Settling for Awesome

Two!

2012-02-07T15:28:00.000-06:00

Videos!

2012-02-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

Catching up

2012-02-07T14:10:00.001-06:00

We use big girl cups now!

Everything tastes better in these cups :-)

She helped me clean the fridge and did a great job! Mostly, though, she loves using a Magic Eraser.

Hiding

We had a fun day with big Jake!

She insisted on wearing her snowsuit for a full 2 days - when it was over 60 degrees. Crazy kid.

Ella pushed her on a scooter at the park

Construction entrance

2012-01-31T15:10:00.000-06:00

Some people on our street may not like that we are the construction entrance for the work going on at the seminary. For a little one, however, it is awesome! We see big trucks every day and she thinks it's so cool. Today we watched as a man loaded a machine on a big hydraulic flatbed. It kept us occupied for at least half an hour. He was so nice and offered to let her sit in the big seat and honk the horn! We tried but it was a little too high for her. She did stand next to the big tires to see that they were bigger than her.

She wanted to watch the big truck

I like our reflection in our door here

My favorite part of this picture is the little hand on my leg

Yellow Bus!

2012-01-31T14:59:00.000-06:00


We looked out the window at just the right time and saw the yellow bus taking a break from it's route. It was so great! She is holding the letter Grandma & Papa sent her because she loves to read their letters!

Sweet girl in her feetie pajamas

Monday Funday

2012-01-31T14:56:00.002-06:00

We did bubbles to keep Violet away from the babies so they could sleep.

Sweet Margaret!

What a sweet smile :-)

Sleeping Nora

She was smiling but then I think the camera scared her...

Violet thinks it's fun to play "big girl in baby stuff"

She's actually only a few pounds over the weight limit for this carseat - but way over the height limit!

Besties!

2012-01-31T14:49:00.001-06:00

Jake, Ella, and Violet held hands like this for about 10 minutes. It was all their idea!

Having fun!

Catching up

2012-01-25T14:36:00.000-06:00

We made fake snow with our playgroup. It was amazing!!

Violet and Jake climbing up so high at the Magic House.

planking with her baby

Self portrait: 4 girls. I had Nora in the Moby wrap, Margaret in her carseat in the stroller, and Violet held my hand. We all needed a little fresh air and this was the only way I could manage everyone.

Little Gym

2012-01-17T13:18:00.002-06:00

We started going to the Little Gym again and Violet loves it so much. She loves seeing her friend Jake there every week and learning new ways to test her gymnastics skills. This week she got to do lots of things all by herself and that's pretty much her favorite thing to do.

She was encouraged to walk up the beam all by herself and she really liked it!

The kids are all so cute!

She LOVES to hang on the bars!

Every time the kids were supposed to be singing songs on the big red mat, I'd turn around to find her leisurely hanging on the bar. We need to install one of these at home :-)

Kalahari!!!!

2012-01-17T13:13:00.000-06:00

This year's Kalahari trip with the Steffey family was even better than could have imagined! Violet slept well, traveled well, and ate well. The waterpark was warm and the rides were better than ever. A visit with some old friends made it extra special. This is definitely an annual tradition that we will continue for many years!

Demonstrating her flexibility by kissing her knee!

This picture makes my heart smile :-)

On our way to Bloomington - she helped take this picture of me

Violet took some very artsy shots all by herself

Love how you can see her reflection in the mirror

Playing with her birthday buddy Jordan

Super cute kiddos!

All 4 friends and 5 kids!

Flashback to last year's photo

Entertaining ourselves in the car with pretzel hands

We stopped at the Great Dane brewpub in Madison, Wisconsin. It's one of Nate's favorite places and it's well worth the detour. Violet loved being able to run around. They even gave her a yellow balloon!

Yay!

It was a fun lunch stop :-)

At Kalahari and ready to enjoy some pool time

The 85 degree waterpark felt so nice!

Laser tag is not for the faint of heart.

Even Riley was scared of me!!

No trip would be complete without some "Deal or No Deal" action.

Violet was spoiled with lots of Grammy, RiRi, Papa, and LoLo time :-)

Super cute family picture!

Work it, girl!

As we predicted, she loved being in the water. She was so calm and content. She really loved going up and down the waterslides in the toddler area. She got very brave and we were all so proud!

Ski ball!

So fun to be all together.

Ice cream!

