Miller Christmas

Last night we had a small Christmas celebration with the Millers. Since Charlie was "starving" when they got there, we delved right into supper: taco pasta bake. It was a new recipe, and it was a hit!

Charlie is showing off his new trick on his daddy's shoulders. If we say "yah", then Charlie starts clapping and dancing! What a fun age he's at!

The 3 kiddos diving into the toys. 

Charlie had to snuggle with Emily

I didn't get present opening pictures, but here's Josie with her present from us. It's a pet doctor kit. She can take care of her little kitty! 

Sam wasn't into smiling for the camera, but he did stop and pose for me. I should've gotten a picture of him and Charlie together because they are SO close in size and a little under a year apart in age. Charlie is about 21 pounds and Sammy is 22 pounds! 

Dr. Josie and her assistant Daddy Adam. Photobomb courtesy of Sammy!

The cats were hang around quite a bit, but if anyone went near them, they ran off! Here's Sammy trying to catch Luna. 

Sammy playing with his Godfather, Tony. Sammy's such a little lover now. He gave me a kiss on the cheek when they were getting ready to leave. 

We haven't seen the kiddos since June! Yikes! We don't even live that far away from each other. Josie has grown up SO much. She's such a big girl now! It was a great night, that's for sure!

Ornaments Continued

I have 4 more first Christmas ornaments to post about!

This came home from Willow Hill with Tony quite a while ago. He neglected to show it to me, so yesterday when I made my post about ornaments, Alan posted that I missed one. I searched and searched, and couldn't figure out which one I missed. When Tony got home, he let me in on the one I missed! Isn't it just adorable!?

This cute little guy came from Oma Kathe. She gave him a sock monkey blanket to go along with it!

Laur and Jill must've made this with Charlie when they babysat him a few weeks ago! I LOVE it! 

This also showed up from Laur and Jill's house. Our little Santa Baby! 

Charlie's First Ornaments

Ok, this first picture is not one of Charlie's first ornaments, but I couldn't help but share it! This morning, I was downloading some pictures from Christmas onto my laptop, I looked in the kitchen, and this is what I found! Luna was terrified! That roaster makes A LOT of noise!

You caught me! 

 Alright, now for the ornaments. Here's Charlie's handprint on Christmas Eve.

From Aunt Amanda and Uncle Will. Tony and I have little elves too from them too!

From Great Aunt Diane and Great Uncle Dave! They are my Godparents, and they stuck with the religious ornament theme like they do for me every year. I have ALWAYS gotten a religious ornament from them. This year I got a star with an angel that says hope. 

From Grandma Cher and Grandpa Alan. 

From Great Aunt Laur and Great Aunt Jill. 

These are the only personal ornaments on our tree downstairs. This is going to be Charlie's tree every year!

Adult Cousin Christmas 2013

I skipped one of our celebrations since I didn't take any pictures, BUT I did steal a few from Amanda. Monday night the 18 and older cousins met up at Will and Amanda's house. In years past, it has been just Jake, Matt, Will and I, but since the Iowa girls are getting older, we invited them along this year. Oh yeah, and Will and I brought our spouses too. We had LOTS of delicious food, yummy beverages and fun games!

We played this incredibly fun game on Jake's iPhone. It's $.99, but SO worth it! Ellen's Head Up. SO MUCH FUN! I didn't get pictures of this, but take my word for it: awesome.

We also played What's Yours Like? I love this game too....This one was "dishwasher". Laura's answer was Josh (her boyfriend), Josh's answer is next and then Matt's answer is "Laura sucks". Fun game!

Whoopie, Jake's dog, relaxed by the tree while the rest of us played games.

Here we are, oldest on top to youngest on bottom. Matt-Me-Jake-Will-Hannah-Laura and Michelle

Then we had to get those spouses in there as well as Whoopie. 

Silly faces!

Josh is very tall and has long arms, so he got himself in there and we took a selfie pic. It's fuzzy, but you can still see the love!

Fredricksen Christmas 2013

Since Tony worked a day shift yesterday, we celebrated my immediate family Christmas on Christmas night. Charlie and I headed over there around nap time so he could nap there. Slowly mom, dad, Will and Amanda arrived after a Smidt Christmas was over.

Target had a huge sale on games, so I bought Trivial Pursuit Party edition. We tried it out! Will won first round, I won 2nd round!

Grandpa Buck and Grandma Becky with Charlie. 

Aunt Amanda and Uncle Will wanted a turn!

and so did Momma!There you can see my homemade shirt...

Santa Baby was flying through the sky with Uncle Will!

Amanda got this jersey from her husband for Christmas. She's a HUGE Laker's fan. 

Charlie posed nicely with his Momma's Gingerbread Woman. Not even a second after this shot was taken, he was crawling away. 

Here's his little Santa butt trying to find Grandpa Buck. 

Tony arrived, so the gift opening began with our stockings.

Dad got a load of bacon stuff!

Mom and her stocking. Santa left a few things in Rochester at Will and Amanda's for her, so she'll have to pick those up later! 

Charlie got camo pj's and LOVED them!

Aunt Amanda made him his own fleece blanket. 

and got him his very own overnight bag with his name on it!

We got Dad bluetooth speakers for his iPhone. 

Amanda got a new charm for her Pandora bracelet from Charlie. 

Grandma needed help opening her presents, so Charlie jumped right in. 

The boys got the same hat in their stockings. Don't they look tough?!

We had our traditional Fredricksen Christmas meal: meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy. My Grandma Barb always made this for us on Christmas Eve. Charlie LOVED his first taste of mashed potatoes and gravy! He even ate a meatball! What a fun time together! We still have a few more gatherings coming up. Shorewood Christmas today with Great Grandma Jayne and Great Grandpa Bob, lunch at Willow Hill on Saturday and Elinor Christmas on Sunday!

Smidt Christmas 2013

I was planning to post this last night, but I was extremely exhausted! Having a big family Christmas with no Tony is hard work! Charlie is such a busy little guy! It was still a fun filled morning at Mark and Christa's house.

Here's my little Santa Baby!

There was a lot of play time with aunts, uncles and cousins. Charlie is showing us how big he is getting by standing up!

Kaylee and I made our shirts this year. CUTE!

Charlie and his Aunt Amanda and Uncle Will

Playtime with Connor

Charlie won with the most presents this year! 

Here he is with Great Grandpa Arnie and the neat frog pillow he gave him!

A fun toy from Kaylee!

1st Cousin Picture

1st Cousins with Charlie and Grandpa!

Another blessed Christmas with the Smidt family.