A warm day in January.

It was so warm on Saturday that we just had to get out in it!  We went on a 4 mile walk in the morning, and then we played at a nearby park.

The girls could have done this for hours—sticking sticks in the ground.  You can see them better in the next picture:

After Hattie’s nap we went to the zoo for a few hours:

I always love seeing the elephants!

Getting a better look at the lions from Daddy’s shoulders.

At the very end, Elna insisted on seeing the penguins, but we learned that she actually meant flamingos…which happened to be at the very opposite side of where we were, and not near the entrance either.  So, we booked it back over to the flamingos.  I think she thought it was worth it.

This picture is one of my favorites!  Brian is such a sweet dad—our girls love him!  We love weekends with him!

We ended the fun day by going to Veggie Grill (and I got Qdoba from across the street since I burned myself out on VG early on in my pregnancy).  We had such a fun day!

A wedding.

We went to the wedding of a friend of Brian’s family, Jordon Rust.  Brian babysat Jordan and his 4 brothers growing up.  It was fun to see so many of our favorite people and the girls loved it too!  Elna still talks about how pretty the bride was (who I forgot to get a picture of!)  The girls especially loved the dancing, and they were pretty darling at it!

I love what these two have!

Sitting with Grandma and Papa—oh, our girls love these two!

Uncanny!

I never posted this picture of Hattie on Christmas day because it’s not her best picture ever, but then my sister-in-law, Heather sent us these pictures of Brian, and I can’t believe the resemblance.  The similarities!

Brian (right) and his brother, Daren.

When I don’t do her hair you can see it’s easier to see the similarities, because even their hair is the same.

Brian (far left) with all of his brothers. 

I don’t always see resemblance in family members, especially when it’s in my own family, but I’m amazed at how much Hattie looks like Brian at a similar stage in life.  Elna, too, but less so to me now, now that she’s getting a little older. 

Sickies.

We had some pretty sick girls the first week of January.  They both had a stomach bug and pretty high fevers.  These next few pictures are during the time they are sick—you may not be able to tell they are sick, but I can see it in their eyes and cheeks.  Poor girls!

The only nice part of having sick babies is the cuddling—we held off everything for a few days and did a lot of cuddling.

Elna took these of me and Hattie.

And both girls slept a lot.  Elna took 2 two hour naps on the day she was sickest—very unusual for a girl who doesn’t even take one nap anymore.  And they both lay on the couch a lot.

When my kids get sick like this I’m always grateful it doesn’t happen more often.  In general these two are very healthy girls—thank goodness!

We’re having a…

On New Year’s Eve we found out that we are having…

another GIRL!  And we are over the moon excited!

That night we asked everyone to pick a blue or pink balloon, depending on which gender they thought we were having.  Everyone except Elna chose blue, and everyone was wrong except Elna :) ha!  Brian picked pink (even though we both knew) so that the others could see that the pink balloons blew up, but the blue ones didn’t (or at least they weren’t supposed to—I poked about 15 holes in each of them, but the pin holes must have been pretty small because a few of the blue ones still blew up a tiny bit as you can see)

Elna really wanted a baby girl, so she was pretty excited.  When we ask what is inside my tummy, Hattie now says “baby girl”, which is pretty darling.

That evening (New Years Eve) we stayed late at Brian’s parents and played games and ate yummy food.  We put Harriet to bed in a back room, but Elna stayed up until about 11 pm when we headed home.  Happy New Year to you all!  2015 is going to be especially exciting with the birth of our next little girl in June!

December little things.

Sleeping Harriet // just-woke-up Harriet with rosy cheeks and flipped out hair.  I love how she looks when she wakes up.

Sitting on Papa’s lap and listening to Eye Of The Tiger on his computer.

Harriet’s new funny trick.

We took a few selfies one day for a calendar Char was making.

Elna captured these pictures of me and Hattie.  I love Harriet’s laugh!  I had no idea she was taking them.

Lounging Hattie.

These pictures of Hattie wearing sunglasses on her stool crack me up.

I wish these pictures were a little better quality, because Elna is just so darling in them!  They are so her!  Can you believe how tall and grown up she is looking?!