Cutie in a bathing suit

You guys! Nate did this amazing capsule body slide and loved it. Can you see him coming out of the orange tube? You stand upright in a capsule and the operator pushes a button and you fall straight down and then twist around a super fast body slide until you come flying out of the tube. If you know me well, you will not believe that I did it, too! It was crazy awesome and mega scary. So glad I tried it :-) We pretty much did every single ride in the place.

Swimming wears you out

Playing whack-a-mole. Notice the swim diaper and bottoms on over her pants. She insisted on wearing them and put them on by herself. Over the course of the trip she started saying "by myself" and "Vivi hold it/do it" and others. Whoa, independent girl!

A little DDR, of course!

Weekend Roundup

2012-01-08T11:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick look at everything else we did this week and didn't post about...

Enjoyed some beautiful weather at the park with Jake

Went out to eat and Violet handled herself like such a little lady!

Scored all of these bananas and strawberries for less than $4 at Sappington. We are using them for our spinach smoothies in the morning!

We visited baby Luca in the hospital.

New mommy Theresa looking as beautiful as ever!

Violet dancing to the musical hopscotch at the Science Center

Welcome baby Luca!

2012-01-05T14:04:00.000-06:00

My beautiful, creative, hilarious, and encouraging friend Theresa gave birth to her son Luca yesterday. I can't wait to see her as a new mom. She and her husband Michael have so much love to give Luca. He is such a lucky guy to have such great parents! The thing about Theresa and I is that - we're sisters. Sometimes we pick on each other and get under each other's skin in ways you only can when you know someone so well and you have a unique bond. But we also love and protect each other fiercely. It's something we have always done and will continue to do. We support each other, encourage each other, and make each other laugh like nobody else can. So, in effect, Luca is my nephew! I'm also so lucky because for a few weeks this year I'll get to spend 3 days a week with this precious baby. I think of my good friends kids as part of my family and I'm so excited to be able to spend time with Nora, Margaret, and Luca this year. They are all so precious to me! Welcome to our family, baby Luca! We already love you so much.

Sweet cuddlebug!

So handsome!

Fun with friends

2012-01-05T13:50:00.003-06:00

We went to the mall with our playgroup and had lots of fun. Crestwood Mall will be closing soon and it's so sad. It's almost completely deserted...but there is so much space for little ones to run around. It's been a great place to go this winter when we needed to get out of the house and get our wiggles out :-)

Driving the yellow bus!

Playing with her besties Jake and Ella

These kids were having so much fun together!

Checking out the "little balls" with Jake. We tell them they are little balls inside and never mention the word candy!

We went to the Science Center with Megan and "big Jake" and had so much fun! They loved listening to the headphones.

Finally a picture of the two of us!

My pretty and funny friend Megan trying to contain her busy 2-year-old!

We ate a very early lunch

What a sweet morning with sweet friends!

The Moon!

2012-01-05T13:43:00.000-06:00

We are going through a serious moon phase right now. We've been able to see the moon during the day lately which is amazing. She wants to show everyone the moon and loves to talk about the moon, stars, and the sky. It's so sweet!

Babies!

2012-01-05T13:40:00.000-06:00

This week Violet thought it would be fun to put on a show for the babies. See how they are both looking up and watching her? She thought it was so funny if she danced around and was up so high while the babies were wrapped up in their bed!

Sweet Margaret!

Wide awake Nora!

Sisters!

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-05T13:23:00.001-06:00

I like this crazy picture of our family!

Happy New Year's Eve!

All 3 girls were in coordinating colors - so cute!

We celebrated the night with the Shooks and DiMartinis. Theresa was on the exercise ball trying to go into labor, Lucas looks like he's posing, Nate and Michael are having a serious conversation, and Jamie is just checking everyone out. I'm behind the camera and the little girls were all sleeping. It was a fun night!

A very Steffey Christmas

2011-12-30T20:09:00.003-06:00

You guys! The Steffey family was in town to celebrate Christmas and we had a blast. Here are lots of pictures to prove it!

It was so nice outside we went to the park! Here we are...just hanging out!

My favorites

Our traditional trip to Ted Drewes

Ice cream!


Nate modeling his new Foo Fighters sweatshirt

Riley was so excited she was jumping for joy!

We even found a big frosty!

It was a long day...

Sweet family!

Violet loved to see Logan's new phone

We will always remember the Nerds incident of 2011...

Cool outfit!

