Bath-time for Paige

Paige loves bath-time! Usually I bathe her in the bathtub, but now that she's sitting up on her own, it's easier to bathe her in the sink. Ahhhh... no more breaking my back leaning over the bathtub.

Paigey-bunny... So cute!

Chasing Kaden and Lindy

Kaden and Lindy love being chased around the house. They were being so cute the other day, I had to grab my camera. These are my favorites... especially the one of Kaden holding Lindy's hand.

Bon appetite...

I can't believe Paige is already old enough to begin having solids. She started showing real interest when she was about 5 months old (now 7 months old). We are slowly but surely making progress with what she'll eat. She loves her baby oatmeal, and she's warming up to quite a few fruits and vegetables.

I think I'll have to invest in a bib for myself soon; she loves to spit and blow bubbles, and she thinks it's especially amusing when pears or cereal go flying all over Mommy's face and shirt.

Lindy loves to help with Paige. She's such a cute big sister. Today Clint and I saw her trying to clean the crusties out of Paige's nose with her fingers and then went to get some tissue to finish the job. Paige wasn't terribly pleased with it all, but Lindy (in her own little world) thought it was all very funny.

I love washable markers!

Lindy--caught red-handed by Daddy

Lindy's artwork

Washable markers are the best; all of it wiped right off!

Fun at Angie's

I have a great friend, Angie, who lives just down the street. Her husband is one of Clint's study buddies. They have a wonderful little family, and Cade is just a little older than Kaden. Kaden loves Cade; they get along amazingly well. It's really cute.

Angie took Kaden and Lindy for me for a couple of hours while I was able to get out and do some grocery shopping; it was a nice break for me, and the kids loved it. Angie sent me these pictures of this fun boat project they each got to do. How fun!

Lindy-girl

Kaden and Cade

I love this picture of Lindy. I just want to kiss those cheeks!

Christmas Paige

My sister, Heidi, gave this dress to Paige; it fit perfectly for Christmas-time... so I pretty much put it on her every week in December. She just looked too adorable in it.

I love this one; I can still hear her squealing.

Kaden loves squeezing those chubby cheeks...

Playing with her ruffles...

I love those chunky little legs....

A very Merry Christmas...

This was our first year being away from family for Christmas. We missed being with everyone, and especially this Christmas being the first without Ginger, it was hard to be so far away. I also knew, though, that if we were with everyone in California, it probably would have been a lot harder for me, seeing who was missing during that special family time. I definitely had my moments on Christmas Day, but it really mostly hit me on New Years Eve, which is always another special time for our family; I'll go into more detail later. With all of that being said, celebrating Christ's birth took on even more meaning for me this year, as I know it did for all of my family. What wonderful blessings are ours because of our Savior's life and His sacrifice for us.

Even though it was just us, there was no one else I'd rather be with on Christmas Day... Clint, Kaden, Lindy, and Paige. We had a very nice Christmas!!

On Christmas Eve, we got to have a nice dinner with a few families in our ward, along with a little program. It was a great night!!

Christmas Day...

Clint never ceases to amaze me. Breakfast was all ready when I woke up on Christmas morning... He made us eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and orange juice... it was wonderful!
Opening gifts and emptying stockings. I LOVE the $1 spot at Target!! Perfect!!

Lindy got some pretty jewelry.

...messy hair, chocolate on her face, still in pajamas... yet stunning!!

Kaden got some little horses, tools, a bat... but his favorite, of course,

was the free orange shoe-horn Daddy got for him!!

Paigey-girl got some little books and had plenty of wrapping paper to play with...
Clint's family has a tradition where you have a different person to make a gift for each Christmas. We had Clara this year; we made her this magnet board. Thanks so much, Emily B. and Jen Z!!! Now I want to make one for myself! :)

Clint's sister, Kate, made us a super cute family scrapbook, and these adorable animal towels for the kids!! Thank you, Kate!!

Kaden (he's only 3 remember) took this picture for us! He's got the Zierenberg-camera-happy genes in him I guess; we thought he did a good job! Here we are with the scrapbook.

And here are the kiddies just out of the bath with their bunny, duck, and bear towels! Cute!!

We had Christmas dinner with our good friends from school, the Cox family. Angie made ham and all kinds of delicious things for dinner, as well as yummy pies (Brad made great apple pie!). We had such a nice time with them, including doing some Wii boxing!

It was a wonderful Christmas!! Just yesterday Kaden asked me if it was almost Christmastime again. :)

Catchin' up... starting with Thanksgiving!

Yikes! Life got so busy during December that I didn't even want to think about blogging. Well, that was a mistake, because I feel like I'm so far behind now! I took a break from posting, but I certainly didn't take a break from taking pictures, so hopefully I can catch back up to the here and now quickly! Here goes...

Thanksgiving...

We were able to drive up to Stafford, Virginia, to visit Clint's Uncle Dave and Aunt Lynnae, and their 3 children, Sam, Blake, and Emma. It was so nice to be able to spend a few days with them and get to know them better. They have such a wonderful family.

