so excited...

Friday morning and I can't wait for this weekend. mike's company Christmas party is Saturday night and I'm so excited. Why? well for first its the first night we won't have the kids. a sweet friend is going to watch them overnight for us. mike's company puts us up in a nice hotel where the dinner will be which is awesome!! on another note most people don't really look forward to their Christmas party but we love it. Mike's brother works with him and Mike's sister is kinda dating one of the guys so she's coming also. Which makes my night even better. A night with good friends and family!!

to make my weekend even better the next day my parents are coming!! i'm super excited abt this and can't wait for them to hang with the kids and see how much bigger they have gotten. so its almost like Christmas for me around here!!! I'm pretty eager for Saturday to arrive!!

so an update...

for thanksgiving mike's family was here which was awesome. I always enjoy my time with the girls. I told mike the other night that i'm so thankful for them and our friendships. I've always enjoyed getting together with the girls but since this move out to ND I've really got to know them and I don't think I would have gotten to know them as well as I do now if we didn't move out here. for thanksgiving dinner we actually rented out a small building that we could cook and eat in. it was nice to have everyone sitting down and eating together at one table again. 

for Christmas we are headed to MN to be with Mike's family. all of us are more excited to see the kids open presents more than anything. then in January we are headed to Wi to be with the Yoder clan. I'm hoping to stay there for some time to first of all hold my baby niece for the first time but also to be with family and hang out with dear friends. so as you can see i'm pretty excited for the next few months.

john is my little big man who has the softest heart ever. he loves to laugh and loves to play with his little brother. he's been testing his boundaries lately which puts me often in a rough place often but we always pull through and learn more abt ourselves. he likes responsibilities and learning new things. so in the last few days we started a chore chart with stickers and so far we are doing awesome. when he gets so many stickers he gets to go to breakfast with either mom or dad on a Saturday morning. I reasoned in my head if we should have a reward system but this is something we have been wanting to do anyways so why not find a way to be a good thing for the both of us. both mike and I have been trying to b more intentional abt spending alone time with john. we noticed it seems to help him a lot. he often cracks us up with his grown up phrases and his joy of having a clean room.

ryan is my little wiry baby. he's so much smaller than john and gets into everything. john was so laid back. i'm waiting for the day he's on top of my countertops. ug not excited for that. he now wheels himself around with his walker and will soon be walking. he loves tv and i'm in shock at times of how engrossed he can get in it. in the last month his attachment with his paci has become intense and if its not found oh boy does he let us know. he seems to finally be in a good sleep pattern which i'm thankful for but should probably not say cause i'm sure it will change tonight. he loves to play and smile with everyone around him and longs to be outside. often catch him looking out the window with a look of aaahhhh wish I could be out there. he hates when daddy and john leave him with mom will cry abt 5 minutes afterwards. he gets told no a lot and loves to test the boundaries on the no's but he's learning. can't wait to see what another month brings us with him.

k pics cause I gotta get going and i'm hoping once again this post makes sense....