Day of Love

Last Saturday was declared "Family Valentine's Party Day" and it actually lived up to the hype. To start the day, Abby and I got haircuts. My first in a year (yikes!) and Abby's second of her life. We are just a couple of low maintenance gals. :) Anyway, here are Abby's before pictures. I had to do two front ones because her poses were just too funny.

We said "Abby, stand still so I can get a picture of your hair."

"No, Abby, keep your head up."
I know, I know. How could I cut this beautiful hair? It was constantly getting caked with food and anything else she felt like being messy with. This was done for the sake of hygiene. The after.
Pretty cute, huh?
My after and also showing off the bump for those who are interested. And I haven't officially announced on our blog, but we're having another baby! A boy in fact, due July 20th. He's already starting to invade my space. :)

To continue to the party, we decorated our dining room and made some heart shaped pizzas for dinner. We also spoiled our kids with a rare treat of punch and also some angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Here is a fellow party-goer.

The kids pizza, cheese and black olives. They wouldn't have it any other way.

The decorated room. The kids did a great job coloring the sign and it looks so beautiful in there, I don't want to take it down!

Two out of the three Conklin boys.

And what better way to end the special day than a trip to the pool? Even though it was in the teens outside, the kids always have a blast swimming, particularly when the pool has a hoop as our gym has. This was such a fun day for us and hopefully something we make a point to do every year. We love our family! :)

Jonah is 4!

A few fun facts about Jonah now that he's 4.
- He absolutely loves his preschool and is doing very well there.
- He has suddenly gotten picky and will no longer eat anything that even hints at onions
- His favorite color is red
- He says something that makes me laugh out loud every day. Example, when Abby was repeatedly disobeying at lunch yesterday and I was dealing with it, Jonah said "Mommy, you're just having a rough day, aren't you?"
- He wears the Husker basketball uniform in the pictures below probably 5/7 days every week. Even in the winter.
- He loves his little sister and plays sweetly with her (most of the time). He is also very protective of her.
- He does not share Abby's dare devil fearlessness.
- He knew the baby would be a boy and was very excited to find out he was right.
- He is always talking about what he will help with when the baby arrives.
- He has an immensly tender heart and is the first to comfort someone he feels is hurting.
- He is very loved!! Love you buddy and so thankful to be able to see you grow these last four years.
A few photo highlights of Jonah's celebration below.

He chose the pink frosting with sprinkles. Daddy was OK with that. After gently being encouraged that he was OK with that. :)

Jonah's party was at a local rec center and involved a few of his favorite things.... basketball, swimming, presents, and cake.

December

We are so far beyond December, here is a slideshow of it. Just for good measure. Since my neighbors have their Christmas decorations still on the fronts of their houses, I don't feel as behind. :) To give a little info behind the pictures, we went to Elmo Live while Papa and Mimi were in town, made and decorated some Christmas cookies as we do every year, and went to a Christmas event at the police horse barn where the kids got some pretty awesome balloon animals. There is also TWO pictures from Christmas Day of the kids sitting anxiously at the top of the stairs. Enjoy!

Abby is 2!

Little Miss Abigail has turned 2! We had two celebrations for her, first a family celebration on the big day. She and Jonah wasted no time devouring a cake (with Daddy's help... Mommy was actually gone for the cake eating).

I'm not sure what was said to cause the arm raising, but I'm going to guess that it involved something along the lines of "Mommy is gone, so who wants to eat the entire cake in one night??"

A few days later we had Abby's extended family party at our house with all the cousins. This is what present opening looks like when you have 10 cousins and a brother to "help".

Ryan also turned 9 a few days before Abby, so he shared in the party too.

Happy birthday you two!

Giving Thanks

We spent Thanksgiving in Ohio this year and there are loads of pictures, so we'll make this quick.

Because of a Southwest sale saving us a couple of hundred dollars, we ended up flying out pretty early this year on my birthday. No better way to spend your birthday than 10 hours of traveling with two sleep deprived kiddos, right? Regardless, Mimi had a cake all prepared for me when we

arrived and just needed Jonah to help with the finishing touches.

A few days into our trip, Mark and his family came to visit for a night too! It was so fun to see Mark, Steph, Eli, Toby, and Ish, that we were having too much fun to take pictures... whoops!

Helping Mimi cook for the big Thanksgiving feast!
What a helper.

This picture cracks me up. Playing a lot of piano can make a kid thirsty!

Jonah remembered last year how he rode on a big train in the mall, so this year we had to make the same visit.

In the middle of the trip, mommy and daddy got a much needed 3 day getaway to Niagara Falls, which was about 3 hours away from Brian's parents house and my actual birthday celebration. :) We stayed on the Canadian side and since we were there in the off-season, we got a great rate on some amazing rooms!

This is the hallway walking into our room... it was huge! And had a hot tub and a shower with 4 shower heads!!! We were spoiled. :)
The first night we were there we went down to take a look at the falls lit up.

The tourist trap right next to the falls.

Beautiful!

Did I mention breakfast in bed was included in our room rate? So fun! And yummy!

We also got to eat at many delicious restaurants in a small town nearby called Niagara on the Lake. It was very beautiful and full of vineyards. This one here that we ate at is the best meal I think I've ever had in my life. Brian loved his food too.

This was our view while we ate.

Another delicious restaurant.

We also went horseback riding around the vineyards and in the woods. It was very fun and something we certainly don't do in our normal day to day life.

The falls by day.

And, for all the Office fans out there, we had to visit a site from the big wedding episode. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the church is actually in LA, so the hotel they stayed at will have to do. Here it is.

Brian and I decided that next to our honeymoon, this is the best trip that we have ever taken together alone. So much fun! Thank you Mimi and Papa for letting us get away! We might take you up on it again sometime... :)

This and That

This is our month of October in pictures. :) Well the parts we actually took pictures of...

Brian played against a Harlem Globetrotters spinoff team, which happened to be his first time playing basketball in a while. Thankfully, he did not get de-pantsed.

Then it snowed out of no where and not only did it snow, it snowed enough for Jonah and daddy to make a snowman mound! Pretty cute actually.
We also went to Vala's pumpkin patch, where Jonah rode a pony and loved it.

What a big guy.

We also rode a train...

And rode a bike race car...

jumped on a blob...

and watched pig races.

These two are fun.

We also went trick or treating three times, two of which were at shopping areas, as seen below. Jonah was a UPS guy and Abby was a turtle. Jonah actually won "best costume" for a costume contest at one shopping center. He was very proud. :)

Then, we carved pumpkins! Here is Jonah's drawing for inspiration.

Next up, Ohio! We will be in Ohio over Thanksgiving visiting family and Brian and I will even get to have a little getaway to Niagara Falls for a few days in there. So excited!!