Our Teeny Christmas

We had a very quiet Christmas this year. Jolene was the only family around. We were grateful to have her though.

We did the traditional nativity scene. This year our wise man brought wipes to the baby Jesus. I bet Mary would have appreciated that way more than Frankincense and Myrrh anyway.

Our wise friend Ely. 

Mary, Jesus and Jesus' big sister.

Madelyn made out like a bandit this Christmas. She was so excited to open her presents! Thank you everyone. She was one happy toddler.

Lily slept through the whole thing. She was one happy baby.

Madelyn has been bouncing all over the place on her new bouncy ball. Thanks Kipp and Kathleen!

Lily has been sleeping all over the place.

While Jolene was here we took her out to Konza. This was actually Christmas day. It was nice and warm.

The picture tree. 

Madelyn decided she needed to look through the hole too.

It was a nice little Christmas.

Snow Day and Other Things

We woke up the other morning to about 4 inches of snow! Madelyn was so excited she could hardly stand it. We went out and made tons of little snowmen all over the yard. She squished them all and laughed.

Lily and Madelyn enjoying their Daddy's favorite childhood show. The Brave Little Toaster.

Rory and Madelyn made Christmas sugar cookies. We turned our backs for one minute and she had flour all over her face.

Lily provided moral support.

A Few More Things

Madelyn and Lily listening to bedtime stories.

We decorated for Christmas this weekend. Madelyn was very serious about where she put her ornaments.

She's discovered the joy of putting things in backpacks.

She's also discovered the consequences of over packing. She tripped and her massive backpack squashed her. Poor little thing.

A Hike with Toots

While Toots was here we took her out to Konza to look around. I felt a little weird being able to go hiking in November but it was nice to get out!

Lily's First Week

We've been having a lazy week trying to figure each other out. Lily is starting to sleep better and that means I'm feeling less like a zombie. 

It's been great having my mom here. She's been incredibly helpful and I'm sure I'd have been a crazy bawling mess by now without her.

Madelyn is still loving her baby sister but definitely requires a little alone time with  mom. The other night we had a shaving party in the bath.

Lily got a ride in Madelyn's wagon.

Playing dress up.

Hanging out with Dad.

There've been a few forts made. Toots has been a good sport about all the weird things Madelyn wants her to do.

Another One!

We added another O'Connor to the family on Wednesday. Her name is Lily Anne O'Connor. She was born at 4:22 pm and weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. She's 21 inches long. 

Madelyn loves her baby sister and calls her the Tiny Sister. We're still working on getting her to say Lily. She wants to hold her all the time which has been a little nerve wrecking but she's mostly gentle. 

Rory and his girlies.

A Weekend in Lincoln

We spent Halloween with Sara and Jake and girlies. It's so nice having them close enough to visit!!

Trunk or treating. It was frigid and the poor little things only lasted about 15 minutes before they were all visibly shaking. Madelyn said "I sit in car" and was not in the least interested in getting any more candy.

The next day we went to the Lincoln Children's museum. It was fabulous and the girlies really enjoyed themselves. 

Family portrait.

Pause

I was out fighting our ongoing battle against being blocked into our house by leaf drifts when I noticed how cute Madelyn was being and had to stop and take a few photos.

Nothing says happiness like a two year old in a pile of leaves.

She was fearless! She just belly flopped into the piles and thought it was hilarious.

After destroying my nicely raked piles she started building her own. It was important to pat the top when she was done.

Festivities

We've been doing a lot of trick-or-treating and it isn't even Halloween yet! Madelyn was a lion this year. She was really good about not touching her face paint. I was impressed.

Since we're in Kansas now we couldn't resist a little Wizard of Oz pride. Wicked Witch, Scarecrow and Lion.

Manhattan actually has a fourth season. It's called Fall. We're so used to Winter and Not-Quite-as-Cold-as-Winter that it's been a little weird to have all this mild, wonderful weather. Madelyn loves the leaf piles.

Britt's Farm

We picked our pumpkins this weekend at a local farm. They had a lot of fun stuff for kids to do so we spent an afternoon there.

Pretty sunflowers.

Conquering the long dark tunnel. She was a bit nervous to go in there. 

They had this spiffy plastic slide that she loved. She only went down twice but she spent a lot of time at the top giggling while other kids went down. It was amusing to watch.

A smaller tunnel slide that was a lot more manageable than the huge white slide.

Corn maze.

Free pumpkin patch! It only had these teeny pumpkins but Madelyn thought they were just right for her.

This is the most ridiculous bike I've ever seen. There was no way to steer. But it was funny to watch them go round in circles.

There was also a huge teeter totter!

It was a pretty sweet ride.

At the petting zoo Madelyn was almost eaten by the little brown goat. He decided she looked pretty delicious and started nibbling on her shirt. Haha. I can't blame him.