Hi, Papa!

Sweet new art table!

Peekaboo with Grammy

She LOVED to help everyone open presents!

Scattergories time!!

The tallest women in the world!

My new apron makes me a GIANT!

A complete Christmas fairy with a tutu and wand

The picture of all pictures. We love this so much!!!!

Angel baby

Hipster baby

Dancing with Jake

2011-12-28T16:17:00.001-06:00

These two are hilarious!

Friends

2011-12-28T13:37:00.000-06:00

We had a fun Tuesday! We had lots of visits from friends and we even got to have the babies here. We had an early visit from Violet's best friend Jake, an afternoon visit from Theresa, Michael dropped in for a minute to hold a baby, and Jamie got to see everyone when she came to pick up her girls. It was a fun and busy day!

The big kids going night night

Bouncy bouncy in the bed

Margaret enjoyed a change of scenery

Nora is working on smiling!

Theresa caught me taking pictures of Nora girl

Theresa came just in time to help me feed the girls - here she is with a very sleepy Margaret

A quiet few minutes in the morning

She took this picture of herself!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T14:08:00.001-06:00

Good morning! We all dozed until 7:45 and it was fantastic :-)

We hope that all of our readers had a very Merry Christmas! We had a great day and are so thankful for all of the gifts we received. Of course we are the most thankful for baby Jesus!

Ready to give out the gifts

Making her little Santa guy dance!

Silly girls!

Opening her first present. She is the neatest present opener! She puts all of the paper in a nice stack and then puts it in the trash. It was concerning to her to have trash laying around the floor. This girl spends a lot of time with her neat-freak mama!

A choo-choo!!

We spent most of the morning at home and then we headed to see Nate's family for another celebration. It was great to see Grandma, Papa, Aunt Laura, Uncle Sean, and baby Ashley. Pictures from the morning should be coming soon :-) We opened lots of great presents and headed home to let Violet take a nap. Mommy took a nap, too!

We finally got a new camera! Yay! Thank you Grandma and Papa!

The first picture...

Aren't we sweet?

Violet woke up after a 3.5 hour nap! and wanted to play with her new fridge phonics. On the loudest setting, of course.

Only a few moments of sadness on Christmas

Grandma and Papa got her this awesome yellow bus and she loves it!

Can you see a little face in there?

More choo-choo time

Another special Christmas dress for a super cute girl!

I just can't decide which of these two I like the most. She's so darn cute!

Christmas party at the Magic House

2011-12-20T20:36:00.001-06:00

Making pizza for daddy

Working at the pizza shop cash register

I love this picture of my precious family! I cherish these two faces.

We even had time to stop at the hospital and meet a friend's new baby. Just kidding! We're at the Magic House nursery giving babies babas and changing their diapers. Since Violet has experience taking care of twins she handled these babies withe ease. She gave the baby a baba, wrapped it up, and put it to bed!

Video time!

2011-12-15T13:00:00.001-06:00

This is her current version of a somersault. She has actually done a few perfect somersaults by accident, but this is the most common way she does them. We can't wait to start the Little Gym in January to get this little gymnast some exercise!

I don't think I've ever heard her laugh so hard! When we first got this big box we thought it would be fun to take her for a ride. Then we took her baby, dog dog, and stinky skunk for rides. When we put Jack in here she was cracking up! I don't think I captured those laughs but you can hear her saying how silly this is!

Another fun week

2011-12-15T12:55:00.001-06:00

We've had another fun week at the Tenholder house! On Monday we got to spend the day with Margaret & Nora, Tuesday Violet spent the morning with friends while mommy went to the dentist, and yesterday we went to Powder Valley Nature Center. It's been chilly and rainy all week so it's nice to get out of the house!

These two cuties were holding hands during a nap at our house. SO SWEET! Look at those cheeks!

Powder Valley is quickly becoming one of my favorite free spots to take Violet. We met up with our Wednesday mamas and all of the kids had so much fun. They have trails outdoors we haven't even really explored. I'm sure we'll be there a lot over the next few years! Here's Violet coloring with her friends Felicity and Jack.

I love to catch her deep in thought.

Playing peek-a-boo with Felicity in the "rocka rocka" chair.

Before our stroll....

5 minutes later!

