Celebrating Christmas

This year we had 3 waves of Christmas celebrations.  We started the celebrations with the O'Leary bunch, it was nice to be able to see them all at once!

We followed that up with Christmas Eve at the Harrisons.  It was a great time!  To top it off, Johnnie and Kim announced their engagement.  We're very happy for them as they begin this new phase in their lives and relationship!

Congrats you crazy kids!!

On Christmas morning we went to the Mulforts to continue the celebration.  We opened gifts, had breakfast and did some sledding.  It was a great time and Emily sure did like sledding!

This year Karen and Marcus decided to travel to one of their family's instead of both over Christmas.  It makes perfect sense, especially with a one year old!  Since they were here over Thanksgiving, they went to Missouri for Christmas.  So my mom and I hopped on a plane to chicago once they returned.  We were only there for a couple of days but it was a great visit!  We got to enjoy spending time with them while we were also enjoying their balmy 30-something degree weather!

Hope you all had a great season of celebrating with your friends and family as well!

Happy birthday Patrick!

This year Patrick celebrated his 37th birthday.  We had a great time celebrating with lots of family and on our own at 112 Eatery.  Happy birthday Patrick, may this be your best year yet!

100th post!!

Well, this is it, over the past 2 years I have created 100 blog posts.  They have served the purpose intended: to chronicle the events in our lives to share with friends and family as well as for us to look back on.  As I write this 100th blog on the eve of my daughter's 2nd birthday, I can't help but feel overwhelmed at how life has changed in the past 2 years.  We have been blessed with an amazing daughter that has changed our life for the better.

Now on to the real important stuff...making cookies!  Emily helped me make the cookies for my family's cookie exchange this weekend and even though she was told not to eat the batter as she was helping, I don't think she fully listened.  See if you can tell how I figured that one out!

Happy birthday Emily!! We love you

Playing around

This weekend Emily had fun playing around with Sammy (although I do not believe the feeling is mutual) and her new art easel.

"Sammy, look.  Mama take picture" - Emily, Dec. 2013

 

We can't wait to see what kind of masterpieces our budding artist comes up with :)

Our birthday girl!

This year marks Emily's second birthday and since it is on December 2, it is also her golden birthday.  We had her first celebration with our friends the Nolbys.  They had us over for pizza, cupcakes and gifts.  Emily and Abby had a blast running around and screeching together, they're really starting to play with each other instead of just near each other!  We can't wait to see them again soon.

Eyeing up the goods

Trying her best to blow that candle out!

All three girls enjoying tummy time together! <3

We then had celebrations with both of our families.  The theme this year was gold in honor of her golden birthday.  It was a great time and we can't believe how big our little girl is getting!  Everyone was so generous in their gift giving and Emily really cleaned up!  But best of all, she got to spend time with her family!

To set the mood, we started with gold decorations and a golden cake!

Gold coins scattered throughout for snacking!

A gold cake in honor of Emily's golden birthday!

Here are some highlights from the Mulfort celebration:

She kept saying "look at me, I'm swimming!"

Fun in her new princess castle tent!

The peanut gallery

This is the closest we go to a smile with her cake!

What started out as cautious tasting...

Ended in a clean plate and a chocolatey mess!

And some from the Harrison party:

Horsy back rides with Tracey!

Serious Business!

The aftermath!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Thanksgiving, the holidays and Emily's birthday!  I'm a little sad to see it come to an end but am looking forward to more celebrations this month - Emily's holiday program on Friday night, Patrick's birthday and Christmas!