Juan

Last week Lara got her very own pet.... a guinea pig. It was kind of spontaneous, but fun! She named him Stop, but it just didn't sound right, so we changed it to Juan. He's very cute, and loves to squeak! He gets to live in Lara's room since he is her's!

The Lodge at Brainerd Lakes

Last week my parents, the girls, and I took a little trip up to Brainerd, MN and stayed at the Lodge. They have a little indoor waterpark there, and Lara had a blast! (Except for the part where she got stuck in the deep water) Ayla wasn't a fan of the water this time.
I didn't get any pictures of Ayla in her swimsuit because it was so warm in there that my lens fogged up, then she fell asleep. She looked super cute though!

We played in the arcade the next morning, and Lara won a couple prizes.

One More Christmas

A couple weeks ago my mom and I took the girls down to Princeton, WI to celebrate Christmas with her side of the family. We missed the original celebration because of bad weather. It was the first time I got to see Mary, Glen, and Claire's new house. Pretty cool! We opened gifts, and made homemade pizza. It was a good time!
Here are Claire and Lara making our pizza. YUM!
Ayla with Uncle Kenny.

Ayla Stands Up!

A couple days ago Ayla started standing on her own. She really wants to take steps, but falls when she tries. Hopefully she'll get it soon!

Ayla's Polar Bear

Ayla finally figured out how to play with her polar bear toy from santa so I got some video of it.

9 Months Old

Ayla turned 9 months old on Christmas Day, and just had her check up on Wednesday. She weighed 19 lbs 4.5 oz, and was 28 1/4 inches long. She's growing up so fast! She now has 2 teeth on the bottom, and the top 2 started showing a little yesterday. She can stand on her own for a few seconds at a time, clap her hands, wave, shake her head no, and throws her arms up in the air above her head when you ask her how big she is. We've been having so much fun!

While Mike was home over Christmas time we decided to grow old and buy a van. I am actually very excited about it! We have a lot more room, and it's fun to drive. I'm so used to driving a tiny car. We still kept the car though. I can't part with it, I love to drive it! Well that is all for now....

Play Date!

The girls and I went to Ashley's house yesterday to play. They have a play room filled with toys so Lara entertains herself, and the little one's just play with the baby toys and pretty much stare at each other. Ayla isn't used to seeing other babies her age, so she's not quite sure what is going on.This table kept them busy and happy for quite a while! Katia fits right in the drawer and sits there and just plays!

The Giggle Factory

Last week the girls and I met my friend Ashley and her daughter Katia at The Giggle Factory in Hudson. It's a fun little play place for kids to run around like crazy, and they serve food, so it was a good time!
Here's Katia sitting on a toy in the little kid's area. She is 4 weeks younger than Ayla, and is SO cute!Lara had lots of fun and was sad to leave. I'm sure we'll be making many trips back there!

Christmas Day

We spent the rest of Christmas day up in Siren. We went to my parent's house first to open gifts with them, then headed over to my grandma's to get together with the whole family.
Lara got her own purse and some gum and tic-tacs to go with it. She had been sneaking into my purse stealing my gum and tic-tacs for a couple weeks, so now she has her own!
Lara is opening up the German Shepherd that Uncle Jon got her and Ayla. He's so cute!

Waiting patiently for Uncle Jon to put the dog in play mode for them. He's really cute, he barks and cries, shakes, wags his tail, and lays down.

The girls both got Dragon t-shirts to wear to the basketball games when we're up there. So cute!

My mom knit this sweater and hat for Ayla. I love it!

Here are all the Tjader kids opening presents. ALL boys except for my 2 girls!

Christmas morning

Lara woke up to presents under the tree and in her stocking on Christmas morning! She had been waiting for so long for this day to come! We saw Santa at the Mall of America, and got the girls' picture taken with him. For once Lara wasn't afraid, and she told him exactly what she wanted.
Lara wanted the Barbie Party Cruise so bad this year, and of course, Ayla was easy to buy for.

Once again Ayla let Lara open most of her presents.

Here is Lara discovering that Santa did bring her the Barbie Cruise! She was SO excited!

Here is Ayla with her big toy from Santa.

Christmas Eve

We went to Nana and Papa's house for Christmas Eve. We had a nice steak dinner and opened lots of presents! Lara enjoyed the fact that she got to help open most of Ayla's presents since she had no idea what was going on.
Ayla with daddy. Lara with more Littlest Pet Shop toys!

Helping Ayla open presents.
More pet shop pieces.
Helping daddy open presents.
I think Lara plays with Ayla's toys more than she plays with her own!

Christmas tree

This year the girls and I went with Jen, Bryan, and the boys to get our Christmas tree because Mike was gone, and I had no way to get one on my own. Lara and Peyton were very cute together, having their arms around each other out in the cold, and once we were inside Lara announced to everyone that Peyton was her boyfriend. : )
Here Lara is putting on the first ornament for me.


Ayla wanted to help out too!

Lara was really proud of the tree. We kept it pretty simple, but she still moved the ornaments around so we had lots of empty spots, and lots of spots with multiple ornaments. Surprisingly Ayla left the tree alone, with the exception of batting at an ornament occasionally.