A Josie and Sam Christmas

We had the Millers over for dinner tonight. We haven't seen them since Josie's birthday last September! Whoa, where did the time go...? I made a new recipe: baked spaghetti. I think it was quite delicious! Adam brought us 2 bottles of his homemade wine. 1 for Tony now, 1 for us when I can drink again. I can't wait to try it out!

This little guy has gotten SO big!

We had some Christmas presents for the kiddos. Josie got a new butterfly tea set!

Josie helped Sam open his present. A new ball roller tower thingy...

It was more fun to play IN the box.

Sol tried it out too!

Luna felt left out, so she took a turn. 

Tony, Sam and Josie snuggling on the couch. 

Tony changed Sam's diaper and was trying to put his pj's on. Adam decided he needed a tutorial....

Sol and Luna were a little hesitant around the kids at first. Sol was really checking Sam out. I told her we are getting her very own in March! She ran away and hid under the bed....

Snow Day

I received a text at 5am alerting me to Stewartville's snow day by my loving cousin Matthew. He apparently forgot that I do not really need to be alerted to this fact! Needless to say, I started my snowy day earlier than expected. Amy asked if the kids could come over for the morning until Rob got home from work. Apparently Seasons Hospice doesn't have snow days like schools do.

Connor brought his little red shovel along because he didn't want me to hurt the baby by trying to shovel. We started a fire and put in the DVD "Santa Paws", when all of a sudden we heard a engine outside. We ran upstairs to find our across the street neighbor, Dan, plowing out our driveway. After he finished the 2 spaces behind our garage, Connor went out and shoveled a walkway from the plowed area to our front door.

Here's my little helper.

Sol is very interested in what's going on out there. 

She was so interested, she had to check it out from multiple angles. 

INSTAntly.

Here's my last week according to my iPhone.

Sol's home away from home.

Wrapping presents is difficult with a little crazy kitty around. 

I bought some new Thirty-One products as a fundraiser for Tyler. Sol is getting lots of use out of them. 

We visited the Tap House with our friend Michael and my brother. They have over 50 craft beers on tap! Very cool atmosphere too! I enjoyed my NA Ginger beer...

I got to spend a morning all alone with Harvey while Mindy went on a field trip with Natalie. We had a lot of fun playing together. He felt like keeping his pj's on most of the morning. 

Sol has a new love. The TV. 

Every morning she sits in the shower and watches the water drip down the curtain. She stays in there for over 20 minutes usually. STRANGE!

I discovered I have my own traveling table! Super handy!

It got quite cold this week in Rochester. 

Our Christmas lights with the beautiful snow covering them. 

I spent the day with Maya and Cher today. While Cher ran an errand, Maya was playing with my phone. She managed to call Uncle Tony all on her own! We ended up face time chatting with him. She thought it was great, and so did Uncle Tony!

Out of all the places Luna could choose to rest, she chose T's bum. 

Christmas with Elinor

Since Christmas Eve has been devoted to Tony's family and Amanda has to work, we had our Christmas with Aunt Elinor last night.

Group shot. We forgot our tripod, but Grandpa stopped by at just the right time. He was able to capture us all!

We just HAD to capture this shot. Dad serving US? Wonderful!

Will played around with my camera while I helped clear the dinner table. Tony was very deep in thought.

My loving sisterly glare. 

There was a first this year. Elinor got a carving from Mom and Dad. Look at that beautiful cardinal! There's a man in Stewartville who sells these. He is very talented! 

Mom gave Amanda and I an early present: Christmas earrings! 

My carvings from Elinor this year-they will be painted after Christmas. She just got back from a trip to Canada, so there was no time!

Dad's 

Tony's. On the back there is a back pack and a really cute stocking cap! 

Mom's. 

I didn't get individual shots of Will and Amanda's. They got cute chip carved recipe card holders!

Amanda won the nutcracker of the year award! She's the nuttiest of all of us! 

Cookie Monsters!

Last Thursday, we had a cookie decorating party at Laur and Jill's house. It was such a fun time together! Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of everyone working hard. We have a new winner for best decorator: Miss Natalie! She was SO creative with her sprinkles this year. I wanted to take them all home with us! But, I have no pictures of it to prove how wonderful she was. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Here are the pictures I did manage to capture. I'm sure Laur will post some on her blog later!

Grandma Cher helped Mindy and Harvey decorate some cupcakes.

Tony worked diligently.

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Grandma Jayne cleared the table so we had more space to decorate. She's such a hard worker. 

We even put Grandpa Bob and Uncle Rand to work! 

This is what I get when I try to take a cute picture of us. Yes, I married that goofy man! 

Christmas in Iowa

Friday night, I drove a car full of Michelle's greatest fans down to St. Ansgar, IA for the St. Ansgar High School Christmas Concert! It was a great concert (well the choir was great!).

Here's a little snippet of "Carol of the Bells" Chell is in the 2nd row...Notice the girl in the back row that faints in the middle of the video. She fell quite hard right off the back of the risers. EMTs worked with her through the next few songs, and finally they took her our on a stretcher...I never did hear how she turned out.

Here's a snippet of "The Grinch". Chelle's in the green pj's.

And here's what we were waiting for: Chelle's solo!

Other highlights:

The choir has a tradition of inviting former choir members and people from the crowd that have sung "Halleluiah Chorus" to come up and join the choir. Tony headed up there with Michelle and Aunt MB. 

Aunt MB gave Chelle a beautiful bouquet of flowers. They were both in tears. Very precious moment!

COUSIN shot! We do love each other! 

Snuggle Time

Yesterday, Sol and Luna spent the snowy afternoon snuggled up by the front window. I captured the little sweet cats in action (or lack of action). Isn't Sol looking so big now?!