Sundays

2011-12-11T20:18:00.001-06:00

Sundays are intentional relaxing days at our house. Violet and I stay busy to give daddy some quiet time at home (mommy gets Saturday mornings) and we enjoy a lazy afternoon together. We have our community group over for dinner every Sunday and this week it was our turn to cook. We all got our aprons on and make homemade biscuits and gravy - yum!

I'm so proud of my daughter for getting me the rolling pin when I asked for it. She knows her way around the kitchen already! She LOVED the biscuits with orange marmalade the most :-)


We also went to CVS and Walgreens for the first time in several months. Our shopping this spring has kept us stocked up on essentials until now. I spent $13.50 for everything here and got back a $10 Shell gas card so it's a net $3.50 purchase. Not bad! We got: paper towels, fig newtons, fig newton crispy wafers, combos (free), kleenexes, 2 bottles of ProNutrient vitamins, and 2 Almay eye makeup remover tubs.

Busy busy

2011-12-08T13:50:00.001-06:00

We have had a busy week so far! This week I started watching Margaret & Nora and it was great. They are such sweet babies and Violet really tries to be a good helper. She can fetch me things and help give the babies their "mimis" (pacifiers) and "babas" (bottles). We tried one day at their house and one day at ours to see how it went. It was easier for Violet to be at her own house and to take a good nap in her bed. So we look forward to having all 3 girls here every Monday! I can't wait to watch them grow and change so much and I'm sure our girls will be great friends :-)

The best picture of the 3 girls...

Margaret taking a snooze

I got to snuggle Nora while the other 2 girls slept

Trying to do the one hand bottle move like their mama. It's definitely a skill!

We took Jack for a walk - of course! As long as it's sunny and above 40 we can go outside and take him with us. He can handle about 5 minutes before he needs to go back inside :-)

Let me tell you about this outfit. A friend handed down these boots to us and she LOVES them. I mean LOVES her boots. They are super cute, easy to put on, and comfy for her to wear. We had gymboree in the morning and she requested tights. So you have tights, boots, a dress, a coat, and a hooded fleece.

Check out this big kid!

We're also discovering pockets...so cute!

Another outfit: the boots (see above), baby legs, and a ram's jersey.


She did the 30 Day Shred DVD with me and it was fun for both of us. She loves to "zer-cize" like mommy. When I go to my night workout classes she helps me get my special "zer-cize" clothes and shoes on. We did Level 1 and she used the 2 pound light weights so she shouldn't be too sore :-) And yes, those are a few pairs of my underwear that are around her arms and head. Don't ask.

Hiding in the dryer! Actually, she was enjoying a snack in there :-)

Christmas tree

2011-12-04T20:27:00.001-06:00

Fixing the lights. Backstory: Nate was fixing the window and needed the scissors. She thinks the scissors belong to mommy and so got upset when daddy used them. He explained he borrows them from mommy to fix things around the house. Hence, she fixes things with mommy's scissors. She noticed one bulb was out on the tree so she immediately needed to get the scissors to fix it. Cute and dangerous at the same time!

Checking out the tree

Super cute!!

Like mommy

2011-12-04T20:25:00.001-06:00

Pretty cute shoes and scarf, eh?

She is loving dress-up these days. She's wearing 3 pairs of my underwear and daddies shoes!

Gymboree

2011-12-04T20:20:00.001-06:00

We're using our Gymboree Groupon and it's a fun place! The best part is the open gym afternoons when we can go to get some wiggles out since it's so cold outside. We went Friday night for family night and had so much fun!

She hangs like a monkey wherever she can. Yep - she's hanging all by herself!

Daddy was teaching her how to do the monkey bars

Upside down!

Amazing gymnastic skills! She can hang and bring her feet up to the top bar - whoa abs!

The many faces of Violet

2011-12-04T20:17:00.001-06:00

so many cute pictures

2011-12-04T20:01:00.001-06:00

Listening to headphones for the first time

Taking her dog dog for a walk. She is obsessed with taking everything and everybody for a walk. She's taken the following things for a walk with a leash: Jackamo, her dog dog, her baby, her stinky skunk, daddy, and her hop hop. If she can put the harness and leash on it - it's going for a walk!

Making sure her dog dog is having a good time

With Grandpa

The Steffeys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-29T13:41:00.001-06:00

We had a great time with the Steffey family on Thanksgiving! We also saw Papa and Grandma T but didn't get a picture this time. Whoops! It was a very thankful Thanksgiving.

