Update

I am really behind on my blog of late. Here are some pictures of Christmas! Eleanor got a new scooter from Santa for Christmas.

And Penelope got a new bike from Santa, which is how she broke her wrist the day after Christmas. :) She has to wear the brace for her wrist 1 more week.

Aaron and I got the girls a HUGE doll house. Can you tell that it is taller than Eleanor? And you can play from all sides. We got the idea from Ma'am when she told me that she got the girls some dollhouse size dolls for Christmas. Thanks Ma'am for helping with this moment!

Sullivan slept through most of the unwrapping of presents. This guy needs his sleep! But he was able to open his gifts a little later. Fun stuff.

Aaron and I got some good presents too but our biggest present was selling our house and our land within a week of each other. Woo Hoo! We don't have a set place to move to yet, which is kind of stressful since we have to be out of our house by February 10th, but we have something that is pending. We are going to rent until the end of August and then we will be buying a nice house that we have had our eyes on for awhile. More on that later. :)

Sullivan turned 1 on January 5th! I can't believe how fast his first year went. He is the most wonderful baby. He is so happy and will play by himself for long periods of time. He loves to play with balls and cars and tractors and, if there is nothing blocking the stairs, he goes for them at full speed, hoping to make it to the top before Mom catches him. He loves to be outside and we had such a mild December and first half of January that we were able to spend some time outside with him.

I had to get a picture of this. He fell off of the step up to the shed and just tucked and rolled and then stayed there, stunned. It was hilarious!

Family Pictures

Thanks to our wonderful friend, Lisa, we now have new family pictures. It was REALLY cold outside so the photo shoot only lasted about 5 minutes but I think we got some great shots anyway. Thanks Lisa!

The Problem With Locks

A few years ago we had to turn Penelope's door knob around because she kept locking herself in her room and we got tired of taking the door knob off to get her out. Well, we never changed it back.

Tonight as I was getting the girls ready for bed, Eleanor went out, locked the door and came back in and closed it. Yep. All 4 of us locked in the girls' room and Aaron not getting off work until 1 a.m.... With no prompting from me, sweet little Penelope immediately started praying so we could find a way to get out while I searched the room for things to help take the hinges off or unscrew the door knob. 45 minutes later I kicked a hole through the door then reached through and unlocked it. Not something I ever thought I would have to do. So tonight I am very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who listened to my sweet little girls prayer. . . . and hollow doors. :)

(I had to put a blanket through the hole so they could sleep and so Aaron wouldn't wake them when he came home.)

Hee Hee!

I've watched this 10 times and I still giggle at the end!

Little man

This is the first time that I have put Sullivan in real church clothes. What a handsome little man! 

Sullivan is pulling up to everything and is starting to cruise a little. The froggy crawl has gone away for the most part. He is doing normal crawling now except when speed is required and then he reverts to the frog crawl. He has started clapping his hands, waving bye-bye, climbing stairs and he gets so excited when Daddy comes home. (All of our children adore Daddy!) Time is ticking away!

I just had to put this picture of my little Eleanor on here. When describing Eleanor, the Sound of Music comes to mind. "She's a wonderful girl, some of the time." and "It's very easy to like (Eleanor) except when it's, well, difficult." She is an adorable, fun, imaginative little pest. Some days I think she spends more time in "time out" than out. :) My favorite saying of hers lately. "Mom, there's the United States flag of the miracle." Unfortunately, Penelope was quick to correct her and coached her until she could say America correctly. I could have handled her saying it wrong for awhile.

Doesn't she remind you of Dennis the Menace? I either want to squeeze her because she is so irresistably adorable, or squeeze her because she is driving me crazy!