Sunday, December 18, 2011

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Happy Sunday Again:)
These last few weekends have been jam-packed with family and fun! I've been a busy girl. We celebreated Great Grandma Dummer's upcoming 90th birthday by having a party for her!!! LOTS of people came and I got to play with all kinds of cousin I didn't even know I had!
Happy Bday Grandma...we love ya!
Here's our whole Dummer crew for our side of the family...



Madeline and I loved to play with our balloons and we avoided the crowd and ran into the church library most for much of the party! We are trouble when we get together...just think, a lot more years of growing up together to cause even more:)


On Sunday we had our church sunday school program...Dad was away in Green Bay having fun watching the Packers, so I hung out with Granny and Great Grams while mom had to help with the other kids. Mom says she's never seen me sit so still in church- I was mezmorized by Grams and all her pictures she was drawing for me:) 

After church we tried to sneak a quick picture of the Dummer cousins... I haven't been the most cooperative when it comes to taking pictures lately, but luckily Auntie Lisa let me sit on her lap and then I sort of joined the picture.
Chloe, Connor, Madeline, and me!

Just bein' my silly self at home:) I've always loved to take out every single shoe mom owns, and carry them around the house, but now I've figured out how to put them on my feet, so I think I'm pretty stylin'! 

We kept up the holiday festivities this weekend by having our Spielman family Christmas (which is Grandma Lynn's family)  It's always so nice to see and visit with everyone. I had another fun adventure of playing with my cousins
Although, when I wasn't playing with them, I found a pretty good seat...right by the cookie tray:) 


I colored with Auntie Stacy...


and helped Daddy look for the pickle on the tree...



After the Spielman party, mom and I ventured up to the cities to spend the night at Granny's house and has my first 'Holidazzle' parade experience! It was cold and chaotic with LOTS of people, with I really enjoyed seeing all the characters and lights, so it was worth it:)
Me and mommy, all bundled up! 

Waiting patiently in the crowd for the parade to begin! 

Mom was on crowd control keeping me safe standing between on the people, so Granny was in charge of the camera and got a few good pictures of some of the floats...I thought I'd include just 1...the final float and the (2nd) most important guy of the season...Santa!!!!



In the hussle and bussle of getting all the last minute 'to-do' list items checked off, I hope everyone has an enjoyable week and takes some time to relax...I know I will:) I won't be posting again beforehand, so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas next weekend!!!!!

Love,
Danika

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Deck the Halls! (and house:) Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Happy Sunday! 
It's been a busy week around here getting into the Holiday spirit! Unfortunately, not a ton of pictures to show for it, but the tree is up and decorated, the house is decorated, the gifts are bought (but not wrapped) and the cookies are made! WHEW!
Here's a few quick pics from the week...

Our 1st annual cookie day! Mom and dad usually attempt to make a few different kinds of cookies each year, but doing it in the evenings after work has not been ideal because we are all tired, and finding a weekend time when we are all home is next to impossible as well! So, mom recruited Granny and Auntie Heidi and they decided to make a day of it at our house...here's a glimpse

'Helping' Granny mix

This is a about half, or slightly more, of the completed cookies. Aunt Heidi had already taken her share before we took the picture, plus mom and Granny made two more kinds after this! 

Of course I was a SUPER great helper at tasting them:) 

All in all it was a fun productive day...but cookie day is NOT for the weary and weak! Mom was SO exhausted by the end of the day, she went to bed pretty much the same time as me:) Granny too!

I love to color, paint, draw , etc... but today we attempted a 1st (in the house anyway!)- Fingerpainting with no boundaries! We are working on a top secret project for a certain someone's special birthday party. Mom definitely has 'pregnancy brain' because for some crazy reason she thought that this project was going to go somewhat smooth and that I would cooperate with what and how she wanted me to paint:) Yah......Right!
I did have a total blast, which was the most important thing:) I even discovered that paint isn't just fun on paper, but also on my body! Good thing it was washable! It came right off in the bathtub, much to moms enjoyment.

