More Christmas Pics

Christams Morning: Notice the new blue wall and a little girl w/ a temp of 99.9...poor thing!


Hannah's new love..."Mater" :o)


Sisters on Christmas morning


The Giere/Johanik Clan

Christmas

Once again, we were able to celebrate Christmas with my family in Michigan, along with Brian's here in IL. In fact, Hannah, Ellie and I spent the whole week before Christmas in MI visiting with friends and family. Brian joined us on the 21st to spend the rest of the weekend with us all. It was great!

We returned on Christmas Eve and had a nice, relaxing drive home. Unfortunately we weren't able to stop and see Marceline and Dan's new baby, Jackson. Sickness had once again fallen on the Nederveld household and we were afraid that if we were infected, we would spread it. Hannah did start a low-grade fever on Christmas morning, but with a little Tylenol and Ibuprofen, she made it through the day and had fun doing it!

Now, we're enjoying the week with Brian home taking a vacation. What a treat!

Papa and Hannah...tickle fest!


Hannah and Taylor sportin' their new Dora backpacks (that came with their new Dora scooters) :O)


Our Beautiful Gift


Santa Hannah


Hannah, Luke and Ellie...Taylor was wiped out and fell asleep at dinner at 6:30 that night, so she couldn't make it for the picture.

Lynn

This is Hannah and our good friend Lynn who came to visit and meet Ellie for the first time. We had so much fun catching up and laughing at Hannah as she did her best to show Lynn a good time. :O)

On that note, we decided to shop at a few places at the outlet mall that is literally 5 minutes from our house. As soon as we got out of the car in the parking lot, Hannah exclaimed, "Look Mommy, there's the "outwet" mall!" Lynn took that to mean that we go there all the time...which of course isn't true. :O)

Birthday Girl

Hannah turned 3 years old last Saturday, December 9th. We had a big weekend planned...Saturday was going to be her first "kid" birthday party and Sunday afternoon, we were going to celebrate w/ Brian's family. Things didn't quite go as planned. Hannah started a fever Friday night and it spiked at 102.6 on Saturday. Needless to say, we had to cancel her party Saturday and I even took her to the doctor. She was put on an antibiotic and was feeling better by Saturday night. We had a little celebration with just Brian, Ellie and I and she seemed ok with that. Sunday she was feeling much better, so we were still able to get together w/ Brian's family. Running around with Jake, Derek and Peter made up for missing out on fun with her friends on Saturday. In fact, she would love to run around with them every day of the week!

We rescheduled her "kid" party for this past Wed. and had a really nice time. The kids decorated Christmas cookies and played. I know that Hannah felt special and that's what it was all about. We're so thankful for her friends and cousins that she gets to spend time with here in IL! (and we miss her cousins in MI!) :O)

Snowmen Cupcakes that I spent about 4 hours "perfecting"



Sick little birthday girl



She could still put a smile on her face



Silly Cousins!



Party Time!



Peter and his masterpiece!



Hannah and Madelyn

Comparing 3 month olds

This afternoon I was thinking about the differences in Hannah at 3 months old and Ellie. So, I thought I'd provide a picture a picture of Hannah at 3 months (from our trip to CA) to show you. Both adorable little girls, but proving very different! It will be so fun to see how their personalities compare as Ellie grows up. I think she's already a little more laid back than oh-so-active Hannah! :o)

Christmas Cookies

Our friends Marlina, Madelyn and Tobias came over yesterday to make Christmas Cookies. The girls had a ball "punching out" the cookie dough and decorating their cookies. Of course, they loved eating them much more!







All tuckered out after playing and cookie making!

Bumbo

I couldn't resist showing Ellie using her new Christmas present (she asked if she could open it a little early :O).

SNOW!!!

Hannah was thrilled the other day to wake up and see the ground covered in snow. She even asked, at 7:15am, if she could go outside and play in it. Ahhh, to be a child again! We did go out and play...but at a more "sane" hour. :o)






We got our tree Saturday morning and I explained to Hannah that we would wrap our presents and put them under the tree until Christmas. She decided that she would practice being the present. "I'm the present."

Thanksgiving

I've been meaning to write about our Thanksgiving and for some reason, just haven't. Maybe it's because two days after happily eating not one, but two Thanksgiving meals, the sickness hit. There was a NASTY bug that spread like wild fire between both my family and Brian's. Unfortunately Brian was one of the unlucky ones to get the bug. I think we counted that 8 people from my mom's side of the family got it and 6 from Brian's side. It all hit the Saturday after Thanksgiving and most of the victims were out all day. Hannah got a touch of it Saturday night, but thankfully her's was not too bad. We are praising God that neither Ellie or I got it...that would have been bad.

Sadly my Grandma Smith, who is 93 years old, got the flu pretty bad. She and my Aunt Betty were both admitted to the hospital on Saturday to receive IV treatment. My aunt was released on Sunday, but my grandma remained there. In the mean time, after having some tests done, they discovered that my grandma also had gall stones. She had surgery on Thursday to remove her gall bladder and came out pretty well. She is home now and it is obviously going to take some time for her to heal.

Another bummer that weekend was that we weren't able to celebrate Hannah and my niece Taylor's birthdays together that Saturday we were home...I think the reason is obvious.

So, I guess that's why I haven't written about Thanksgiving yet. Maybe I didn't need to write about it at all...I'll end on a good note. Thankgiving Day with the families was great! I'm so thankful for the time that we get to share together and look forward to many more years of building lasting memories at the holidays.

Great Grandma Smith




Showing off our Thankgiving afternoon craft...fleece pillows!

Family Fun

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Little Girls...

Miss H-Monkey was climbing on the side of the chair in the living room today. I told her that she really shouldn't be doing that because it's not good for the chair and she could get hurt. Deciding that those weren't good enough reasons, she said, "Well, that just what little girls do." I laughed and asked, "Who told you that?" She replied, "Aunt Heidi!"

So Heidi, I'm guessing she's telling a little fib here and that you really didn't tell her that little girls climb on chairs. If you did tell her that, we may need to have a talk. :O) hee, hee, hee

Ellie is growing as fast as ever (she's 10 1/2 weeks old). She is already in 3-6 month clothes and even those don't seem like they'll last long. She's falling into more of a routine, which is nice, but she can also be flexible as I like to go out a lot. She went shopping with Jane, Lori, Kam and I on Saturday and couldn't have behaved any better. She did great, sleeping through both dinner Friday night and Saturday night!! I appreciated that a lot. :O)

I'll admit that we're sort of fair weather fans when the Cubs are concerned, but Ellie still looks cute in this hand-me-down from Hannah. This is her concerned look...much like Hannah's.



Pretty Cub "Fan"

Zoo w/ the Johaniks & Sisterly Love

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I'm experimenting w/ this photo website. Just click on the big orange play button to watch photo show...What I'm really looking for is a website that will let me put video clips on this blog...any ideas?

We went to the zoo w/ Heidi and the boys today. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Fall Day

Taking advantage of possibly the last warm day of the year, Hannah, Ellie and I went to the Red Oak Nature Center on Monday. It was absolutely beautiful walking through the woods, next to the river. Hannah also loved seeing the turtles, snakes, frogs and other creatures that live in the center.

Nature Girl


Hiking through the forest


Ellie enjoyed the fresh air as well!


God's creation...beautiful

Halloween

I don't know what Hannah had more fun doing...going trick-or-treating with our neighbor boys or passing out the candy back at home!

Ellie's not too sure about this trick-or-treating thing!


"Chicken Little" helping herself to the candy bowl.


Making a run for it after getting the loot!


Library costume parade.


Trick-or-treating at the library.