Snow Day!

It snowed last night! We have had a little snow here and there this winter, but not much. Ella was pretty sad the last morning she woke up to snow and by lunch, it was all melted. She said, "Now I can't go put it in my buckets!!" Well, today she did. She asked for containers to put snow in and went out with Daddy. Those little mittens sure are worthless. What toddler actually keeps mittens on their hands when they can't pick anything up? Oh well. They had fun.

Pictures with the kids

The other day, I was taking pictures and Ella said, "Mommy, I want to take a picture with you." So, I never pass up a chance to take pictures and since Peter wants to do the same as her always, these are the pictures we came up with. John didn't have a say, I just wanted to take one with him too. :)

Little sleepers

The night that I took these pictures, I had told Ella and Peter that they needed to stop playing around and go to bed. I also explained to Ella that when she gets out of bed, it makes it so Peter can't sleep. Well, they went down fine, and little while later, I heard tiny footsteps, but I thought I would ignore it since they were so quiet. Now, I'm not so sure I'll live by that principle, since quiet toddlers usually means trouble. Anyway, with Peter in his bed, there can't be too much trouble going on and Ella's pretty good about telling me when there is. So, when I went to tuck them in before I headed to bed, this little table set-up is what I saw next to her bed on the floor. She had been down playing with her dollhouse and I thought it was so cute how perfectly she set up her animals. They were both sleeping so soundly. I checked Peter's bed and when I saw this little doll I knew Ella must have given it to Peter because I didn't. I love how much they look out for each other right now. So, I took pictures of them all sleeping just because I wanted to be able to look back on that night and remember, even though Ella didn't fully obey when I told her to stay in her bed.

Children's Museum Day

Here we are at the Children's Museum with my MOPS group. The kids had a lot of fun here. It was a special "pet" day, so they had all kinds of different animal things. The kids colored pictures and used animal stickers, Ella made a sock puppet, and Peter played with animal Legos. Ella's favorite thing was putting all those little puff balls in different containers. She stayed by that bucket for a long time! She loves to take little things and transfer them from container to container. She's always asking me "So, is there something else I can have to put these in?"

It was a fun day out with them, a little challenging while I had to "wear" John since he gets heavy quickly, but good to get out. I love watching the kids have fun and be creative. It makes me a happy mom.

4-wheelin'

We got to go out to the Keller's cabin and have fun on the 4-wheelers. I'm not sure why I'm the only one wearing a helmet! Peter wanted to go, despite what this picture shows, he did have fun. It was cold and we didn't come too prepared for the kids to be outside, so our ride was short. Ella wanted to ride with me after I took Peter and wear a helmet too. Here she is with her huge helmet getting ready to go. We had fun, I haven't done anything like this for a while.

Tid Bits

I've been trying to get this done now for a while, but times are busy and computer time is limited. The kids do not like when I am staring at this screen, Peter has even taken to trying to grab my hands, while saying, "Stop Mom." Today Andrew is home and I am catching up on stuff like this while he spends some much needed time with the kids.

I got the boys matching dinosaur PJ's. Here is the picture of them the night they both wore them. Ella was so excited the boys matched that she had to be in the picture too :).

All sitting on Daddy before bed time getting ready to read.

John's precious little smiles. Peter had this shirt for the spring time, but I love it so much that I just put long sleeves underneath. Layering clothes on an infant is a lot of work. I don't think I'll do that much more until he's older.

This was the first of John's smiles I got of just him. It's hard to get him to smile at the camera because as soon as I pull it out, he just stares at it.

The kids love to have their picture taken with all three of them. If I bring out the camera for John, Ella and Peter want to crawl up and hold him for their picture too.

One of the outfits that was given to John at his baby shower.

This is what happens when I let Peter have a smoothie (he calls it a "pooey"). He was such a mess and those little seeds are terrible for cleaning up, but he loves smoothies!

Peter loves his little animals that he has been given from the family. He makes animal trains on the table. I love this picture because he's concentrating so hard and looks so adorable.

I can't stop kissing these cheeks.

A friend got John this shirt and I had already given him the blanket, so here's to hedgehogs :)

Ok, well, this picture pretty much speaks for itself, but Peter wanted to wear a tutu just like Ella. The two of them always want to be doing or having the same thing. Sometimes, like this one, I hesitate, but you know, whatever. If the boy wants a tutu, I'd better let him have one now while he's 1 and hope that he grows out of it :).

My friend was having a garage sale and I got this tent for Peter. He loves Thomas the Train right now.

They were playing with diaper boxes and decided to get inside them and asked me to take a picture, so I did.

Ella wanted to hold John. I think this picture shows how much they resemble each other.

Danville Christmas & Oregon New Year

Alright, well, better late than never. This is our Christmas and New Year in pictures. I have no idea how to get this to stop with the underlining. Things have been pretty busy since we got back from Oregon. Andrew has been on call a whole lot and the kids have spent almost the whole month sick with something. Last week's flu was the worst so far. It's over now and I am praying for a healthy rest of the winter. Each of these pictures will have the explanation on the underside of it. Enjoy!

This is John getting ready for an outing. I actually made this hat back for Peter, but since we were in CA when he was tiny, he only wore it once for pictures. John has had a lot of use from it though :)

On Christmas Day, Andrew got home at about 1pm and we opened presents before going to the Lehman's for dinner. This is Ella unwrapping the little gifts from her stocking, mostly from Gramma Paula and Pop Pops because this year we didn't really have any ability to Christmas shop for them. Luckily, they didn't know the difference, and we have less toys to clean up!

Peter was so excited about his little farm animals, he still plays with them all the time. I spent a while wrapping all these tiny little presents, but it was worth it to see them open them.

