Ta Da!

Here is our favorite Christmas present - a remodeled kitchen! You'll have to come over and see it in person soon!

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Christmas break began a little bit early this year because of a snow day! Dave is getting lots of good use out of the snowblower from Grandpa Schepers! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
The first part of break we spent working on remodeling our kitchen - new paint, floors, and appliances. Merry Christmas to me! It was all done on Christmas Eve, just in time for the festivities!
Christmas day we had church in the morning and then Nana and Papa Wolbert and Gramma and Grampa Doll came over for a ham dinner. It was a feast! Laney went down for her nap like clockwork at 1:00...but then surprised us 5 minutes later with a big thud...yup she climbed out of her crib! We were thankful for no injuries or tears, but we certainly hope she doesn't do that again! Guess she didn't want the fun to end!!!
It was wonderful to have a fairly low key Christmas this year - the parties were spread out just right! Dave has one more week off from school and we plan to do some fun things together as a family.

1, 2, 3...

First of all, excuse the mess, we have been moving things around in our house and doing lots of big and little projects while Dave has some time off from school. :) Here is Laney picking up hangers for me and counting - she really did say 1, 2, 3 I just wasn't fast enough to catch it on video - she's starts at 4 and goes all the way up to...? You'll have to watch and see!

Giggles

I love watching Laney and Daddy play together after supper. Here they are tonight - having a ball!!!

20 weeks

Alright Dana, you talked me into it - here is a belly pic at 20 weeks. I sure like being pregnant this time of year - I love to eat...especially during the holidays! And maternity clothes are quite comfortable! :)

Baby Doll #2

Last night we had our 20 week ultrasound. Hard to believe we are half way already!!! I guess time flies when you have another little munchkin to chase after. Dave and I had a nice dinner before our appointment - Mexican - YUM! We thought all the chips and salsa would make the baby go crazy...The baby was pretty active, moving it's arms up by it's head, giving us a thumbs up, and kicking once in a while. The little stinker is already camera shy though...he or she was facing my back so it was difficult to get a good profile or face picture. It was another amazing experience - we are so thankful for this next addition to our family :) In case you can't tell, the top picture is of the arm and hand, the middle shows most of the face, and the bottom picture is a foot!

18 months old ...already?

It seems like just yesterday this sweet little bundle came into the world and into our family. It's really hard to believe she's a year and a half already. It is amazing how independent she has become (especially lately...) Laney has learned a lot in the past 18 months, she is such a blessing - mostly because of all the things she has taught me: love, patience, laughter, the list could go on and on. We are so thankful that our little Laney is growing up to be such a big girl.
To see her pictures copy and paste this link into the address bar - enjoy :)
https://www.searsphotos.com/?shareid=S206503021lK889MY7B3T

Laneybug

Happy Halloween Everyone! Laney just had to be a Ladybug this year - after all, Laneybug is her nickname :) We had a fun and busy day visiting Daddy at school, Nana and Papa, and Grandma and Grandpa too. Thanks for all the yummy treats! Love you!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Here is Laney Jo "reading" Brown Bear, Brown Bear, one of her favorite books. Okay, so she's not really reading, but she does recognize each animal and says their names. What can we say, she's a teacher's kid!
For those of you know don't know, Laney's Auntie Dana left for Uganda about 2 weeks ago. She'll be there for 9 months! It was great to talk to you today Dana - glad you are doing well! This one is especially for you! Love you and miss you! Enjoy...

Tickle Tickle

GIRLFRIENDS

Laney loves her girlfriends - Here they are at a playdate at our house one morning. Aubrey, Charlotte, Elleana, Sophie, and Emma. We missed Paige, who was at home napping! We think it's pretty cool that God blessed our "church family friends" with ALL baby girls over the past 17 months (Laney is the oldest - the ringleader :) Wonder what the next round of babies will bring? Boys for round two??? Maybe?

A Day at DeGraaf Nature Center

Here are those cute cousins again - enjoying a walk at DeGraaf Nature Center. The girls did a good job of sticking together. We would've walked a little more but the mosquitoes were terrible! We'll have to try again another day. It had been years since I had been here and it is a special place - named after our grandpa. Hopefully we'll go back again soon! Or maybe next spring...

Training to be a....

BIG SISTER! Laney has been so cute playing with her baby doll lately. Here are some pics of her kissing and burping her baby. There is also a pic of her new t-shirt. That is how we announced our news to our families. The next Baby Doll is due April 24. So they'll be 2 weeks short of 2 years apart. Hopefully Laney will be a great big sister! We are looking forward to being a family of 4!

