Happy New Year from Our Family to Yours!

We had a fun time taking this shot after dinner tonight with the self-timer. Mike says that Colin is the John Lennon in this picture, whatever that means. I'm not familiar with the album cover in which he must be looking away.

We had a fun day at home, still playing with all of our new toys. We had a great last supper of 2008- homemade pizza (again!) with fresh mozzarella, mozzarella cheese sticks, with ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Mike and Colin and I are going to ring in the new year in our toasty warm basement. It has become such a nice place for our family to hang out, and if I may be bold to say, will be finally finished in 2009.

This year was really a great one for us, with the arrival of our beautiful, healthy Colin, fun times this summer in the pop-up camper, getting together (not often enough) with friends (old and new), seeing Bridget and her family more often now that they've moved back to MN, and being able to see Mom and Dad more spontaneously since Dad's retirement in January.

May God continue to bless our family and yours in 2009. Happy New Year to you!

Christmas Family and Friends

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families and friends. For the first time, I did not wake up at my parents' house on Christmas morning. We spent most of the day with Grandpa and Grandma J at their house with Bridget, Steve, and Maren, then went to mass and came home for dinner. Then we opened gifts from one another, and headed to our respective homes for the night.


I loved waking up Christmas morning, and opening presents that Santa had brought during the night with our little family. Later in the morning, Mom and Dad came to visit, bearing cinnamon rolls, and they stayed to watch Wall-e with us. It was nice to spend the whole Christmas day in one place, and stay in jammies all day. We packed up later that night, so we were ready for our trip to Okabena the next morning.


A and B had a great time with their 4 cousins at Grandpa and Grandma F's house. We had our celebration on Friday night, and then gathered with the larger family at Great Grandma F's farm on Saturday evening. The kids sang Christmas carols until Santa came for a visit, and passed even more presents. The family is getting so big, but we still found a spot to sit in the living room, and everyone was excited to meet Colin.


On Sunday night, Stokes, Andy, and Ben were in the Twin Cities, prior to their flight back to Oregon on Monday. We got together at Danielle and Mark's house, and made our own pizzas. The kids had a raucous time in the basement while the adults hung out for the most part upstairs. It was a pretty impressive group- nine children ages six and under, four college friends and our husbands.

Colin's Blizzard-day Baptism

What a nice day! Although only the locals were able to make it (if you count Maple Grove as local), we had a good baptism day. Colin was asleep until the deacon poured the holy water, and then he didn't even cry. The fancy cake was again from Edelweiss bakery in PL, and was a white cake with pastry creme, raspberry filling, and white chocolate mousse filling (my baby's baptisms are all about the cake for me- I don't know why). We are so happy to have Chad and Hope as Colin's godparents. It was such fun watching the kids play together after lunch. We'll have to watch out for Hailey and Bennett- I think they'll be a dangerous duo.

Home Base

Merry Christmas Week!! Here is a picture of the finished result of our three day gingerbread house project. I was impressed with how patient the kids were, making the dough one day, constructing the house the next, and finally decorating on the third day. Here's one of my dears on the couch, snuggling in to read a book, suck a thumb, and spit up. The bottom photo was taken at my parents' house, after Colin's baptism yesterday.

Getting BIG!

We had a great weekend! Colin turned 1 month old on Thursday. Time is flying! He is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night (3 hours), and his eyes are open for longer periods during the day. He is also starting to spit up more, just like our older two.

Eric and Katie got to meet Colin on Friday. They came bearing pizza! Annalise and Bennett always have a fun time with them. Mike and I try not to scare them when they get a glimpse of life with three kids. Mike was in charge of the troops on Saturday afternoon, when I volunteered at Feed My Starving Children in Brooklyn Park with my friend Anne (Alma's mom) and a group from Little Flowers. Annalise and Alma had a playdate at our house; Mike said they had a great time, and were really good with including Bennett too.

