Tis the season!

Well, we successfully made it to all of our 5 Christmas gatherings despite the scare in weather. Mommy and Preston left on Tuesday afternoon with Aunt Paige and Aunt Molly so we could beat the "storm." Daddy joined us on Wednesday for the family festivities. The weekend before Christmas we decided to go to Jordan Creek to get some last minute shopping done. Preston loved playing in the little playground there. We decided against Santa though...we thought he was too scary and you had to pay an outrageous amount of money for a picture.

We also let Preston take a ride on this school bus....although he wasn't so sure about it.

We were so glad to see Aunt Paige over Christmas. She was amazed at how much Preston has grown. Aunt Paige and Aunt Molly babysat Preston on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas.

Preston received so many toys from some very generous people. Lots of Elmo!

Grandpa Kyle, his girls, and grandson on Christmas Eve

The whole Marquard family

Take one last look at these cute curls.........

Because P-dawg got his haircut!

And hated it! Great-Aunt Kay generously provided Preston with her hair-cutting abilities, but Preston was not very grateful. He acted like we were torturing him, screaming and crying. I don't know how in the world she didn't cut his ear off or something. Thanks Kay!

But, doesn't he look so handsome now!?

He was being such a cheeser on Christmast Eve, I had to get some pictures, because it isn't very often that he sits there and smiles for the camera.

Preston and Aunt Molly

Say Cheese!

Still showing off those pearly whites

Christmas day at the Eichmeier's with his cousins

Grandma Sue bought Daddy and Uncle Shawn a puppy dog that rolls over and laughs when you walk by.

Preston trying to knock over his bowling pins with his head

A new Sesame Street couch!

Grandma D, the girls, and P

New bathtub toysOn Saturday night, we went back to Des Moines, but stayed in a hotel for the Dixon family Christmas

Aunt Paige, Mikyla, and Preston playing with a bouncy ball. Preston loved to run back and forth in the halls of the hotel. Fun!

Tomorrow, Preston is going to head back to Greene for a few days to spend some time with Grandma Diane, Grandpa Kyle, Aunt Molly, and Aunt Paige before she leaves to go back to Costa Rica. Maybe Mommy and Daddy will do something exciting for New Years Eve......probably not :)

Another birthday.....

December has been flying by and we have been staying busy. Mommy is excited that this is her last week of classes this term and won't start back up until January. A small break, but a much needed one! The first weekend in December Daddy and Preston got to spend some quality time together while Mommy went on an overnight trip to go to Christmas at Luther. Last week we enjoyed the days off from work and school due to the blizzard. We are so thankful to Eric and Laura who generously lent us their snow blower. Our snow pup just wasn't doing the trick :) This past Saturday was Mommy's 28th birthday...yuck. I stopped liking birthdays when I turned 25. But, Daddy did get Mommy a Garmin for her birthday. Now she won't get lost all the time! Grandpa Kyle was going to watch Preston while Mommy and Daddy went out to eat on Friday, but Daddy came home from work sick. So, Grandpa bought Mommy some birthday pizza. Daddy had a high fever and had the chills pretty bad. Mommy thought Daddy had H1N1, but Daddy did feel a lot better the next day. Might have been 24 hr flu or virus? We decided to go to Red Lobster on Saturday night and stuffed ourselves with lobster, shrimp, and crab. We are looking forward to the holidays and anxiously awaiting Aunt Paige's arrival from Costa Rica this coming weekend. And hopefully we get our Christmas cards out before Christmas!

The amazing Spiderman!

