Catch the Spider

Lauren loves Oma's fake spider and web that she has hung high up in her ceiling. She wanted Kevin to help her catch it. Gotta grow a few more inches Lauren.

Yum!

Lauren was enjoying a yummy chocolate covered candy cane cookie on the car ride home from Bellingham.
It was that good.

Happy Boy!

Must have been pretty excited to get into that bath tub!
Playing with his new tools from Christmas.

Hanging out with Daddy!

The Nap Saga

Lauren hasn't taken a real nap (lots of car sleeping though) in a few weeks so we assumed naps were coming to an end. This afternoon we were playing and she went to her room to get something. After a few minutes she didn't come back so I went to check on her and this is what I found! Apparently she does still need naps, just wants to take them on her own terms...which really isn't all the surprising given her independent little personality!

My First Video!

This is my first video, I know it's not perfect but I'm learning:)

I swear everytime I video Lauren she starts talking like a baby and is so hard to understand. Oh well. Here she was telling Ben that she "likes him for always" which is from a book!

**by the way, she insisted on having this ponytail today

Christmas in the 'ham!

We arrived safe and sound, even though this crazy snow won't stop! We were all happy to be here and get to relax and enjoy a couple days with Oma & Opa. Lauren was very happy to help Ben open all of his gifts. He was obsessed with the paper, as all babies are. By the way, Lauren is wearing some jammies, her 14th outfit of the day. She literally stripped down every time she opened a new article of clothing and put it on. She'll be popular when she's older if she keeps it up!

Ben hanging out with Oma and enjoying the crinkle of the paper.

Now it's time for Christmas dinner! Mmm.

What a great day, we got to hang with lots of our favorite people and were very spoiled. We feel so lucky and thankful. Merry Christmas to all our favorite people that we couldn't be with, we love you to pieces and miss you so much!

xoxoxo

The Koks!

Brunch with Ryan, Megan, & Hadley

Little Miss Hadley getting ready for brunch in her super cool jams from her dada.
I mostly like this picture because it's like a paparazzi pic, Kevin & I are both taking her picture at the same time. Her and Britteny should swap stories of how hard life in the spotlight is.

Both girls were oh so helpful opening Ben's gifts. Then they got in a big fight over who got to pull the little wagon around. Hads lost...she ended up taking a nap. Christmas takes a lot of energy when you are a toddler.

Megan & Ryan are making sure Benny is the coolest baby around. He got this super cute See Kai Runs and "Sophie" the trendiest baby chew toy around!

Christmas # 2 was fabulous as well... it's only noon! Off to Bellingham we go!

Santa Came!

Santa came last night and left Lauren & Ben a work bench and tools, plus the pink Hello Kitty rain boots Lauren has been asking for every time we go to Target! When Lauren came down the stairs this morning she looked over it and then yelled, "The pink Hello Kitty boots" and put them on right away. We had to point out to her that there was also a workbench & tools (which she had asked for as well!). I think her 2nd favorite thing was the stuffed rocket in her stocking that is referred to as "Baby Rocket". He has been swaddled and put to bed many times already today:)
Santa left them a nice note... he's so thoughtful:)
Here are the coolest boots in town!

work it.

And the cutest little boy in town (with Nana & Pa) sportin' a new snowcap from cousin Jacob!

What a great start to our day and it was only 7:15! So much fun to come!

Gingerbread House

Lauren & Kevin built a gingerbread house together on Christmas Eve Day.
From looking at it you can probably tell Kevin did most of the work. Lauren did do a great job of eating the candy though:)

I thought it was pretty cute. Kits are the way to go!

get ready for some fancy shots!

Kevin (me too!) has been wanting a DSLR camera for awhile now and on Saturday he got it!
I'm excited to see all the fun shots that he'll take and I'm anxious to learn how to use the thing! Jocelyn- do you teach classes?:)

Heart Breaker

I was just playing around with my new camera (Canon power shot) and trying to figure out all the settings. This boy is fun to take pictures of!
I loved this one, he has the best happy face!
I think this boy is going to melt a lot of hearts, he melts mine daily:)

I just love his eyes!

Christmas Cookies

Being snowed in most of this week I thought it'd be fun to make some cookies. (Lauren had a bad cold, that is why her eyes look like this!)
Lauren was excited too and had to get her apron and oven mitt on!
We each made our own- this was her plate. She lost interest quite quickly and moved on to eating frosting and decorations and decorating our floor with little tiny sprinkles. It looked oh so pretty...

These are the ones we actually served!

I'm thinking cookie decorating isn't really for 2 1/2 year olds. It was fun for about 10 minutes though, which makes it worth it!

Little Drummer Girl

Lauren is really into playing her drum lately because she loves Little Einsteins and they have an episode about a Toy Prince that looks like a little drummer. I love this picture because she looks so into it!

Toddler Group

Just thought this pic was cute of Lauren and her little friends playing at Toddler Group. I had planned to take lots of pics since it was their little holiday party but my camera broke right after this shot. Oh well, I got a new camera out of the deal:)

Snow Day

We had fun playing in the snow today...or atleast I did. Lauren was actually a grouch!
Ben was excited to go out in it!

A little self portrait of Benny & I.

The grouch, who wouldn't let me take her picture today so this was the best I got.

Ben did let me take his picture and I think this one came out pretty good. I know he's mine so I'm biased, but I think this little face is to die for!

Warm Enough?

He was so bundled up I could hardly snap the buckle- but he was warm and cozy and cute!

Mrs. Claus?

She found this 9-12 month outfit and of course had to put it on!

Jams

I wanted a cute picture of the kids in their holiday jams. This was the closest I got. Oh well.
Benny is starting to stick out his tounge which we love! Remember the Christmas and Santa picture with Lauren doing that? If you look back in the blog archives from Dec 2006 you'll see:)

Boat Club Christmas

We went up to the boat with my parents to see Santa and have lunch. Ben started out happy but quickly turned grouchy...he has a cold and just wasn't feeling too good.
He did not enjoy his time with Santa.

Lauren refused to go sit with him but she REALLY wanted the bag of candy he was handing out. Since Ben wouldn't share his she had to come up with a way to get her own.

The elf handed her a bag so she agreed to go say thank you to Santa. She did look pretty cute talking to him. This was as close as she got though.

Look at that grip!

Lauren has been "signing" a lot of our Christmas cards, so if you have a few scribbles on yours that is why! The teacher in me was quite proud when I noticed how she was holding her pen:)

Happy Birthday Opa!

We had a little b-day celebration for Opa last week. Lauren had fun helping open his gift.
She especially enjoyed helping him blow out his candle (we didn't have 66 candles so we settled for one!)

Of course eating them was her favorite part:)

Happy Birthday Opa- we love ya!