Christmas Recovery

This year was a Papke Family Christmas. I had some extra vacation days to use up before the 29th so I headed up to Iowa before Tim to spend time with my parents and brothers. Abby was especially excited because Iowa City had SNOW! She got to make a snow man with her Grandma Papke and throw snowballs. Why am I not in the pictures - because I caught Tim's flu bug. He was kind enough to share it with me, both my brothers, and even a cousin. In return he got it back again. We have had a hard time kicking this flu bug from our house and have still yet to meet our nephew because we've been sick. We had to cancel our Schmidt Christmas on the 27th due to it as well, so Christmas is not over for us yet.


Here is Abby playing in the snow with Grandma Papke. I managed to drag myself out of bed to take a couple photos.

Here is Megan traveling around the living room. She managed to take a couple steps this past week, but her greatest entertainment was - drink coasters. She played all week with them.

This is Rebekah Papke trying to give Megan a bottle - Megan was not cooperating.



Abby & Megan watching the DVD player. Abby is getting more and more frustrated that Megan wants to be where she is and do what she is doing. She has a lot of things to learn.....



Aunt Colleen and Uncle Tony playing the Go Fishing game with Abby.

Christmas Eve - Santa managed to find Abby and Megan at the Papke house while we were at church. Although Abby did say she called him to let him know we would be there. On the way to church she said Santa would be at the house in 15 minutes.

Abby and Megan getting ready to open a couple of gifts before dinner because they were having a hard time waiting. Abby got to pick 3 - which turned into 4.

The Papke Family reindeer photo.



Megan opening some gifts with Daddy. These were her first gifts.

Pajamas are on and playing with our toys (or a coaster for Megan).

Christmas Day at Great Grandma Powers house. Here are the Power's ladies - 4 generations. Megan is a little squirmy. Lately if she does not want to be held she'll let you know. She's all about being everywhere.

My cousin Jessica with her son Ellis and Megan. Ellis is 3 months older than Megan. You can see they were checking each other out.

And yes, Santa managed to leave a couple presents at the Schmidt house as well. You can see Megan is a little happy. I think she is getting used to opening presents.


This weekend we are heading down to the Lake of the Ozarks to celebrate New Years with our college friends. It will be a weekend extravaganza with plenty of photos I am sure. Then we'll have one more Christmas with the Schmidt family on the 9th to wrap up our holiday season.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Chad & Whitney's Wedding

This weekend we headed down to Branson to Silver Dollar City to attend the wedding of Chad Smith and Whitney Crow. It was very cold, the majority of the people there were in carharts, overalls, snow pants, you name it. Then there was all of us in our dresses and nice clothing.

They were married at the Wilderness Church in the middle of the park.


The groom patiently waiting for his bride to show up.


Chris and Jill - newly engaged as well - Congratulations!


This is Kale, Chad, Whitney's father, Whitney, and her sister. Again - it was very cold!

Chad and Whitney saying their vows. We weren't allowed to use flashes so the photos aren't so great with the window in the back.

The newlyweds heading out of the church.


The best view I could get of the back of Whitney's dress. It was very nice and she looked beautiful in it.


They had a carriage ride around the park announcing their wedding.

Cutting the cake.

The after party at Waxy O'Shea's, an Irish Pub on the Branson Landing - my favorite. We hung out there until about 11. Chad and Whitney also got their first dance compliments of Jenn & Dave so that was nice and we think they enjoyed it. There was an Irish band there that was good entertainment.

The other half of the table.

The party headed on to the Piano Bar after that however Tim and I returned to the hotel to crash due to not feeling all so great. It turned out to be a good idea as Tim still has the "sickies" as Abby likes to call it.

This will probably be the last post until after Christmas. We'll be starting our Iowa/Illinois tour for visiting the relatives. Abby is pretty excited about the snow in Iowa.

Happy Holidays to everyone and safe travels.

Our nephew has a name!

Please welcome:
Theodore Benjamin Bovee to our family.

Happy Birthday Tim

Last night we celebrated Tim's birthday a little early. His birthday is not until Sunday but we will be doing a lot of traveling that day and possibly wouldn't have the time to have dinner as a family. So we celebrated last night with dinner at Lone Star and then cake and presents at home. Abby of course helped me make the cake and decorate it.

Tim with his girls before we did the singing.

Abby's handy work. We had to carry over some of the molasses cookie decorations. She thinks everything needs sprinkles right now. She helped squeeze out the frosting as well.

Happy 32nd Birthday Tim!

Still no news our on nephew's name. We should hear something today hopefully.

We Have a Nephew!

Betsy and BJ became parents yesterday at 10:01 PM and had a healthy baby boy.
8 lbs. 1 oz; 19 inches - he is still Baby Skittle Bovee currently so stay tuned for a name update.

Our new nephew.

Proud father BJ Bovee
Happy mother - Betsy



We also welcomed another Powers great grandchild this morning.
Nicholas Allen Green was born at 1:06 AM - 8 lbs. 6 oz; 19 inches. Both Kate and Nicholas and are doing fine.

It was a morning of baby boys. Congratulations to both families.

O Christmas Tree

Slowly yet surely we are getting our Christmas decorations up. Some are being left in their boxes due to a 9 month old that will break them. Others are going downstairs now since we have a whole new finished floor to decorate. And we have a couple new decorations as well. Last night we pretty much wrapped up the indoor decorations and got all the boxes put back away in the storage room. We are very pleased with how everything turned out.

Abby playing in the Christmas tree box. We bought a new one last year so this is probably the nicest you will see the box as the trees never seem to go as nicely back in.

