Basketball

 Both Tori and James played basketball this winter and loved it.  Tori was the only girl on her team, but everyone loved her.  Her coaches did a great job and she learned a lot about the game. 

Below James and Ellie are watching Tori's game with Dad.  Tori's favorite part about basketball was getting a free slushy at the end of each game.

 James did a "Little Dribblers" class at the Y.  He loved talking to his coaches and getting his own little ball, jersey and trophy.  He has seen Tori get trophies and metals and was thrilled to get one of own. 

Grandma & Grandpa come to visit

Grandma Margie and Grandpa Eric came to visit us for a long weekend and it was so fun having them!  Above, Grandpa is playing Zingo with Ellie (it's her favorite game right now).  Below, all the kids loved playing with Grandpa at their hotel pool.  So much fun to get to swim in the winter!  When we got to the hotel, I realized that I had forgotten to bring Ellie's swimsuit.  This is why she is wearing James' swimsuit top with her swim diaper - I'm glad he didn't mind sharing.

Above, both Tori and James put on a little concert for Grandma & Grandpa.  Our piano has some recorded music that James loves playing along with.  He really gets into it, so it's quite fun to watch.  Below is a little video of Ellie coming down a slide at a science museum we took them to - I'm just sad we didn't take more pictures there. 

Snow!

We have loved North Carolina and I love the weather.  Tori, however, talks a lot about how she misses the snow like we had in Iowa (I don't think the rest of us really miss Iowa winters, though).  So, I was very happy for her when we got a little bit of snow - enough to cancel school.  There was barely enough to cover the grass, but we still had fun.  They made snow angels, had a snowball fight and we even managed to make a miny snowman.  James loved playing in it, too.  Ellie wasn't too thrilled about wearing the snow clothes and had they made it hard for her to move around.  Please forgive James' snow pants that are purple and his boots that were pink.  When we only have a couple days of snow a year I couldn't bring myself to buy new snow clothes that he would just grow out of so he had to wear some of Tori's old snow stuff.

Haircuts and Hamburgers

John took a few pictures of me giving James a haircut.  I thought all his different facial expressions were cute while I was cutting his hair - I usually don't get to see what he looks like while I'm cutting. 

 Below is a picture John took of me enjoying one of my pregnancy cravings while I was pregnant with little Henry.  I usually don't have too many cravings while pregnant (just hungry for anything).  But one evening John and the kids were happy to indulge me when I said I really wanted a Five Guys cheeseburger - I'm actually getting hungry for another one while typing this post. :)

fun videos

These are just a couple of cute videos John took with his phone while playing with James & Ellie.

Dress Up

Tori has helped Ellie discover dressing up.  It's so fun to see Ellie in the cute dresses that Tori used to run around in.  Brings back lots of fun memories.

James has enjoyed dressing up ever since he got his Batman costume for Halloween.  I love the poses he does and how he tries to act really tough when he is in his costume.

Below are a few videos of them having a lot of fun running around together.

Happy New Years and a few other pictures

 Above, John caught Tori reading bedtime stories to James - so sweet.  Below, the kids got an airplane that matches their swing set for Christmas and they love it.  Too, bad the weather was beautiful right before Christmas and then it got cold and rainy - they still had fun, though.

 

On New Years Day we took the kids bowling. They had a lot of fun - James and Ellie had never been before.  It was bumper bowling which helped our scores not be too embarrassing. :)