Christmas in New York

Dunford Christmas 2008

The Dunfords are wrestlers and Janelle felt right at home with it.

Janelle got really spoiled this year with gifts. This was at least Daddy's favorite b/c her spent three days painting it.

For all of you that don't know my brother-in-law, he is the most impatient when it comes to opening gifts. Every year he opens one before it's his turn. Here he is trying to pretend that the wrapper is just coming off by itself. "oh by the way can I look at it now since the wrapping came off?" Eric, Eric, Eric... This was his last Christmas as an unmarried man and with all his adrenaline, he added quite a bit of fun.

It's Dunford family tradition to play a dice game which includes fun, tasty and sometimes gag gifts. Brad and I got a little creative with the gag part and this was one of them. If you look closely you'll see that the picture on the shirt is of Brad acting like a punk. It's a inside family joke on his sister Mandy and she ended up unknowingly picking this gift. Poor girl but she has a good sense of humor!

Instead of Christmas Eve we have Grandma's birthday. Janelle is helping her blow out the candles.

Brad is usually the one pulling pranks but on this morning the joke was on him as his father and two brothers all came downstairs each wearing one of Brad's Packer shirts. I loved it and yes, Brad did whine!

Janelle's new toy, uncle Kevin. She loved wrestling Kevin and seeing all the fun faces he would make!

This little girl is such a poser. I don't know where she learned to pose like this but this picture was all her doing. Where to kids pick up this stuff! And I'm not talking about the stuff all over her mouth, whatever it is...

Shoveling snow with Daddy!

We got dumped on last night and Janelle wanted to be Daddy's little shoveling helper. We didn't have one her size so the toy rake had to suffice. It worked pretty good until Janelle had to go to the bathroom. :-) What a rush!!!

Building a snowjanelle!

The snow was a perfect stickiness!

Shaping the body!

Smile for a picture!

Janelle wanted a snowjanelle, not a snowman. Plus the fact that we didn't have a magic top hat so we put on some stylish pig-tails instead. Now it looks just like Janelle. We had so much fun with the snow that didn't melt before we got out in it.

Family Picture!

We meant to get more of the tree but when you are using the camera timer you take what you can get! Our tree is a little bit too tall for our ceiling but it turned out alright. This is the picture we took to send in our Christmas cards so you'll all be seeing it again!

I'm so thankful!

Janelle just wanted to let all her friends and family know how thankful she is for them and she hopes you all dwell on God's gracious blessings this Thanksgiving! And yes she has big hands!!!

BIG BELLY!

OK, I know a lot of you want to know what a bad hair-do, pregnant Bekah looks like so even though I'm not a big fan of cameras right now, I decided I'd humble myself a little for your sakes. :-) You'd better feel special! I think this kid is sticking out incredibly far (although I'm sure Shelly, and anyone else who has had twins, thinks I have no idea how far one can be stretched)! I'm just waiting for the day I can tie my shoes again (Brad ties them too tight) but as long as an activity doesn't involve a lot of bending over I'm pretty active yet. I'm 32 1/2 weeks and the baby measures 32 1/2 inches and is head down so we are right on schedule, even though I'm running out of clothes.

Feeding the baby!

She got the baby from Uncle Kevin for her birthday. This is one of the more gentle feedings as her usual method is to hold the baby by the neck. I don't think we'll ever let her try to feed her new baby brother.

Trick or Treat!

We were just going to pass out candy but a friend from church lent us this homemade outfit so Brad figured it'd be a good chance to meet our brand new neighbors. Our community is very small and Janelle was one of the very few trick or treat'ers but it was nice to get to meet everyone. Janelle started to get a little too comfortable with the idea and would let herself into the houses. Good thing our neighbors are all teachers, judges and the mayor! I guess she wanted to make sure there wasn't more candy anywhere else.

Two year pictures!

Some of you know how cheap we are when it comes to pictures. I do want to get a nice professional family picture done after the baby is born but for now this works with our budget the best. Janelle started out in good spirits but it soon turned to annoyance by the time I gave up. These were taken on our deck, porch and in our back yard. I want to post pictures of our house but I'm forbidden by Brad until after his parents come for Christmas. My favorite is the one with her looking away from the camera (I think she was watching the neighbors dog) and the one with her holding the closed rose bud as I feel these seem the most like her. Although there were a bunch of cheesy smile ones that were total Janelle but they were a little on the scary side instead of cute side! :-) Janelle was singing and talking to the rose bud too, and this girl talks and sings all the time. I mean ALL THE TIME!!! Brad says she gets it from me but I don't think I'm that bad and loud! :-)

Ready for snow!

Janelle has yet to learn how to play properly in the snow. We just got a good snow fall though and we are getting more as I type so I'm sure Daddy can teach her tomorrow and we'll get some fun pictures up of that.

