Sunday Morning

Sunday morning at Grammy Tammy and Papa's house we decided to take some pictures of the girls dressed in their Christmas dresses. In my opinion, they all looked perfectly sweet and adorable. Anastyn did very well during her little photo shoot. She is sitting up so good these days and is learning that when mommy has the camera out she is supposed to look at it and smile! I love her in red and thought this dress was very cute. Skylar and Londyn also looked adorable in their winter white sweater dresses. Just wanted to post some of our Sunday morning pictures.

Such a happy little girl all ready for church!

Gotta love those rosy cheeks and big eyes!

Big Smile!

Mommy and Anastyn

Papa Kevin, Londyn, Grammy Tammy, Skylar and Anastyn
I am not sure what they are going to do when they have more grandbabies to hold!

Anastyn loves books! Even better, she loves the songbooks at church. Devin was holding Anastyn and was trying to show her the soft book that we brought for her, however, when Anastyn saw the songbook she reached for it immediately. She had no interest in her own book. For the closing song Anastyn was sitting in the pew next to Londyn and Londyn, so sweetly, shared her songbook with Anastyn. Neither one of them can read, but they tried to follow along throughout the entire song! After the prayer they were still sitting like this so I had to snap a picture. Such cuties!


After church we snapped quick picture with Great Grandma Vi

Christmas at the Fredendall's

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated Christmas with my family. We had a great time with everyone there. It is always great to get to spend time with my family. We usually have a good time eating, talking and playing games. This year was no different. We ate lots of food and this year the popular game was Boggle. I really like that game now. Anastyn enjoyed her first Christmas at the Fredendall's as well. She took it all in as everyone ripped into their presents. She liked the paper and the bows and Londyn helped her out with special little headress of bows! Anastyn is definitely one to take it all in. She loves to watch people and gets very excited watching her older cousins. Next year will definitely be fun when she is able to run around with the girls. All in all I would say Anastyn had a great Christmas. She was surrounded by those who love her dearly. Here are a few pictures of Anastyn's 1st Christmas.

Londyn decorating Anastyn with bows. Anastyn didn't seem to mind.

Sitting amidst the presents

Eating the paper, of course!

Daddy and Anastyn smiling for Mommy

Papa Kevin giving Anastyn her bottle. Good thing she can hold it herself because I don't think Papa was offering much help during his nap!

Going for the big one!

Anastyn loves drinking out of our cups. She does a pretty good job, too!

Happy 25th!

December 10th was Darrell and Jeanette's 25th wedding anniversary. Nathan and Drew wanted to treat them to a nice dinner so the weekend after their anniversary they came to St. Charles and we all went to eat at Ruth's Chris. It was very good and Anastyn behaved very well through dinner. The waiter couldn't believe how good she was. (He had missed her small screaming fit before she got her bottle!) After she got her food though, she was a perfect angel! We managed to take a few pictures, of course, so here they are!

Grandma Jeanette and Grandpa Darrell with Anastyn before dinner

Uncle Drew and Amanda with Anastyn

Mommy and Daddy with their baby!

My Little Reader

Anastyn loves her books! She loves to turn the pages and, of course, chew on them as well. I thought these pictures were pretty cute. She looks like such a big girl sitting up and reading her book. She also loves the song books at church. She actually prefers them to her own books. I think it is really cute. I just happened to have my camera in my purse last weekend at church when Devin, Kevin and the girls were down and at the end of church was able to catch Londyn sharing her songbook with Anastyn. So sweet! The other pics here are a little random, but I thought they were cute.

Anastyn and her "Good Puppy" book. This was one of her first books and she loves it.

Londyn and Anastyn with the songbook in church.

I just thought this was funny how she is hanging out in her boppy pillow. I kept sitting her up and she kept trying to get herself to this position, so I finally just let her lounge how she felt most comfy!

Just getting a picture of the wild hair. Gotta love it!

New Friends and Old Friends

This past weekend (November 5-7) Nathan, Anastyn, and I went to Kansas City to visit Karen, my roomate from college, and her husband, Justin. We had a great time and Anastyn enjoyed herself, too. Friday night we rented movies and ate pizza after our drive there. Saturday we went to a brunch with some of Karen and Justin's friends from church. It was delicious and nice getting to meet some of their friends. Then Karen and I decided to go shopping and left Anastyn with the boys. Saturday night another one of my old roomates, Lacey and her husband Brandon, met us for dinner and we got to meet their daughter Peyton. Peyton was born in August about a month and a half after Anastyn. She is such a doll! Unfortunately, we didn't get very many pictures of Anastyn and Peyton together because Anastyn was quite tired and pretty much cried the entire time we were at the restaurant. She is usually very good and we don't have trouble very often, but that night was just not her night! Maybe another time! We left on Sunday after church and Anastyn slept the entire ride home. I think she was very happy to be home. She played with us at home, no fussing at all and went straight to bed with not even a whimper. As a side note, I must add, I am very sad that this will be my last week at home with Anastyn. I have cried 3 out of the four nights already this week. I am blessed that I got to stay home with her as long as I have, but it makes it that much harder to go back to work. I have really tried to treasure every moment and take it all in. She has been extra sweet this week, too. Such as when I put her to bed, as soon as I walk into her room, she has started opening her mouth and finding my cheek. I am pretty sure she is trying to give me kisses, because that is what I do to her every morning and night. It really does melt a mother's heart! Well, I will stop veering off the path of this post and let you get on to the pictures!

Karen and Justin playing with Anastyn

The best picture we could get of Anastyn and Peyton. Such cute little girls, don't you think?

Lacey's husband, Brandon, with Anastyn

Me, Karen, Lacey and Peyton. Nathan had taken Anastyn to put her to sleep by this time.

