Harper's First Christmas

Harper had a great first x-mas! We spent x-mas eve at home...and Harper opened one present.  X-mas morning, she slept in an extra hour (allowing extra time for Santa to make his delivery!). We opened presents at home and then headed to Grandma/Grandpa Sandquist's for lunch and more presents. It was a very fun day - Harper enjoyed it all. That night, though, she ended up getting sick...so she spent the day after x-mas pretty miserable with fever before we could get her to the doctor on Sunday - to discover an ear infection. She's on medication and doing MUCH better. With all the darn snow - Noah was out doing snow removal. Even today, with the cold weather, the roads in our area are still 75-100% ice covered.  UGH! Makes for a slow drive to/from work. I am hopeful for some sun to melt the ice very soon.

We are headed to Noah's family this weekend - to celebrate x-mas and someone's very special 1st b-day! That's right - Harper is almost 1. How quick did that go? Too quick in my opinion.

Enjoy the photos below from x-mas!

Harper is figuring out how to put Legos together.

Noah making egg nog from scratch!

 

Her x-mas eve gift - she loves the pink pig. You will notice it in lots of photos.

Having breakfast x-mas morning!

 

Yeah - presents! Still holding the pig!

Little People Tractor to go with the Farm!

All dressed up for Grandma/Grandpas!

Trying to drink from a funky Diet Coke bottle. The lid is on - don't worry!

Riding the horse the VM's got her!

In a new chair from G'ma/G'pa!

 

With G'pa in the box the chair came in!

Loving the chair!

Harper and Santa

Harper had her picture taken with Santa tonight. They do a Santa party at work for employees' kids. So we went over. Thought it would be better than having to go to the mall!  And it was. But as you can see - she wasn't that thrilled about meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus. But doesn't everyone have a photo similar to this?

Thanksgiving

We had a great thanksgiving - getting to see both sides of the family.  Had lunch with Noah's family in Pella and then dinner back home at the farm with my family. Harper enjoyed seeing everyone - and believe it or not she was the only one who actually ate turkey on Thanksgiving! Of course, it was baby food turkey and noodles....but the rest of our meals did not feature turkey, which was kind of fun!

Hard to believe it is December 1 - and I'm happy to report today is the day Noah and Caleb will finish combining! Hooray! It's been another LOOOONNNNGGGGG harvest/fall...but at long last, it will be over. Just in time for him to start taxes, holiday shopping and other year-end "stuff".

Highlights in Harper's development:

• She's learned to clap! It only took her one night to learn.
• She's finallly waving "bye bye" to people. This took a couple months of teaching!
• She has 6 teeth now.
• She loves crawling, climbing and exploring. On Thanksgiving, she decided to follow Mollie up the stairs! I caught her as she got up her first step. Guess it's time for baby gates!
• She's eating more table food - this has been a slow process. But so far she likes fruits, yogurt, green beans, carrots, graham crackers, vanilla wafers and has figured out her sippy cup.
• She likes to help me pull laundry out of the dryer.
• She loves books and LOVES to pull them off her shelf and flip thru the pages.
• Her hair is finally coming in - and has a little curl in the back.
• She looks like Noah when he was a baby - same face and hair! (Poor little girl! Ha!)
• She loves the legos at Aunt Amy's house.
• Mollie can still make her laugh unlike anyone else! It's so fun to watch them together!

New Photos

Noah to Build an Arc

So a couple posts ago I mentioned how anxious Noah was to get harvest going - that he couldn't sit still. Below is the promised photo of him making an "apple dessert". Harvest - sadly - is still going VERY slow. We've had LOTS of rain...so to keep Noah busy now, he might just have to build an arc, like his name-sake!

They are still waiting to finish beans - as they are too wet. And corn is just as wet....unless you want to pay an arm and leg to have it dried at the elevator. So we're hopeful for the forecast to stay true - the next 7 days are to be dry and sunny! Cross your fingers for good weather, good luck, healthy farmers and no breakdowns!

Harper and Mollie

It's no big surprise that Harper LOVES playing with her cousins Mollie and Max. They both can make her laugh and really love playing with her. For whatever reason, Mollie can make a crabby Harper turn into the happiest baby in the world with just one word/smile/laugh. It's fun to watch them together. Here, Harper is climbing all over Mollie!

The other thing that can make Harper smile? A camera! Below is more self photography. All I have to do is hold a camera in front of her and she looks at it and smiles! I wonder how long this will last...

Mandarin Oranges

So Harper has been "sampling" table food. At daycare they put the table food in front of her, and she wants nothing to do with it. But if you put in on a spoon, and dip it in her regular baby food then she will eat it. The only thing we have discovered she will eat with her hands are Mandarin Oranges! Other new favorites include yogurt, banana, pancakes, mac 'n cheese (baby kind), and apples (thru her mesh "thing"). And notice she likes to eat with her left hand - not sure if this is an early indication of her preference or not. I'm sure Aunt Sarah, friend Lori, cousin Max and G-G'ma Lorraine would love her to be a lefty just like them! 

And when eating the Mandarin Oranges, she becomes VERY sticky. So notice the mohawk I was able to do with her hair below! We usually take a bath right after dinner!  The messiness will only get worse as she decides to eat even more with her hands!

Happy Halloween!

Here is Harper in her Halloween costume - dressed as a farmer! Noah decided to match her, though, his truly is not a costume! Last weekend we went to a Halloween Party - which is why they are dressed up. (I went as a mom. Ha!) At the party there was a "witch" greeting everyone. And Harper loved her - even though it does not look like it in the photo!

Ciara's Circle of Friends

Earlier this year, our boss's daughter - Ciara - needed an expensive medical procedure so we helped host a fundraiser for her.  One thing we did was sell "Ciara's Circle of Friends" t-shirts.  Below are photos of Ciara and some of her "peeps"...the babies in our PR department...in their cute t-shirts.

From left - Harper, Ciara, Logan and Evan.

She's Pulling Herself Up!

Harper has started pulling herself up on everything! Won't be long now before she's walking! Wow - it's going fast!

Harvest

Harper really enjoys riding in the tractor and combine!