He snipped the cow from Ella the minute she set it down and still claims it as his own. He calls most things a cow and loves seeing them on our drives.

Ella with her stocking presents, I feel like she's just getting cuter and cuter as time goes on. She's been such a help with baby John and her fun personality as well as her knack for knowing what she wants have been shining through these days.

For Christmas, Andrew got me a camera that will fit in my bag. This happens to be the first picture I took with it. Me and my Dutch Brothers Cocoa. This is a chain that started in Oregon and has spread around, but it has GREAT drinks.

We went to visit Andrew's childhood friend Jon Turnage and his family. Clayton, their son and Sarah his wife were there. This is Peter with Mr. Potato Head glasses on playing with Clayton's toy.

Andrew and Peter with Jon and Clayton.

Ella loves having her picture with John. I thought this one was pretty cute.

Peter wanted me to take his picture with John too! Of course. They are going to be great friends I think, Peter sure loves his brother "Non."

Aunt Jenna got John this bib and he wore it proudly, so of course I had to take a picture.

This is me with Katie and Rebekah, my sister in laws and Jana, our cousin that married Andrew's oldest cousin Josh. We were able to get away one afternoon to Fred Meyer, just the girls with no kids. It was quite fun!! Funny how a store like Fred Meyer takes on a whole new element when you can spend time in the scrapbook aisle with a coffee :).

John and I before the family picture one evening. He's getting so big! I put him in this cute little vest with a collared shirt and he looked like a little man.

Apparently when Andrew was little, his favorite thing to do was take a ball and roll it down the railing. Peter and Cousin Curtis shared his liking and Cousin Mark was helping them.

Here is Peter wearing Aunt Ruth's shoes, he's still obsessed with shoes if he can get them on his feet, especially ones that aren't his.

Great Grandpa Ralph and Great Grandma Mary meeting John. Grandpa Ralph is big on his family ancestry and told us all about his Grandpa, John Cornelius. Ralph's dad was named Lewis, so John's name is pretty special to him. We have some pictures for his baby book now and an explanation of John Cornelius' history.

John is smiling at Great Grandma, and this was the first time I caught his smile on camera! Pretty special picture.

Ella outside, probably pulling her hair out of her face. What I love is that her mittens are backwards and the thumbs are sticking out!

Peter boy in the hat I made him for this winter, playing outside.

The frost in Klamath was pretty crazy, Andrew took this picture of it.

Ella loves seeing animals. Grandpa and Grandma live next to some people who have horses they could see up close.

Sleepy John and I outside. I figured if I had a snow suit for him, I may as well take him out in it at least once!

Grandma Barb helped Peter and Ella build a snowman. The next day it rained and the eyes and nose fell off, part of him melted and he looked more like a skeleton, but they had fun!

Andrew's friend Ryan and son Miles came to see us. Peter still talks about Miles, especially because now they have the same green Nalgene sippy cup (Thanks Deans!) :) It was fun to see old friends and catch up while the kids played.

The Fam. It's always such an ordeal to get a picture of all of us.

Grandpa Ben took Ella on the 4-wheeler. She's turning into quite the little adventurer.

Andrew didn't pass off a chance to climb up a tree at all. He and his dad cut this one down while we were there.

Peter found Great Grandpa Ralph's cane and thought it was a great toy.

Andrew Smith (Andrew's classmate from high school) is a dentist in Klamath, he and his fiance' Brooke came to say hi.

Peter was beyond thrilled with himself for putting all these toy soldiers by John to play with him. He and Ella called them "shoulders" and they were all over the place the whole time we were there visiting. I'm sure Grandma is still finding them around the house!

Grandpa took Peter for a walk down their 1/4 mile driveway. Here they are throwing snowballs.

John loved sleeping on everyone who wanted to hold him, here he is with Grandpa.

There is no shortage of food at a Cornelius gathering. Here's Ben, Dallas, David, Mark, Lance, Ralph and Mary having a meal. They make some good food, and lots of cookies too!

Katie and I went to Fred Meyer the day of the Rose Bowl and these sweatshirts were on clearance, so we got matching ones :).

Katie, Darlene, Jana, myself and Rosie on New Year's eve, while the guys are lighting off fireworks. None of us are "original Cornelius" blood, but we're glad to all be family now!

Jonathan, Nate, Mark, Dallas, Andrew, and Josh. Cousins and brothers.

Aunt Rebekah with all the kids! She is Andrew's older sister who hadn't yet met John so this visit was fun and special!

Aunt Rebekah with Peter and John.

John with Grandma Barb. I appreciated all the help she gave me with the kids by spending time with them.

Peter loves to give John kisses.

After New Years and all the extended family left, we did a family Christmas. Here is Ella opening her stocking gifts.

Peter with his stocking! Grandma Barb made all these stockings, the kids have their pictures on them.

Here are our stockings. We all draw names for our big gift, but we each get everyone a little stocking gift. We opened ours after the kids went to bed, it was much less chaotic :)

John and Daddy. I really liked this picture of them. John looks really content.

Great Grandkids.

Smiling at Grandma Barb.

This was the family picture we had taken. It turned out very nice! Next time we have a picture like this, there will be one more baby, Katie and Jonathan are due in June. I will hopefully meet my niece in August when we go to Oregon. The kids were so happy for tootsie rolls when this was over :).

We sure have been blessed as a family. I could not ask for better in-laws. We all enjoy each other's company and it's amazing what a great Christian heritage this family has. Their family tree goes back a long time, but the ones that are here now are Godly examples for us and for our kids. We had a really nice time in Oregon with everyone.