MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from our family to yours!!

We had a great time this year with our family and friends. As is our family tradition we got together with Liz's immediate family on Christmas Eve. This year we hosted the gathering at our house, which was lots and lots of fun! Madi loved having everyone over to visit & play. We ate some yummy food & delicious dessert (cuz dessert is THE best part of all family gatherings, right?! haha...especially when you are 9mths pregnant!!) Then we all sat down together & opened presents (Madi's favorite part!)
It's amazing how small our house gets once 20 people start ripping open packages!! Lol

A glimpse of how full the living room was!



Here's Madi with one of her favorite gifts (from Grandma) Minnie Mouse!!
It was love at first sight! Once she had opened up Minnie she HAD to sit her right next to her & show Minnie each and every gift she opened up! It was the cutest thing!



We were very excited to have some of our extended family in town to join us for Christmas Eve. Liz's Aunt Joyce & Uncle Carl and her Cousins Alex, Craig & his awesome other half, Rachel!! It was SO great to see them all & be able to celebrate the holiday together! ( We wish we could see them more often!)

We thought we may have an extra person arrive for Christmas this year as well... however Baby Halen decided to hold off for a little bit longer & didn't quite make it to the party this time around!


We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas & a very Happy New Year!!

Halen's Baby Shower!!!

December 5th, 2010 was a pretty exciting day for Liz.... it was finally time for a BABY SHOWER!

Liz's best friend Peggy was the fabulous host-ess with the most-ess once again!
Of course the theme for Halen's celebration was....
ROCK STAR!! (Makes sense right?!)



Here's Liz all set to go on in and Party!!



Some of the fabulous decorations made by Peggy


The Super Yummy Food!


The awesome Rock Star Cake made by Liz's Mom
(thanks Mom! It looked & tasted FABULOUS!)

A guitar all of the guests signed for Halen... it will go up on the wall in his room!


Here are some of the ladies decorating a bib or onesie for Halen



Here are some of the finished products! They turned out SO CUTE!!


Paige & Payton checking out the "Candy Bar"

Liz & Peggy


Madi & Mommy


Brendan made an appearance towards the end... So glad he got a chance to come check everything out!


Yay for Zebra Print! (Liz w/ her sis Jen & niece Paige)


It was so great to have our friends and family come together to help us welcome Halen into the world! It was such a fun day for us all!!
(next baby update? Should be his big arrival! Stay tuned!) :0)

Baby Belly!

As the last few months have gone by, Liz's tummy has been growing and growing... Baby Halen has been pretty content in there! He's growing more and more each day and has been practicing his Kung Fu moves practically non-stop (which makes attempting to sleep pretty interesting...) We're pretty sure he's going to be a Kung Fu Master by the time he makes his official entrance into the world!

Here are some recent pictures of the growing belly....



As the weeks keep going by we are getting more and more excited to meet our little guy! Each day we talk to Madi about the new baby. She will point to Mommy's tummy & tell us that there is a baby in there.... We're not too sure if she's really getting what that means though. Just a few more weeks to go until she can meet him and find out what all this "baby talk" has been about!

One more trip to the park!

We managed to make one more trip to the park before the yucky rain and cold air came back around and forced us back inside for the winter....
Madi LOVES the park... her ultimate all-time favorite thing to play on?

The Swing!

After quite a bit of swinging (and a slight temper tantrum when it was time to go) We took our long walk back to the car... along the way though we had to stop and check out the wildlife...


And of course stopped for a couple more Madi Photo-ops!

It turned out to be a fun day for us all! Madi can't wait for the sun to shine again soon so she can get back out there to the swings! Although, most likely the next park trip we make will include her little brother, Halen... Big Sis Madi is sure to have lots of fun teaching him the ropes!

Yay for Leaves!

Wow! How is it November already? This year just keeps moving right along!
Luckily we had a few unusually dry days this fall that gave us some time to go out and enjoy the crisp fall air...
We have a tree in our front yard that has finally grown large enough to dump quite a few leaves on the ground in the fall... this of course is no fun if you have to rake them all up... however it's perfect for an impromptu Madi-Fall-Leaves-Photo-Shoot!

At first she was not a fan of the leaves...We had hopes that we could make a huge pile of them that she would LOVE to just run and jump into.... no... not my child.... somehow I have broken her... she doesn't like to get her hands dirty.... and she's a little OCD (sorry kiddo! Mommy's fault!) & likes things to be neat and orderly.... so she had pretty much NO interest....
but eventually she came around... and we found that she REALLY likes to hug trees! (Maybe because there were no leaves left on it?)

Check out some of her best shots....

Yep, That's our girl... the tree kisser....

Pumpkins, Playdates, More Pumpkins & Some Trick or Treating!

This October we excitedly made our way to the Pumpkin Patch to show our "Toddler" (Wow!! She's not just a little baby anymore! Where has the time gone?!) all the fun & exciting activities the fall season brings...

So, we got Madi dressed in her official "Pumpkin Patch" outfit & headed on out... This year we were invited to join Liz's cousin, Ben & his family at the pumpkin patch in Dayton, Or (Heiser Farms)
We got there just as they were opening which meant parking was fabulous and there was hardly anyone else there! Madi (& her Daddy) are not big fans of crowded places so this worked out perfectly! Of course the first place we found ourselves checking out was the animal barn! Madi loooooooves animals!!

She and Bridget checking out the sheep

Madi had to stretch up on her tippy toes to be able to see the "Baby Chicks"
She also saw bunnies, piggies, goats, and her favorite of the day..."BABY COWS!"
Madi was in animal heaven! We must have spent an hour just walking from one end of the barn to the other checking out all the animals over and over again while Madi giggled!

Next, we stopped by the riding tractor area... There were lots of little ride on trucks and tractors the kids could choose from. Since there weren't very many people there still the kids were able to take their pick! Of course to Madi this meant she had to try them ALL out at least once! She wasn't able to peddle herself around but luckily for her, Mom & Dad were close by to give her a push!

The next stop on our list was the CHOO-CHOO TRAIN! Madi was SO excited to get close to the choo-choo... She was non-stop talking about it on the walk over and could hardly manage to control herself while waiting for Daddy to buy the train tickets.... then once it was time to get on the train..... she was Little Miss Quiet! She had such a serious face on the whole time around the track. But, once she was off the train once again she was oohing and ahhing about how exciting the Choo-Choo was. Silly Girl!


And next...was Brendan's favorite part...

PUNKIN' CHUNKIN'!
We sat and watched them fling pumpkins across the fields and into junkyard car targets for a while...It was fabulous.

Then it was time for us to take the hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our very own pumpkin....

Madi & Liam were very concerned with all the dirt built up on some of the pumpkins... so they spent some time trying to clean it off...

Madi finally found the perfect pumpkin to take home!

Which she and Daddy turned into a .......

PRINCESS PUMPKIN!


A few days later the girls and I had the chance to join our playgroup at the Carousel for some Halloween dress-up fun!

Madi went as, Minnie Mouse (one of her favs!)

Isabella went as an OSU Cheerleader.
They were both SO cute!!

We took a ride on the Carousel.

Then went outside while it was not raining & spent a few minutes on the playground.

Although Madi was a little disappointed that the slide was all wet... :0(


And Finally, we ended the month with some good 'ol Trick or Treating!

Little Miss Minnie Mouse all set with her Mickey pumpkin bucket!

While we were out & about Madi caught a glimpse of a kitty! She got so excited!

Madi & Daddy trick or treating.

We made a stop by Grandpa's house on our way home.

Then ended the night (and the month) with a quick visit from some of Madi's favorite people!
(Izaac, Paige & Justin)