Working together!!!

Alyssa and Hannah had a great time making peanut butter balls. The only thing I did was mix it all together as the mixture is pretty thick. They did the rest of the work, it's kind of nice to just sit back and watch. They are both growing up so much!!!

Reading books with Mommy before bed.

The girls playing with playdough

Daddy and the girls...

...out for a walk in the woods!!!

Daniel's bedroom

Here are the pictures I took of Daniel's bedroom for his babybook.

Alyssa Nikay

This picture turned out great.
She was actually sitting on the ground picking hazelnuts.

By the fountain in Herforst.

Riding on Grandma and Grandpa's luggage.

Wearing Daddy's ABU's.

Crazy hair!!!

All ready to start driving just a little short:o)

One of the leaves she picked off the tree.

Serious face:o(

Check out that castle!!!

Alyssa is growing up so quickly and still patiently waiting to start school. She catches on to things so easily. She has started reading some words by herself, she is great at remembering her Bible verses for AWANA, she is even teaching Hannah how to write the letters in the alphabet. She can now tie her shoes all by herself without any help at all. Her new favorite thing to do besides reading books is coloring. She has finally gotten into that stage where she is using all different colors and she does a great job. I am looking forward to mailing some of her pictures to all of you. She loves the projects that she gets to do at MOPS, Creative Critters and storytime at the libray. She is getting very detailed and is usually the last one to finish her projects. She also looks forward to playgroup every Tuesday.

Since Grandma and Grandpa left in September we have started reading and watching Little House on the Prairie. We have watched the whole first season and are working on the second one. We have also read the whole first book in the Little House on the Prairie series and we are half way through the second one. Alyssa loves listening to the books even though there are not pictures on every page, she has a great imagination. Hannah on the other hand will listen for a little bit, then she is off to play with Daniel. It will come in time for her. I am also enjoying the books as I have never read them before. As for the shows, I think I have seen every one of them so far when I was a little girl:o) The girls really get into the shows and are very concerned at times and ask lots and lots of questions. As for Daniel I am going to have to get a video of him when the Little House on the Praire theme song comes on. He dances like crazy!!!

Hannah Banana!!!

Our cutie pie!!!

Wearing Daddy's BDU's.

Crazy hair

Relaxing in the grass.

Pulling off the helicopter seeds.

Serious face

Hannah with her castle.

Playing in the grass by the pond.

Hannah is growing up so quickly. She is learning how to write her name. She can say her ABC's and can count to twenty. She loves playing dress up and dollies with her sister. She also likes to play cars & trucks and roll the ball with Daniel. Reading books and puzzles are two of her favorite things to do, she has the 3-7 year old puzzles mastered already. We had EDIS (Educational & Developmental Intervention Services) come to our house on Monday to evaluate her speech. We have noticed that she is not speaking as clear as she use to. Everything turned out okay. The lady that came to our house did the well-child checklist with her and she got a 60 out of 60 in every category. Her suggestions were to have her slow down when she is talking, correct her when she says something wrong, and make sure Alyssa is not talking for her. She also mentioned that it may be because Hannah is growing so quickly and her mouth as not quite caught up with her yet. She is already in 4T clothing and now wears the same size shoes as Alyssa. Next they will be wearing the same size clothes.

Daniel Man!!!

Cutie!!!!

Smiley!!!

Pulling the train tracks apart.

Going for a ride in the stroller at the airport.

Climbing the stairs for the first time!!!
Just look at Alyssa's concerned face, I had her stand behind him while I went to get the camera.

Caught between the closet and the wall.
Funny story Hannah was napping and Alyssa & I were doing something. I heard Daniel crying and couldn't find him right away. Some how he had wedged himself in between the closet and the wall. Now it is just a place to hide.

Throwing the football.

Playing in the tub, he looks forward to this every night!!!

Outside in the grass and dirt!!!

So serious

Playing with the leaves.

This is the best picture I could get of Daniel's pointer fingernail. Well, he pulled the front door over his finger. He cried a little when it happened, but I was not to concerned. Just a couple days later it started yellowing and it eventually fell completely off. It seems to be growing back just fine. I haven't had to clip that nail in about one and a half to two months. I was a little worried as the doctor said that may grow back weird, but it seems to be just fine.

