happy new year

2013 was pretty great. 

I think 2014 might be too.  

Happy New Year, everyone. 

christmas at the lake

The first few days at the lake we were running on the generator.
A mega huge ice storm shut off the power for a few days for a lot of people in the area. 
It was even too icy for Auntie Gracie to drive up from Missouri. 
(We're still sad about that.)

Annual Christmas picture.  And this year there's a new member.   Hi Tyler!
(Well two -- if you count Lambie ;)

Elise's favorite present is her Doc McStuffin's Doctor kit. 
We saw it at Costco and told Lauren to get it for her.  She LOVES it. 

She spent the rest of the day giving people check-ups. 
She of course remembered Grandma's owie foot.  

Carl - thank you for taking these pictures.  Otherwise I wouldn't be in any. 

Caught this precious moment coloring with Aubrey and Tyler.  Also you can see some of the contents of Elise's stocking - her favorite was the "white gum" and "my very own little ball chapstick!"

Little weirdo.

We all ventured outside and turned the pond into a skating rink. 
It was SO fun.  I kept my boots on though - I'm really bad at skating.

Elise was super excited to try skating.  My mom even made her a special skating-helper-thingy.  Do these have a real name??

Lauren's not that giant.  She's wearing skates.

The skating crew.  Elise's face looked like this in every picture.

The ice storm made everything really pretty. 
Although I'd rather have power than pretty branches.

Grandpa took this lucky girl swimming in the hot tub. 
She has so much fun. 

We all have matching Christmas jammies, but we didn't get a group picture this year. 
Lauren and Carl got Nick & Tyler keychain breathalyzers.  Trust me when I say they all tried their hardest to blow the highest number.  Not everyone felt perky the next morning...but I can tell you I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time. 

Such a wonderful Christmas.

christmas coma

Whew.  It's been a busy week.  I can't remember the last time I felt hungry.  I literally wore a hair elastic to keep my jeans up tonight because they are so tight I can't button them without a serious muffin top.  I also can't believe I just put that on the internet.   I need to detox. 

I'm sitting here in my stretchy pants going through all our christmas pictures.

It's been a good week.

It all started Sunday with our extended family at my mom & dad's.  Elise got a Lambie - her favorite from the show Doc McStuffins.  She was SO excited and made everyone give Lambie a cuddle -- many times. 

I told my cousin who got Elise's name that she likes crafts and anything princess.  

She combined them in this princess/sticker/dress-up thing and Elise was in heaven.

 We did a little Christmas Eve bowling....

 And we spent Christmas Day with the Gootes.  

Elise is one lucky little lady.  I'd say most of those presents were for her.

Auntie Sarah always does the best job with the gift bags.

  Guess which one she opened first.  

She had so many presents she got sick of opening them.  We had to take a break to eat lunch and then go back to the five presents still left in the pile.  It was a little sad...but she loved her new dress-up box.  It even came with several pairs of "fancy shoes".   

Thanks for such a wonderful Christmas Gootes!  Next up -- Christmas at the Lake. 

random tidbits

Not much  new over here.  

Here's a few instagram pictures to tide you over until the real Christmas fun starts.  I kind of can't believe Lauren hasn't bugged me for an update.

Daddy usually does baths around here.  

I love her collection of ornaments.   It's a little cuter than my collection of stuffed teddy bears sitting on piles of ribbon,  doilies that look like angles, and clay hearts.   Although those do have "precious memories".  

(When we were little my mom would have a separate "precious memories" tree so our ugly handmade creations wouldn't mess up her perfect pottery barn tree.)

Last week me and Elise had a little McDonalds lunch date. 

Between bites she would dance next to the table.  

She still needs her naps. 

No nap means snoring in the car. 

This was before I ruined the fur on her coat when I stuck it in the dryer. 

 SO ANNOYING.  

She loves the snow.  As in she dives in head first and pretends to swim. 

I have a box of random craft stuff I keep in the cabinet.  

Girlfriend loves her some crafts. 

We played at my friend Leighann's house last week. 

She does hair - you can tell Lyza really knows what she's doing, learning from her mama.  It's so funny to watch.  

Successful Christmas party.  Elise spent the night at my parents and nobody was horribly hungover.  You can tell these boys like craft beer...

Elise sat on Santa's lap yesterday.  

She was a little embarrassed.  I asked her what she asked Santa for and she said "a new car for mommy and doc mcstuffins".  Nick tells me I should prepare to be dissapointed.  

first snow of the year

We had our first good snow of the year!

Elise has been talking about snow angels for weeks.  

She was SO excited.

We were supposed to go visit our friends and their new baby today - but Miss E has been battling a fever/cough this weekend although she feels fine, she still sounds pretty bad.  Not good for new babies.  So instead we stayed home shoveled the driveway. 

She LOVED it this year.  This is the funnest age. 

She would just dive in and roll around.  

After an hour and a half I had to bribe her with hot chocolate and a candy cane to get her to willingly come inside.  Now I think we both need a nap. 

it's christmas time at the gootes

oh Christmas tree...

This is Elise's thing lately.  She says, "do you want to hear a song I know?"  We say sure!  So she sings and sings about everything and everybody that she loves until she says "the end!".  Here she's pretty excited to be going to get a Christmas tree.  Sorry for the phone video...

We went to this adorable tree farm right by our house with a saw in hand.  And Grandpa & Grandma Goote.  And Uncle Adam & Auntie Sarah.  And Ollie the dog. It was quite the parade.  

We probably walked two miles around these giant Christmas tree fields - and found nothing.  All the trees were too short, bushy, and weird looking.  We kind of gave up and took a picture next to this shrimpy tree - ya know, to prove to our kid someday we love her and wanted her to experience a Christmas tree cutting experience - fully expecting to drive to Home Depot and pick up a tree there. 

We even took a picture of Nick cutting down his parent's tree and figured we pass it off as our own.  Because Home Depot pictures aren't as Christmas-y.  It's kind of like cheating.  But I have to admit we got pretty awesome trees there before we had Elise.  Much easier. 

But then! We took a last minute walk through the pre-cut trees right by the entrance.  And it spoke to me.  Our tree!   (Of course they had all the best trees pre-cut by the entrance. Duh Rach.)

So here's a picture of us by our real tree.  A non-shrimpy, regular shaped tree. 

I had a lot of help decorating with "or-ma-nents" that I had to fix a little after my little helper went to bed.  But it looks SO pretty.  This morning Elise came downstairs and said "mommy!  our tree is sooooo beee-utiful!"

thanksgiving in peoria {part two}

A few more from Thanksgiving.  From my phone.

We went to Bass Pro Shops - this place is huge.  There's a carasel, huge fish tank, and a bowling alley with a restaurant.  It's pretty awesome. 

I guess Elise thought Tyler needed a hug.

Some people take awesome pictures with their phone. 

I take blurry pictures.

Friday night involved yummy margaritas. 

What a crazy fun bunch.