Playtime in the Snow

On Christmas Eve it snowed quite a bit in Ames. After Jared shoveled the snow, Brenna went out to play with him. She rode her 3 wheeler for a while and then Jared and her went down to the park (which is only 2 doors down) and went on the slide, swings and merry-go-round. Jared also showed Brenna how to do a snow angel. They had a blast! I didn't venture out to the park with them since Lauren was taking a nap inside, but I got a few pics before they left.

Brenna warming up, watching a cartoon with her new blanket she got from Bree for Christmas. Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture?

Lauren checking out her sister's new blanket!

Christmas Production

Jared was in our church Christmas production this year. Discovering David Dansville was the title. They did 9 shows and over 5000 people came to see it. It was amazing! It was a good reminder of the unconditional love our heavenly Father has for each of us. Jared did such a good job and it was so fun to see him on stage.

Lauren is One!!!

Lauren is one!!! She turned one on December 3rd. I can't believe my baby is one already. She is a little over 20 lbs....around the 38th percentile and about the 30th percentile for height. She loves music and will bop up and down when she hears it. She loves baths. She loves to be held! She loves food....I can't keep enough on her tray when we eat meals. She has a beautiful smile, but can turn feisty pretty quick if she doesn't get her way. She loves her blanket. She loves her sister as long as Brenna gives her space! :) Lauren has been such a great baby and has added so much joy to our family. Below are a few pictures from her little party. We invited two families over for a spaghetti dinner and cupcakes. I was still warn out from Brenna's 3 year old birthday bash with over 15 kids, so I decided to do something a little more low key for Lauren. :)

I made pumpkin cupcakes. Lauren devoured it! She just kept shoving more and more into her mouth! :) I think she thought she was getting away with something and should eat as quickly as possible before it was taken away!

How do you like Brenna's outfit (she's on the right)? Yes...that's an 80's leotard my mom got at a garage sale....and yes, that's her underwear sticking out underneath! Ha! The kids were playing dress up and she came out to the kitchen in this outfit like she was the coolest thing on the block!!! I couldn't stop laughing!

I tried to get a picture of the girls together, but this was the best I could get. Lauren was ready for bed and was tuckered out from the birthday festivities!

Future Pop Star

Brenna's Birthday Party

On Saturday, October 16th, Brenna turned 3 years old! I can't believe my baby is 3! We had a big celebration and had friends and family over for cake, ice cream and goodies.

Below is Dana and Brenna getting her party favor gift bags ready.

Brenna had a few requests for her birthday: a princess cake that was pink and purple, flowers, and balloons. I handled the flowers and balloons and Jared took care of the cake. He did an awesome job....with help from my sister-in-law, Dana. They baked a four layer strawberry filled cake and then Jared decorated it. Brenna loved her cake and it was mighty tasty too! What do you think? Jared is such a great dad!

After we ate cake and ice cream, Brenna opened all her gifts. Her friends and family were so generous and she got a lot of great gifts.

After gifts, we attempted a picture with all the kids in it. It turned out pretty good for how many kids there were.

Then the kids played while the adults talked and watched football. The kids were on a sugar high from all the cake and ice cream so it got pretty loud and crazy! Brenna even put on a concert with her new microphone....thanks Ryan & Dana! Below is a little video clip. :) Maybe she has a future in entertainment! (I've tried to download the video 3 times and it hasn't worked, so I will try something different later.)

Overall, the party went great and we had a fun time celebrating Brenna's birthday with our friends and family.

Tricky Treat

Happy Halloween from our little lady bugs!!! We went trick-or-treating....or as Brenna would say, "tricky treat" on Friday night. Brenna enjoyed collecting candy and Lauren enjoyed a relaxing ride in the stroller! The older generation on our street loved seeing the girls in their outfits.

August/September Review

I'm struggling with motivation to write this post because I don't have many pictures to use and I wonder if people are really interested in what we did a few months ago. But I'm going to post anyway because I like to complete things....I said I was going to write reviews for each month, so for me to move on to other posts I need to finish! :) I also want to post so I have record of the last two months. I see our blog as a family journal....the Van Cleave happenings....and I want to be able to go back and remember what our family did. So bear with me....or just ignore this post. :)

August

• Jared's mom Patty stayed with us for a few days before she had to go back to school. She's works full time at an elementary school in Carlisle as a nurse and secretary. She loves to play with Brenna when she's here. She can sit for hours and play house, color, play with puzzles, etc.