Catching up

2011-11-22T19:45:00.001-06:00

Loving the fresh blackberries - Check out this flashback! Blackberries in May

Making Thanksgiving crafts with daddy


I imaging the conversation went like this: "Look, Jack. We're going for a walk no matter what. Try not to upstage my spunky outfit, mmmkay?"

Yep - she picked this one out herself!

Getting some park time in

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Fix

2011-11-15T12:43:00.001-06:00

She loves to help daddy "fixa fixa" the scooter.

Sneeze!

2011-11-15T12:39:00.001-06:00

We've been talking about sneezing and coughing lately since it's cold season and it's just so fun to cough and sneeze! I'm trying to teach her to cough into her elbow as the CDC recommends, but for now she's good to cough into her hand.

family photo shoot

2011-11-14T13:25:00.001-06:00

Our good friend Jen took some family photos last week. We got lots of good ones, lots of squirmy toddler ones, and a few great ones. Here is a small sample of our favorites.

Week in review

2011-11-10T20:22:00.001-06:00

Taking Jack for a walk

Fun at Monkey Joe's! It's an indoor play place with all inflatable stuff for little ones to jump, climb, and bounce. She LOVED it and would've loved it even more if she weren't so tired from the time change.

Climbing up the slide

Working on winning a toy

Playing in the choo choo with her friend Sammi

Demonstrating how to "bouncy bouncy"

A new tradition: she helps me make cookies and she gets to lick the mixers. These were pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and super yummy!

Babies!

2011-11-06T20:46:00.001-06:00

We had a couple of special visitors this weekend. Margaret & Nora stayed with us for a couple of hours while mom and dad went out to lunch. It was so fun to hold and love on them! They were perfect angels :-)

Mama Jamie ROCKING the Moby wrap! Amazing!

Potty time!

2011-11-06T20:44:00.001-06:00

We've been thinking about getting a potty for a while. We know she's young and not ready to potty train but she's showing interest. We ordered a special new potty and so far she loves to sit on it! It will play a special song when she actually goes in it but we're still waiting for that :-) I have a few cute naked and sitting on the potty pictures but those should stay off the internet. (I'm already getting sick of saying "potty" and we haven't even started yet - uh oh!)

Wiping her baby

Big girl on a potty!


She can even flush her potty!

Birthday Party

2011-11-06T20:40:00.003-06:00

Who is this big girl? Getting ready to go to her friend Ella's 2nd birthday party? Who decided to wear tights and her black shoes?

Who can do it all by herself?

First Haircut

2011-11-06T20:36:00.005-06:00

Violet's first haircut - courtesy of Mama!

Before: Straggly fine baby hair in the back inching towards a mullet classification

Wispy and crazy!

It's not as though I didn't have a helper...

Checking herself out after the cut

Her bag of hair - for the baby book :-)

POSE!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:10:00.001-05:00

This is the best picture we managed to get this year. She sure was a busy little ladybug...

She figured out trick-or-treating very quickly! We had to stop her from walking into people's houses! She would take some candy, say more, and grab another handful. Good thing she was cute and nobody minded!

What a fun Halloween!

Hiding

2011-10-31T21:06:00.003-05:00

Violet is very interested in hiding these days. She will find a small space, tell me she will "go hide," then try to surprise me when she comes out. She can hide in the ottoman, in a cabinet, under a chair, in a closet, or anywhere else her little body will fit.

Where's the baby??

Ta-da!!

Silly look...

2011-10-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

This girl CRACKS me up!!!!

Girl has some moves!

2011-10-25T13:31:00.002-05:00

Halloween party #1

2011-10-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

We spent a fun morning at the Magic House yesterday for the member's only (how VIP!) Halloween party. They had some snacks for everyone and special trick-or-treat stations set up all around. It was cute to see all of the kids in their costumes. Violet recycled her ballerina outfit because her official 2011 Halloween costume was way too hot for this warm weather! She was very cute and very comfortable :-)

The best shot of her costume

She LOVES sliding the letter doors up to see what's inside

Making some modern art

Just your average ballerina/construction worker

Loving being on the stage

Doing some karaoke to "America the Beautiful"

Proof that she does actually help color the things we mail off to grandparents!

Nap time

2011-10-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

Sign of a good nap: crazy hair!

I love lazy weekend days when we can snuggle when she wakes up. Dad (in background) is enjoying the Rams game.

LOTS of snuggles!