Kaydi's first Christmas-Part I

Kathryn's first Christmas (part one) was this past weekend.  Since Ben and I are always in Michigan over December 25th, my family is wonderfully flexible and we have Christmas on a Saturday that works for everyone.  This year it happened to be December 17th.  We were supposed to be at mom and dad's around 9:30 AM.  However, I was so excited that I had trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and then woke up at 5:40AM and did not go back to sleep.  In the past I have been so excited about opening gifts...don't get me wrong, I still love presents....but this year I was so excited to hang out with my family, watch all of the kids open presents, and to just experience the joy of celebrating Jesus' birth.
Once we got to mom and dad's things were different than normal but in a good way!  Dad started off reading the Christmas story after that instead of stockings first, the kids opened all of their gifts.  After that we got to the adults.  I was excited to pass out our gifts because I felt certain that everyone would like them (I do not always feel this way and then I feel anxious about it). Of course, Ben and I received wonderful gifts as well.  After gifts, we all had a fabulous brunch that mom had cooked and then just enjoyed everyone's company.  The kids got totally exhausted and I did as well since I didn't sleep the night before :).  It was a wonderful day and reminded me again how many blessings have been poured out on my family.  Here are some pictures of the day.

Season of Thankfulness

This year more, than ever, I have been cognizant of how truly lucky I am.  I have so much to be thankful for and I am trying my best to be in a constant state of gratitude to God for all of my blessings.  Kathryn's six month appointment was also this week and she is healthy and thriving. 

This year was Kathryn's first thanksgiving.  My mom's side all gathered into her house for the traditional meal. Ben had to work which is no fun but it does mean that he will get to enjoy a long vacation for Christmas. Although I was horrible with taking pictures, there were tons of kids around that I should have been snapping photos of.  There were eight children all age 5 or younger and the weather was beautiful allowing them to play outside.  Additionally, Kaydi also got to meet her little cousin Owen for the first time (who is a month younger and much larger).  I will post a sampling of the few pictures I did take.

Attempting to say peace

6 months old

I am not sure how time has went so fast but our baby girl is six-months-old.  She is now eating solid foods, sitting up on her own, playing all the time, and putting everything she can in her mouth.  She is truly a gift from God and we are cherishing every minute!

I have posted lots of new 6 months pictures on my dotphoto site but here are a few good ones.

Annual Fishing Trip

These posts are a little out of order.  We actually took our annual trip before Margaret and William's birthday party but that is ok.  This year there were two new babies in the group.  We decided not to camp since it was so cold but we had an awesome time fishing (and not catching anything), enjoying the sunshine and beautiful water, and finishing the night with a camp fire and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Here are some photos from the day.

Margaret and William's Birthday

Today Clay and Elissa hosted a family party for Margaret and William.  William turned two last month and Margaret turns 4 next week.  Where does the time go???  Here are some highlights from the day!

Visit from the Knaups

It has been an eventful last week in our household. Ben's parents came to visit, I had parent/teacher conferences, and the weather went from beautiful to dreary and cold, and back to beautiful again. In addition to that, Kathryn ate solid foods for the first time and LOVED it. She also thought that Ben's parents dog, Smokey, was pretty funny. For the most part, I kept my normal working schedule. Ben was on vacation all week so he got to spend some nice quality time with his parents. Judd and Ben also got lots of little projects done around the house. It was wonderful! On Friday we drove down to Busiek State Park and hiked around and then had a picnic. It was a wonderful week! Below are a few pictures from the week.