Just getting started...a little green on my hands and the paper 

"This is fun mom! I have a green belly":) 

And this is when it started to get a little out of control:) The red was probably my favorite color, so of course that had to go on my body!
Working and concentrating very intensely on my project.


The least I could do after the mess I made, was help mom get the paint off my body-and I decided I really didn't like it between my toes!  

Baby Update: 26 weeks
We had a check up on Friday and everything looks and sounds good. Mom had a few questions about painful vein trouble she's been having, but of course the answer was that it's just 'part of the process' to deal with...so 3 more months of it:) The pregnancy is going overall pretty well- starting to gain more weight much faster. Baby is very active, escpecially right away in the morning and at bedtime.
Danika has been in LOVE with her baby doll, and any other real babies we see...it will be really fun to see how she interacts with the newest arrival in March- maybe the novelty will wear off once she realizes she can't give this baby away when she's bored with it:)

Have a great week and stay warm!
Love,
Danika & Family 

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Sunday...again!
What a wonderful 5 stay at home days I had with mom and dad and a whole bunch of other family members too! Can't believe it's already Sunday, but that's how it goes...time flies when you're having fun.
We started our 1st day off on Wednesday doing some visiting-Daddy went hunting at Great Grandma Val's so mommy and I went to visit Grams for a few hours. Daddy saw a little 4 pointer, but other than that he didn't see anything, and had a pretty unsuccessful hunt this year:(
For Thanksgiving on Thursday we started our day bright and early doing the 'Turkey Trot' 2 mile run/walk. I was pretty good in my stroller, and the weather was nice! Embarassing for mom to say she couldn't handle running the whole 2 miles though, when just 6 months ago she ran a half marathon! BUT...I guess that's what happens when you have a stubborn baby in your belly!
Then we went to the farm and Granny came there too and we feasted with all our Dummer family! I loved playing with cousin Chloe!



On Friday we kicked off the Christmas season by getting our Christmas tree! Granny came along too, so it was a fun experience watching daddy cut down 'the one' and taking the wagon ride to and from the field. When I woke up from my nap and they had it up in the house, I wasn't all that curious or interested in it...mom and dad were a little worried I'd bother it and try to take off ornaments, but I think it might all work out and we won't have a tree with ornaments only at the top!







Saturday and Sunday we relaxed as a family and did some other holiday decorating at the house, a little shopping, had the Kuehls over,went to church, visited great grandma Dummer, and recooped from all the festivites!

Here's a few other snapshots from our week...




Yes, I still love to sit on the potty...and yes, I still JUST sit! No potty yet, but after Christmas we will offically start 'training'!  


I hope everyone reading this had a great Thanksgiving too....as I said last week, we've got SO much to be thankful for!


Love, The Dummers



Monday, November 21, 2011

SO much to be thankful for!

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I've updated you. No real excuse, just the craziness that is our life at the Dummer household! As we get ready to have a Thanksgiving feast and celebrate, I am going to turn my randomness of pictures into my list of just a few of the many things I am very thankful for!

First and foremost, my daddy! I love him like crazy and I'm so thankful that he's the one that God picked for me! He's the best dad in the world and I love all my special times with him....including (but not limited to!):

Visiting him when he's working in the field... 

Playing ball and dancing with him while we're cleaning out the garage:) 

Surprising him on an early Sunday morning and going for a tractor ride! 

I'm thankful for all the outdoor projects daddy has to I can hang out and be his little helper:) I helped him put up the Christmas lights here...

Helping him dig a hole for our new tree! 

I have SO many special people in my life to be thankful for! I'm thankful for the special time I get with all my grandparents...
Here, grandma and I got to snuggle while we watched papa and daddy plant the new tree! 

(Had to throw a family one in too, because even though daddy's my favorite, I do love my mama lots too:) 

I really LOVE and am thankful for my blankie! Mom and dad tried not to make me 'attached' to any one thing, but it's crazy how it just kinda happens! I love to snuggle with it at any given moment, and you can tell I'm tired when I start rubbing the silky part with my thumb and rubbing it onto my face:) 

I am very thankful for my baby doll. I could probably spend the entire evening at home taking care of her- pushing her in her stroller, changing her diaper, putting her in the cradle...I can tell I'm going to be a great big sister because I'll have lotof practice with my babies:) 

I'm also thankful for all the great books I LOVE to read! I am learning so much and have started to really say the names of the animals and other various things in my books- I love a good story! 

