Severtson Sisters

Once again, here we are much later than I had hoped! Time flies by!! :)

We hope all of you are having fun with your Christmas preparations. We have had a fun month or so since this was last updated! I'll try to hit the highlights with this post. :)

At the beginning of November, I went to a conference in Milwaukee where I got to meet up with one of our dear friends from Maine, Mary Alice. I could spend this whole post writing about how wonderful she is. :) Julia was so sad that she wouldn't get to see Mary Alice, and the feeling seemed to be mutual, so we headed back to Milwaukee that Saturday so they could see each other. It was well worth the trip! Julia is still talking about it.

Julia with Mary Alice.

The next big event we had here was Thanksgiving!! For Thanksgiving itself, Grandma Mary, Grandpa Rich, Uncle Chris, and Auntie Anne came out here! We hadn't seen them for so long, so it was very fun to have them here. Lauren's first Thanksgiving was with a grilled turkey and everything! Lauren was very shy at first, but she eventually warmed up to everyone. Then, on Friday, we headed down to Aunt Tammy and Uncle Andrew's where we met up with Grandpa John and Grandma Jana. We had a fun time with them as well!

The whole family. :)

Lauren's first Thanksgiving dinner.

reading a new book.

While in Pardeeville, we celebrated Lauren's 1st Birthday! Tammy had all of the things a little girl would want for her birthday, especially a beautiful cake. We had a fun time celebrating, and, unlike her older sister, Lauren seemed to especially enjoy her cake and ice cream. :)

of course, the card was more interesting than the presents.

The beautiful cakes made by Tammy with some help from Grandma Jana.

Mmmm. This big chunk of ice cream looks good!

On the 30th, we celebrated Lauren's actual birthday at home. She is always a little more relaxed here, and seemed to have fun. We can't believe she's already one!! She is walking everywhere now, and just tonight really started to say "hi!" and seem to mean it. Every day she seems to learn something new. She is pointing at lots of things and then looking at us as if to ask, "What's that?" It is fun to see her grow.

The birthday girl having fun with Julia.

Can you tell she liked the cake? :) (it was straight to the tub after this!)

a new bath toy she just loves!

SNOW DAY!!

Our final notable event in the last few weeks happened this week when we got 14 inches of snow!! As of Tuesday, we still had green grass, but Wendesday was another story. :) Needless to say, we had a snow day. Even David's college cancelled class! We had a really fun day staying home doing Christmas things and just playing. It was really, really fun.

Julia helping with the shoveling. She was in charge of the porch.

Julia and Lauren playing while Daddy pulls them on the blanket. Hilarious!

We finished decorating the tree. So big!

Warm hot chocolate after all of that playing--I mean shoveling. :)

At least part of the driveway got shoveled before we gave up due

to the wind!!

In the afternoon, we baked some gingerbread cookies.

Lauren watched. :)

Julia got buried in the snow I was shoveling from the sidewalk.

Notice that it is dark!! It took a long time to get rid of all of that snow!

Julia's "Growing Machine." She created this based on a Mercer/Mayer book.

It turned out pretty cute. :) Those diaper boxes should be used for something! :)

Well, we have a few Christmas events coming up, so I'll try to post some pictures from those soon. Julia's pre-school program is on Tuesday, and her Sunday School program is next Sunday, so those should be fun. She isn't shy about her singing, so it'll be fun to see how that goes. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!