Sofie and Noah Growing Up - January 2017

Yes, I'm officially a year behind.  But I'm determined to catch up!  

So where were we January of 2017.

We were living in Morgan Hill, California.  Our Older Twins had just turned four and our babies were 8 months old.  It was a busy, crazy time for me as a mom.  Most of my time went to taking care of the babies and helping Kira and Isak with whatever they needed.  

But I did capture some pics.  These are mostly of the babies.

All smiles, and lots of moving around so a little blurry!

Noah's shirt says, "Made you smile!"

sitting in the high chairs with their cute coordinating pajamas.

They were so excited to sit in them.  haha.

Sofie is our climber and poor Noah got to be one of the items she climbed on.  He handled it well.

Cute little diaper babies.

Sitting up so smiley and cute.

Noah blew a huge bubble!

Getting up on all four's!

Just hanging out with her dad.

Isak likes to cover up his stuffed animals...and Noah.

Checking out the weather.

I brought the dollhouse out.  The babies play with it more than Kira ever did.  I'm glad they like it.

Since it's been a year...all I can think is how cute they look!  I'm glad I took pics of them.

Poor Noah wasn't thrilled with his suit...or pictures being taken.

Sofie is sitting up like a pro!

And that's January pics of the babies.

December Wrap Up and Christmas Season Fun

All the pics from December.  We did a lot of different things for the Holiday season.  One of the first things we did was went to the Christmas Light Parade downtown Morgan Hill.

It was fun to sneak out and enjoy all the lights.  The babies were cozy in the stroller next to us.

We decorated the Christmas Tree.  Isak loved to be on the ladder and put the ornaments up high.

Nels and I went on a date!  We ate at the Old City Hall restaurant in Gilroy.  And then did some shopping.

Of course we made it to our favorite Red Robin restaurant.  I just love my boys.

And Sofie is a cutie.

Me with the kiddos.

Sometimes a selfie helps us to laugh and be happy.

Kira put her horse on Sofie.  haha.

Sweet Noah.

Little Sofie.

Figuring out the tree and lights.

They love to play with the big kid toys.

I think this is funny.  Noah finds the world around him so curious.

"running" into each other.

Noah likes to hide under his bouncy chair.

 Isak asked when it would be Christmas.  So I taught him where it was on the Calendar.  He loved that and pointed it out everyday.

Nels's work gave him this shirt for Isak.  Fork Lift shirt.

Sofie wants to play too.

Sugar Cookies.  Super easy, super yummy.

I made these Christmas Tree ornaments.

Gingerbread house.

Rudolph hats.

Favorite Moments:  I gave the kids a countdown activity book.  They loved working on it.  

Making Christmas Cards.  We had a Christmas FHE.  I told the nativity story with little wood people from our nativity set.  The older kids were captivated.  I was surprised and so happy.  They listened the whole time.  

Dec 26th we spent the day putting all of the decorations and tree away.  

Then it was Dec 31st.  We made some awesome burgers, put the kids to bed and watched a show.  We went to bed at 10 p.m.  

And that's the end of December and the year 2016.  I wrote this in my journal...
To be honest, I'm so glad 2016 is over.  It was exhausting and I'm tired.  We definitely witnessed many miracles.  Big miracles - healthy twins, new job with IP, help moving.  And small day to day miracles.  I'm thankful for the wonderful things and the hard things.  All the opportunities and things we have learned.  I'm grateful for our family of six and the fun adventures we have been on.  I look forward to some rest (hopefully), adventures and good times in 2017!

Christmas Eve and Day

One day we made these cute handprint Rudolph hats.  The kids loved them.  We made chocolate covered pretzels.  Nels took the kids around to the neighbors and delivered them.  

I love my little Christmas Reindeer.

I purchased a gingerbread house kit from Walmart.  The kids LOVED decorating it and eating the candy of course.  They were pretty proud of their house.

Baths and new Christmas pj's.

For Christmas Eve dinner we had tacos.  :)  Then Nels read some Christmas stories.

Little Sofie loves to be a part of everything.

I love this pic with my four kids.

The kids all went to bed.  We finished wrapping and placed the gifts under the tree.  Lots of Paw Patrol wrapping paper this year.

Stockings and their stuffed animals.  Isak got Zuma and Kira got Skye from Paw Patrol.
The babies first Christmas...They got a doggy and bunny stuffed animal.

The set up.

Christmas morning. I didn't take too many pics because I just wanted to enjoy the moments.  But here's a few.

It was a Paw Patrol Christmas this year.  They got the little vehicles and pups. And coloring books were paw patrol too!  And Nels's parents gave them Paw Patrol Tents!

Noah investigated his toy.

Kira's big gift was play mags.

Grandparents Swensen gave this cool car to Isak to build.

Sofie liked her gift too.  Sofie slept through most of Christmas morning.  After gifts we went to the hour and a half church.  Then Nels and I took turns napping.  We made filet mignon and baked potatoes for dinner and strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

It was a great Christmas!