This picture was taken around 2:00 in the morning. Preston decided he was going to take a 2 1/2 hr nap at daycare and then get up in the night and play. Good times for Mommy! This is a little odd, but Preston always finds my underwear and wears them around his neck. I keep explaining to him that he is going to be really embarrassed about this when he gets older, but he does not seem to care right now :) I think he likes doing this because it is the one thing he can put on over his head by himself.
Wearing Mommy's boots
Wishing he was outside with Daddy hanging up lights
Daddy and Preston at Red Lobster
Mommy and Preston, but he was too busy eating his cheddar biscuits

Yummy...they even put a candle in it and let Mommy blow it out

Preston in his new jammies

Brushing his teeth

He has learned how to climb up this kitchen step ladder now......makes Mommy so nervous!

Pres likes to rock in the rocking chair by himself

On Sunday, Preston went on his first trip to.......McDonald's. He enjoyed his first happy meal and drinking real apple juice (not watered down) from a straw. What a big boy!

Mommy and Preston enjoyed the Playland, although it did say for kids 3-12 years old.

Crawling through the tunnels

Preston is old enough to help around the house now........

Yummy!

This was too funny, I had to post it. Preston thought it was super funny to "kiss" his toes during our Thanksgiving meal. And the little show-0ff kept doing it over and over to get some laughs. On a side note...Preston has not had any bottles for almost 2 weeks now. We thought taking his night bottle away would be pure torture, but it has been okay. And...Daddy just called and he has bronchitis, yucky!

We're Back!

Some of you may have noticed that we have not blogged in awhile, but we are back now! Our laptop finally bit the dust so we have not been able to do much on the computer and internet in the last month. Luckily, Gma Diane lent us her desktop so Mommy was able to do some work and homework in the meantime. We bought a new laptop on black Friday for a good deal. Daddy waited in line for 2 hrs to get it, but it was worth it! If you are wondering what the Eichmeier's have been up to in the last month....here ya go. Sorry for all the black and white photos, I guess I liked the edit button this time! Giving thanks...we know many families have been going through great loss and heartache
in the recent months, so we just want to give thanks for our happy and healthy family and friends.

Snuggling..Preston was battling an ear infection and eye infection in the middle of November and now he has a cold, so we have been doing a lot of snuggling. It seems like we wipe his runny nose every couple of minutes!

Daddy and Preston with Kelvin, Great Gma Mary's dog

Preston and Grandpa Kyle taking a nap after a big Thanksgiving meal


Mikyla and Preston


Mommy and Aunt Molly at Thanksgiving

Frosting Cookies, getting up at 3am to go shopping, and Preston even went Christmas tree shopping!

Walking- Preston has been "officially" walking since Halloween. Here he is trying to join in the game of football that Daddy and his cousins were playing.

Preston and Cousin Zach

Gma Sue and Preston taking a nap

Visitors- We of course have had some visitors to our house in the last month, especially for the Iowa games. Jeremiah, Lynn, and Rowan Treloar visited us last weekend. Here is a pic of Preston of Rowan.

Rowan sitting in her bumbo watching the Iowa game

Aunt Molly visited us so Mommy and her could go to the musical "Rent."

Riding bikes- Gpa and Gma Eichmeier got this bike trailer for us so we could pull Preston along. We got out it out for a couple nice days in November and went on some bike rides. Preston enjoyed it!

Playing outside- we can't believe how nice the weather was in November! We took advantage of it and went to the park a few times.

Preston and Mommy going down the slide.

This is Preston's favorite thing to do at the park. He is not really old enough to walk over this holey bridge, but he sure tries!

Daddy pulling Preston in his wagon

Visiting Ameila- Amelia Updegraff was born in October and Mommy went and visited Amy and Amelia one day.

This brave little girl had heart surgery in the middle of November...and she is doing so well! Although I hear she likes to keep her Mommy up at nights :)

Taking a bath at Grandma Diane's

Vacuuming- Here is Preston "vacuuming" at Grandma's. He loves this little popper....and he has one at his day care too.
We don't have anything like this at home, but he loves to take cookie pans at home and run them on the ground like he is vacuuming.

Preston went to a Halloween carnival in Greene the last weekend in October. He is picking out a prize after playing a game.

Picking up a duck for a prize