• We had a garage sale. I didn't think it would be worth the hassle, but I'm glad Jared encouraged me to follow through with it. We got rid of a lot of junk and it motivated us to organize our basement.


• Ames flooded in August. Fortunately, we had no water in our basement, but a lot of families had to tear out all of their carpet in their basements because of it.


• We attended the Iowa State Fair with our good friends, the Kruger family.


• My aunt Debra visited my grandma in Burlington for a week, so the girls and I made a road trip down there to spend some with her....along with my parents. Jared stayed home and worked on our deck.

September

• We went to the Amana's to celebrate Brenna's friend, Brady's, birthday. We stayed at a hotel that has a waterpark. We had so much fun....but we forgot our camera so there are no pics. :(


• That same weekend we attended the first official service of Veritas Church, Cornerstone's new church plant in Iowa City. There were over 200 people there. If anyone lives near, or in, Iowa City you should check. God is already doing awesome things there and I think He will continue to. I'm excited to see the future of this church.
  
• My mom and dad came to visit for several days because my mom had a one day conference for work in Des Moines. We had a great time together. They watched the girls on Saturday night so Jared and I could walk down and attend the Iowa State football game. It was a great game and the weather was perfect.

Yeah!!! I made it through the reviews!

Brenna's birthday was last Saturday so stay tuned for pics and details of her princess party!

June & July Review

June: We went to a lot of parks, went to the splash park a couple times, went to four birthday parties. I don't have many pictures from June so I honestly don't remember much more than that! :)

July: Jared's sister Lydia and her two kids, Micah and Bea came to visit. They stayed at Jared's parents the majority of the time, but one of the nights they stayed at our house. We had a great time with them. They were here during the fourth too, so we all went up to Jared's grandparents cabin in Spirit Lake. It was super windy up there, so we weren't able to get in the water, but we had a great time visiting with family and the kids were able to have fun in their make-shift pools. :) We love when Lydia comes to visit and had so much fun with them!

Lauren and her great grandma Muriel (Jared's grandma).

Lydia, Bea & Lauren.

Brenna & her two boy cousins, Micah & Easton.

Brenna stayed a long weekend with my parents in Burlington. They did A LOT together...went to the Farmers Market, took the dogs on several walks, went to a couple parks, went to the pool, etc. She loved her time there and didn't get home sick one bit....she didn't even want to talk to me when I called. She was too busy playing :)

Burlington has a farmers market along the Mississippi River on Thursday nights. They went to get some sweet corn.

This is a bike my parents found Brenna on a garage sale for $1!!! My dad is teaching her how to ride.

We went to visit my brother in Minniapolis in July too, but we forgot our camera. It was really hot that weekend, so we couldn't do much outside, but we still had a great time....grilled out, went to the Mall of America, watched a movie, went to our favorite ice cream shop, etc. On our way out of town my friend Nealy took family pictures of us. I will post some pics later this week. She did an awesome job!

At the end of July the girls and I took a road trip to Madison, WI. All my girl cousins on the Bohlen side got together with all our kids (which are all girls) for the weekend. We had a great time together. It was so fun to catch up and to watch all our kids interact.

I'm Back! :)

I know, I know...it's been a while since we've posted anything. Ok....a LONG while! I thought I'd get everyone up to speed on what we've been up to the past few months, so I'm going to do four or five different posts in the next week (or two...or three) highlighting the last several months of our lives. Then hopefully after that I will be better at posting more consistently.

I will start with May & June.

We went to a couple of weddings in May. One of those was our college babysitter, Ashley. She's watched Brenna during our weekly connection group (couples Bible study) for two and half years....basically since Brenna was a newborn. She is an awesome babysitter and has become a great friend to Brenna and the rest of our family. Brenna was so excited to go to her wedding and she even got to dance with her!

Lauren was dedicated at our church in May. As Lauren's parents we dedicated her to the Lord and promised to teach her the truths of Scripture and raise her in godly home. Below is a picture of the group of parents and their kids....if you look close you can see Lauren's picture on the screen.

The girls and I took a road trip to Burlington to visit my parents

and also attend a bachelorette party for my friend Mindy...we've been friends ever since we met in kindergarten! It was fun to see some friends from high school and to catch up with Mindy. I am so happy for her and her new husband Matt!

While we were gone, Jared had spent a lot of time doing landscaping in our yard and also building a trellis. Didn't he do an awesome job? He is so handy!

At the end of May we went to Bree's birthday party. This is Brenna's best friend. They are only four months a part and love to spend time together. It will be fun to watch them grow up together.

Below are a couple of random pics.