Goodbye '09.....

As 2009 comes to an end, I thought I'd look back over the past 12 months and try to figure out what we all did that kept us so busy.....

JANUARY:
Basketball - practice and games. Early games. We're talking every Saturday. At 8am. In January. When it's FREEZING! Colton continued with swimming lessons.

Brett transitioned into his big boy bed.

FEBRUARY:

We celebrated Mike's Grandma's 80th birthday.

We spent a day at the Children's Museum. Next time we're going to shoot for a weekday.

MARCH:

We spent some time down in Missouri visiting Mike's Grandpa and Grandma and attended his cousin's wedding.

APRIL:
Colton turned 7 years old!

MAY:

Fishing season began.

The baseball season was in full swing. Go #4!

JUNE:

Mike turned 33. I have no pictures to prove this as he was on a fishing trip. ;)

Grandma Sue came down for a couple days.

Brett started swimming lessons. Parent/Tot. The water was so cold!

JULY:

Hit up Maple Grove days with some friends.

Spent the 4th of July up at the lake with Mike's parents.

Brett turned 3 years old!

The Ward's had a family reunion.

We took a family trip to Wisconsin Dells. I took all of two pictures as my goal was to enjoy the time with the kids and not worry about where my camera was and if it was getting wet. We had a great time!

AUGUST:
We headed back down to Missouri sans children to celebrate Ambry (Mike's cousin) & Dave's wedding.

I headed up north to pick up the boys who had spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

SEPTEMBER:

Colton started 2nd grade and became a fan of purple #4.

OCTOBER:

Halloween! Darth Vader and a "firefighter man."

Colton "got to" hang out with me and some college girlfriends as we took our annual trip to the apple orchard.

NOVEMBER:

Took the boys to Underwater World.

Caught the boys actually sleeping like this:

We built forts. Honestly, this picture creeps me out! He's got a evil grin and a plastic gun like he knows what he's doing!

DECEMBER:

Made Christmas cookies with Great Grandma (using the word made quite loosely here. Brett was mainly the taste tester).

We got a new puppy - welcome to the family Stella!

We celebrated multiple Christmases.....

With my dad and step-mom:

With just the four of us:

With my mom and step-dad:

With Mike's side of the family:

2009 was a great year for us. I'm looking forward to 2010 to see what challenges it will bring!

Good People.....

I know a lot of good people that do great things for others. Today, I want to recognize Jenny for what she did for me. I didn't ask her to do this. She didn't have to do this - she wanted to do this.
She held a giving contest. All people had to do was leave a comment and note what they wanted for Christmas this year and in return, she would donate $1 to my fundraising efforts for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day event. Oh, and get this, as if donating money wasn't enough, she gave away a cookbook to a random commenter!
Word got out and she is now donating close to $100!!
Thank you Jenny it really means so much!

Merry Christmas!

I don't know how to rotate the video, but it's still adorable. He's wearing his sheep ears incase you can't tell.

Merry Christmas!

Weekend In Review, Photo Style.....

We had a busy, but fun weekend. On Friday night, my niece and nephew came over to spend the night. I had the kids make their own mini pizzas which was quite entertaining. They were so proud of their "masterpieces". Saturday night, the boys spent the night at Mike's sister's so we could go out for a bit in St. Paul with our friend's for a holiday party. We had a great time. I don't go to the bars much. So much as changed since my early 20's!

On Sunday the boys had their Christmas program at church. Poor Brett came down with a nasty cold Saturday night so he didn't get to participate.

Brett was so bummed that he had to stay home. He asked me if I would bring his sheep ears home so that he could still wear them.

After the program, my dad and Laura came over for some cajun fettuccine and a little Christmas celebration.

They boys donned their new Vikings gear in time for the game.

Brett got his own digital camera and was so busy snapping pictures. Wonder where he got that from?

The night ended with Brett having a cough attack. Poor little guy starting coughing so hard that he managed to cover the bathroom counter with orange juice. Gross!

I'm really looking forward to the short week at work. I decided to take some time off to enjoy the holidays and quality time with the kids over Christmas break. Three days this week and then I'm off until 2010!

Yum.....

The past two evenings I've been baking cinnamon rolls. From scratch I might add. I'm making them for Christmas gifts and they are freaking delicious. My kids cruised through a pan this morning (I may have provided a little help) and they were hovering around me tonight asking which ones were theirs for breakfast tomorrow.
I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman and they are much easier to make than I anticipated. Give them a whirl, but I will warn you, they are addicting!

Day One....

Yesterday the boys got their early Christmas present. I was 100% incorrect on what I thought each of their reactions would be.
Brett (who I thought would be totally stoked), was a little upset because his dog wasn't Griz and we wanted a Griz. Our response was that Griz is Grandpa's dog and Stella is your dog. He wasn't so sure about it, but after a couple of hours, he really warmed up to her and is already trying to "train" her.
Colton (who I thought wouldn't be totally stoked) was totally stoked. He's asked me no less than 3 times if this is really ours to keep and if we were playing some sort of joke on him. He's been hands on with the feeding and playing and snuggling and just so sweet to her. Mike worked overnights last night so I prepared for a million bathroom trips and soothing a sad pup. Again, I was wrong. She went to be at 10:30, I took her out at 3:30 and then we were up at 7 to eat. Not too shabby.

For me not really being a pet kind of gal, this little pup is really starting to grow on me.

It's A Girl......

Have I lost my mind? We pick up the kids' Christmas present on Saturday. Shhhhhh - it's a surprise. They have no clue. She's a puggle (Pug/Beagle mix) and is 12 weeks old.