Christmas Caroling

Our church organized Christmas caroling for last Sunday. It was very fun. Coen, of course, enjoyed the spotlight and Halina made sure to avoid all eye contact. We visited three assisted living/nursing homes and two homes.

I'm seriously considering taking Coen to visit shut-ins. They need a conversation partner or someone to listen to, and he will provide endless stories, fictional and non-fictional.

Here's the highlight of his non-fiction stories from the caroling evening.

Woman: I see you are missing your two bottom teeth!
Coen: Yeah. The first one my mom pulled out. The second one, I was going poop on the toilet and I accidentally punched myself in the face and it came out of my mouth but don't worry. It didn't go in the toilet.

Every detail told.

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New Ride!

We traded in both our Pilot and Ford F-150 for a 2004 Ford Expedition. It is very spacious and will haul the camping trailer while fitting our lovely family.





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Roller Boy!

Franklin can now roll from back to front. Coen and Halina waited until after 4 months to do so and Franklin will be 4 months tomorrow (12/20/15). He wants to move and keep up with his siblings. I can't even put him in the Rock n Play seat because he flips to his tummy.

We had a few rough weeks of Frankie waking up at least every 2 hours at night, but the past few nights have been just 1 or 2 times of waking up. A lovely Christmas gift that hopefully continues for a while :)





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Daily stuff

Here's a video of a normal morning in our house. (Halina had eaten all the chocolates out of Coen's advent calendar.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNqi6TvdqeE


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Missing body part!

Coen lost his first tooth! He lost it on December 4. It was just dangling there so I pulled it out. He got $1 and a pair of Star Wars socks out of the deal.





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Peach

This is our new dog, Peach! She's about a year old, female, golden retriever-maybe border collie mix. She is learning the ropes but is very sweet and a great jogging partner. She adores the kids and they're having fun playing with her. Buster tolerates her affection and has even played with her a couple of times.














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Happy Jumping Frankie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Oca6xLWwI


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Coen 6 years

Coen is a hoot. He is always learning a new joke and usually relaying it slightly incorrectly. He has a loud voice and he has many big emotions. He really enjoys kindergarten and is very good at math. He is getting better at careful coloring and penmanship. He is a friend to everyone and he loves Star Wars, Legos, and playing games. He is an unbelievably incredible big brother and the biggest help to me every day.














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Halina at 2.75 years

Hallie age 2.75

Favorite color: Red
Favorite movie: Frozen
She enjoys sleeping with at least three toys.
She wants to wear tights with everything.
She changes clothes and shoes as often as possible.
She loves to hug and kiss Franklin and she calls him Frank or Frankie.
She has a very hard noggin. She's never the one left crying after bonked heads.
She likes to sing Daniel Tiger's song "I love to be with my family" and then tell me that God wanted her in our family.
She is shy and reserved at first and then a wrestling, joke-telling sweetheart.
Halina does not do what Halina does not want to do. No form of bribery works.














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Little Happy Franklin

Franklin is such a happy boy as long as I am nearby :)














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Architecture

Halina is quite an architect! She comes up with such creative designs and replicates them.


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Snowy Silver Lake

We decided to drive up to the mountains to find some snow in early November. It was so chilly! Franklin and I lasted 10 minutes and Justin and the kids stayed out for just a bit longer. It was sunny and warm-ish up there just two weeks or so prior. Here comes winter!











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Big family visit

Katrina found a great airline deal to come visit in October so it drew in many other visitors! The kids all had a great time and it was a loud, fun, long weekend.


Franklin And cousin Julia (who is 3 months older than he is)


Two Frankies


Gigi was teaching Coen a dance!





- best family time on the couch!
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Funny Halina

Hallie has really been a jokester lately. She likes to make funny faces and also say she's so hungry she's going to eat Buster or all the food :)

Here are some photos of her hamming it up!









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Daddy eating at school

So that I don't forget, Hallie thought for quite some time that all justin did at school was eat. Because when we visited, we always went for lunch.


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Shampoo test

I just discovered how Coen finds out whether or not he's washed out all his shampoo: he swipes his palm across the front of his hair and then licks his hand. All in one motion.


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Justin's mom, Maggi (aka Grandma Cookie), came to visit after her final day of work. We celebrated her retirement with dinner, flowers, a giant cookie, and a nice extended weekend visit.





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Franklin naps

Franklin gets to snuggle while he naps. This way he sleeps and is happy and I can keep up with Coen and Halina!









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Halina had been talking about red shoes for quite a while. She would frequently tell the same few people about how she NEEDS red shoes. Aunt Liane fulfilled her wish. Upon opening them, Hallie said "oh, my red shoes!" as if she had just misplaced them. :)


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Happy Franklin

Franklin is generally a content little
guy! He has a case of the crabbies right before bed, but not too bad at all.
Lately after a nice nap Franklin has been quite generous with his smiles. Coen and Hallie get especially excited when he smiles at them. We love him so much!





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Serious Franklin

Here are some of Frankie's quite serious expressions!








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