Our sweet girls

Violatte and Annalee have grown so much! I can't believe how big they are getting. First of all, Violatte has been learning her letters and colors and numbers lately. She's been learning them from puzzles and from the books that she likes. She is getting really good at knowing the sounds that letters make, too. I can't believe how smart she is!

The most exciting thing with Violatte, though, is that she is pretty much potty-trained! Yeah!!!! I am so thrilled with it I can hardly stand it! These last couple of days Jim has worked with her so much and she has really caught on and ran with it. It is so wonderful. She goes by herself and even gets up in the middle of the night if she has to go. It is a big relief for me and I am so grateful to Jim for helping so much. We have tried everything through this last year and a half. Now that she was ready it was pretty easy. We rewarded her with chocolates and also she got to call one of her grandparents and tell them that she went potty. She would be so proud of herself that she wanted to call them each time she went. Then, with the chocolates, she was so funny. She shared with Annalee almost every single time. Then, when either Jim or I would use the bathroom she would run and get us a chocolate and give it to us and cheer for us. It made us smile each time.

Annalee is growing up so fast, too. Her new word is "Jesus." She saw a couple pictures of Jesus at church and there is one hanging in her room near her bed and when she gets up from a nap or in the morning she is so excited to see the picture of Jesus. It is so wonderful to see her recognize the picture and be so happy.

Annalee is also really close to walking. Yesterday and today she took three steps at a time without falling down. She is going to be walking all over the place before long.

Today Violatte and I spent some time together and made a scrapbook page. It turned out pretty cute, too. I love to scrapbook and Violatte loves to help with whatever she can. I think it made her day and I had a wonderful time. I think we are going to make a tradition of putting together a scrapbook page every Sunday.

Jim's loving work and is sad to be leaving the group that he is with at the end of this month. He's going to try to work things out to stay a little longer because he loves it so much.

As for me, I've made lots of progress with my dancing. My teacher was very complimentary this week and said that if I keep going at this rate I will be able to have my pointe shoes by December. That is so exciting for me! I can't wait to see what happens.

Christmas, Snow Day, and Family Visits

We have done so many fun things as a family that I haven't had a chance to write about yet.

First of all, Christmas was wonderful. This year, as I do each year, I sit back and watch my children enjoy Christmas and realize again that having my wonderful family around me is truly what makes Christmas Day wonderful. Violatte especially loved opening presents. Annalee loved playing with the presents. Jim was so wonderful to me and we had a great day. Below are some pictures of our Christmas.
The girls were so cute together. Especially with their stockings. I got Jim a bench vise that he wanted and this is a picture of him opening it. I sure do love my
family!









The Friday following Christmas we had a snow day at our friends' cabin in the mountains. We had such a wonderful time! We went sledding and had soups and spent some time with a lot of people from our church. We have so many great friends from our church and it was fun to spend the day enjoying ourselves.

The girls didn't like the sledding so much, though. (I couldn't get enough of it. ) They found other ways to enjoy themselves, though. (Like building snowmen or just rolling in the snow.)

The next day my family came into town. We had so much fun having them here. We got to go to some museums, and they got to see our new house, and we just spent a lot of time together. My grandparents also came into town on Sunday and we got a picture of everybody together. The only ones missing were my sister, Annicka, and her husband, John.
It's so great to spend time as a family. They are always our best memories.

Our home

So, I wanted to write and update about all that has happened with our home-buying adventure. We found a home that we loved and we thought about it over the weekend. Then, last Monday we put an offer on the home. The owners came back with a counter-offer and we were able to work things out with our lender so we could accept the counter-offer. Now, the home is in Escrow and we will be done with everything on February 27th at the latest. We are so excited!

The home is a 3 bedroom/1.75 bath. It has a double car garage, a big yard, a workshop in the back, and is 1783 square feet. We couldn't be happier.

If you would like to see some pictures of the home you can go to the link to the right. The address is 812 Perdew.

As for our family, we are doing well. Our two girls are getting so big! Annalee now says quite a few words including, 'dog,' 'Mama,' 'Dada,' 'this,' and she also knows how to make the sound of a duck and the sound of a monkey. She also blows kisses and dances.

Violatte is now saying four-word sentences. I can't believe how much better she is talking and doing things. She loves to put puzzles together and she loves to sing. Most of all, she loves to dance.

We are so excited for the upcoming changes as we move into a home and get settled (finally)! It will most definitely be a welcome change.