Of course Megan helping as usual.

Here is our stockings area. We don't have a fireplace or mantel to hang them on so this is where they are now. Now if only all the bows on my garland would stay on the front side and not twist!


Our tree and nativity scene.

This was Tim's Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt's and we were lucky enough to have it given to us. The barn was hand made and we don't really know how old it is. We were trying to remember how Grandma Schmidt had it set up on her buffet table and this is the best we can do. Abby was a big help with this part. keeping her from playing with the figurines will be a challenge.

Our lovely tree with our cost effective LED lights. We're a little heavy with the ornaments in the front where Abby put hers but we are slowly distributing them when she's not looking. Megan has taken a few off the tree to look at but nothing too bad yet. She's mostly interested in it when Abby is looking at stuff. Abby especially likes her snow globe and music box. She says they play "peaceful music".

Happy Holidays!

My Little Helpers

This weekend was the second IL deer season so Tim headed up to Carrollton Friday morning and the girls and I had a weekend to ourselves. Instead of keeping it low key and simple I decided to get a couple Christmas traditions done.

Friday after work I conveniently went grocery shopping before picking up the girls from daycare so that I could mix up some of Grandma Papke's molasses cookies. So I had some help putting away groceries as you will see.

Megan has discovered the pantry, she loves everything she can get her hands on.

Helping unload the dishwasher, she enjoys pushing the bottom rack in and out.

Helping put away groceries again.

Abby informing her not to touch her milk, it's not for babies.

Abby in another outfit change. She had a wedding dress on before and now this is a dance outfit that is actually on backwards. Tim's Aunt Debbie cleaned out her daughters old dress up clothes and Abby benefited from the cleaning. She loves all the outfits - thank you Debbie!


On Saturday during Megan's nap I thought it would be a good idea to try to make the molasses cookies. Last year Abby enjoyed helping and it is a Papke tradition, plus making cookies with Abby is a good reason to clean you kitchen afterward. This is the BEFORE picture, all clean and happy, ready to go.

This is the AFTER photo. Abby wasn't willing to pose for me so it's just a side shot - notice all the flour on the floor. My jeans and shoes were covered as well, in the photo she is actually making a flour castle - or so she said.

She was required to de-clothe before leaving the kitchen - you can see why. It was a mess, but I wouldn't have it any other way. She says these Grandma cookies are the best and is probably just as bad as my Dad was with eating the dough.

One more outfit change to wrap up the day.

Unfortunately Tim did not shoot a deer this season and came home early to help on Sunday as Abby was sick from 1-5 AM and Megan got up around 6. Don't I have a thoughtful husband :) Hopefully he'll find a deer in MO.

Tonight is the Christmas tree - we'll see if that happens tonight or tomorrow. It will get done this week though.

Happy Holidays!

Our Attempt to visit Santa

This is our 3rd year of visiting Santa and it isn't getting any easier yet. If you received our Christmas card last year you know how it turned out. This year, 2 kids, and yes I dressed them in matching outfits in hopes of an adorable photo with Santa. Our Bass Pro has a great Santa and set up for the Holidays with toys and target ranges, and even Wii Fishing for Tim. All Abby could talk about was the reindeer from last year that were by Santa......

How we prepped: We rehearsed with Abby for a couple of days the list of toys she was going to rail off for Santa, and Megan's list too since Abby knew what she wanted. "Barbie house, Barbie Car, Boy Barbie...." you get the picture. Then we got all dressed up and ready to go. Upon arrival, still excited, having fun, lights everywhere, then she saw Santa......


Megan with Santa, just kind of chilling, didn't mind either way.


Abby forced to sit with Santa, Megan to start crying shortly as Abby is wailing. But don't they look cute all dressed up!

Abby running away from Santa and Megan crying. It was a good time :)
Happy Holidays.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We hope everyone had a restful and safe Thanksgiving weekend. We celebrated, mostly, by staying home. Tim's family came to our house for Thanksgiving so we had an opportunity to use the good china and cook our first Thanksgiving for the family. Overall it went pretty well. Abby went back to Collinsville with Tim for Friday and Saturday and Megan and I got some quality time together as well which was nice. Plus time to get a couple things done around the house.


Of course we had to go visit baby Lily again. Abby loves to hold her and give her kisses. She's just yawning in the picture, not crying.

Here's my little turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Megan got to try some mashed potatoes and I also believe she tried some whip cream. She ate plenty.

Here is Aunt Betsy with Megan - Betsy has a little over a month left until "Skittle" will make his/her debut. Abby says it's a girl and will name her Skittle Girl.



A small attempt to get a picture of the girls together.


Megan playing with her spinning top toy. Her hand eye coordination is getting much better.

No cat is safe around Megan, she'll tackle them down. Obviously LaBousch could get away but he doesn't mind it much as he lets her catch him all the time and play. Unfortunately she comes up with fistfuls of hair, but has a great time doing it.

Tuckered out after church - I thought she kind of looked like a garden gnome with the pointy hood.

Trying to get outside to help Daddy put up Christmas lights. She now reaches for the top and tries to pull up. We might have to invest in a stronger gate!

We did manage to get some Christmas decorations up yesterday. No tree yet, we're a little concerned what Megan is going to do with it, but I guess we'll find out. Abby is loving putting up all the Christmas decorations. She has gone through her ornaments multiple times. This week we'll hopefully put the rest of the indoor ones up other than the tree. The outdoor lights look really good, Tim is even going to buy more I think because he says we need lights on the bushes. We'll see how that works out. Snow is expected on Wednesday so we'll see what we can get done.