Birthday bash!

Janelle's new Trike! She loves running over our toes!

It's not the best but it tasted awesome! We didn't do anything grand for Janelle's 2nd Birthday but we had fun nonetheless. We didn't take many pictures unfortunately but we got it all on video.

Talent show!

Janelle on the piano singing. If there is music she always "sings" along. It seems like everyday we are starting to understand more and more of her words. Just this morning I took her out of her booster seat and she pointed to a "f" on my sweatshirt and said "f". She also likes "w". Young children never cease to amaze me. God's little wonders!

NY state fair!

Some friends of ours had free tickets to the state fair, and since we never turn down anything free we went with them. It was very fun but since buying a house was on our mind we didn't get too extravagant with spending money. But the goat food and carrots were cheap and the animals were Janelle's favorite (except for the monkeys riding the dogs, but the crowd was to thick to get a picture) so we just walked around mostly looking at the animals. It was a very warm sunny day but we brought plenty of water and the walking felt good, and we even got to try some maple flavored cotton candy. It was very good!

Reading on the potty!

Ok, I thought this was cute. Janelle loves to "read" books so what a way to keep her on the toilet! Besides, aren't Mom's suppose to think things like this are cute. Well it could be worse...much worse, just ask Brad!

Twisted!

I don't know how Janelle managed this one but she wasn't happy with me when I insisted on taking a picture when she came to me for help! But she got over it, Goofy girl!

Fall is coming!

If these aren't signs of fall I don't know what is. Our landlords came over and brought us fresh veggies from their garden and gave Janelle this cute little pumpkin. Janelle had Daddy help her pick me a bouqet of lovely fall leaves and the evidence of the cool brisk wind that comes with Autumn is in Janelle's hair! I loved the leaves, what a thoughtful little girl.

Syracuse Zoo!

Janelle loved to pet the sheep. Petting zoos are her favorite and she absolutly loves the animals. She even wanted to pet the black bear but thankfully they had that guy gated up well so she just growled at it!

This was a little scary for me. I know how strong those trunks are. If buddy here would have started to raise that trunk we'd have been gone! But he was nice and Janelle has another African animal to add to her "petted" list!

I liked this elephant better, it was more Janelle's size!

Absolute Daddy's girl!

Curling up with Teddy and blanky to Andy Griffith, I tell you Janelle and Daddy are two peas in a pod. But don't worry, Brad's teddy and blanky are blue! :-)

Our mini - Brad

I love this picture! We found out today that we are having a little boy. 99.5% sure! I think he looks just like Daddy already. Although the nose is hard to pin. It could be a Day nose too! But that upper lip is definatly Dad!

This picture is why we know we are in trouble. The bright circle in the middle is our little guys nose. I hope his face doesn't look like a skull anymore once he's out. Brad say's it looks like he's saying "I see you... just wait til I get outta here!"

Grandma, Grandpa, and Sara visit!

Sara was so fun to have around for two weeks. I got to do all the fun girl stuff that Brad refuses to do. He's such a party pooper! She' also the one I blame my short haircut on. :-)

Janelle was quite spoiled to have Grandma read her stories all the time. Janelle would pick one book after another.

It was so nice to have my parents over here for two weeks. We were able to get together with my mom's side of the family (Grandpa Merritt, Aunt Trena and Tracie and Christina) who live 40 minutes north and have a picnic at Delta state park a couple of times while they were here.

Our new addition!!!

I came back from WI to find a new digital piano in the living room. I guess I can't ever complain about Brad anymore. I love it and now I don't have an excuse for not being better at piano. Janelle loves it too. If I want to practice without little fingers getting in the way and moving my hands because I've wandered into claimed territory I have to do it when Janelle's sleeping.

Ultrasound!

The youngest of our family! It was so relieving to see and hear the baby's strong heartbeat and all looks well and healthy. All the measurements match the due date. Look at the skinny legs! The white spot by the baby's chin is a fist. This one is just as much of a boxer and kicker as Janelle was. I have a picture of the baby's face but it looks too much like a skull. It's a little freaky looking! Too early to know the gender. That comes later if we decided to find out.

Dunford family picnic!

We had so much fun spending time with all the cousins, Aunts and Uncle and of coarse seeing the newest little Dunford. We didn't get a picture with all the kids but this was the closest I got. It was especially nice to see Grandma, Scott, Tara and the crew of four before they left on their journey to China. We'll miss them so much and we'll be praying for their ministry.

Grandparent visit part II

Janelle getting spoiled!

Visiting the Grandparents in WI!

Smelling the peonies with Grandma Day and playing peek-a-boo with great Grandpa Day. Janelle is behind the pillow.