When Daddy's Away...

...the girls must play! Chad was gone all day on Saturday so it left the two of us with the whole day to ourselves...no boys allowed!

Part of the day was spent playing in Brielle's new tree fort. We put stuff in, took stuff out...she's quite picky about how she wants to decorate it.
And Saturday was the perfect day to be outside. It wasn't too cold, the snow was falling...it was great!

We even went sled riding (Pennsylvania term for sledding) around the neighborhood. Brielle loved getting pulled in the sled...until I took a corner too sharp and turned around to see her faceplanted in the snow! Oops.

In Other News...

Brielle has been very busy reading through books lately. Normally her books of choice would be Goodnight Moon, Silly Splashers, or Monkey See Monkey Do...but she has since changed to books of baby names because she has been on a mission to find the perfect name for her future brother or sister who is planning on arriving around June 18th!

Can you see how seriously she is taking this task?
Here's the most current prego pic we have on our computer...me at 18 weeks...and already lovin' the stretch pants!

Sidenote: I do apologize for the delay in posting this. It is merely due to sheer laziness on my part! I'll try to do much better in the future!

Christmas Season

Wow...a lot has happened since we posted last! We had a great break spending time with family and friends in Michigan. Here is just a glimpse of what went on in those two weeks!

The Carlson gift to each other this year was a stop at a water park on the way back to MI. We had such a great time watching Brielle enjoy the water slides and water spouts (and Dad too). It was a great start to the Christmas holiday!

So this picture is from Thanksgiving, but I had to throw it in there because I thought it was so stinkin' cute!

Brielle did such a good job of only touching the ornaments this year...of course that was until she watched her cousin Brookie yanking them off the tree...this opened up a whole new world of excitement for Brielle then!

Brielle had her first experience (of many!) with Christmas cookie decorating with the Carlsons. Thanks to Grandpa C being the judge, Brielle won the "Rookie of the Year" award (along with every other cookie decorating category!)

As you can see she was really intent on painting her cookies...until she realized it was edible...then she wasn't quite as efficient at the decorating

Brielle learned some new dance moves with Grandma C over break...move over Sharon, Lois, and Brahm...Michael Buble is Brielle's favorite now!

Brielle showing off her purse and grocery cart from Uncle Jeff and Aunt Shawna

Brielle found a lot of new playmates back in Michigan...mainly her older cousins Seth, Andi, and Elli. To say she loved playing with them would be an understatement.

Brielle wasn't very interested in opening her gifts this year, but she had plenty of volunteers to help her

While in MI, I got together with some friends and their kids. This was the best we could do for a picture even though there were 3 other kids in attendance. Pictured is Leah Stefanko (Nienhuis), Brielle, and Isaiah Williams (Kerkstra). Not pictured is Kenlee Copeland (Taylor), Caleb Martin (Corey), and Jesse "Bobby" Williams (Kerkstra)

And a post would not be complete without a picture of the cousins: Brooke, Brielle, and Grant. My goodness...Brielle just loves these 2! Grant is such a great older cousin and is so gentle and sweet with her and anytime he's around she just smiles and follows him wherever he goes! And Brookey just loves taking Brielle by the hand and showing her how to do things (whether Brielle is interested or not!) A trip to MI would not be complete without several stops to play with them!

And we're so anxious for Brielle to have a new cousin on the Carlson side in a couple of weeks! Come on Shawna...get that baby moving! :) We only hope Brielle can be as good an older cousin to little Carlson as Brooke and Grant are to Brielle.

The Grotenhuis clan (unfortunately we didn't get one of the Carlsons!)

We made a trip to the Holland Aquatic Center...again Brielle was in her glory playing in the water.

And our holiday wrapped up with a New Years celebration at the Kleinheksels and little Ellie. Our group was a little smaller this year as one couple was in labor and another couple had the flu. So we rang in the New Year with Craig, Charlie, Abby, Ellie, and the three of us. Great ending to a great vacation.