Eli & Tavan turn 3 months old!

Tavan at 3 months old. Really getting more expressive and big!

Eli at 3 months old laughing at mom!

Tavan (left) & Eli (right). Still need to work on those back muscles, but they are coming.

Danika's 1st Haircut!

Danika got to go get her very first haircut at "Whipper Snippers" in Fargo. Whipper Snippers is a place for kids to go and get their hair cut and for salon-type treatments. She got to get her hair cut with Dora, who has become one of her favorite people along with Diego. She also got to watch Dora on a little television. Above is a picture of her with Dora and her hair all ready to be cut.Danika sat really well for Lindsey while she got her hair cut! Of course, watching Dora helped her out a lot.

Danika showing us her new haircut while enjoying the sucker she got for being such a good girl! We couldn't believe how big she looked when she was done!

Winter Wonderland

Today we woke up to a beautiful scene. Overnight fog had turned into a thick layer of frost over everything outside. The pictures here probably don't really do it justice, but it was pretty neat! Heavy cloud cover allowed the frost to stay for the better part of the day...

We're getting back to life as usual now that the holidays have past and all our visitors returned safely home. Kurt is starting a new position with SEI, he is now a Jr. Product Manager, and is responsible for many aspects of new call tracking system they have been working on implementing. Miranda is back to daycare, and is already receiving calls from parents looking for some spots! Ryan has joined a youth wrestling program here in town, and seems to enjoy this. After a trip to Woodworth, ND last Saturday to help make deer sausage with Miranda's family, we're ready to stay at home for a while. Since we're posting, here are a few more photos from the holidays to enjoy:

Tavan and Eli with their Christmas stockings. They almost fit inside them!

Ryan and Jacob show off their "video rockers", which allow the sound from the video game to go through the chair (and it even vibrates). Danika likes the chairs too..

Oma and Opa enjoyed several days with their grandchildren, and got a taste of life with twins and a feisty two-year-old!

Danika was NOT interested in taking a photo with Uncle Tim during his visit, but we managed to sneak one right before he left as he crept behind her in the high-chair.

On 1/8, we took a quick trip to Fergus Falls after work to celebrate Auntie Kylene's birthday at Applebee's. Danika really enjoyed her desert!!!

Eli and Tavan's Baptism

Today we baptized Eli and Tavan! The baptism was at Atonement Lutheran Church in Fargo, and both Pastor Dale Wolf and grandfather Merlin Schlichting performed the ceremony. Sponsors were David and Jamie Swenson and auntie Kylene Ames (above)

Eli and the cake

After the baptism, everyone came back to our house for dinner and more pictures... The twins wore little baptismal 'suits', custome made by Oma (grandma) Schlichting. They were very adorable, and Miranda was able to get a lot of pictures with them. Here are just a few:

Tavan (left) and Eli (right) in their baptismal suits

Mommy and Eli share a smile

The 'Ames' side:

Toby Johnson, Kylene Ames, Jacob, Ken Ames (with Tavan), Ryan, Beck Ames (with Eli), Danika, Miranda, Kurt

Uncle Tim Schlichting holds Eli and Tavan

You can also see our new paint-job in the living room in these photos! Compare to our Thanksgiving pictures below to see the difference...

Merry Christmas!

We had a very busy day and a half! On Monday (Christmas Eve), we drove to Sheyenne ND to spend time with Miranda's family. Tavan (left) and Eli (right) were both smartly dressed for church! After church, we had supper at the Karlsbraaten's, and opened gifts. Danika had a great time, but we found out that she still doesn't trust dogs or Santa Claus. Miranda's cousin Tracy and her husband Jason brought their dog along with them from Colorado, and even though he's not very big, Danika would not go near him! It was actually a little comical... Jason also donned a Santa Claus outfit and 'delivered' presents to everyone, and posed for photos. Danika treated him about the same as she did the dog, and was not even remotely intersted in sitting on his lap!!


After a late night, we finally got everyone to bed and we managed a few hours of sleep before the Ames family arrived at Ken and Becky's house on Christmas for the anual "Farm Christmas". This includes Christmas supper, and a gift exchange which is usually pretty entertaining. This year, I walked away with a 40oz bottle of Hurricane malt liquor, some honey roasted peanuts and a pack of beef sausage snacks. I noticed later that the Hurricane born on date said Nov 2003!!! What a jip... oh well It looks like I've got my gift for next year already. :)


We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday too! We'll head back home on Wednesday and attempt to prepare our house for my parents and brother, who will visit through the new year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Everyone, Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated two occasions today. Tavan (left) and Eli (right) turned 1 month old, and Turkey Day. We had a big housefull of guests, including Oma Schlichting, Grandma and Grandpa Ames, Diane and David Karlsbraaten, Great-Grandpa Axel, Auntie Kylene and Toby Johnson. We enjoyed some great turkey, some mediocre football, and good company!

Tavan and Eli are really packing on the pounds, as both weigh 7+ pounds now and are becoming more alert and focusing on things and really moving their hands. Tavan even started cooing yesterday!!! YEAH! We are all very proud of him!!! They are still very sleepy little ones but continue eating every 3 hours. Let me tell you, they don’t miss that. Here are some more pictures taken yesterday...

Ryan 7, Eli, Danika, Jake 10, Tavan

Tavan (left), Danika (25 mos) and Eli (right)

Back Row: Toby Johnson, Miranda, Eli, Kurt, Danika, Ken Ames

Front Row: Kylene Ames, Ryan, Tavan, Jacob, Becky Ames

Proud Oma (that's German for Grandma) Schlichting gets her first chance to see the twins!

Great Grandapa Axel Nielsen holds Eli and Tavan

Halloween Trick or Treats!

Even with all the hubbub of the twins being born, we had another fun year of Halloween excitement. Danika really got into the swing of this this time! We borrowed a very cute little zebra costume from the Swensons, which she just loved. In fact she insisted on wearing it several times before trick or treating as well. When the day finally came, Miranda took Danika trick or treating in the morning with Jamie and Rylan Swenson at a retirement home. She wasn't so sure about this environment, so we were wondering how it would go in the evening. But when the time came, we loaded her up and drove to Glyndon to hit a few houses with the Swensons again.










The twins got into the Halloween fun too! Eli is on the left, Tavan is on the right. Even though they are pretty cute, they didn't get very much candy this year.

Jake and Ryan were with their mother this year, so they did not get to go with us. However, they did get a chance to run around Dilworth with Jake's friend William Shamp. They stopped by our hosue for a photo op as well. They all had scary costumes with lots of fake blood