It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Our family absolutely loves Christmas. We love everything that goes along with this holiday, and we have established some traditions that the Christmas season wouldn't be complete without.

Each year we spend time hunting for the two most perfect Christmas trees we can find (one for upstairs and one for downstairs). We bundle up in our snow pants, boots, coats, hats and gloves and look near and far for the trees that we all agree on and that will look beautiful in our house. Also along on the yearly hunt is Brent's sister Jody and her family. Our kids love having their cousins Ashley and Abbey along for the fun. After finding our trees, we go out for a nice lunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon decorating.

Another thing that our kids look forward to each year is making Christmas cookies with Grandma Bogart. They always come home covered in flour from head to toe, but with enormous smiles on their faces. They are so proud of their cookies and love to each choose a special one to leave out for Santa. Thanks Grandma for making this night so much fun for the kids!

A Great Family Saturday

Today, we went out and finished our Christmas shopping for the kids. As usual, we got way too much, and they will be spoiled! We are very excited for them to open the gifts. Brent has to start his Christmas shopping now. He has the entire family to buy for.

This evening we went to the mall and had pictues with Santa. This is the Deuel tradition. After pictures, the kids play in the play area, and we go watch the skateboarders. The kids love doing this. On the way home we drive through a couple of neighborhoods to look at the lights.

Ryann has many questions about Santa that she is going to ask this year: how old are you, when is your birthday, and a few others. We are all waiting to see if he answers them.

Hope you and your family are having a great holiday season!

Growing Up

Hope is now officially crawling! Needless to say, she thinks that she is "hot stuff". She is constantly clapping for herself and loves it when we clap for her as well. Because she is now crawling, Hope manages to get into everything. This doesn't always go over very well with her brother and sister. Hope's favorite things to grab are Ryann's books and bookmarks. I think Brent is a little worried that Hope will turn out like her mom and big sister. He likes to refer to us as "nerds" because we both love to read. So far Hope seems headed in that same direction. Hope is also starting to eat a lot of table foods. Her favorites include fruit (bananas and mandarin oranges), Cheerios, macaroni and cheese, and any kind of bread. After trying these different table foods, she really doesn't want too much to do with baby food. I guess she feels that she is too grown up to eat it. Our house is decorated for Christmas now, and so far Hope has done a great job leaving the Christmas tree and decorations alone. She does seem to like the bows on the presents and would really love to play with them if we would let her.

It is amazing to think that Hope is almost 11 months old. Our love for her grows more and more each day, and her presence in our lives always brings smiles to our faces.

More Pictures from Great Wolf Lodge

Here are some more pictures of our trip with the Saurs to Great Wolf Lodge.

Great Wolf Lodge

Last week we spent two days at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, Michigan with the Saur family. We all had a blast! There were only 8 families in the entire hotel, so we basically had the place to ourselves. We spent the majority of our time in the waterpark, but also spent time in the craft room and arcade. The kids completed a scavenger hunt and listened to a bedtime story performed by the animals. We had a "Wolf Den" room which meant that Ryann and Camden had their own special den (complete with bunk beds and a TV) within our room. They thought that was pretty neat. I would definitely recommend visiting Great Wolf Lodge if you haven't. November is a perfect time to go!

Hope's 9 Month Doctor's Appointments

Hope's 9 month well-child checkup went great! (Camden might disagree as he received a surprise flu shot at her appointment.) Hope finally got a little taller. She is 27 and 1/2 inches long and is a little over 19 lbs. She is now in the 50th percentile for both height and weight as compared to other 9 month olds. Dr. Henderson said that she was "just perfect". Needless to say, we were very pleased.

In addition to her well-child checkup, Hope also had an appointment with her Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. She had to have a scope performed on her again, and she didn't like it one bit. The good news is that the scope looked great and she will not have to go to see the ENT any more.

Halloween

The kids had a great time at Halloween this year. The Dondits, Saurs, and Grandpa and Grandma Bogart came over. Both of the older kids were baseball players this year and Hope was the standard first year pumpkin. They had a great time and brought home a lot of candy. We have two big bags left if anyone wants some.

We had a great time carving pumpkins. As usual, Ryann would not touch the pumpkin guts. Camden and Hope had no problem. Brent had another great creations this year -- he continued his love for the Detroit Tigers.