On our shopping trip, I got Anastyn a new little hat. I thought she looked pretty cute in it. And I think she might be taking lessons on posing from her cousins!

For those of you that want to know, I posted three new posts tonight, so scroll on down if you are interested.

Cousin Love

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Anastyn got much love from her cousins! I love to see these girls together and I know they are going to be great friends one day. Anastyn loves to watch Skylar and Londyn when they play with her. Often over the weekend you could find the three girls all trying to fit under this little caterpillar gym toy. It was pretty cute! Also, Anastyn's cousin Kayli got to hold her a little finally! I think she has named every doll that she owns Anastyn Claire, so she was excited to get to hold the real Anastyn, to say the least! We are so blessed that Anastyn has such good cousins to grow up with, it will be fun to watch them all grow together.

Skylar, Anastyn and Londyn under the Caterpillar Gym

Kayli holding Anastyn with a little help from Grandma Jeanette

Londyn and Anastyn getting to know each other a little better. They layed like this for quite some time, and I think Londyn would have layed like this forever if Anastyn had cooperated!

Skylar snuggling up to Anastyn, who must be sleepy with that thumb in her mouth!

My beautiful nieces and daughter! I have a feeling we are going to have a lot of pictures like this as these girls are growing up!

Toes Anyone?

Anastyn has finally figured out she can get her toes in her mouth, as most babies eventually do. She began just holding onto her toes anytime she had a moment to herself on the floor. Now, this is what I see everytime I lay her on the floor. The toes go straight to the mouth. It doesn't matter if her cute little toesies are covered with socks or shoes, she will try to get them in as best as she can. Who wouldn't love toes as cute as these though!

I think she may be trying to get the whole foot in there!

Just the big toe

Christmas Is Coming!

We are so excited for Anastyn's first Christmas and thanks to her Aunt Devin she has the perfect little outfit for the holiday! She took a bunch of really cute pictures of her in it but I only had time to put a few on here. Also, yesterday was Anastyn's 5 month birthday. I think I actually got a picture of her on my camera, but I have yet to unpack it from the weekend so I will leave that post for another day. Here are just a few pictures from the Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe they will help put you in the holiday spirit!

Just look at those cheeks! I love it!

Such a cutie, don't you think?

Thanks Aunt Devin!

Love that smile

Skylar, Londyn and Anastyn in their PJ's. They are the best big cousins!

First Thanksgiving

Anastyn's 1st Thanksgiving was very good! A little busy, but well worth it! We were blessed enough to get to see both of our families today and everyone got a little bit of time with Anastyn. Although the actual day of Thanksgiving has come and gone, we still have so much to be very thankful for. First, and most important, we are so thankful that we have God in our lives. We have been so blessed in incredible ways! We are thankful for our beautiful daughter and her health and strength. We prayed and prayed for her and what a wonderful blessing. We are thankful for our wonderful supportive families, who have taught us the importance of faith, love, and family. We are thankful that we get to spend time with them and enjoy one another's company. We are so thankful for our jobs and the ability that God has given us to be able to work and support our family. We are thankful for Anastyn's new babysitter who became available at the perfect time. We are thankful for our home and the warmth that it provides us and our daughter. We are thankful for our church family and the love they have shown us in our move to St. Charles. We are so blessed to have a family away from home that cares for us and encourages us. I really could go on all night, as I am sure most of us could. When we take time to reflect on the things in our lives, I am sure that most of us would say we are far more blessed than we could ever imagine. We have friends, family, faith, freedom ( I am not trying for all f's but it seems to be going that way!), health, jobs, heat, homes, and many more material and spiritual blessings. We hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and continues to count their blessings daily! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

On A Roll

Anastyn finally decided to start rolling over (without cheating by keeping one arm underneath her). She could flop herself over if we cheated, but other than that she wasn't doing too much. However, as of last Friday, November 18th, (I am still catching up) she can now roll over with no help at all. She not only is rolling front to back one way, but both ways. And she is rolling from back to front also. I think she is wondering why she wasn't doing this sooner. She can now reach any toy on the floor that she wants by either rolling to it or twisting herself in a little circle on the floor. It is so fun to watch her get excited when she flips herself over. I am still right there cheering every time she does it, too. The first time I actually scared her because I got so excited. I have tried to tone it down, but I still feel the need to say YAY! and clap everytime. Nathan and I just love all of the new accomplishments and love this little girl more and more everyday. She is such a happy little girl and we have lots of fun. It is such a blessing to watch her personality develop more and more every day!

Here I go!

Almost there!

I did it!

Eatin' the Good Stuff

I am falling behind! It seems like we have been so busy lately and Anastyn has been doing so many new things all at once. Last Monday, November 10, Anastyn ate rice cereal for the first time. She did really well with it and seemed to really enjoy it. Of course it was still quite watery, but she liked it just the same. She really wanted to hold the spoon by herself. She has quite the little grip and I kept having to pry it out of her hand to get more cereal on the spoon. We took a few pictures. Coincidentally, about a week later, I took pics again while she was eating and she happened to be wearing the exact same outfit, different bib though. I just thought they were cute, and she looks so big in her high chair!

Trying to take the spoon away from her dad.

I think she is going to be a little independent!

These next pictures are from November 18th. She was cracking me up this time because after every spoonful she just had to stick her thumb in her mouth. I thought maybe she was just tired, but she continues to do this no matter how awake or sleepy she is. It is very cute, but very hard to feed a baby with a thumb stuck in her mouth! Once again, I couldn't decide which pics to put up, so enjoy!

After her first bite, in went the thumb!

She wasn't sleeping!

I just liked the way she looked at this angle. Aren't her little cheeks so cute!

Enjoying a bite of cereal!


Stay tuned for a rolling over post!

Just Couldn't Help Myself!

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