The Hill Family

We spent the holidays in Neuhaus next to a little the little lake Schliersee like last year. It was wonderful and relaxing! We really just ate, played and slept. It is a holiday apartment that Simon's company owns. They have two playrooms filled with toys and books, ping pong, billards and fussball tables. We were also able to go outside on Christmas. It didn't last very long. We went sledding down the little hill behind Conley, but the snow was icy and Auburn got scared. If it looks cold, it was. It was Simon's first white Christmas. We opened presents when we got home. Santa stopped by on Sunday during naptime. He brought a sled for the kids and they loved it. hanging out on the sled in Neuhaus swinging in Neuhaus Conley's favorite part of Christmas on their new sled with all of their presents behind them We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!!

My little boy is seven months. I really don't know where the time has gone. I know that he looks like he is already a year old, but I feel like he was just born. He is such an easy baby, I feel really blessed. He now loves solid food. There are sometimes that I just can't feed him fast enough. He is still a super sleeper, 11-12 hours a night. He can sit up by himself. He pushes him self backwards when he is on his tummy, and gets stuck under furniture quite often. He loves playing with his toes and taking his socks off. Conley loves toys. Luckily, he has a loving sister who brings him stuff all the time. (I found this one morning after my shower) Conley is very social and wants to be involved with everything. He still doesn't have any teeth, but I think some are on the way. My very happy natured baby has been grumpy the past few days. I know this picture is blurry, but his smile is so sweet. This is the best one we had of it. We love you Conley! Happy seven months!

Last week while I was getting lunch ready I walked in to see this: Auburn was saying "It's Peter Rabbit, bud. Do you see him?" She loves to read him stories. She use to just turn the pages while sitting next to him, but now she tells him whats on each page and then shows him the page. She is really a great older sister. She also points things out to him in the stroller, and calls him "bud" all the time. The first thing she wants to do in the morning is to go see Conley and loves playing with him. She always makes sure that he has a toy. She is also very protective of him. We had some friends over to play this week and one of the little boys took one of Conley's toys that was laying next to him. Auburn followed him around until he dropped the toy and then took it back to Conley declaring that it was "Conley's toy". And Conley just loves Auburn. It makes me so happy to see the ways that they show love towards one another.

Today is Thanksgiving. Last year I made a small attempt at a Thanksgiving dinner for our little family, and well it just wasn't the same. This year I have decided not cook the big meal. We are eating leftover empanadas and Spanish rice for dinner, lame, I know. Even though Thanksgiving is obviously not celebrated here in Germany, today I am reminded of the many things that I am grateful for. Here are a few of them. I am grateful for him. He is wonderful. Really, I couldn't ask for a better man to be my husband. He is talented, dilligent, perceptive, a wonderful father, and well you get the point. I am grateful for these two little ones. They are amazing kids and I feel so blessed to be their mother. I am grateful for all of these people. (plus baby Olivia and Lucy) (plus baby Sierra) I am grateful for my Savior and for the sacrifices he has made for me. Happy Thanksgiving!!! May you all have a fabulous day filled with family, turkey and football!

Two weeks ago Conley had food for the first time. We started with rice cereal and have since moved to carrots, zucchini, potatoes and apples. Auburn is really excited that he is eating real food. The first night she wanted to help feed him and now really likes setting a place for him when she sets the table. I really thought Conley would love solid food, but so far I think he just tolerates it. Zucchini seems to be the favorite so far. He loves sitting in his highchair and being with the family during mealtime.

Monday was a big day at our house. First, Conley rolled over four times!!! He has rolled over before, but only twice and they happened almost a month apart. The doctor was concerned that he isn't really rolling a lot yet. I think it is just harder because he is so big (almost 25 lbs at 6 months, I know...) He doesn't like to perform and we haven't gotten it on tape yet. I guess he likes to do it on his on time, anyway Yeah Conley!!! Auburn started potty training on Monday, and she is doing great! On Monday she had four accidents, yesterday one and today we are at 3:30pm and accident free so far... let's hope that continues. She is really doing great and already telling me when she needs to go, sometimes. I can't imagine potty training with carpet. Yeah Auburn!!! I'll post some pictures of the kids later.

In October we headed back to the US to see our families. Our kids were absolutly wonderful on both of the plane rides. I am grateful that flying doesn't bother them at all. Auburn was SO excited to have her own seat and meal. Coming back we had some pretty bad jet lag. Conley, my super sleeper, decided that he wanted to go to bed at 2am for about four days, and Simon had to jump on a plane to Italy the day after we returned (we didn't know that was going to happen). It all made for an exciting return. The pictures are in the wrong order. I always accidentally do this, sorry. Just so you know, we started in DC with my family, drove to New York to meet up with Simon's family. Thanks to Brent and Kirsten for letting us crash with you in DC and thanks to Paula for letting all of us share your wonderful studio in New York. After we spent a day in NY, we drove up to Conneticut to see the leaves with Scott, Sasha and Seth. The leaves were in their peak and it was just beautiful!

I'm a little behind in my blogging. The past two months have been a whirlwind, and I am finally catching up. Simon has been on three different buisness trips, we have taken two trips and we have had two different sets of visitors. That being said, Grandma and Grandpa Hill came to visit in September. They came on Auburn's second birthday. They also did some traveling on their own while they were here, I think about five different countires in all. Here are some of the pictures Conley and Grandpa We hiked up to the Andecht monestary for this beautiful view and to see this church in side. Simon and Brad were able to take in a game at Allianz Arena Here's Grandma cutting Auburn's birthday cake Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and Grandpa, come back anytime!

Last weekend we took some more pictures of the kids. Here are a few of my favorites.

Well, last week my little girl turned two! I feel like we were just bringing her home from the hospital. We have been helping her understand what a birthday is. When we would question her she would respond to the appropriate questions. Her answers were "get a present", "eat cake, chocolate cake" and after her birthday she told me that "Auburn needs to cool down the candles again." I guess she wants another birthday. On Sunday we had another cake and she thought it was her birthday again, it was really cute! Grandma and Grandpa Hill were actually able to be here for her birthday this year. Their plane arrived in the afternoon and we celebrated in the evening. Conley decided the party wasn't for him and actually slept through the entire thing. She was more interested in eating cake than smiling for a picture. She was spoiled rotten by her Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, thanks for the presents! Simon found this awesome children's mp3 player

Taj Mahal Well, it is totally worth all of the hype. What a beautiful and impressive building. Pictures really don't do it justice at all. It is bigger than I thought it would be and has so much detail. The stone sparkles in the sun. We spent most of the day there just taking it all in. Believe it or not, this is our first family picture since Conley was born. It took us four months to get one of all of us. Conley loving the Taj Mahal. She learned how to say Taj Mahal, but added a syallable "Taja Mahal". It was so cute to hear her say it. Hill family special It is a good thing that my daughter loves rice. She really lived off of it the time that we were there. The food was really, really spicy. Everyone loved our double stroller. This is the Red Fort in Agra. What you don't see is is a bunch of other people taking our picture behind Simon. So a typical traffic jam in India consists of cars, tuk-tuks(what we are in), bikes, motorcycles and cows. This picture