the other kids.

Not to mention that my mom has a magic touch when it comes to babies. She would often get Oliver back to sleep after middle-of-the-night feedings so I could go back to bed. I even got to sleep for 6 hours straight last night while she managed to keep Oliver sleeping.

And on top of it all, she made a crib skirt, hemmed some curtains, made pillows for my couch, knitted an outfit for Oliver, and helped me with some Christmas crafts. And worked full-time from my house.

So yeah. I'm not sure what we'll do without her. Thanks for all of your help mom. We love you and miss you already!