no piggies on the table

grandpa hansbauer likes to play a game called, "no piggies on the table". the kids think this is hilarious. after one extended stay at grandpa and grandma's, it took us about 3 months to convince the kids that this game was fun to play with grandpa, but that we don't play it anywhere else. poor otto had his chair pushed away from the table many a night because he kept sneaking his little toes onto the table.
anyway, here is proof of that little game. gross, i know. but that old grandpa....he's just one big kid with an extra big heart for these kids. so piggies or no piggies on the table, he's pretty great.

playing doctor

otto and greta got a great new doctor kit from megan as a gift for when selma arrived. (thanks megan). here they are, playing doctor on their baby dolls.

drumsticks

we had our old neighbors, the andersons, over for dinner on saturday night. we hadn't seen them since they moved a few months ago, and the neighborhood hasn't been the same without them. truthfully, it was emotional for me to see them go. tom and greta were born only a few weeks apart, and he was her first neighborhood friend. sarah jane and otto are only a few months apart, so it was fun to get together and let all the kids play and the adults could just hang out. they were kind enough to bring dessert....drumsticks! yum! although, it occured to us while watching our kids that we are not sure that either one of them has ever had an ice cream CONE. they needed lots of coaching and instruction....both greta and otto were trying to eat from the bottom up.
regardless, they were a mess. and a HUGE HIT!!
patrick, emily, tom, and sarah it was so great to see you guys!

otto loves his sister

sibling love in this video. i particularly love the face caress. :)

super kids

otto and greta got these capes at gavin's 3rd birthday party (thanks gillards!). here they are, saving the world.

christmas morning 2010

above is the slideshow of pictures from christmas morning, plus a few from christmas eve. you can watch it here or click on it to watch it on picasa.

not to be too cheesy, but seeing the holidays through the eyes of your children is truly what it's all about. they were so excited about every little thing!

when we got home from joe's parents on christmas eve, the kids opened a christmas book that we got for them. i am hoping to give them a christmas book every year. there are so many beautiful christmas books out there, and it's been neat to hear the kids talk about "baby jesus" and "the three wisemen". then we put out cookies and milk for santa. i tried to talk greta into leaving carrots for the reindeer, but she was convinced they could just share the cookies with santa. otto was unfortunately traumatized by the cookie event. he apparently thought we were putting the cookies on the plate for HIM to eat, and he was a mess of tears when we said he couldn't eat them, that they were for santa. when he woke up christmas morning, the first thing he said was, " cookies? otto eat? santa!"
both kids were so excited to open their gifts. we continued the idea of getting them each 3 gifts from santa (like jesus got from the 3 wisemen)and then a gift from mama and papa. they have no idea about what gifts were from who, but i think in the years ahead it will keep us in touch with the true meaning of the day and we can keep it scaled down a bit. it was such a beautiful morning. we opened gifts, ate pancakes, and then stayed in our pjs and played with all the new toys all day long.

speaking of pajamas, these jammies make me laugh. they are hand-me-downs from the ford cousins (LOVE), and i think they are "vintage" rudolph jammies. both otto and greta thought it was hilarious to have matching pajamas....even though otto's were a bit big and he was slipping all over the place because the footies no longer have any traction, we had to wear them for christmas morning!!
merry christmas!!

beauty and babies

like i mentioned, otto has really been into all the gifts that greta got for christmas. this works out well when she feels like sharing and they can play together, but often it doesn't end so well. they have both been VERY into a "beauty set" and also some doll accessories (the front carrier is pictured on both kids) from grandma and grandpa hansbauer. otto will ask to "play beauty" and will get the hairdryer or the nailpolish bottles.

christmas farm

on the day after christmas, we decided to head to a christmas farm to check out their walking light display. and man, was it neat. but man, was it cold!! the wind was ridiculous. we bundled up the kids as best we could and check out the lights and the displays. at the end of the walk, there was a barn where you could come in and warm up with free hot chocolate and cookies. and bonus, we were there in time to check out the entertainment, a "juggler for jesus". i kid you not. the kids didn't seem to mind the cold at all and the lights were pretty neat.....

snow at grandpa's

on the morning of the day after christmas, we headed up to joe's parents to play in the snow. they got significantly more snow than we did, and the kids had fun playing in it for a short time. they went sledding down the driveway, made snow angels, made footprints. check out the slideshow above to see pictures.....

bedtime

our kids love books.
i love that otto loves to read. currently he likes to read 10 little ladybugs and moo baa la la la.
greta loves books too. she is currently into the books olivia, blue goose, and she has been enjoying using her bookmark to mark the stories in frog and toad.

play doh

greta has been very into playing playdoh lately. not sure if it's related to the fact that she also enjoys the clay table at school, but nevertheless it's getting lots of love around our house. i wasn't sure how otto would do with it, but he loves it too. they actually (as they are in this picture) both are usually pretty focused on their own creations, so not too many arguments occur. and not much has ended up in otto's mouth either, which is really what i thought would happen.

otto gets practice

here is otto, changing the baby doll's diaper. we're trying to get some practice in, because we're gonna need a little help next march. yep, we're having another baby! due date is march 2nd, but i will have to have another c-section so most likely the baby will arrive a bit earlier....possibly february. (and no, 2011 is not a leap year).
i am 14 or 15 weeks along (i can't remember) and am feeling pretty good. the first trimester of this pregnancy was not too bad, but definitely worse than with greta or otto. i felt some nausea, lots of killer headaches, and was unbelievably tired. like, i could sleep for days i was so tired. but i think i've turned that second trimester corner. people keep asking if we are going to find out the gender of this baby like we did with the other two, and i think so. i know that we have one of each....but there are plenty of surprises (let me tell you!) the day of delivery that i think we'll take the surprise at the 20 week ultrasound, thank you very much.
we feel so blessed to be adding to our family yet again, and can't wait for greta to be a big sister again and for otto to become a big brother. and yes, we will have to go from "man to man" defense to "zone"....we'll do our best. :) so in the meantime, we'll keep letting otto practice his diapering skills.....

swiffering

some video below of otto and greta swiffering. after watching this, i feel like i should pay them an allowance or something. i promise, this is of their own doing. in fact, otto threw a tantrum the other morning when i was trying to swiffer and greta had the other one, which meant that he couldn't have a swiffer of his own.

after nap fun

last week when getting up from naptime, greta was jumping in her bed. i was holding otto, and he started "jumping" in my arms, so i put him in her bed too. this turned into a hilarious show....lots of jumping and laughing and falling down over and over. i caught some of it on video, which i'll have to post later. they also took turns laying down and patting each other on the back....this picture is of otto patting greta. he will smack you on the back (or head or face or wherever) and say, "pat pat pat". it was fun to see them play together. although, this of course has meant that EVERYDAY after nap has to be jumping time in greta's bed. what did i start?

fresh powder....

i've had some requests for the videos of otto and greta snow tubing...so here they are. seems crazy that all that snow wasn't that long ago.

no pets

growing up, we could always count on our dog, smokey, to pick up any table scraps. looks like in our household, otto is our trusty companion. here he is, crawling all the way under the table and over both of those iron bars for a tiny piece of cereal.

best buds