Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Last weekend we all got together to celebrate my mom's birthday! We had so much fun!! We celebrated at our house, along with Brian, Shanda, Cole, Tyler, Cody, Heidi and Dad and Mom! The kids always love each other's company and it's always nice spending time with the adults! Having Mom's birthday party at our house is one of the things I look forward to the most each year. It is always so nice! I love doing her cake, decorating the house and having a nice time with the family. I would say that this year was another success! We hope that mom had a very Happy Birthday!! She is the best mother that anyone could ever ever ask for. She is my mom, my friend, a great roll model and so much more! I love her so much and wish her all the happiness in the world, on her birthday and every other day of the year!!



Happy Birthday, Mom!!



 




 









Super Bowl Champs!!

Now I wouldn't be a true Packer fan if I didn't post the exciting news! I know, I'm a little late, but hey...better late then never, right?! On February 6 the Green Bay Packers went to Super Bowl XLV and played the Pittsburgh Steelers....and THEY WON!!!!!! Very exciting event in our family! So in honor of their victory, I took a moment and made this picture!

I am also posting a few other pictures that I've been working on as well. Hoping that everyone had a fabulous Valentine's Day! We sure did!! Andy had the day off and we spent the day as a family. We took the kids to the park in the morning and then went to Gillette....We bought a riding lawn mower and we went to pick it up!! Very exciting for us!! We then came home and spent the evening watching movies and ate a Delicious steak dinner that Andy made for us. Mmmmmm, it was sooo delish! Anywhoo, that's all for now. Enjoy the pictures and we hope everyone is doing well!! 

Garrett with the cookies!

Our beautiful baby girl!





Staying Busy, Loving Life!

Well there is not a whole lot of news to post for January, mostly pictures!

We spent a few days at the end of January in South Dakota visiting Andy's side of the family. It was so nice to see everyone again. Many of them haven't met Emily yet, so that was nice as well! We stayed with Andy's parents, had a wonderful get-together, with a DELICIOUS elk roast that his parents made! Good food, good company, great time!! We also got to do some shopping and we even got to visit with a few friends for a short time too! It was so nice to get over there and see everyone. We were even able to get a few 4 generation photos with the kids!! We will definitely have to do it again sometime soon....perhaps when the weather warms up!

                                                    4 Generations 

It has been frigidly cold here the past few days. We had temps that were 50 BELOW Zero with windchill. And one of the nights that it was so cold, we lost power for about 6 hours. It went out around 11 p.m. and we didn't have power again until 5 a.m. Our house, by that time, was a chilly 53 degrees...we were talking about calling my parents and heading over there to get the kids warm, but wouldn't you know it?!...the power was back! So then, we had to figure out how to reset our furnace. And just about the time we were starting to think we needed help, our wonderful neighbor called us to off his help!! Ten minutes later our house was back to warming up again.....I am pretty sure that our furnace ran for a solid 3 hours before it shut off after the power outage! (Not looking forward to the next bill!! LOL)!! So the power company worked on the power lines, in arctic temps, and we were able to enjoy the rest of our freezing cold nights in our home, toasty warm!!! PTL! It looks as if we're in for another frigid spell again at the beginning of next week!! Hope everyone else is staying warm!! And to finish off my post, I have just a few more pictures of our lives! Please enjoy...we certainly have!!







Mommy and Daddy's Valentines!



Emily is ONE!

On December 31 our little Emily turned one!! It is hard to believe that she is already a year old. Our first year with her has been simply amazing. She has been such a joy in our lives and such a blessing. She is the perfect little one for our family. She can now walk, say a few words (such as, mama, dada, grandma, grandpa, cracker, yummy, and bye bye!!), she waves, claps and has quite a personality!! She loves to be chased down the hallway and play peek-a-boo, especially with her brother!! And her favorite thing to do is LAUGH!!!  Garrett has been such a big help with her also and he just adores having a baby sister. He loves to teach her things, play games with her and just cuddle with her in the early mornings and evenings!! It has been so much fun watching the two of them interact with each other and get to know one another! They are quite the pair together, that's for sure!! They are our world and we love them both so much!
We celebrated Emily's first birthday on January 1, 2011 and we had such a nice time! We gathered at our house for sloppy joes, cake, ice cream and presents! It was wonderful!! Emily had a ball and loved all the attention that she got that day. She laughed so hard when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her!!
On the 5 of January she had her one year well child check up with the doctor. We took her in and she weighed 20 pounds and was 30 1/2 inches long!! She is in the lower percentile for weight, which the doctor said is just perfectly ok, and she was 95th percentile for height!! Tall and skinny!! The doctor said she was perfect!! Love to hear that, but we already knew that!!
Well that is all for now, I will have plenty more updates (and pictures) later, but for now I will post a few from Emily's party!!

Our very Merry Christmas!

Well I am hoping that everyone had a very merry Christmas this year! I know we sure did. Andy was off work for the weekend of Christmas, which was so nice!! We spent Christmas Eve relaxing and getting ready for Christmas day. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights, Garrett got to put out cookies and milk for Santa, and then both kids went to bed early. By Christmas morning Garrett and Emily were thrilled to see that Santa came!! The kids opened presents, we had breakfast and then started getting things ready for the day. Andy's parents came over from South Dakota and my parents were here for dinner as well. It was sooooo nice, and the food was delicious. The kids got lots of fun toys, but their 'big' gift wouldn't quite fit  under the tree. Santa will be making a special delivery this spring....he is bringing the kids a swing set!!!!! We are super excited, and I'm sure they will be too, once they see it. Andy's parents chipped in some for the swing set as part of the kids' present! The only thing that wasn't perfect was that we were missing my brother and his family. They traveled out of town this year for Christmas. So when they got home we were happy to have them stop over for the evening. Then it really felt like Christmas!! We all  had such a nice time visiting, playing with the kids, putting their stuff together!! After everyone went home, we had a nice, quiet evening. The kids were exhausted and so were we!! The next morning we headed to Gillette for some day after Christmas shopping and then home again to exchange gifts with Brian, Shanda, Cole, Tyler, Cody and Heidi, and my parents. It was another fabulous evening with good food and fun times, and even a little bit of wii!! I am posting a few pictures of our Christmas. Hoping that everyone had a fabulous Christmas and wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Thought I'd share a few pics of our Christmas season so far!! I'm sure there'll be more to come!!!

Gingerbread train decorating!!

The best presents ever!!

The sweet smell of Christmas!

Hello everyone!! Hope you are all having a merry and bright holiday season so far!! I thought I'd share a few pictures of our weekend. Mom came over and we baked Christmas cookies ALLLLLLLL day long!! It was so much fun!! Once the cookies are baked, frosted and decorated we know that the season is finally here!! Wouldn't be Christmas without them!! Also, Garrett was able to help this year, which made it even more fun. Andy was home and helped watch the kids, but once Garrett got in the kitchen, we couldn't get him out!! He had fun rolling the dough, cutting the cookies, frosting them and making his very own masterpieces! How fun is that?! I find Christmas to be even more special now that I have kids of my own. And I hope that I can pass on some of the same wonderful memories and traditions that I have of my childhood to our kids, especially at Christmas time!! Well that is all I have for now. Please enjoy the pictures!!