Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Tyler missed both Addilyn and Asher's first times to roll over. He was at work the first time Addilyn rolled over. With Asher, he was at least in the house but was out of the room. Elias has been showing signs that he was about ready to roll over for about a week now. Tyler was determined to witness this accomplishment. He's had him on the floor and surrounded by toys to roll to whenever he was around.
He still missed it. This time he was in the bathroom.

Elias rolled over twice this morning too. Tyler missed those as well (out of the room both times).

Good job, Elias! Better luck next time, Tyler.

Elias 3-months

Elias turned 3-months last Tuesday. We were a little busy then but better late than never, right?!

Our Trip by the Numbers

Tyler's Grandpa Epp died on the 14th and his funeral was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on the 18th. Tyler, the kids and I made the long trek to meet Tyler's Grandma and celebrate his grandfather. We're just feeling like we're getting our heads back on straight so in the meanwhile, here are the numbers of our trip.
This is our final mileage tally from the trip. We saw it start anew two times so the final mileage was 2798.2 miles.

And this is how long we spent driving.

Here's a quick rundown of all the numbers:

5 1/2 days = 132 hours

2798.2 miles

49hours, 3 minutes

4 states + 1 province

4 different beds

2 countries

2 hotels (1 pool)

1 passport stamp

147 gallons of gas

1 new state + 1 new province for 4 people

4 times to unload/reload the van

3 stops at Tim Horton's (a Canadian coffee/donut shop)

2 stops at the Mall of America

7 Canadian candy bars

15 potty breaks

And our lowest observed temperature = -14 degrees F

Funny Faces

Happy face.

Silly face.

Sad face.

Excited face.

Now Scram!

Sand Art

Addilyn got this Cars sand art kit for Christmas. One morning while the boys were out doing manly things (going to Lowe's), Addilyn and I decided to break it out. Here she's posing with it. Very Vanna.

The first step is to get out all your supplies and play with them. Check.
Next you fill up the cars with sand, changing colors frequently to make a pretty design. Having never done sand art before, I was unaware that you're supposed to let the container set for a few minutes between each layer to settle. We simply shook the container a little. It ended up with a little muddling of the layers but we think it still looks great.The filled containers with stickers. Addilyn probably enjoyed the stickers as much as pouring the sand!

We had some extra sand so we filled a bottle to display as well. All-in-all it was a hit and a fun way to spend an hour or two.

The Last of the 2010 Photos

Hey! I thought I'd share with you the rest of our 2010 photos. And we're only 9 days late.

Asher's new bed. Daddy built the enclosure. The end folds down into a ladder for Asher to climb in with. Asher has been sleeping in it consistently since we got home from our Christmas trip. Yay!

Addilyn helped Mommy make some peppermint biscotti. She got to use a rubber mallet to crush the candy canes. She did a really good job and seem to enjoy it quite a bit too.

She helped Daddy do the dishes too. She's such a good helper.

Daddy and Asher.

Asher and his baby. He doesn't play with it all the time but he's super cute with it when he does.

Here he's putting his baby down for a nap. See how he covered him with a blanket. He's a good Daddy.

That pretty much wraps it up. Good bye, 2010.

Christmas Trip...Legs 3&4

Our final stop before heading back home was to Tyler's grandparents in Wisconsin. We played a lot of games on their new Wii, saw lots of Tyler's extended family, visited the Mall of America for a day and enjoyed their loads of snow.

Asher in his full snow gear. How cute is he?

Addilyn in her snow gear.

Addilyn sledding down the mound in the front yard.

Asher getting ready to do the same.

Weee!! His final reaction can be seen in our new header.

After a couple of days in Wisconsin & Minnesota, we drove the last 6 hours home. This was one of our lightest travel days and was a nice way to finish our trip. And when we got home Tyler immediately put together our new toy so we could enjoy all the gaming fun. Woot, woot for the Wii!

Christmas Trip...Leg 2

On to the second leg of our trip. Asher was tired (as was everyone else but we're not as cute!).

Christmas dinner at G&G Butts.

Addilyn got her very own camera for Christmas. She's pretty excited! Keep an eye out for Addilyn's photos posted over to the side.

Asher playing with Grandpa B's mini flashlight.

A big box of gifts. If you look closely you'll notice that Tyler and I received a Wii and Guitar Hero to go with it. We're also pretty excited (and have already enjoyed it quite a bit).

Addilyn enjoying more food (appetizers!!).

On to our last leg...

Christmas Trip: Leg 1

Daddy and Elias at Caribou Coffee during our first stop of the trip to Kansas. 6 hours in and glad to be out of the van.

We left the kids in their pajamas for the trip because we departed in the middle of the night and we thought it'd be more comfortable. When we got to the coffee shop in Des Moines (which has become our regular stop), we just put Asher's snowboots on over his footies. He liked it a lot and stomped around the store quite exhuberantly. Super cutie!

Addilyn finally went to sleep. We left at 2:00 and she was still awake at 4:00. I'm not sure how much sleep she actually got that night but it caught up with her later in the morning.

Looking cheerful despite being in the car for probably 9 hours at this point.

Skip to Christmas Eve...hanging out and taking pictures with Aunt Courtney.

Giving Daddy a piggyback ride.

The tree overstuffed with gifts.

The chaos after the gift opening...everybody checking out their new stuff. Asher just stared and stared at that Lego Mater.

Elias hanging out with Lily's baby.

New pajamas!

Opening stockings in the morning.

That's not all that happened at the Johnson Christmas (I missed the meal, Christmas Eve service, etc) but that's what we have photos of. On to the next stop.