The Crafts

Seeing your kids smile...real, genuine, I love you smiles!! Of course, CJ may have been smiling about her toy and Kate was pleased she was eating pudding with whipped cream for snack...but I choose to believe they smiled because they love me.  :)

Last week we 'celebrated' CJ turning 4 months old! She has changed so much in 4 months and has made great strides in the last week and a half. In the past several days she has learned to roll over, grab toys and just today she discovered she has feet. She therefore makes several attempts to grab and slobber all over every toe. Too bad her socks keep getting in the way. Below is Kate at 4 months. Pretty similar!

While celebrating Christmas at my parents' house I found one of my old dance costumes. Kate was more than willing to try it on...and then never take it off. We said she looked like a butterfly and she was happy to assume the role. In other news, Matt and I are making a good effort to get into shape. We are both planning to run some races this summer so we want to be prepared to start a serious training program come spring. Today we pushed out a 5 miler and finished it in 42 minutes 48 seconds. Our first three miles we ran 8:30 each, the fourth mile was a bit slower at 8:50 and then we kicked it in gear and ran the final mile in 8:28. We are both going to run the Sturgis Falls half marathon at the end of June. My PR (personal record) for a half marathon is 1 hour 48 minutes. My goal for this summer is 1 hour 45 minutes. To achieve that time I will have to pull out an average of 8 minute miles. I have some work to do before I can get to that pace but I think I'm on track. Any...

Kate's new thing is to put her head under the water and listen to herself talk. It is really entertaining for the rest of us. Kate found some VCR tape stickers and decorated herself...and CJ. I think Kate had more fun with this project than innocent, little CJ.

La Porte City saw its first snowfall Thursday morning. And while CJ napped, I took Kate out for her first taste of snow this winter. We were only outside for a few minutes since I didn't want to leave CJ alone for long and it was mighty frigid. But as Matt continually points out, it is only going to get colder. Ugh!

This post is extremely late... but better late than never, right? My kids were really cute for Halloween. Kate dressed as Super Girl this year. Actually she was Super Girl last year too but the costume still fit and she LOVES it, so she wore it again. This was Kate's first year trick or treating. We practiced knocking on the door, saying trick or treat and saying the all important 'thank you.' I don't think she really understood the whole concept until we actually went door to door. And once we were out she didn't want to turn back. She seemed thrilled beyond words that all you had to do was knock on someone's door and they give you candy. What really warmed my heart was when I thought she had collected enough candy and I told her we had to go home to help Dad pass out candy. She happily accepted and when we got home she tried giving away her candy to kids at the door. So sweet. She also dumped out her Halloween candy on the living room floor and started div...

CJ taking a break from her busy life. Everyone has one of these pics...Dad and baby bonding over a nap. Both are really good at this high stress activity. :) This is Kate's first attempt at holding CJ. She held her arms in the air like she was stuck in a bank robbery. She has since warmed up to CJ. My friend, Heather, had a baby girl just five days before we had CJ. This is a pic of Baby Harlie visiting Baby CJ in the hospital. Aren't they cute! I can already tell they will be friends. Matching outfits.