Even though I'm the blogger here, mom and dad have to jump in to and say how very blessed and thankful they are to have me:) (no kidding! ;) Everyday I do something new and amaze them with my cuteness and personality, and they thank God for such an amazing gift of getting to be my parents. Parenting has it's challenges, but the good times make up for every single second of stress:) We can't wait for our family to grow and for my new baby sister to feel the love too!  

 My newest favorite, which I know mom and dad are thankful for since I'm not usually a snuggler, is our special morning time...my new routine when I wake up is to get a snack and some milk, and just relax in bed with mom and dad:)

Baby Update: 24 Weeks (already?!?!)
Not much to report...baby is kicking and twisting and turning up a storm! My 2nd ultrasound proved to be normal and that there really shouldn't be any cause for concern about having to have a C-Section, so that's great news! My only 'symptoms' of pregnancy are really how tired I get and a little pain in my right side from the pressure of baby sitting over there, but if that's the most I can complain about, I'm doing pretty good:) Oh, and Daren and I both heard wrong about the weight at our 1st ultrasound, because last week they told us she was just about 1 pound (thank goodness...I was not ready for a 10 pounder like her daddy was!)

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys a few days with their families...I know we will!
Can't wait to 'officially' start the holiday season!
Love,
The Dummers

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Happy Halloweeeeeen!

Well I'm a little belated, but I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween! I know I had fun...I got to dress up twice in my costume, on Sunday to visit Great Grandma Dummer and then again Monday night for the 'real' deal. I also had another special day that I got to wear orange and black for my party at daycare. We didn't do the whole neighborhood trick or treating thing, we just drove to a few select places of people we wanted to visit.
Here's a few pics of the festivities from the week...

All decked out in orange and black for my daycare party!
(Don't I look so grown up?!?! How did that happen?)

Pebbles, Fred Flinstone, Chloe the Pirate and Great Grandma enjoying some treats!  


Big kiss for grandma! 

Dad and I carved pumpkins, but I was not nearly as interested as last year in the gooey stuff! I was mostly a naked bystander while dad did all the work and mom took pictures:) 


Our last stop on Halloween was at Grandma and Grandpa Dummer's house and by the time I got there, I was ready for pajamas! So grandma got a few 'Flinstone Family' pictures, but we only got a shot of Fred and Wilma with our camera and a seperate one of me:) 


I had lots of other fun the last week or so too... I'm SO interested in books lately; well, I kind of always have been, but I really like to find things and point and say what they are, or have mom or dad tell me what it is and I repeat it 

Just chillin' on the couch reading my own bedtime story:)


This last week dad FINALLY finished up with harvesting at Pioneer and at the farm. It's so great to have my dad home spendin time with me again and I'm SO much happier:) We did make a few ventures to visit him too...there were a few cheeseburgers in the car dinner nights while we had to bring dad supper in the field! 

Me and my hard working daddy! 

Baby Update: 21 Weeks (Almost 22 now!)
This Friday we go back for another ultrasound, this time an inside one to get a better look at the cervix and placenta...we'll hope for good results and a painless visit! Otherwise baby girl continues to move all over the place like crazy. I'm growing so much faster this time (as everyone told me would be the case!) but even the baby is bigger...typically at this point in pregnancy she should be about 1 pound, but unless I heard the dr. incorrectly, she said the baby is already 1 pound, 9 ounces! That's a lot already...so I may be getting my 10 pounder like Daren after all! Yikes! Let's hope she slows down  her growth rate a little bit in the next 4 months! Otherwise I've been feeling good and we are already starting to think of possibly baby names, although we haven't agreeed or decided on 'the one' yet...sorry, we won't be sharing those until her arrival in March! (We had to keep at least something for a surprise!)

Love,
Danika and Family