Daddy--Daughter Weekend

Carrie and Alex flew home to Salt Lake this weekend, leaving Dad, Abby, and Katie back home in St. Louis. We felt bad that we got ditched, but decided to make the most of our lot in life. The girls and I had a fantastic time together . . . and I accumulated a substantial number of points towards my future flyfishing expedition (at least that's what Carrie says!) Here is the evidence of the fun times we had:

Sleeping in front of the fire in our sleeping bags on Friday night

After setting up the sleeping bags and pads, Abby said, "this is way more

fun than I thought it was going to be with you, Dad!"

On Saturday we went to the Powder Valley Nature Center. Abby's favorite part was the animal puppets, Katie the "big green frog," and Daddy the large fish tank full of largemouth bass!

We had fun, just the three of us. But, we all can't wait to have Mom and Alex back home!

Luke and I have decided that this is us right now.* Thus the lack of blogging and updates . . . but we're working on it! In the meantime, I hope you're having a fabulous day! :)

*Courtesy of Mary Engelbreit, one of my very favorite artists of all time, who happens to live right here in St. Louis! (It's not like I've bumped into her at the grocery store or anything, but I still think it's cool.)

December Recap

Whew! Things have been busy around here! I'm sure they have been for everyone, but I'm discovering--news flash!--that having 3 kids is a lot busier than having 2. Go figure! Anyway, here's what we've been up to lately:
We loved having my sister Melba; her husband, Sammie; and their dog, Phoebe, join us from Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. Then they stopped in again last week for a night on their way to Utah. We were thrilled to be a stop on their cross-country road trip!

Katie met Santa and was pretty weirded out by him . . .

We picked out a cute little Christmas tree (in 10-degree weather!) and got it all decorated. Our house is officially FESTIVE!




We are all loving little Alex and can't get enough of the snuggles. He'll be 2 months old on Tuesday and is such a cutie!

Baby Alex Update

It's hard to believe Baby Alex is already one month old! We are just loving having this precious little guy in our family. Not to jinx ourselves, but he's a pretty good sleeper too! He usually gets up at 3:30 or 4:00 am to eat, but that's about it . . . and a few nights ago he actually slept for 8 1/2 hours! I woke up a little worried about him, but--ahhh--it sure was nice to get that much sleep at once.

Here are our 3 little dudes hanging out in their jammies . . .

. . . and Alex with his Pops (my dad, Richard), who visited last weekend. We had a great time with him here. He got to participate in Alex's baby blessing at church, which was really special. We love having visitors come!

What a cutie! (I think even those who aren't his mom would have to agree.)

Happy Halloween!

We hope you had a fun Halloween! Abby loved trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and made quite a haul in the candy department. Katie, however, was ready after about five houses to head home and start eating the loot. (That was fine by me, since I was one-week postpartum and a little tired myself!)
Here we have the ladybug and the ballerina admiring the teeny-tiny pea pod.

All of us ready for trick-or-treating . . . even though Katie looks more ready for bed!

"Grannie" (my mom, Lori) was here over Halloween as part of her life-saving 10-day visit! She and Baby Alex were in charge of handing out candy.