Afternoon playing...

Jackson was having so much fun during his afternoon playing! He loves to play with his cars and trucks on Daddy's fishy table!

Not to sure what this face is all about - but still adorable!

My favorite profile photo of Jackson

Frosty Day

We packed the kids up and went for a drive to Spirit Lake. We had a few more presents to buy and thought we'd see what the Iowa Lakes had to offer! It was such a beautiful frosty wintery day and luckily I grabbed my camera on the way out the door. Jackson was tired and fell asleep in the car. This is unlike Jackson for he will fight sleeping in the car, I suppose he can't miss anything! Ariana was having fun with her American Girl. I would've loved to stop every few miles to take more photos but that is something I have to do when I am by myself.

Santa at Pioneer Village

Mother Nature must know when Santa is going to visit Pioneer Village because EVERY year it is super cold, but it still doesn't stop us from visiting Santa. Usually Mrs. Claus is there but she must have been busy back at the North Pole!

Redwood Falls Thanksgiving

Anyone that knows Jackson, knows that he loves food! We jokingly say that he has hollow legs so when he ate an entire piece of pumpkin pie by himself no one was surprised!

Our attempt at a family photo!

The 2nd attempt at the family photo!!

Almost everyone was there. We were missing Natzali.

On our way home we drove through the Falls area. So beautiful - my goal is to come back in the fall when the colors are changing!

Ariana's 7th Birthday

Our little girl isn't so little anymore. She is in 1st grade learning addition & subtraction. She is learning how to read and has spelling tests on Friday's. Seems like it was only a short time ago she was just learning how to walk and talk. Ariana is polite and considerate and we can really see who she is starting to become. As I took photos of her opening her presents I realized that life goes by so quickly, I seem to blink and another birthday or christmas passes us by.

Just for the record..Ariana convinced Grandpa to buy her a few pretty clip on earrings! One of these days we'll go do it for real but right now it's nice to keep her little just a while longer.