Thanksgiving morning, Uncle Dave took us to see D.C.! It was only about 30 minutes away from their home. It was freezing (and I mean FREEZING) outside, so we mostly just observed it all from the inside of the warm car. It was sooooo neat to be able to see all of the beautiful buildings and monuments (even from a distance). I absolutely loved it. Hopefully we'll be able to go back sometime when it's warmer and walk around and go inside all of the buildings and everything.

All of these pictures were taken from inside the car.

We did brave the cold to see the Capitol Building; it was really neat!!
And to see inside of the United States Botanic Garden (Christmas tree picture). And Clint and Kaden and Emma got out to see Einstein.
I would love to learn all of the history about each monument and place there. It was amazing, and with it being Thanksgiving Day, it reminded me of how grateful I am to live in this country, even with all of the challenges we are facing right now. It truly is a blessed land.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner together and with some friends of theirs. That night the whole family had fun playing an interactive guitar/band video game. I was completely entertained; I tried the guitar for about 2 minutes and then promptly gave up my dream of ever becoming a rock star. It was especially fun to see Uncle Dave and Aunt Lynnae sing these rock songs and get into it with their kids; it's no wonder their teenagers absolutely love them.



The drive to and from Stafford was so beautiful; we drove past ranch after ranch, and we were in awe over the lush green grass, the perfectly painted fences, the cozy-looking farmhouses with their nice red barns, etc... Wow!
We also drove past a few Civil War battlefields; driving past those open fields gave me a feeling I can't really describe. The only word that comes to mind is "sobering."


It was a great visit!! We're so happy that we have family who live fairly close to us! It was a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving! Thank you Uncle Dave and Aunt Lynnae!!

64 and still good as new!!

...right? :)
Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you and miss you! Thank you for being such a great father, companion to Mom, provider, teacher, example, and Grandpa!!

I showed the kids your picture and told them that today is your birthday. Here's what they said.

"Happy Birthday, Grandpa. I love you, Grandpa." Love, Kaden

"Happy Ber-day, Gramma. (laughs) Happy Ber-day, Grandpa." Love, Lindy

Love you, Dad. Hope you have a good one! (card in the mail!)

Summer, Clint, Kaden, Lindy, and Paige

Lindy-hopper...

Guess who runs the show around our house these days? That's right. Our own little Lindy-hopper (this nickname came from the 50's (?) dance "the Lindy-hop"). She's our big two-year old...

This picture says it all!

She thought she was sooooo funny not cooperating with taking pictures. Can you tell Kaden and Paige weren't amused? :)

She's a smarty... speaking in full sentences... and always making us laugh!

Lindy's latest occupation is dressing herself... this is Kaden's shirt (inside out) and Paige's pants (also inside out).

Backward and inside out... but too cute!

Wow!!

Yes, that's right folks, she is reattached... We thought 4 or 5 months before the "baby" came would be sufficient to have her weaned from the binky. Well, when Paige came along, Lindy was super helpful at first... always giving Paige her binky, etc... then she started "jokingly" putting them in her own mouth and would laugh about it... Pretty soon she became the "binky-snatcher." Now she calls them "my binky." Yikes. To be honest, it's not a battle I have the strength to (fully) fight right now... and I am not getting rid of Paige's binkies just yet (I'm pretty attached to them myself). How do you say no to that?!

One of our favorite things about our Lindy-bindy is that she loves taking care of her babies. She is always busy with them...
For her 2nd birthday she got two babies! ... she was on cloud nine.

She is especially such a good little "mommy-in-training" with her baby sister... she adores her and always makes sure I am going to do something to help Paige if she's crying or something.

Lindy is our little "Ms. Personality" ...until we leave the house. Around people she doesn't know she is very shy and often mistaken for grumpy because she's so serious... but at home... she is so much fun and happy (most of the time)! She is a BIG tease (to all of us)... and it drives Kaden crazy; he is her main target!... BUT they're best friends; there's no doubt about that! She's also really good at sharing her toys and can be sooooo sweet and loving.

Eating a warhead...

Here she is trying to open the mother's lounge door, despite my pleading with her not to... fortunately the door was a little too heavy for her. She was having fun hanging from the door handle. Sorry about the mid-drift showing. :)


Nope, those aren't strawberries. They're tomatoes! She loves them!!

We love our little Lindy-girl!!! She is such a joy!

Random fun

We got this car for a couple of bucks at our neighborhood yard sale. The kids love riding down our sloped driveway in it.

Paige was getting some floor time.... until Kaden came along. I could hear some intense giggling coming from the living room so I came to check on Paige. Kaden was beet red from laughing so hard and from Paige's weight on him. He's not normally supposed to hold her without my help, of course, but I told him to hold on tight so I could grab my camera. Too cute!! Kaden LOVES his baby sister!

Time to be put down. Look at that little face!

Paige becomes mesmerized with Daddy when he comes home from school. She gets so excited when he picks her up to hold her and spend some time with her.

Our brave little girl. Look at that form!