December

Zola is quite the artist. I thought this one was a picture of me with a baby in the belly but she says that it is just a mermaid on her shirt. 

 sick days.

 The boy with the blue shirt is Dennis.

 Dennis had a great time at his first wrestling tournament. He was so excited all morning. Waiting for it to start was the hardest part... like waiting for Christmas.

 We went on a date to see the christmas carol. It was fabulous.

 We brought our good friends, Aubri and Nathaniel.

 The first snow is always magical! Andrew is watching "bumpa" shovel.

 Its also the best for making snowmen.

 Dennis's buddy and neighbor Brian bought Dennis a snowmobile helmet!

 baby bump from 12/9

 Wrestling tournament #2. Without a coach or a dad to help him out, he was pretty much on his own. I was wrangling a crazy two year old while videotaping... not much help. When I did have something to say it was, "keep twisting him" I'm not so technical. We were both almost to tears after the first two matches. Neither of us really knew if we could take anymore and then he pinned his last competitor. He left so happy that he got 3rd place. I left no knowing if I ever wanted to do that again. My heart still hurts. Watching your baby lose a fight and seeing him completely emotionally broken is tough.

 We finally had a birthday party for Dennis a month and a half late.

 We did a woodsy theme.

 He is such a heart throb!

 And he loves cheesing for the camera!

 all he wanted were his very own hexbugs!

 We gotta take some blackmail pictures for later. He loves sitting on the toilet. He rarely is successful at it... but he sits there so cute.

 This is how we roll these days!

 Dennis riding Brian's snowmobile!

 Dennis climbing.

November

In November Maree, Ryan's mom, came to stay with us for a couple of weeks. Our family would not have survived if Maree and my mom didn't come to help us out. THANK YOU!

Dennis made his "cubs in shining armor" fellas cake creation for cub scouts. No female could help with the project thankfully because I wouldn't have been any help. 

 Zola doing Andrew's hair. and Andrew's killer smile.

 I started to function again about the second week of November. I wasn't back to my normal self but I was a whole lot better. I gave Zola a hair cut and she loved it.

 I went to an NBA game with Ryan.

 One morning Andrew wanted to hold my hand all the way through his breakfast. My kids really missed having their mom "around".

 November 15th baby bump

 This boy loves babies!

 We got our christmas tree early.

 Andrew also got a haircut.

 I told him to get some shoes on... so he did.
 wrestling with dad.

 Our tree.

 We have lots of leaves.

 Andrew sat with his girlfriend Zoe at church. They were singing together and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

 My gamers.

October

Dennis got baptized. It was so wonderful. Nonnie and papa came and Nonnie gave the talk. She did such a great job relating the gospel to Dennis's life. I was really feeling sick at this point so I was lucky to have made it in attendance. 

 Hanging on for dear life... not exactly the way you're supposed to sit in a car seat. He was so proud.

Dennis's traveling soccer team. We went to Wisconsin Dells. It was really windy and cold. I spent most of the time in the car feeling really sick (first trimester). Dennis sure loves his team: Eli, Dennis, Colton, Jaxon, Sorren, ?, ?, Kai

 Halloween was so fun. Grandma did a fabulous job with the costumes again this year. Harry Potter and Hedwig and Anna.

 Isn't her smile the best!?

 Carving pumpkins was a success... Andrew didn't want to touch it. Zola got really brave this year and Dennis was a pro. Grandma came to live with us for a long time while I was so sick. I was not functioning as a human being let alone a mom.

 ... and this is what I did every single day. I watched all the seasons of Downton Abby, Poldark and several movies. It was miserable.