Birthday lunch with Aunt Leah

Yesterday we were able to celebrate with Aunt Leah! She had to work but we were able to meet for a girl's lunch at 8th Street Grill. Emma was able to get out of school for the lunch hour and join us too. But Juliana was working hard at school taking an algebra and history test. (Yuck!) 

So glad we could be here to celebrate with Aunt Leah on her special day! 

Maya asked where the birthday cake was and we told her she had to wait until Friday when we celebrate yet another birthday. :) We are used to sharing a cake and celebrating together. Especially since our birthdays are just a few days apart and we are together every other year for Thanksgiving with the Sikkema side.

Bath time

One task I'm not a big fan of is bath time. Luckily we are in Michigan for the week and grandma volunteered to give Cora her bath last night. 

Bath time with Grandma!

And this morning Emma gave Maya a bath! No pictures of that however. It's so nice to be with family this week. Joel will join us on Wednesday for the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday. And Gigi and Snazzy are coming too! We can't wait to celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone. 

Emma's Birthday

We drove to Michigan yesterday with grandma & grandpa. We arrived just in time to be able to celebrate at the end of the day with Emma. She turned 12! Her last year as a tween. :)

Maya wanted to wear a special dress to help celebrate. This is her favorite dress up outfit these days. 

We enjoyed the ice cream cake! So glad we could celebrate with Emma! 

First Snow

While Shealy was visiting we experienced our first snow of the season! What a treat for Shealy because in Texas they don't get much snow. Maya was all excited too because it's just so fun to play in! I love this pic because they are so enthralled by the snow.

They are just so excited! Snow!

Uncle Eric was throwing snowballs at the girls and they were running away

And running back toward him trying to get hit

I'm so not ready for snow and happy to say it's already melted.
But I'm glad that Shealy got to play in it with Maya! So fun!

Playing in the leaves

Maya had a great time playing with her cousin Shealy! Saturday they were outside helping to clean up the yard and rake some leaves. Well mostly they were wanting to jump in the pile of leaves! So fun!

Special Visit From Texas

We had a great weekend with Uncle Eric, Aunt Susanne, and Shealy! They came to visit us from Texas. We hadn't seen them in almost a year so it was so good to see them. And it was fun to introduce them to Cora!

Shealy did a great job holding Cora!

She even put her to sleep one night!

  Uncle Eric and Cora

 Aunt Susanne and Cora

3 months old

Cora is 3 months old today! And how did we spend the day celebrating you ask? We got to go to the Doctor's office! Maya has pink eye (I have no idea where she got it from) and an ear infection. And Cora has a cold and a cough so I wanted her to get checked out too. Maya is on meds and Cora is fine just as long as she doesn't get a temperature. I'm just praying that we can keep Maya's hands to herself for the next 24 hours until she isn't contagious anymore. The last thing Cora or any of us needs is pink eye! My eyes are watering right now even as I think about it. Cora weighed 13 lbs 7 oz today. She is getting more interactive and will giggle and "talk" back to you if you talk to her which is fun. She continues to be a great sleeper. I usually have to wake her up to eat in the early morning and she'll go right back to sleep. Amazing! Cora likes her paci but will spit it out from time to time. She has recently found her hand and sometimes her thumb to suck on. It will be interesting to see what happens if she ends up being a thumb sucker or not. (According to my mom I found my thumb at 3 months and loved it until...well...I won't say how long.) She likes her swing and playing on her little play mat. She has started to grab a hold of a rattle or the rings on her play mat and gets excited when they make noise.

In the middle of a little "giggle"

I have no idea where the last 3 months have gone and I can't believe it's already November. That means next month at this time Maya will almost be 3 1/2 years old. And if I'm honest I am so ready for this 3 year old stuff to be over with! It's terrible 3's for us; 2's were a breeze. Three has been a challenge to say the least. I think it's a combo of lots of changes happening all at once; new sister, going to school, new church schedule, etc. But she is a good big sister and has been so sweet with Cora! 

Tech Time

I forgot I took these pics a few weeks ago. It made me laugh because everyone was on their "tech" device after we ate supper. I can only imagine what other tech devices we'll encounter as the girls grow up.

Emma said she was working on homework but I think she was actually playing a game. And of course since Emma was on the computer Maya had to do some typing as well.

Dad was looking up some vacation options for us for next summer

Joel was checking out some sports scores