And one more trip to Omaha!

We couldn't stay away from Mr. Malachi very long as the kids and I headed back to Omaha last week.  Now, I have to say, we truly went to get my mom who had been staying with them for the past 5 days, BUT we didn't mind the excuse to go snuggle the little guy a little more and I LOVE the time I get with my sister and the bigger boys too.  Its so nice for us girls and the kids to all be together, I will always cherish those times.  I didn't do very well on pictures, but it was a quick trip as we were in Omaha less than 24 hours.  The cousins had a great time playing at the park and playing at Auntie Kim and Uncle Jeff's house.

I got a picture of Jacob!

He's such a good big brother to baby Malachi.

And Mr. Malachi in the sleeping owl hat that I had some one make for him...he didn't cooperate very well for my photo shoot, but he did for his Mommy after I left!

Omaha Weekend Trip

Evan, the kids, and I went to Omaha for the weekend.  This trip was for Evan to meet Malachi, for us to spend time with my sister and her family, and to spend time with our dear friends the Hoffmans.  It was a quick trip, but it was worth every minute of it.

Makenna is just in love with Malachi

Malachi with his eyes open

Evan meet Malachi,

Malachi meet Uncle Evan

Caleb's a great big brother

as is Jacob, but he was too busy running with his cousins that I missed any good pictures of him

Makenna with Abby and Mason

Denver decided he could finally join in on the group picture

Best Friends

and yes, they are only 10 days apart but probably 4 inches apart in size! :)

Mason and Makenna reading books together Sunday morning

Isn't she just a miniature Mommy?

Omaha/Hunting Trip '09

The first weekend in November my mom and I packed the kids up and went to Omaha while my dad and Evan went deer hunting. We did this last year, but then it was only Denver and we went to help Kim get ready for the arrival of Jacob. Crazy how 1 year, can change so much!

We had a great time. The cousins had a blast playing together and it was fun watching Jacob wanting to keep up with Denver and Makenna wanting to keep up with Jacob. They help encourage the other to try new things! We spent almost our entire time at Kim and Jeff's house as 3 littles ones of all different ages usually means someone is sleeping. We did find time to make it to the park to play for a little while which was nice to help them get all of their leftover energy out before bedtime.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. I wonder what's in store for our trip next year!?

The kids had a lot of fun playing at the park, especially Denver. He loves to swing, slide, and run! I of course had a great idea of taking a picture with the pretty leaves that were still on the trees (unlike our ones at home at this point)....this was quite the experience...I did a little editing so that I had 5 heads looking at me, but I'm quite impressed we got a half way decent picture! :)

Makenna started eating food before we left for this trip, but hadn't been at it for too long. Finally on Sunday I stripped her naked to feed her because sitting in the bumbo seat instead of the highchair seemed to make her a messier eater and she thought she needed control of the spoon a lot of the time. Here's some pictures of her mess of sweet potatoes!

We played in the leaves before leaving Sunday afternoon. Kim and I had hoped to get some good, fun cousin pictures, but that didn't really happen. Denver HATED the leaves. He's a little obsessed with being "messy" and it bothered him (in our return trip for Jacob's birthday and baby dedication he was okay playing in them, thank goodness!). Makenna and Jacob enjoyed the leaves though as you can see.

Oh, and I suppose I should inform you on the deer hunting results. Evan got his buck and Dad got a doe. They both returned the Friday after Thanksgiving so Dad could get his buck and Evan got his doe. (For some reason the pictures of them and their deer are not loading, so sorry no pictures.)

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

Last Sunday we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. If you would've asked me 6 years ago what we'd be doing that day I would've never have dreamt it! We went to Omaha to see my sister, brother in-law, and my adorable nephew on Saturday and returned home on Sunday. Saturday was a lot of fun, and Sunday was too....it's just the end (which you'll have to wait a little while until you get to hear about...so by then it won't sound bad at all) of the day that I'd have to say was what I wouldn't have dreamt and was not very romantic...but hey we had fun and that's what counts, right?

