The wedding!

The day of Amy & Ben's wedding is here! Emma was so excited to get dressed in her new pretty pink dress. We think Matthew was pretty handsome in his outfit, too. The kids were great throughout the entire day. Emma really knows how to party!

The littlest cousins

Jackson (on the left) and Matthew had lots of fun playtime on the floor at Papa & Nana's house. Jackson was 5 months, and Matthew was 7 weeks old. We sure wish that these cousins lived near us (hint, hint!).

Going to Papa & Nana's house

Emma was so excited to be going to Papa & Nana's house, because her cousins Jonah and Jackson were in town for Aunt Amy & Ben's wedding. She filled her backpack with animals so she and Jonah could play together. She looks like such a big girl!

A Trip to the Central States Fair

OK, so our fair is a little on the lame side, but Emma sure had a blast! She caught onto the whole "ride thing" pretty quick. Grandma took her on the carousel, and she rode a car, a flying puppy dog and a pony all by herself. She has since decided that she needs to have a puppy dog...and a pony.

The beginning of August

It really blows my mind how quickly little kids change. At the point of these pictures, Matthew was about 6 weeks old.

Matthew is 1 month old!

Emma loves to sing "Happy Birthday", and she belted it out to Matthew on his 1 month birthday. She is such a great big sister! She loves her little brother to pieces.

July 25/26, 2006

July 20, 2006 Part 2

There was a huge thunderstorm this evening, and afterwards, a beautiful rainbow. Garry took this great picture!

July 20, 2006

July 19, 2006

Emma & her friend/neighbor, Avrianna, love to play in the sandbox. On this particular day, Avrianna's mom & I thought that the girls looked like sisters (Emma is just 3 days older than Avrianna).

Matthew, week 2

Matthew has been growing by leaps and bounds. At his 2 week appointment with the doctor, he had grown 1" and almost an entire pound from his birth! Way to go Matthew!

July 18, 2006

Snuggle & Kisses

Bathing Beauty

July 17th, 1006.
The temperature was in the 100's for quite a stretch of time, so we bought a fun little pool with a slide for Emma to play in.

July 10, 2006

Emma & Matthew snuggling up on the sofa

An Apology

I would just like to emphasize that I KNOW that I am terrible at keeping this up-to-date. I am sorry for the lapse in time between postings, and will make every attempt to be better about this in the future.

Fun at the pool!

We are so excited that Aunt Amanda, Uncle Mike, and cousins Jonah & baby Jackson are here to visit! We spent Friday afternoon at the indoor pool in town (due to a rain storm!), and the kids had a blast! Baby Jackson (in the top picture) and Matthew were rather unimpressed.

Uh-Oh Spaghettios!

Enjoying a yummy lunch of spaghettios. (Emma adores sunglasses!)

Brother & Sister

You can't really tell it from this picture, but Emma DOES love holding her little brother!

Friends from Iowa

We were so excited that our friends Shawn & Cherie were in town for the 1st week of July! Emma had tons of fun blowing bubbles with Shawn & Matthew was lucky to get lots of snuggling in! We sure had a great time with our friends, and were sad when they had to go back home.

Matthew & Nana

We spent the 4th of July at Papa & Nana's house. Matthew was very alert and paid close attention to everything around him!

Little Mommy

Emma has been watching me very closely to see how I take care of Matthew. She has been very careful to take her own baby doll (she named him Josh) around with her, feed him and burp him. She is going to be a VERY BIG help!

Matthew with friends

Matthew already has made friends on an international level (hooray!). Ning was visiting from Thailand for an all-school reunion in Spearfish (she was an exchange student and lived with my mom while she was here).


Kirsten was very excited to meet Matthew...she was a huge help while we were leaving the hospital.

Life with 2 kiddos...

Well, we seem to be adjusting fairly well to having 2 kids in the house. At first, Emma DID NOT want to have anything to do with the baby, and was quite good at ignoring & avoiding him. Yesterday, however, something clicked with her, and she decided that it was definitely OK to be a big sister, and she has since been very affectionate and protective of her little brother. She loves to be my big helper, and can frequently be found "packing" the diaper bag or "folding" the laundry. VERY FUN! Matthew has really been doing well. We had his 1st visit to the doctor today, and he is only down an ounce from his birth weight. Let me tell you, the boy has a very healthy appetite! He is pretty mellow, but very alert. He will sit and look at me with these beautiful blue eyes...I fall more in love with him every minute; how is that possible? We are very lucky, too, but he sleeps really well at night...6 1/2 hours at a stretch! Emma slept through the night right off the bat, and I didn't think that we could possibly be lucky enough to have 2 kids do that, but it seems that it could be the case (knock on wood!). As far as I go, I am doing quite well. I am amazed at my recovery; it has been pretty smooth, with just a few bumps along the way (and the bumps are mostly because I am stubborn & independent & tend to overdo things a bit). ANYWAY...
So, suffice it to say that our little family is quickly growing accustomed to being a family of 4, and we are loving every minute of it!

These pictures are of Matthew when he was 2 days old, and were taken the morning that we came home.


Emma was so excited to be a big sister! These 2 pictures were taken the day that Matthew was born.


Mommy & Matthew (1 day old) catching a much-needed snooze!