Photo Time

Making Sugar Cookies at Nonna's house on 12/23...white frosting only because of the mess made last year!

Christmas Eve at our house with Joe's family (Mary, Shorty, Aunt Karen, Aunt Pat, Cousin Chris, Katelyn, Cousin Nikki, Cory, and my Dad). Joe in his idea of a "Christmas Shirt."

Christmas Morning.


Christmas Day at my parents house with Dan, Tiff, Thea and Delila.

Santa and more...

We had a very nice Christmas this year, and it is good to remember this time of the year how lucky we really are! We were able to spoil our little girl (well, with the help of grandparents and aunts and uncles of course), enjoy way too much food, spend time with both of our families, and, of course, keep in mind the true meaning of the day.

We hosted Christmas Eve with Joe's family. It all went well, the food was done at about the same time- but Joe did most of the prep work for this to occur! Congrats to Joe's niece, Nikki, who is pregnant with a little girl due in the spring. Leah was so excited to start to open presents- she even sang Jingle Bells for everyone so that she could get the first present. I do like to bribe! We all had a very nice evening (well, at least I did- guess I shouldn't speak for everyone).

Christmas morning, she was so excited when she went downstairs to notice that Santa was here. She exclaimed..."Santa drank all of the milk, he must have been thirsty." She has been very curious about Santa asking questions like- how will he get into our house (he has a universal key to open every house that doesn't have a chimney) and what does he like to drink (Milk). Initially when asked where Santa lived- she replied, "at the mall." She was most excited about her new helmet that Santa gave to her.

We met my parents at church. Since Leah has started Sunday School, going to Church as been much more relaxing! Leah had the two teenage boys behind us laughing during the entire service with her activity. It wasn't that she was being naughty, but she just couldn't sit still. She was quite, but she was all over the row- the church was not full by any means.

We spent Christmas Day at my parents house with my parents, Dan, Tiff, Thea, Baby D, and my F-I-L Shorty. Shorty has been here since Monday and is staying for a week. Leah is really enjoying spending time with Grandpa Shorty. Since he lives in MI, she doesn't get to see him that much- Joe continues to try to work on getting him to move here to MN.

At my parents, we made Ravioli- this has become a very fun tradition for our Christmas Celebration. The girls (Leah and Thea) had so much fun playing together, and they even got involved in the Ravioli preparation (we gave them some dough to roll out). Leah loves to hold Delila as much as she is allowed. She likes to "take care of her." We ate too much, open gifts, and spent some quality time together as a family.

At the end of the day, when asked what she liked best about Christmas, Leah replied..."my helmet and playing with Thea"

Pictures to follow at a later date- no time to put them on the computer tonight. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, enjoy your weekend!

December Celebrations

Happy Birthday

12/3 Bailey

12/7 Cousin Angie

12/9 Gunnar

12/22 Aunt Sara

12/26 Aunt Linda

12/26 Uncle Tony

Have a great day everyone!

Nutcracker

We (Nonna, Leah and I) met up with Jaclyn, Kaylee (4) and Deb (Jaclyn's mom) to go to see the Nutcracker today. It is definitely going to be a annual event. Both girls were mesmerized by the dancing. During the first half, they were asking question after question- but never took their eyes off of the stage while asking the question. They didn't talk much during the second half- just continued to be mesmerized. I don't know that anything has ever held Leah's attention like this show did. She was absolutely fascinated!

Some video

Here is Leah on her last day of the fall swim class. She did get a few individual lessons this session because there were only 2 kids, and the other one missed a few.

Leah's class "sang" at the assisted living complex by the hospital yesterday. Leah even sang a solo (any child that wants to sing alone is given the opportunity)! She is very quite, so turn up your speakers for the next one. Oh, and please excuse the video quality- I was far away and standing and must not have been holding it still enough because it kept refocusing! Ugh.

Just Leah (in the green jacket to the right):

The Class:

HOHOHO

We had a fun weekend, though we missed out on one adventure due to weather!

On Saturday, we went to White Christmas on Saturday- a very good show, even Joe had a nice time (I think), followed by dinner at the Woodfire Grill with my parents, Tiff and Renate (Tiff's mom- Dan was home with 2 sick girls!). Leah spent the day with Grama Mary- they went swimming at the Y and Leah just had a great time.

On Sunday, we were supposed to head up to Duluth to the "Polar Express," however we were stopped by poor weather. So, we decided to make a trip to the local mall to see Santa. Leah has been very excited about Santa this year, so we thought she would like to see Santa. She told us she wanted to stand by Santa but that she didn't want to sit in his lap. So, we get to Santa, and run into our neighbor's who are already in line! So, we thought it might be better for Leah if she was with Michael. As we stood in line, she started with "I just want to look at Santa." After some convincing, we did get her to sit next to Santa on Joe's lap and have a family picture! She did not talk to Santa- but did give him a high five when we were leaving, and she smiled for the picture. That's a start!

LONG Weekend!

We had a very nice weekend down in Iowa visiting our friends, Gunnar and Mary. It was nice to get away, even if for just a few days. Leah spent the weekend with my parents. She also had a great time...she has her Nonna and Grandpa wrapped around her cute little finger (and they know it)! :) My mom had asked her a few weeks ago (before Christmas trees were even up), what she wanted to get Mommy and Daddy for Christmas. She told Nonna that she wanted to get Mommy a ball for the Christmas Tree, and she wanted to give Daddy a picture of her. Adorable. So, this weekend, they went shopping and Leah picked out our presents. When we got to my parents on Sunday night to pick her up, she was too excited to wait, and she had to give us our presents early. So cute. She really is quite precious (no bias here)!



We have had some snow over the last few days. So, yesterday, since it was a fairly decent day (until late afternoon), Leah and I did get in some outside play. We had a good time...shoveling, sledding, snow angels, tag, swinging and sliding! We also were able to meet up with our friend Beth for dinner as she is here for a teaching conference. Fun to see friends that you don't get to see as often as you would like!



Today, Leah and I went swimming at a local hotel, then we went to see Bailey, the new daughter of our friends, Sean and Jody. She is just so precious. Congrats you guys! Leah and Morgan (the older sister- 2.5years) had a great time playing together. They always do! Leah is just waking up from her nap- she was worn out from the morning. We have to get ready for swim class now!

Not ready to return to reality tomorrow. I have had a nice 5 days off, and feel very rested today (even if Leah was up at 6).

Christmas List

Leah colored this picture of Santa with Nonna the day after Thanksgiving. She told us yesterday that she wanted to bring it with her to show Santa. So, I said, let's write your list on the back. She insisted on writing the list herself, but let me add a few words to the list as well. Please excuse the writing as I was writing sideways! The scan isn't the best- it reads: Dora and a Horsey, Bike Helmet, Puzzels, Coloring book, Hot Wheels (she said cars), A city for cars, Candy, More toys, American Flag (not sure where this came from)!