Little Baller

Our good buddy Wes Holmquist who coaches the varsity team at BHS invited Brady to join his little guy basketball camp in December again this year.  He had the hoops in the north gym lowered & Brady & Hadley got to shoot hoops to their little hearts content!  Amazing how much a difference a year makes-last year he wasn't even close to getting the ball there, this year it was no problem! :)

Jeff is pretty proud of these photos--says they are perfect poster shots! :)

Christmas with Grammy & Grampy!

The kids spent three days last week in Cody to celebrate Christmas with them & as always had a great time!  They love their Grammy & Grampy so much.

Here is the big boy with his new 4 wheeler!!

Our little rocker girl with her pink guitar

They got some great video of Brady driving his 4 wheeler on the golf course--he's already a little pro! :)

Belated Merry Christmas!!

At the risk of sounding extremely cheesy, the best way I can describe Christmas this year is magical.  The kids are at such a fun age--Brady was TOTALLY into everything Christmas & Liv is his little sidekick so naturally she was excited about everything too!  :)  We were so happy to have Uncle EJ & Aunt Jenee here for a few days & tried to spend as much time with them as possible!  The kids spent a belated Christmas with Grammy & Grampy in Cody for a few days as well & had a total blast!

We spent Christmas Eve with my family & Grandma Kessler by going to the Candlelight Service (Brady was super pumped about getting to hold his own!) and having crab cheese sandwiches & soup & birthday cake for Jesus.  These are all traditions from my childhood & so much fun to share with my own little ones. We stayed late at Nana & Papa's house opening gifts & playing catch up with EJ & Jenee! 

We had a plaque made for Dad's hole in one last year

 Oops!  Cut off Papa's head here--he got a couple kayaks for the cabin that the kids were trying out!

Here is Brady coming into our room to wake us up--I took video on our video camera of him skipping down the hallway, arms flailing around & squealing in delight at seeing what Santa left under the tree & that he ate his cookies & drank his milk & took the carrots up to the reindeer!  The first thing he grabbed was Livvy's dolly & took it right to her while she was still coming down the hallway with Daddy--absolutely melted our hearts.  The next two hours were spent opening gifts & PLAYING.  It was just so fun.

You realize your little girl is still a baby in a lot of ways when she takes her dolly on a walk in the little stroller then says "my turn!" and tries to climb in. :)  Here she is sitting in the dolly's crib feeding her a bottle.

**I'm sorry this post has been heavy on the narrative & light on the photos, but I have been TERRIBLE about taking pictures lately since my camera has been on the fritz...hoping someday for a new camera!**

The Livvy Show

What can I say...she's just so darn cute & her sweet little voice just melts us! 

Jeff's inner "diva" sneaks in on this one at the end...:)

Disregard Liv's burp that she thinks is pretty funny in this one! :)

Little Dragon Slayer

Brady is WAY into the movie How to Train Your Dragon so Grammy & Grampy got him all sorts of dragon slaying gear & fun  dragon toys for his birthday!  They gave them to him on Thanksgiving so he had a bunch of fun pretending & playing. :)



Thanksgiving Fun

We were invited to Lez & Bryce's beautiful new home with Grammy & Grampy for Thanksgiving this year and it was such a blast!  The kids PLAYED and PLAYED, we ATE and ATE, and everyone had such a relaxing, fun time.  Lez and Bryce were awesome hosts & the dinner was scrumptious!  Here are some fun pics from our weekend!

 

The first night the kids & Jane made pizzas for dinner...check out my daughter's face!

Here they are at Thanksgiving Dinner-Lez had a fun little kids table for them all weekend

Not surprisingly, this quickly became Liv's favorite holiday...

Using my Grandma Kessler's world-famous recipe, Lez and I made a cherry pie from scratch!  And what's more, it turned out PERFECT!!!! :)  She and my mom taught us years ago & we finally mustered the courage to give it a whirl this year...so fun.

Hard to tell from the picture, but I carved a big Husker "N" in it 

The weather was pretty brutal, but we managed to get the kiddos out to play in the snow for a little bit one day

I cannot tell you how great these two play together...pretty amazing little buddies that's for sure!  One minute they are practicing changing the dolls diapers, the next they are wrestling hard!  Definitely introducing each other to their favorite pasttimes! :)

How sweet is this picture?  One of my favs...

They are making the pizza here

We were all pretty fired up to watch our Huskers play on Friday

The adults had lots of fun playing blackjack after the kiddos went to bed...some people even made some money! :)

All in all, most of the time was spent relaxing & enjoying our time together!



Happy Birthday Brady!!

Even as I write this, I cannot believe my little boy is 4 years old!!  Everyone tells you how fast time goes...if only we could pause life right here because as crazy as it is at times, it is truly the best. 

 Brady is such a sweet boy who has a contagious giggle, & a love of learning.  He is a caring big brother who adores his daddy & is my little helper & buddy around the house.  He loves his preschool & has made many many new buddies who he talks about all the time.  Overall he is just such a kind boy who we love with all of our hearts!!

We had a small family pizza party last night to help him celebrate then headed to the movie Megamind in 3D with everyone--he had so much fun & was loving the attention!

Dusty & Gina gave him a super cool Buzz Lightyear toy that he (& his daddy) are obsessed with!

We could barely tear this out of Daddy's hands so I thought we better get a snapshot...

Nana & Papa gave Brady ski gear!!  Complete with skis, boots, helmet & goggles!  He has asked me 3 times today already when are we gonna go skiing!!?? :)  This gift was especially exciting for me because I LOVE to ski & know it will be something fun that we can do together.

Ice Cream cake was a hit...clearly.



We had so much fun at the movie...Liv was a little antsy but we took turns walking with her & Brady was really into it & loved all the movie treats & that everybody was there together.

Of course we started this morning with giving Brady breakfast in bed!

I got to bring treats into his preschool today & I brought those little ice cream cups for everybody like my mom always did for us growing up--everybody sang to him & he got to pass out the treats which were met with considerable excitement...I'm fairly sure they were a hit! :)

He's handing out treats to the kids here