A year in photos

January


Februrary: your baptism!


March: Johnny Jump Up provides hours of infant entertainment!


April: Michael is so good at sitting and playing with his toys!


May: Michael learns to stand and get closer to all the things he wants to touch. Scampy's life changes forever.


June: Our first family vacation to South Dakota.


July: 4th of July fun with Aunt Denise!


August: Lots of fun at the park!


September: the start of football season!!


October: Michael turns one!!


November: turning into such a big, silly boy.


December: Michael is such a sweet boy and loves Christmas!

What a year!! Lots of changes, for sure. But guess what? 2011 is going to be full of even more changes because...

We are proudly expecting baby #2 due at the end of May!

Michael's favorite Christmas present by far has been his new play gym!



Grandma and Grandpa had wanted to get him one for Christmas and we were already thinking about it so we said sure! It is a hit!

He just thinks he is such a big boy. Whenever he plays on it he gets really excited and wound up and then runs around the whole basement. I would guess he usually goes down the slide at least 200 times a day!

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for the hours of child entertainment!

I love Christmas break!

It has been the best Christmas beak! The weather has been nice and we've been having lots of fun getting some r&r. I'm still a little bit in denial about still working 4 days in January, but I keep reminding myself it is just for one more month and a little extra cash never hurt anyone!

We had the most beautiful morning earlier this week. I dropped Michael off at childcare, and then I spent a few minutes driving around and enjoying the scenery.

Scott took a few hours to clear off our pond and made a little ice rink! I'm surprised he skated so well out there with the ice being so rough. It is supposed to rain maybe today or tomorrow and then freeze so he is thinking that will help smooth things out.

Michael and I did a little sledding in the yard and watching Scott clear off the pond.

Other than that, we've just been doing lots of lounging around in our jammies!

Christmas Recap

Christmas was pretty great this year! It was a wonderful couple of days with our family! We had Christmas Eve to ourselves so we went to the church service and had a nice relaxing time enjoying the message while Michael was in the nursery. We had gotten there plenty early to get seats and enjoyed coffee and cookies while we waited. It was awesome! Afterward, we came home and Scott cooked me a nice Italian dinner. Impressed? I sure was!

The next morning we all slept in and then opened our stockings and ate breakfast.



Michael got some new tadoodle crayons, sippy cups, and a new pair of tennis shoes!



I made my special overnight baked french toast and Michael loved it! He was a little wound up after he ate it- it is a little high in sugar!



For Christmas dinner, we headed into West Des Moines to my aunt and uncle's house. They have a beautiful home and it is always decorated so nicely for the holidays. Practically the whole family was there and it was so nice to see everyone!



Isn't my aunt's tree so beautiful? She always gets a nice big real one every year! I'm jealous!



Michael had so much fun being the center of attention. He was running around everywhere!




After dinner, the whole group headed out to our house for dessert. We had a crowd of about 20 people! It was nice, people were hanging out upstairs and downstairs so it didn't feel too crowded.

Mom and Denise made the most beautiful sugar cookies just like Pioneer Woman did. I was really jealous...I wish I had more free time! Mom promised next year she would help me make some so I am holding her to her word! The Santa cookies are a tradition in our family and mom makes them every year.

Michael and his great-grandma. She gave him lots of great gifts for Christmas- including some nice vintage Dr. Seuss books!

This was the extent of my holiday baking: two dozen peanut butter cookies. I made them quick while Scott was out snowblowing. I figured the less I made, the less I would eat!

I should have taken more photos of our whole spread, but you know how terrible I am with actually getting my camera out during things. I had gotten this big red velvet cake from Costco, a cheesecake and an apple pie. I made homemade whipped cream and it was all really good! The red velvet cake is totally gone- I had no idea it would be such a hit. The desserts were all really delicious and there was no work involved for me except braving Costco before the holidays. Which was quite the feat, actually. :o)

Even Scampy had a great time, he got lots of attention from my aunts who love cats. It was a merry Christmas had by all!

Illumination

Dear Michael, please always let your little light shine!

Merry Christmas, everyone! :o)

Christmas Cards!

I love mailing and getting Christmas cards! I wish everyone sent cards to each other all year long instead of just a few weeks in December. It's so fun to see everyone's photos and read their letters about the news in their life. Even if I already know what is going on in their lives, it is still nice to read a letter from them!

Our Christmas card journey started out the way it does every year....trying to update our address database and then print address labels. I don't know why this is so hard for me, but every year it seems like it takes me a whole day and by the time its done, it would have been faster to hand write all the addresses!

Our cards are ones (plus some extras) I won for doing a shutterfly.com promotion. Thanks, shutterfly! They turned out really well and I can't wait to use them again in the future.

I got them mailed out on Monday (a day off of work for me) so hopefully they will be in mailboxes before Christmas!

Michael did great at daycare on Monday, but on Tuesday he came down with a rash so he was home again with dad for a little bit until I came home. He was playing in his chair and I took this photo of him and Scampy.

Doesn't Scampy look sooo happy? He's giving Michael his extra special death stare look.



My tree has also mysteriously lost all the decorations from child-level down. Hmm...

3 days until Christmas!