Jane 7 months

The best way to describe Jane is a pear.  She has the most delicious butt and thighs! She is pulling up and standing more than she is crawling.  She just wants to grow up too quick for my liking.  Foods she has eaten include carrots, grapes, pears, oatmeal, puffs, rice rufts, green beans, and breads.  Breast milk is currently her favorite though.  Jane is sleeping through the night for the most part- her and Kate are sharing a room at grandma and grandpa Koplin's and sometimes Kate wakes her up.  This month she visited the aquarium, the dinosaur museum, the children's museum in Lehi, and lots of cousins houses.  Sledding on mom's back was probably the biggest highlight of the month!

Kate is 3

We celebrated Kate turning three.  She wanted anything and everything "Elsa" for her birthday.  When she woke up, she had a Frozen party dress waiting for her and I made her favorite blueberry breakfast cobbler.  I thought it would be fun to blow out candles throughout the day, so we did it for breakfast, lunch/party, and dinner.

 

We invited all her cousins that were not school-aged to Kangaroo Zoo for her birthday party.  The guests were Jane, Norah, Zander, Daphne, McCartney, Ezra, Alicia, Collette, and Emma.

 Kangaroo Zoo is an indoor playground with those inflatable bouncy houses.  Super fun for this age group.  Jane just crawled around the inflatables.

 My decorating skills... mostly Frozen books and pictures from a Frozen calendar.  And the cake was a great find at Wal-Mart.

 I told all the guests to get Kate simple, packable gifts. Candy and stickers was the biggest suggestion, so we didn't have to worry about bringing it back to Europe with us.  I swear my bags are going to burst!  Kate really enjoyed opening her gifts, but who doesn't? 

Kate is quite the know-it-all.  She loves being independent, unless daddy is around to hold her.  But for the most part, she likes to do everything all on her own.  She has lots of energy, even to the last few seconds before she goes to bed at night.  She loves dressing up and playing princess.  Kate loves to read.  She loves to chew gum.  She loves to put lotion and make-up and chapstick on (sometimes it involves markers and crayons).  She brings so much joy to our lives and we are so grateful for her sweet spirit. 

 

America, here we come!

Bryan left for Captain's Career Course for 9 weeks and I decided it would be fun to visit all my family in America while he was away.  Unfortunately, we were waiting on Jane's passport and scheduled a flight a couple days after he left.  My dear friend, Abby, took me and the girls to the airport.  I survived almost 25 hours of awake time (only 15 hours of flight time) with my little monsters.  To be honest, they were actually great.  Kate enjoyed her own personal television/movie player.  Jane happily slept in my arms and crawled on the plane's floor.  I prepared myself for many breakdowns and tears, and it was anything but that.  I also was very grateful for a plane ride during my kids waking hours.  I think I would have been more stressed if I had to keep my children asleep while everyone else was sleeping. 

Anyways, we made it to America safe and sound.  We have been adjusting to time change and routine change and all the big cars, stores, and roads. 

 I put Kate in gymnastics at the local recreation center and she is excelling. 

We've gone sledding with grandpa and cousins.

Kate sledding by herself.

 We have visited the ice castle in Midway and took pictures with the Frozen cast.

And watched Koko practice her bobsledding. 

 

 

Jane 6 months

I love this baby.  She is so squishy.  Why do they have to grow so fast?  Jane is now a transcontinental traveler.  She has taken to the pacifier since our long flight to America.  She decided to grow two bottom teeth one day before our long trip.  She sat up by herself the day before daddy left for America and a week later decided to start crawling.  Now she is working on standing up with support! I am very please to announce she has started sleeping through the night.  We have even started her on real food.  She has experienced sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, and bananas.  It is such a joy to watch her grow and develop.  We love her to pieces. 

Christmas 2015

Our Christmas this year was really exciting.  I felt like this year I was on top of it.  I sent out all our family gifts early (to America), planned the Christmas markets we wanted to attend, sent out our annual Christmas cards, hosted a Christmas party for the little troopers, and completed most of the present shopping for our kids before December even came.  That way, we could enjoy reading Christmas books, watching Christmas movies, baking and decorating sugar cookies, playing in the snow, and eating way too much at all the parties.   

 

 Jane at the Little Troopers Christmas party.

 Kate at the Little Troopers Christmas party.

 Grinch cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  Jane is so happy to be held by her big sister. 

 Both girls slept in until 7:40am.  Jane mostly enjoyed the paper and ornaments.  She received books, clothes, balls, rocking giraffe, and a trampoline for Christmas.

This might be the first Christmas Kate will remember.  She got a lot of princess stuff, dress-up stuff, Frozen stuff, and of course, a trampoline. 

This was such a fun surprise from Santa!

Jane 5 months

Sweet little rollie pollie.  Jane has slept through the night two times.  She is getting up on her hands and knees and pushing herself backwards.  She has had licks of apple, banana, soft pretzel, and carrot.  I don't think she is ready for food yet, but she sure loves putting "food" in her mouth.  It is so fun to see her watch Kate play around her and include her in some of her play.  We are loving on our sweet little girl and can't believe she is growing and moving so fast!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Germany! Bryan and Rebekah are enjoying all our European adventures.  Kate loves singing, dancing, and dressing up.  Jane is fat and happy.  Both girls bring so much joy and excitement to our lives!  We hope this letter finds you well and wish you a Happy New Year.