Christmas Photos 2017

A Christmas Tradition in our house is that every year we get our kids a Christmas-y church outfit and on the first Sunday of December we give it to them and then take Christmas pictures in front of the Christmas tree.  Some years have turned out better than others, but it's always fun for us to see how they've grown from Christmas to Christmas.  Given how much we've moved, it's also been a fun reminder for us to look back and see where we lived each Christmas.  Here our our Christmas 2017 pictures from our Duggleby house in Davenport, IA: Colton 6ys, Katie 4 yrs, Zach 2 yrs.

Halloween 2017

October this year was a very busy and crazy month!  I was in charge of planning the Ward Dinner and Trunk or Treat, Jon was extra busy at work, I wasn't feeling very good as I was in my first trimester of pregnancy, the kids all got sick with pink eye and then the pukes for about 2 weeks, and with all of the school and home events going on it was just a crazy blur!  However, despite all the busy-ness and sickness, we were still able to fit in some Halloween fun throughout the month!

We had fun painting our pumpkins early in the month, but sadly daddy was too busy with work to join in the fun this year! 

We made it to Pride of the Wapsi for our annual pumpkin patch trip!  It was crazy hot and we had to wait in line for a ridiculously long amount of time just to get in, but we still had a good time once we were inside.  As always, the favorites for the kids were the slides and the barrel train.  Zach loved the corn crib but wouldn't really let me take any good pictures.  My favorite, as always, was the yummy kettle corn!

As mentioned earlier, I was in charge of the Ward Trunk or Treat this year and although it was a bit stressful, I think it turned out really well!  We had a great showing and the Nacho Bar was a hit!  Katie was sick with the pukes and Zach was dealing with pink eye so only Colton was able to come to the Trunk or Treat with me.  We were sad not to have the whole family with us and Katie was pretty sad to miss the candy, but Colton was a good big brother and offered to bring her pumpkin around with him so she would have some treats when she felt better. 

Thankfully everyone was feeling better by the actual Halloween.  The whole family dressed up this year.  Jon and I went as Anna and Hans, Colton was bat (in my first homemade Halloween costume), Katie went as Shimmer (a genie from Nick Junior show Shimmer and Shine), and Zach was a monkey.  We walked around the neighborhood together and got a good load of candy.  It was a bit chilly but we all had fun! 

Zachary Turns 2!

October was a BUSY month!!  Between church, work, and school obligations and a whole truck load of sicknesses that hit us, it was one for the books!  It was rough because I genuinely love October and all the fun Halloween Festivities with the kids, but this year I sadly found myself just wanting it to be over already!  However, despite all that, we still had some bright spots and good times that we were able to squeeze in there.

One BIG bright shining spot in October was the 2nd Birthday of my baby boy!  Sometimes it's hard to believe he's already so old, and other times I think about everything that's happened since Zach joined our family, and it seems like maybe he should be turning 10!

Zach is such a big part of our family for being such a little guy.  He's always been a little puny but he is full of smiles, energy, and fun.  His 2 year checkup stats were 11% for weight and 28% for height.  He has definitely found his voice over the last 6 months!  He is always trying out new words and expressing his independence with phrases like, "Don't want to!" and "Stop it!"  and "Don't like it."  The other day Katie and Zach were watching a show together and a commercial came on.  Every time a toy commercial comes on tv, Katie and Colton like to say, "I want that!"  They say it to pretty much every commercial.  This time when a commercial came on, Katie said, "I want that!" and Zach piped up, "Want that!", and now he says it all the time too. 

Zach loves his siblings, even though being the youngest can be tough.  He had a hard time when Katie started going to school this year and cried every day after we dropped her off for the first week!
He is a big daddy's boy right now.  The first thing he asks when he wakes up is, "Daddy home?"  When he gets hurt he always wants Daddy, and when Daddy is home, mommy is rarely allowed to hold Zach. 

He is still a very picky eater and it's tough to find healthy food he will eat.  I can't think of one food he really loves off the top of my head besides cheetos!  Haha.  He does eat a lot of yogurt and applesauce and oh, he does LOVE peanut butter.  He like to eat it by the spoonfuls!

Zach loves to climb, swing, run around outside, bust a move to music, and read stories.  His favorite story right now is Little  Blue Truck.  He also like dinosaurs and Colton has taught him a pretty good roar.

Zach is an adorable little charmer.  He is always smiling, waving, and saying "Hi!" to everyone wherever we go.  Oftentimes he'll do something naughty but its just too hard to be mad when he's so cute!!  We are so glad this good, energetic, ridiculous little boy!

For his birthday, we just threw something together last minute (because the month has been crazy!) and had a couple of close family friends over for a BBQ and Icecream and Cake.  We had a great time and Zach loved the attention.  Earlier in the day we went to Niabi Zoo as a family.  Jon was able to meet us there from work and we had a good time!  Zach's favorite things to do at the zoo are ride the train and carousel and feed the sheep :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Zach!  We love you!!