Thanksgiving Break...

Back to reality tomorrow...Mondays...urgh...

Thanksgiving break was wonderful! We went to SL on Wednesday evening and spent Thanksgiving day with both the Barbers and the Petersens...then back to Ames on Thursday night (Josh had to work on Friday). Keatin and I did not go shopping on Black Friday...taking a 1 year old by myself to crowded stores did not sound one bit appealing to me. :) We just kind of hung out the rest of the weekend...got Keatin's Christmas pictures taken, went to church, put up all our Christmas decorations, had Andy/Gina/Alyssa/Drew over this morning for a few hours, and just watched a fair amount of football/college basketball. :) Enjoy the pics below!

Keatin was like a hawk at my parent's house on Thanksgiving...she spotted the computer and off she went! I was told the next day that she managed to move a bunch of files - ha ha!



Keatin and Great-Grandma Petersen on Thanksgiving...


Daddy and Keatin decorating the x-mas tree in the basement. :)


I really wanted to get a good picture of Keatin with her santa hat in front of the tree. Ah - the joys of picture taking these days. :)





Yipee! I got one! :) Josh calls her "Our Little Elf."


Crimson had to join in the fun as well - ha ha!


Remember the computer at Grandma/Grandpa's house on Thanksgiving??? Look where I found Miss Keatin tonight - at the computer in our basement! Is this scary or what?!?! :)

Quad Cities, Part II :)

Here are the Quad Cities pics from Grandpa Barber. :)

Quad Cities

We went to the Quad Cities over the weekend to Josh's grandparent's farm for what we thought was an early Thanksgiving. We were misinformed...it was more of a birthday party weekend for Josh's sister...no turkey whatsoever...but that was just fine!

We only took a few pictures on Sunday morning after church...I like them because I am actually in the pictures...which doesn't happen very much since I am usually taking the pics. :) Josh's dad took some of the WHOLE family...maybe he will e-mail them to me sometime, and then I can post those as well!



Tyler, Bri's boyfriend, brought his 2 dogs with him as well. They are chiwawas. Keatin LOVED the little one, Lilly. They were good buddies the whole weekend. :)

Doggie and Piggies :)

The love for our doggie has depended even more in the last couple weeks. :) Keatin can now FREQUENTLY be found hugging the doggie, patting her on the back/head, and even trying to kiss her. Crimson is sometimes a great sport and will just sit there (secretly thinking in her head - "I hate my life")...and other times, she is the typical Crimson and gets up/walks away. Here are a few shots from the other night...the 2nd one is Keatin "hugging" Crimson. :)



And, for the 1st time in her life, Keatin's hair was in pigtails today! Yipee! Daddy had to hold her and distract her with string cheese...but I was able to get her hair up in these pigtails. They stayed in for around an hour...until she pulled the rubber bands out on the way home from the library. SO cute while they lasted and made her look SO old. :)

Omaha...somewhere in Middle America

OK - I just had to say that...love that song from Counting Crows. :)

We were in Omaha for the weekend...had been requested to come help at Jen and Joey's new house. My parents came as well...so Grandma Petersen entertained Keatin while the rest of us worked at the house. Jen, Joey, and I sanded woodwork inside the house, while Josh and my dad stripped paint off doors and woodwork. They certainly have A LOT of work ahead of them, but it is a nice, old house and I am sure it will be gorgeous when it is all done. We enjoyed our trip and love seeing the family... Keatin was a good girl, despite the SHORT naps she had for 3 days straight. :) Below are a few shots from the weekend!

When we got in Friday afternoon, we couldn't resist the gorgeous weather and off to the park we went!



"Yeah for Jen and Joey's new house!"


Saturday afternoon, Josh, Keatin, and I went to see my good friend from Creighton, Sarah, and her husband (Jesse) and daughter (Rory). Rory was born in May...and I have to say, Keatin looked like a giant next to her. :) Rory was VERY alert and LOVED watching Keatin go! It was so fun to see them all!





Rory was in her jumparoo...Keatin got it REALLY moving! We had to switch toys for Rory's safety - ha ha! :)

Halloween Fun at Day Care!

OK - here are the pictures our babysitter Jessica shared with us from the Halloween Party they had on Friday at her house! I LOVE them...and she said Keatin had a blast! As you will notice, Miss Keatin is the only girl there...so she has busy days keeping all those boys in check. :)

Apparently, they started out the day playing dress up. Here is Keatin with her good buddy Logan. :)


Jessica had made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. She said ALL the kids sat at the table for a LONG time doing this activity...and as you can tell, Keatin throughly enjoyed it. :) Not sure how much frosting actually got on her cookie... :)




OK - these are my favs! The whole "crew" in the their Halloween costumes! Curious George (Tyler - 2) and the man in the yellow hat (Lucas - just turned 1) are brothers...and apparently their mom made those costumes - wow! The penguin in the back is Logan (3), and "Baby" Shrek is Jessica's son, Xavier (4 months). Anyways, I still crack up looking at these pics...the crying, kids falling over, not looking at the camera - whew! Yeah Jessica for trying to line all the kiddos up! :)

Fancy Halloween Pics

Here are the fancy halloween pics from Grandpa Barber.

Keatin was not her usual, happy self when we were taking these...those darn ears. :(

World's Cutest Piglet :)

Happy Halloween! Keatin got to celebrate with 2 nights of trick-o-treating. :)

Friday night, we went over to Becca and Lyle's house in Nevada...in the rain. :) We only went to the door of their house...then just hung out inside for awhile. I think Keatin had more fun watching all the kids who came to their door...she helped Becca hand out candy.

But this was a big moment for Josh and I...first time trick-o-treating with our daughter! :)


"What??? I get candy in this thing???"


Saturday started off REALLY early at our house...and it wasn't just because Keatin was excited for Halloween. She was diagnosed with a BAD double ear infection the day before our anniversary...and we were done with medicine, but Saturday morning she woke up EARLY with the same symptoms again. Josh and I were pretty sure the infection was NOT gone...so we headed off to the pediatrician's office...and nope, both ears are still infected. Now we are on stronger medicine...

Anyways, for not feeling the greatest, I think Keatin enjoyed trick-o-treating around our neighborhood in Ames on Saturday night. The weather was nice, and we went to 4-5 houses. We couldn't get her to say "trick or treat"...but she did say "thank you" when people put candy in her pumpkin bucket. :) She was ENTHRALLED with watching all the other people/activity around the neighborhood...it was cute. :) G & G Barber came down to buy a new car, so they were at the house to hand out candy while Josh and I took Keatin around.

Piglet is ready to go!


The trick-o-treating crew. :)


Daddy and Keatin, going up to our first door. :)



Oh boy - more candy!


Hmm - which one to eat??? :)



Post trick-o-treating... Daddy took this picture of Keatin eating her yogurt...trying to help her tummy...LOTS of icky diapers and one sore bottom with all the medicine. :(



Playing this morning in the basement...trying to give the doggie a drink. :)


Still trying to give that doggie a drink. :)



I am supposed to be getting more pictures from Grandpa Barber and our babysitter Jessica...will post them when I get them!