A Trip to Smith Center

A couple weeks ago we took a long overdue trip to Smith Center.  As we were loading the van for the weekend only trip, we realized why we hadn't gone anywhere for awhile...the van was packed! Wow it takes a lot of stuff to go anywhere with 3 kids, especially with a newborn.  I look forward to the day when we no longer have to bring a pack and play along for a kid to sleep in if we go somewhere overnight!  Luckily even though it was January when we went, the weather was beautiful! (At least while we were there, a cold front came through as we were driving home and we went from 60 degree weather in Smith Center to snowing by the time we got home!) Here are a few pictures from the short trip.
Grandma getting in some good grandkid time.  Keely was excited to have Grandma and Papa time again and made sure she got in some good hugs throughout the weekend.  

Great Grandma Burgess got to hold Barrett for awhile.  He was in the middle of a nap time, so he let her hold him for quite a while.

Blake talking with his Granddad.

On Saturday, we got to go to the park after naps and play outside.  It was nice to get some much needed fresh air and sunshine.  Keely loved the big slides.  Brooks was nervous to go down it, so he stayed on the ground mostly, but he still had fun.

We brought Brooks' soccer ball along and he kicked it all over the park.  I think we need to sign him up for soccer league! Not sure how he will take playing with other kids, since at the park he would rather just kick by himself instead of with the kids there, but we have to keep trying!

Brooks jumping off the 'green thing'.

Keely playing catch with Uncle Jerry and Papa.

It was a fun weekend even though it was a lot of work to haul all of our stuff for just a few short days! Barrett did great sleeping and did his normal waking up of once a night while we were there.  He has now since entered what I call the most difficult baby stage, so his sleeping has not been as good and he has become a little more difficult, but more on that in the next post!

A Beautiful Day

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  I keep meaning to and then of course Barrett is having a needy day where he wants to be held all the time or something else comes up.  Anyway, a few weeks ago we had a rare 60 degree day in January, and we took advantage! It was so nice to get a little sunshine in and get outdoors again.  With Keely older now and not having to constantly chase her so she doesn't fall off the drop-off in our backyard makes spring and summer time outside something I will look forward to more this year!
Brooks was super excited to shoot some baskets on his outdoor hoop!

Barrett got his first real outdoor experience.  He seemed to like it and was pretty calm the whole time.

They missed their sandbox!

 

Both kids still absolutely adore Barrett!

Brooks takes good care of him and wipes up any drool and talks to him all the time.

He's still a pretty happy baby! and is finally giving us some great smiles!

Merry Christmas!

For Christmas this year, we tried to keep it pretty low key considering we were all tired from getting over colds, having a newborn in the house, and busy times at ACE.  We had our little family Christmas on Friday the 20th.  After Blake and I showered and got everyone ready for the day, we opened presents.  Brooks was super excited for 'present day' as we had talked about opening gifts on Friday all week.  We tried to get a picture with both older kids smiling under the tree, this was the best we got!

 And one with Barrett too

 Barrett did well while we all opened gifts.  He pretty much just sat in his rocker seat the whole time! 

 Brooks got a cash register and was pretty excited about it.  Both him and Keely have liked playing with it.

 The kids with their stockings...not quite the picture I was looking for, but they were too excited to take a better picture!

 Both kids also got shopping carts from Blake and I.  They have loved pushing them around the house and pretend to shop for things all the time.  Keely has to have her puppy in the cart with her when she plays...and it has to be a certain way.  She is so particular about some things!

 My attempt at a picture with Barrett under the tree...

 On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents' church service in Henderson and then went to their house to play a few games with Brooks' new UNO cards.  I don't have a picture of us playing, but we had a lot of fun.  Brooks will definitely be our game player as we play UNO with him pretty much daily! Since it was going to be a fairly late evening to get the kids home and to bed on time after playing a few games, we put them to sleep at Grandma's before Blake and I left with Barrett.  Brooks was excited to sleep over, and they even slept in!
Here is Grandpa reading to Brooks before bed.

The next morning we got back to Grandma's around 9, and we opened presents about 10.  The 4 older kids were pretty excited!

 Grandpa helping Keely open one of her favorite gifts she received.  A baby stroller! (or should I say stuffed animal stroller!)

 Brooks got a KU hat!

 Keely already pushing her puppy in the stroller before we were even done opening gifts.

 Keely opening a book she received about Snoopy.  Think she was a little excited?!

 Playing in wrapping paper is always lots of fun!

 Barrett did pretty well the whole Christmas day...I did have to hold him while we opened gifts, so Brooks and Keely got to open all of mine for me this year.

 The 4 older cousins are getting good at eating at their own table....it might get a little cramped here in a year or so when Scarlett and Barrett start joining them!

 This is how Barrett was most of the afternoon...it was nice and relaxing while most of the kids had their afternoon naps! 

 Brooks got several games for Christmas, including Zingo, UNO, and picture dominos that he is playing with Aunt Laura here:

 Finally, Merry Christmas from Barrett...my sister got a new lens for her camera, so she was playing around with it and got this good picture of Barrett with his eyes open!

A different holiday routine

This holiday season is a little different than we are used to.  Having a newborn has really changed things this year.  We tend to stay home and indoors a lot more than we are used to! Blake and I won't be taking a Christmas shopping trip to Lincoln or Omaha, (sad for me as I love Christmas shopping!) we haven't drove around looking at lights much this year, our house is minimally decorated, and we haven't played in the snow at all yet.  (we did take one evening last week and went out to eat at Runza, (Brooks' choice) and looked at a few lights, but that's about it!) However, we are enjoying our little addition to the family! He has been a great baby!  He does a pretty good job sleeping at night (usually 3 hour chunks of sleep) and is starting to have more and more times he is awake and just watching his surroundings.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of things we've been up to.
Brooks helped my mom and I make all the Christmas goodies for the ACE open house a couple weeks ago.  We made probably close to 500 cookies and treats, and there were quite a few left over! oh well, we will know not to make so much next year!
Brooks did a great job unwrapping all the hershey kisses and putting them on the pretzels.

 Keely loves playing with puzzles

 Barrett has still been sleeping pretty good for naps.  He can sleep through most of the chaos from the other kids! Time will tell how long that will last!

 Keely is obsessed with Barrett.  Sometimes it causes problems when she wants to touch his face and rock him in his seat or put his pacifier in his mouth when he's already asleep.  She gets super mad when we tell her to leave him alone.  Hopefully she will grow out of this phase quickly! We are lucky Barrett is such an easy going baby!

 To keep up with tradition, we did attempt another gingerbread house this year.  Brooks was super excited to do one again.  It didn't go as smoothly this year since Keely got to help and threw a fit that I didn't let her eat all the gummy candies, but we still managed to get the house completely decorated! 

 Brooks wanted it to look as much like the picture on the box as possible.  I think he did a pretty good job with a little help from me!

 Barrett also got his first tub bath! He did a great job and didn't cry at all! Hope that continues too!

 Lastly, I love pictures of babies wrapped in a towel after their bath.  Too cute!