Daniel is growing like a weed. He is getting ready to move into 18-24 month pants already, but still in the 12-18 month shirts. He is now completely weaned off his Nutramigen formula and using Good Start. He still eats baby food when we are having something that he can't have, but he loves eating what we eat. He is cruising all over the place and walks with help from Mom and Dad. He actually took his first step by himself last Thursday, but refuses to do it again. He also learned how to wave both hi and bye bye and it is so cute. I am going to have to get a video of him waving. He enjoys all the activities we go to during the week. He actually plays with other babies his age. Alyssa and Hannah never did that until they got quite a bit older. It must have something to do with being the third child.

An Update...

Well, it has been quite a while since I gave everyone an update on our family. For those of you that didn't know we got our assignment to San Antonio, TX with a report no later date of June 15, 2010. So, we are looking forward to seeing family before the move to Texas!!!

We have lots of baby updates also. My sister found out that her and Pete are going to be having a baby boy around the end of February!!! Everyone was really shocked as every women on the Solem side has always had a baby girl first. I am very excited and can't wait to meet my nephew Owen!!! Sandy & Brady are due with baby number two around the middle/end of March. We have not found out the sex of the baby yet, but are patiently waiting!!! Tim & Lorraine are due with their first baby the end of May!!! Congratulations to the two of you!!! Then last, but not least Stephanie & Karl are due the end of June with baby number two!!! So, as of next June Bill and I will be Great-Uncle & Aunts to four babies, boy does that make me feel old.

So, our Halloween Day did not go as planned. Poor Hannah woke up with a fever and was not feeling the best, so Bill, Hannah & Daniel stayed home all day. Alyssa had a great day with Mommy and her good friend Emma and her Mom Allison. The four of us went to the Fall Carnival at the Elementary School in the afternoon. Then we all came back to our house for supper. We all headed back to base once it was dark for trick or treating in base housing. And last we went to the Chapel for the Shine Festival. Alyssa and Emma had a lot of fun the whole day/night. I asked Alyssa what her favorite part was and she said that it was running from house to house getting candy.

I will give you an update on the kids as I post some pictures of each of them. I know you enjoy the pictures a lot more than me just rambling on. All I will say is that they all are growing up way to fast:o(

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids after Trunk or Treat Friday night!!!
I forgot the camera, so I will have to get my pictures on Halloween Day.

The kids sitting down for story time at the library!!!

Daniel in his costumes!!!

Our little dinosaur!!!

Well, I originally got Daniel this skeleton outfit, but decided this week that he needed an actual costume for the Shine Festival at church. Someone was selling this new dinosaur costume, so I decided that we had to have it. Well, it turned out the skeleton outfit I got I should have bought in a size bigger. It was tight and looked like capri's on him, so he had to wear black socks. And the dinosaur costume fit him perfectly and he loved being in it!!!

Hannah in her bumblebee costume!!!

Hannah makes a perfect little bumblebee!!! We went into the Commissary after storytime yesterday and the kids were wearing their costumes. A lady working there took Hannah's picture in front of the Sue honey set up they had, she said that Hannah was perfect for the display.

Alyssa in her butterfly costume!!!

This year I let the girls pick out what they wanted to be for Halloween off the Old Navy website. This was Alyssa's first choice. She makes a super cute butterfly!!!

Our Pumpkins this year!!!

The kids

So, this year we all did the scooping, I did the tracing and Bill did all the carving. Here is our final product. The girls designed the bumpy red pumpkin with Bill.

Having fun!!!

Here is a video of them scooping the pumpkin goop:o)

Scooping out the pumpkins!!!!

The kids

Alyssa scooping one of the pumpkins.

Hannah with one of the pumpkins.

Daniel digging for some goop.

Daniel eating the goop:o)

Daniel wiping the goop all over Mom's white shirt.

Daniel helping Daddy with the pumpkin.
This is the first year we have gotten the girls to participate in pumpkin scooping and they had a blast. Alyssa and I picked out, washed and baked 9 cups of pumpkin seeds. We made four flavors: garlic salt, season salt, cinnamon & sugar, and hickory, chili powder, & ceyenne pepper. The last one was Bill's recipe and he brought them all to work. The girls also made two pumpkin pies with me, Grandma Gruenes' recipe. Which by the way turned out excellent, we are saving one to have on Thanksgiving Day.