November 30, 2009

This was Emily's year to put the star on the Christmas tree. She was very grateful that our tree was much shorter than our tree two years ago. She had a much easier time getting the star on the tree. The star was made by my mom Carol in about 1988 or so for the Christmas tree in my bedroom, and it has graced my tree every year since.

Daniel's Party- November 29, 2009

We had a fun day with family and friends to celebrate Daniel's first birthday. Greg drove to Columbia to pick up Nana B. and Gayle for the day so they could be with us, too. Sarah and Nana B. had a great time catching up.


Daniel and Uncle Jeff always have a good time. Daniel's favorite game involves stealing Uncle Jeff's hat! Kathe and Andrea celebrated with us, as well.




Debbie, Scott, Sean, Travis, Trenton & Julia were here from North Carolina. Sadly, Uncle Scott didn't feel well, so he and his germs stayed at the hotel under the care of Sean and Travis!



Daniel had a great time opening presents!







His favorite thing was the Backyardigans birthday card from Lincoln. He still carries the pieces around! He loved it so much it fell apart on him.




After the presents, we sang "Happy Birthday" and gave Daniel his cake. After a few bites, he decided he loved it!









After mashing all that cake, he grew tired, so Nana helped him out a bit!







Daniel is so blessed to have so many family and friends to wish him a happy first birthday!

November 28, 2009

We had a very exciting visit from Scott, Debbie, Sean, Travis, Trenton & Julia on November 28th & 29th. While Scott and I are usually quite good about exchanging pictures, he was quite sick at the end of the visit, so I don't have much to share in picture form! The excitement started with a trip at 9:00 PM to Joanna's house to see the lights. They put up quite a display at their house, and I knew the crowd would love it. We loaded up our Camry and the Marusak minivan and made the drive over. The lights were awesome, as usual. On the way home, Sean rode with us while the girls were in the minivan. To make a l-o-n-g story short, we picked up a stranded, slightly inebriated girl who had run out of gas. I will forever cherish the memory of Sean asking, "So, are you on facebook?"

Before the light adventure, Scott set Daniel up to see if he would be a priest, rich man, or drunk. We captured the test on video, of course!

The Tree- November 27, 2009

Every year, we go on an adventure to cut down our Christmas tree. We used to do this with our friends, the Nagles. Then they moved to New York. Then we did it with out friends the Welshes. Then they moved to Idaho. Hum. Now we go alone, for fear of sending more friends even further away! I have always enjoyed getting the tree Thanksgiving weekend, but that is a feat we had not managed to pull off in more years than I care to admit. This year, however, we were on the ball!!

We started the day at the Creche exhibit at Mepkin Abbey. We were amazed at the many different nativity scenes, and the beautiful paper crane tree (Sarah loved this, especially). There was a Joseph display at the exhibit, and we all thought this one looked like Father Frank!





Next, we headed to the tree farm in Jeff's big truck. We managed to pick out a tree in no time, but it was much smaller than any of our recent trees. We figured since we never get around to putting all of the ornaments up, it would be okay!

Thanksgiving- November 26, 2009

Last Thanksgiving, we were still at Saint Francis waiting to be sprung (thinking the day would never come!), so this was Daniel's first normal Thanksgiving! We started the day watching the May's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a personal favorite for me!

The girls enjoy the parade as much as I do, so we had a great time watching the balloons, Rockettes, floats, and bands. Somehow, the girls thought Greg and I had met at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so we had fun sharing the real story of how we met!

After the Parade, we headed to Nana's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The menu included all of the family favorites. Kathe and I brought some side dishes, and Nana made everything else.

Sarah & Emily helped Nana set the table. They do a great job putting all of the utensils in their proper places. They even remembered to put the knives with the cutting edge toward the plate. It makes a mother proud!

The girls also made place cards for everyone, and paper cranes, Sarah's origami specialty!

After our delectable dinner, Jeff and John set up Nana's Christmas tree.

Greg kept Daniel company while he took a little nap and the girls enjoyed some time on Nana's Wii. It was a great day with family and friends!

Music Man- November 25, 2009

After weeks of trying, I was finally able to sneak up and catch Daniel playing the piano! This one's for you, Uncle Scott!

The Birthday Boy- November 24, 2009

We celebrated Daniel's birthday with cupcakes . . . but he was not impressed. He was impressed with the new view in his forward-facing car seat!