Thanksgiving and Cookie Day!

It's about time that I get up pictures from Thanksgiving! My family has a tradition of cookie day! The day after Thanksgiving, instead of shopping and braving the crowds, we stay in and bake cookies all day! Then, the Christmas cookie baking is done for the season! Just pull them out of the freezer as needed! It works great and we have a blast every year doing it!

Katrien is helping with the stuffing preparation.

Anoush has had enough!

Aunt Tera and cousin Anoush

Mike managed to find a huge icicle!!

The babies are keeping each other entertained!

Corey was great with Kiera, as you can see.

Meme and Kiera

Who's your Santa?

Snow Fun # One!

Katrien played in the snow with Mike for the first time this season!
She had a blast and couldn't help but get it on video! I hope you enjoy it:

She is getting bundled up!

A failed attempt at a snowman

Daddy making a snow angel!
The finished product

I love the look on her face!

Bath Time Giggles

It was bath night and Katrien was splashing and making Kiera laugh!
Gotta love those moments.

Kiera and Daddy's Giggles

I realized that most of my blogs lately have been of Katrien,
so here is a cute one of Mike and Kiera having fun the other day. :)

Cutie in Piggies!

Here are some cute pictures from yesterday
of Katrien in her piggy tales!
Her hair is getting long enough to do
some fun things with it! (Finally!)

Mini Mozart!

Here is my little Mozart at work!
I love the finish!

Dizzy Darling

Katrien has offically discovered the joy of being dizzy! :)
She can entertain herself forever just twirling around the room. It is pretty cute.

Happy Halloween!

We decided to celebrate Halloween this year, which makes it both of the girls first Halloween! We had a great time carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating! The girls were adorable! Check it out:

Kiera is checking our her pumpkin
Cutting into it

Here is a video of Katrien helping carve the pumpkin:

Finished product!Getting into her Elmo costume
This pumpkin is ready!
The family

Walking around the block
Aunt Tera and Cousin Anoush! (She was a pumpkin too!!)

Elmo with Mommy
The girls w/ the pumpkins

This pumpkin got pooped out!
Overall, it was a great evening! I hope you all had a good one too!

2 Years... Gone By Too Fast!

We celebrated Katrien's 2nd birthday!! We had the part a few weeks late, so Mike could be there. Aunt Tera and Grandma decorated the house so it would be ready when Katrien arrived!

Here is the table full of presents!

Katrien is walking in...

"Birthday"... she kept saying.

She blew out the candles all by herself, even though it looks like Mike is helping her...haha.

Elmo comb!

Puzzles!

Elmo!

More unwrapping!
(She is wearing her birthday shirt she got from Grandma and Grandpa in California!
We couldn't wait to open them!)

Daddy also got her a piano! Starting early!

Grandma Bensink was able to come, Aunt Wendy, and Shane McCombs was there too (in the white shirt).

Papa and Papa Sr (haha).... was there too!

It was a great party... and Katrien still remembers it when she sees the balloons still up in the house. I can't believe she is 2 already! She is such a great girl and we look forward to many more parties!

Lunch, AKA "Hunch"

Katrien's word for lunch, lacks the "L" sound, therefore leaving it sounding more like "hunch". Here is a video from "hunch" today. She is working on the art of eating spaghetti.

Congrats Aunt Wendy!

We recently went to Aunt Wendy's (my dad's sister) induction ceremony! She was inducted as the president of the New York State Association of Educational Office Professionals... pretty impressive! She has worked very hard and has been climbing the "ladder" for some time now! What an accomplishment! It was a great night of celebration! I was SO honored to be asked to sing a few songs at the ceremony! Here are some pics!

The girls were all dressed up!

Anoush particularly liked her shoes that evening!

Aunt Wendy looked stunning that evening!

Congratulations Aunt Wendy! We are so proud of you,
your accomplishments and that we can call you family!

SNOW!!!!

Well, it comes early in this part of the country... our first snowfall happened yesterday! It is crazy to think that it comes so soon. None of it stuck on the ground, of course, but it was just a little reminder of what is to come.

Yep, that is the view out my front door as of 7:30am...and it is still coming!