Animal Noises :)

We love asking Laney to make animal noises - finally we got it on video! My favorite is the frog - "RIDDIT"! Enjoy!

Playdate at the Playground

It has been great to get together with Jen and her kiddos once a week. The girls always have a good time together - and so do their mamas! Last week we went to a playground just down the road. It was nice to enjoy this fall weather and spend some time outside. Laney loves her cousins!!!

Fair Days

So, we took Laney to her 2nd Hudsonville Fair this week. She freaked out at first when she saw the big stinky pigs, but after a while she warmed up to the animals and wanted to see more goats and bunnies - those were her favorites. She learned how to make the bunny sound - you'll have to ask her that one the next time you see her.

A New Baby Cousin!

Early this morning Jen and Jon welcomed Owen Louis Frego into the world. He is a cutie patootie! He looks so much like Mya did when she was born. Adorable!!! Praise God for a healthy baby boy! It will be fun to see Mya as a big sister and Laney as a big cousin. Laney was so excited to meet Owen this afternoon, she is pretty good at saying his name already :) and she gave him some sweet kisses when we visited them at the hospital. Congratulations Jen and Jon - you are a beautiful family of four!

Applesauce

All of a sudden Laney's little vocabulary has become BIG! She'll pretty much try to say anything you ask her to, but words she knows on her own include: fishy, juice, messy, poop, stinky, sit, buckle, Mya, Isaac, Sarah, pizza, "olie" ravioli, bear, please "peez", shoes, elmo, puzzle, ball, baby, and amen. I think thats about 20 plus applesauce and the typical, mama/dada! :) She also knows many animal noises, but of course when we try to get her to perform for people she turns shy. Wonder who she gets that from???

Sandy Pines

Last week we spent 5 days out at Sandy Pines. Laney loved all the fresh air! It was really nice to get away from the construction zone around our house (with the roofing project)! We took at least 2 golf cart rides every day, we walked to the playgrounds to slide and swing at least once a day, and made our own fun inside of the trailer too - as you can see it is not baby proofed - she got into everything!!! (even her suitcase).
Laney also ate her first ice cream cone on her own! It was quite a mess!!!

Just keep swimming...

Laney loves the water! It has been so hot lately, so we've certainly enjoyed an opportunity to get wet! This past weekend up at Silver Lake, Laney accidentally went all the way under! It scared her mama more than it scared her! :)

The Greatest Fourth in the North

We just enjoyed a long weekend up north in Lake City with the extended Doll family. It was lots of fun. We had great weather and really good food. Laney got sick of the parade halway through, but she did get some beads and candy. She slept through the fireworks (thank goodness!) and loved splashing in the lake. She stayed up way past her bedtime, but was a real trooper! Thanks for all the fun times everyone!

Kisses

Tonight as I was putting Laney down for bed she gave me 2 of the sweetest kisses ever! The best part was that I didn't even ask for any kisses, she just gave them to me. It really touched my heart and even caused a few tears to flow. I love her so much and it is such a reward to feel her love me in return.

Dancing Queen

Here she is, shakin' it to Daddy's new Coldplay CD.

I'm a big kid now!

Mom and Laney have been having fun going to lots of different garage sales this summer. Here's our big girl on her first bike! She likes to ride, but can only go backwards. It's fun to watch her play in the driveway with her bike and new car. Cousin Mya got a Cozy Coupe car at a garage sale a few weeks ago, so when we saw another one we just couldn't pass it up!

Look Who's Talking...

Although I think Laney's first word was "mama" at 8 months, here she is sharing her little 1 year old vocabulary. Enjoy!

She also can say, "hi" "daddy" and "p u" - (not necessarily in that order) she's our little parrot :)

Happy 1st Birthday!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for loving our little Laney. This first year was WONDERFUL - we look forward to many, many more!

Tulip Time

Last night we took our little Dutch girl to watch the Klompen Dancers at Centennial Park. She loved getting dressed up. We were lucky if we could keep her hat on for more than a minute to snap a quick pic. We got a few good ones I think!

Springtime...

Over spring break Laney learned to take a few steps. Now she is walking 9 or 10 steps at a time, I can hardly keep up with her! She also loves to climb up the stairs which is cute and frustrating all at the same time. She thinks it's a game. Time to put up the gate! Laney also loves to stand by the window and watch the cars go by. It's been so nice to feel that fresh air in the house. We love spring!