Saturday morning Denver must have remembered we had told him we were going to go see his Cousin Jacob and go to the zoo as he was up bright and early and ready to go bye-bye. He even sat in the car waiting for us to finish packing everything up! When we got to Omaha we stopped at my sister's to drop some stuff up, ran to check in to our hotel, and then we went to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo. Denver of course enjoyed the zoo. I think he favorite part was probably the fish and when we stopped to take a little break and he ran after a squirrel that was especially tame as it wanted food from people. There were many times Denver about grabbed his tail! It was pretty funny to watch him go after the poor little squirrel.

I love this picture because it looks like Makenna is trying to check everything out too!

Denver always wanted up or to stand up so he could see things really well!

"Wow, cool Dad!"

"Look!"

Daddy and Denver

Makenna loves sitting in the actual stroller instead of her car seat snapped into the stroller.

Denver loves looking at fish. All the fishing Daddy's been trying to do this summer has really intrigued Denver.

There was some sort of monkeys out in the middle of the water where all the fish were that Denver liked watching. You can see lots of fish in the water in this picture too, but the majority of the fish were in crowded schools right by the bridge where people would throw in food to feed them.

All 3 kids fell asleep!

Sorry it keeps flipping this picture so turn your head to see it right. :)

and...Jacob sound asleep!

Daddy and Makenna

Family Picture

After the zoo we went back to the hotel to relax for a little bit and then the Kliewer's came over to have pizza and go swimming in the evening. Sunday we spent some more time at the water park and had lunch at the Kliewer's. My sister found Denver a dresser for his bedroom! We had been looking for one since before Makenna was born as she stole all of his bedroom furniture, so we then had to attempt to pack up the vehicle. This would've been fine had we brought the pickup like we had originally planned, but it was raining when we left home on Saturday so we took the Endeavor instead thinking we'd still be able to get the dresser in. Well...after lots of moving things around we got everything in. The dresser had to be tipped into the back end and the headrests had to be off. The car seats had to be switched around and the double stroller ended up in my seat and the bags were stuffed on the sides of the dresser and below the kids' feet. Where did I sit? Yes, I sat between my 2 babies. This wouldn't be so bad, BUT their car seats are so wide they don't leave much room to sit. I had to wiggle my hips past the car seats and then I fit fine....but then my back would go into the car seats so I had to sit slanted and of course Makenna was sleeping when we got to Sioux City so we decided to skip our stop to give me a break and to get some food as she had cried the first 40 minutes or so. There also isn't much leg room in the middle back there so I was kind of cramped in every possible way. Oh well....we made it home and got everything home with us (minus a cooler that Kim and Jeff are going to bring when they come for Life Light) AND Denver has a dresser! No more hanging the majority of his clothes up! Thanks so much Aunt Kim!

Makenna's first time really swimming. My camera did not like going from the cold air conditioned hotel to the hot indoor water park, but since it's a first I had to include it!

The next day "swimming" when I gave my camera time to adjust to the temperature change.

Denver loved going down the slides. This slide had a pool of water on the end of the slide and would make the water splash up. He loved it.

Makenna and Daddy

Makenna's first time down a slide!

Jacob loved the water too!

"This is so much fun Mom!"

Denver loved going down this blue slide too. It was really fast and he couldn't get his footing back once he landed so we had to be there to help him, but he was still fearless!

It was too fast we couldn't catch Denver sliding so here's his big splash.

"One more time, Dad!" (One more is a common phrase Denver says these days! He has quite a few 3 word sentences that he says as well.)

Cousin Jacob and Aunt Kim enjoying the lazy river

"Boy was I thirsty"

We had a little snack before we took off for home. Cheesy french fries...yum!

Denver's dresser!

Denver's room actually feels like a bedroom now...not just a room with a bed in it!

After we unloaded the vehicle and put the kids to bed we watched a movie and went to bed ourselves as we were shot! Happy Anniversary Evan! I love you!