Winter is here

Occasionally Ella will sit still so I can do her hair. We call is "Salon Time!"

Close up

First big snow in Michigan. Ella liked it.

Nathan wasn't so sure after awhile

Here cousins Ashley and Megan help with sledding

Ella and Nathan showing off their big boy and girl underwear

They appear to be all amazed with their new underwear. Too bad they were not just as amazed as potty training. We are going to try harder after the holidays!

Well winter is definitely upon us. Grand Rapids area schools were called off at least three times in the last week and a half. Were doing good here. Nathan and Ella have enjoyed watching the snow and playing in it. Yesterday we went tubing/sledding and they had fun (as well as the parents). Their new love is listening to music and doing actions. Their favorite song is "Wheels on the bus" and "If your happy and you know it." Sometimes they do the actions perfect and other times, like when I have my camera out, they refuse. Typical two year old. It is so hard to believe they are going to be 2 in a couple weeks. We can see such growth in them lately. They can say 2-3 word sentences and they pick up on things and remember things more than I thought they ever would. They have an obsession with dogs. They love my parents dog and lately they have had contact with "Auntie Tara's dog Cooper and one of our small group's who has a dog named Yoshi. They get pretty upset when they have to leave the dog. It is pretty cute to see their bond, but not enough to make us want one just yet! Ella loves to play with her dolls. You can find her busy feeding them, burping them, and changing their diapers. They "poop" (as Ella loves to tell you) alot. Nathan likes dolls to and mostly messing up anything Ella is doing. They have also gotten into coloring and using markers. We are traveling home for Christmas on the 22nd, weather permitting. I'll try get a couple more Christmas pictures out soon.

Wheels on the bus

Ella and Nathan love the "Wheels on the Bus" song. I have tried many times to get them to do it, but this is by best shot. Watch Nathan totally not do it. Stinkers!!!

October excitement

Proud Grandpa Scott and Grandma Barb with Mitch and Kendra's new little girl MacKenzie

My college friends and I got together last weekend in Wisconsin


Having some fun at the Hat store

Here we are ready to start shopping

Megan, Nathan and I with the puppy Dakota at a Stuive Birthday party

Ella in her Elephant costume

Nathan trying it out too

Darin, Tricia, and family

Mom and Dad with the grand kids

Dan, Laura, and Family

Tim and I

The whole Beckering gang

Celebrating Avery's 1st Birthday

Nathan and Ella checking out the soybeans

"I think they're ready Grandpa!"

Nathan and Ella loved Grandpa's big truck

Caleb and Benett

Sharing a "cousin" moment

Nathan joined later to make it 6 in the tub!

Helping Dad rake the leaves

We love to hug (sometimes)

Picking out pumpkins

This farming stuff is great

Ella loved jumping in the hay

Amazing how quickly time gets away from you. We have had some busy weekends and I finally have a little time to get the blog updated. The weekend of Oct. 24th, we headed back to Leota to visit family. I have to work Thanksgiving so we thought we would go early to possibly have Tim help my dad do some harvesting. Well the weather did not cooperate, but we had a great time being with family. We got to spend time going to Aunt Nadine and Aunt Karen's (who each spoiled Nathan and Ella royally with treats) and then we got to spend a day with my aunts, cousins, and grandparents. It was so nice to see everyone again and I cannot believe how big my nephews and nieces are getting. Nathan and Ella loved being on the farm and seeing the cows and Ella, especially fell in love with my parent's dog Hershey. Ella nicknamed him "Doo..ahhh!" The next weekend I went up to Green Bay, Wisconsin area with 6 other college girlfriends. It was our 10 year college reunion, and we finally made plans for all of us to get together. We had a blast up in Door County. We did a lot of shopping and eating and tried our best to keep the local economy alive. Now I am back to reality. Our November should be quiet and then we are planning to go back to Minnesota for Christmas. We have been spending some quality time outside raking leaves. This is the only time living in a forest is not so fun. Otherwise not too much new going on here. Talk to you soon.

Fall is here

We hold hands..sometimes!

Ella in her Elmo outfit

Nathan loves to hold this bottle of lotion. He brings it with him where ever he goes

Before we go on our "play date"

Helping dad rake. I couldn't get them to look at me.

Ella in the pink frosting room at "Art Prize"

Ella and Nathan chilling at "Art Prize"

Is she part of the exhibit?

Family picture, but kind of blurry

Hi everyone. For those of you who do not live in Grand Rapids, "Art Prize" is celebration of local artists. They have exhibits all around downtown Grand Rapids. People can walk all over and view them and then vote for their favorites. We went last week Friday (while the weather was still awesome). It was a lot of fun and a great way to publicize downtown Grand Rapids. Nathan and Ella loved all the people and excitement. It sure feels like fall around here the last week. We had talked about camping this weekend, but with the weather being cold, wet, and windy, we decided to call it for the year and make some big camping plans for next year.

Looking back on the rest of summer

Making our Lego Tower

We love to play downstairs in our playroom

Watching "Thomas" with some snacks

At the Hudsonville Fair

Watching "thomas the train

We love Watermelon

Well it is about time I get back to blogging don't you think!!! Life has been pretty routine so there has not been a lot to blog about. Nathan and Ella are 21 months old. Hard to believe. They are repeating more words as time goes by. Some of their favorites are "Truck, broke, cheese, juice, momma, daddy, and the ever popular, "no...no..." They also like to speak their own dialect. We have been trying to get it on video, but they always stop when I bring out the camera. It sounds like a broken Chinese/Japanese language, but they will look at each other so intently when they are talking, that I am sure each one knows what the other is saying!

They love to play with their Thomas trains and now they just got a new train track on a garage sale, so Nathan has been very busy playing with that. We still venture to the nearby park almost everyday. They love to play in the sand there. What will we do when we cannot go outside.

Tim continues to look for full time employment. He has been somewhat busy with contract jobs, but not full time. I stay busy with the ICU and have had some extra classes at work to keep things busy. We haven't found a house yet. There are tons of houses, but we are taking our time. We hope to go camping next weekend and then we are headed to Minnesota on Oct.22 to see the family. I have to work Thanksgiving, so we thought we would go home to help with harvest. I think Nathan and Ella will love riding the tractors and combine.

Well that is about it. I'll try keep up better with my blogging. Have a great weekend