Jillian's First Hair Cut

Jillian has been needing a hair cut for a while to get things "shaped up" but Mommy has been dragging her feet thinking it would be a traumatic experience since Jillian hardly lets Mommy even comb her hair. We had a friend recommend this kid friendly place in town and we gave it a try last week. Everything went fabulous and I don't even think Jillian even realized she got her hair cut! It may have helped that she had slides to go down in the waiting room, a Dora car to sit in while she got her hair cut, a video to watch, and tons of toys in her lap to keep her entertained. If this isn't a baby spa, I don't know what is! :)

Christmas Part II

Over New Year's weekend we were in Maquoketa celebrating Christmas with Paul's family. Here is a picture of Paul's parents with all the grandchildren...7 girls and one boy! Poor Christian! Notice Jillian has improved grately in this picture over the Thanksgiving episode!

Jillian talking on the phone with cousin Brittney

Jillian laughing at her cousin Christian running around
Checking out a new book she got...

Helping Grandma figure out the letters on her new sign

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families. On Christmas Eve day, we had our own little family Christmas before heading up to Clinton to join Abby's family. Jillian was suprised with a kitchen set that she absolutely loves! She is busy daily making us coffee and tea and telling us her oven is "too hot" and "no touch".




We arrived in Clinton Christmas Eve night and attended a Christmas Eve service with the kids where they got to pet a live sheep! Then we came back to the house and sang happy birthday to Jesus.

Leah and Jillian are really starting to play together more and more however this means they can be best friends one moment, and worst enemies the next! Keeps us entertained!

Family photo

Thanksgiving

So before Christmas is upon us, I thought I should finally post some pictures from Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving in Maquoketa with Paul's family. It was one full house but we had a good time! Jillian enjoyed playing with her cousins and of course loved all of the new and different toys Grandma and Grandpa's house had to offer. She spent the majority of her time on a little slide going down over and over and over again.

An attempt at a picture with Great Grandma Simmons and all of her great grandchildren. Notice the little girl in the brown dress who is screaming...

An attempt at a picture with Grandma and Grandpa Hovey and all of Jillian's cousins. Again, notice the precious little girl on Grandpa's lap who is in tears once again....

Eating a whole pear by herself! She requested that it NOT be cut up!

The girls doing exercises with their aunts. They already had their princess costumes on by 7 in the morning!

Jillian and her favorite slide

I love my daddy!

It seems like every day that passes, Jillian is getting to be closer buds with her daddy. He has her heart and on the flip side, Jillian is pretty wrapped around her daddy's little finger! It has been a joy to see these two together! Here are a some of my favorite pics from the last month.

A new cousin!

On Tuesday, November 1st, a special little boy entered the world. Landon Nicholas Glew was born at 3:18 PM giving Jillian Grace another cousin. Paul and I are also delighted to have another nephew! We went to the hospital on Tuesday night to meet him and he is just precious. We can't wait to spend more time loving on this boy!

Proud Uncle Paul

Proud Aunt Abby

Jillian Grace meeting Landon

The proud Glew family

Halloween

What a fun fall this has been with Jillian! She is just starting to get big enough to really enjoy some of the holidays which has been fun for Halloween. Paul and I took Jillian to a pumpkin patch near Buffalo, IA earlier in October. About a week later we tried carving the pumpkins and chose a beautiful day we could be outside, put Jillian in old clothes, and let her have at it! To our surprise she stuck her hand inside the pumpkin once and didn't want anything else to do with it! The only thing she was interested in doing was using a spoon to transfer the "gunk" from one pan to the next. Didn't even require a bath afterwards...she was spotless!

Jillian was a giraffe for Halloween. Surprisingly she willingly kept her costume on for visits to grandparents, great grandparents, and a few local friends. She even started to say "trick-or-treat" by the end of her Halloween experience! Amongst her favorite Halloween treats were Gold Fish, Teddy Grahams, and animal crackers. I'm sure that will change next year! :) She wasn't too sure about trick-or-treaters at our house as she kept saying "I scared! Hold you!" as they would come to the door. In her defense, there were some pretty scary costumes!

At the pumpkin patch

Home enjoying the "punkins", as Jillian would say
Being very neat with pumpkin carving

"What am I supposed to do now?"