Happy New Year!

We started 2009 by celebrating with two great events - the birth of our niece, Paige and the wedding of our friends, Chuck & Arlene. I couldn't think of a better, or more fitting way to ring in the New Year. Hopefully this proves to be a sign for a good year ahead...

Welcome Paige!

Paige Erin Drevniak was born on Saturday, January 3rd at 7:34 a.m. She came into this world weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long. Congratulations Mike & Cynth! Here are some pictures from her first days of life -

Congratulations Chuck & Arlene!

After visiting Baby Paige, we headed to Chuck & Arlene’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and a fun evening. Josh took many great pictures but here are just a few of Abi enjoying the night -

Abi attempting to do the “sprinkler” on the dance floor

As you can see, Abi LOVED being the center of attention. I think I need to enroll her in some dance classes! (Sorry about the bad lighting in the video – I just thought it was too cute not to post!)

Our Little Princess

Snow, Snow & MORE Snow!!!

During the past several weeks, we have been buried in snow!  In the 30 years that I have lived here, I don’t recall ever seeing so much snow fall in one season, let alone in a few weeks. It just started melting yesterday (which is nice for getting around town), however before it stopped we had at least 1 1/2 to 2 feet of snow on the ground. We even had snow falling on Christmas morning which was really fun. 

Abi and Sadie were very excited to get outside and play in the snow!

Sadie running “hot laps” in the backyard

Daddy, Abi & Sadie playing in the snow

Grandma & Abi building a snowman

Daddy & Abi posing with Mr. Snowman

Merry Christmas!

We started the day opening our stocking gifts from Santa, took a break for some breakfast & then continued with opening presents. Once we had finished round one, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for round two. Abi had a great time - if she wasn’t opening one of her presents, she was trying to “help” someone with their present.

We had a very blessed Christmas holiday. Thank you to everyone who made it so special!

Abi’s first peek at all the presents left by Santa

Santa’s big gift this year was a new bike!

Checking out how much Santa and the reindeers ate last night…

Sadie got to open the first gift on Christmas morning

and then the fun began…

Helping Grandpa unwrap his present

Abi modeling her new robe and slippers

Giving a ride to ‘Fancy Nancy’ in her new bike

Opening Up Princess Clothes on Christmas

Abi playing dress up with her new Princess clothes

Abi & her new doll (Hopefully she will continue to be just as helpful when our little guy is born!)

Christmas Eve

We had a fun Christmas Eve this year celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa and preparing for the arrival of Santa. 

 

Watching the excitement on Abi’s face brought back fond memories of Christmas mornings when I was a kid.  Growing up, my parents had a rule that we could not wake them up until 8 a.m. to open presents.  My brother, Mike and I would wake up early – often around 6 – and quietly sit in bed and play the card game, War, until the clock struck 8.  As soon as it did, we would run into my parent’s room to wake them up.  We were SO excited – just waiting to find out what Santa had brought us!  Though I still enjoy the holidays, my favorite gift is to simply watch Abi experience the anticipation and excitement as I once did.

 

Very excited about her new Dora DVD!

Grandma, Grandpa & Abi 

We left Santa some homemade cookies & milk and left the reindeers a carrot to chew on!

…and now it is off to bed!

All Dressed Up & Ready To See Santa Claus

Today we braved the elements (snow) and headed out for a visit and picture with Santa Claus. Abi was very excited and got all dressed up for the big occasion. We stood in line for quite some time but it did not seem to bother her at all - she just wanted to see Santa. Once again, I was a bit worried that she would be scared when she saw Santa but she hopped right up on his lap and told him that she wanted "princess toys". We got a great picture too! Josh and I discovered that if we tell Abi to say "I love chocolate" (as opposed to saying "cheese") when we are taking her picture, we can get a pretty good smile. Santa's helper adopted this tactic and it worked great. Here are some cute pictures of her before we headed out:

More Christmas Festivities...

We have been busy preparing for Christmas and Abi is SO excited for Santa this year! Her favorite activity is opening the advent calendar everyday. Here are some pictures of us decorating gingerbread houses, picking out our Christmas tree and decorating the tree -

We headed over to the Worsley's house for an afternoon of fun - Gingerbread House Decorating with Abi's friends, Regen, Claire and Kelsey:

Carefully placing on each piece of candy

I am not sure where most of the candy ended up...on the gingerbread house or in Abi's mouth!

The final result!

The girls and their houses

-Picking Out the Perfect Tree-

Abi's not sure about this...it's pretty cold out here!

We found it!!

-Trimming the Tree-

Abi took care of decorating the bottom half of the tree

Grandma helping Abi put on an ornament