On Sunday, we brought A and B to Grandpa and Grandma's house, where they worked on some cooking projects with Grandma J, while Colin went shopping with Mike and me. He was a really good shopper, and we got some great shopping done, and even enjoyed lunch (and a Sunday Corona for me) at Chevy's.

This is Annalise's last week of school before January, and I think she is excited to do some things around the house while on break. We are eagerly anticipating the birth of our niece, and are thinking it will happen prior to her New Year's Eve due date (just hopefully not on Christmas eve).

Garfield or Garfield

Guest daddy post. I wanted to get this down on paper (well not really paper, but....) before I forgot it. The other day A and I were at the dining room table, and she says "Daddy, you look like Garfield." I'm thinking o.k., red/orange hair, a little paunchy, likes Italian food. I can buy that. But then I start thinking, how in the world does A know who Garfield is? She doesn't watch anything other than Caillou and Blues Clues. So I ask her some basic questions. Did someone at school talk about Garfield? Did you see a picture or a commercial? Did someone at school get a cat and name their new pet Garfield?

She looks at me like I'm from Mars, and says "No daddy. The President."

I just think to myself, wow, I love this kid. I hope that my hairline is holding on a little longer than our former President's though.

Great weekend

Happy Birthday Daddy! On Friday, we celebrated Mike's birthday (12/7) with a special birthday dinner. I made two Everyday Italian recipes, and baked an apple pie.


















Saturday, A and B helped give Colin a bath in the kitchen sink. There was some crying, but he liked having warm water poured over him when he was being rinsed.










Grandma F, Aunt Sarah, and Aunt Darci came to visit, and for the aunts to meet their new nephew for the first time yesterday. We had a great time at Blake and Candy's party, while they stayed for the evening and babysat.

Today, Grandpa and Grandma J, Bridget, Steve, and Maren came over for a photo shoot in front of our Christmas tree for G and G's Christmas card with all of their grandchildren (so far)- we didn't get Bridget's belly in the picture.

You otta be in pictures

'Tis the Season!

We walked down the alley, and got our Christmas tree on Saturday (at a flower shop at the end of the alley, not just a tree from the alley). We spent the day on Sunday rearranging furniture, cleaning the house, and decorating the tree. Having the tree up this early is definitely a record for our family!

School is back on for Bennett this week (thank goodness!), I am going to McCoy's with mommy friends tonight (haven't decided if I'll bring C along or not), and we have a birthday to celebrate this coming weekend (for the biggest boy). We are attending Blake and Candy's holiday party on Saturday, at their new house, and are really excited, since we haven't been able to make it the past several years.

Hanging out at Home

Mike went back to work on Wednesday last week. It really was a nice way to work it, so he'd only be gone for the day, and then have four days at home for Thanksgiving. He didn't want me to go in to husband-less shock! Bennett and Colin and I are figuring out our new normal, and Bennett is a perfect little companion to Colin and my frequent dates on the couch for nursing. He loves to play trucks, driving them up the throw blanket and over the couch cushions for what seems like hours.

Colin is beginning his circuit training- nursing, burping, then Mom trying to get him to nap in either the bouncy chair or swing downstairs, or in his crib or bouncy chair upstairs. When he wakes up, we try a new chair.

Our family of five went to Prior Lake for the day on Thursday, and enjoyed a terrific Thanksgiving dinner and relaxing day with Grandpa and Grandma J. Mike and I even got to spend some time without the kids, in the hot tub (although they were watching from the window above).





On Friday, we went to Stillwater and took a Polar Express train ride on the Minnesota Zephyr. We had a boxed lunch on the train, and A and B got to tell Santa their desires for Christmas (a doll for A, a racecar for B).

Colin's First Three Weeks

I was planning on posting a picture from every day of Colin's first week, but I missed some days already, so I picked some shots from the past three weeks. I was really surprised that I didn't have the camera out every day, since it seems like I've been hypervigilant in getting pictures of #3. Colin has been changing so much! He is starting to be alert much more of the daytime, and is doing an excellent job of sleeping in the travel crib with a sleep positioner during the night in between feedings. He's really a content baby, and we are enjoying him so much!