It's a Wonderful Life

We had a fantastic Christmas. We started our Christmas with Isaiah on 12/23 by having a lovely dinner at home and then going to Bentleyville; an awesome Christmas Light Display at Bayfront Park. It was a cold evening, but it was so fun to be surrounded by all the holiday cheer and the fun light display. We headed home and opened a few presents under the tree.

On Christmas Eve, we packed up the car and headed downtown for Homeless Memorial that my work puts on every year to remember the homeless throughout Duluth who died in the past year. It was a moving memorial service and a beautiful way to begin Christmas; thinking about those without a home and possibly without family to spend the holidays with. We then headed to St. Cloud to be with Nathan's parents. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and then a beautiful 10 PM mass at St. John's University. We weren't sure how Isaiah would hold up, but he did pretty well. It did affect his sleep a little for the weekend, but it was worth it.

On Christmas Day we woke up and enjoyed a relaxing day by playing games, going for a walk, having a bon fire and then another big, tasty meal. The day after Christmas was when we were able to celebrate with the Langer family. Again, more wonderful food and great time with family. Isaiah had a blast playing with cousins who he doesn't get to see very often.

My dad and sister were supposed to come up the week after Christmas, but unfortunately, due to weather they had to cancel their trip. This allowed Nathan, Isaiah and I to have six full days together to just hang out, have some fun and get some things done around the house. Nathan and I even got to go on two dates!! It was a wonderful week spending so much time together as family.

It feels like Christmas (mostly because it is really cold)

Veronica and Isaiah went out to cut a Christmas tree on Saturday (Nathan had class). Boulder Lake has a great event where you can go up there and cut a tree down in the woods for a small fee. So Veronica and Isaiah drove there with our friends Kristin Michael and Noah to find some Christmas trees. It was a wonderfully festive environment with hot chocolate and loads of cheerful people. It felt like a scene from a Christmas movie. :)

Below is a picture of Veronica and Isaiah with the tree that was chosen before it was cut down. We will have to get a picture on here soon because the tree is beautifully lit up and full of ornaments.

There's something in the (blog) water

So, I realized one day as I was catching up on blogs, that every blog I follow has a friend that is pregnant (in one case, a friend just had her baby). Pretty funny considering that I follow five blogs and considering that I, too, am pregnant!!! We are finally making the announcement after hearing our little baby's heartbeat on Tuesday morning!! It has been a long 13 weeks to hold it in and not tell many people, but now that we've heart the precious heartbeat and know that things are going well, we can spread the news!

The first trimester went really well. I was really only nauseous for one week(thankfully) and found myself going to bed pretty regularly by 9:30. We joke that Nathan is also pregnant because he, too, was in bed and sleeping by 9:30, wasn't feeling great, was always tired and lacked motivation. Similar symptoms to what I was experiencing. Funny. Thankfully, it appears that Nathan has also moved into the second trimester! :)

So, baby #2 (also known to us as Mimi) will be born in late May or early June. Should be awesome timing as Nathan has summers off so we'll be home together for two months. We'll both be supported as we care for two kiddos!! YAY!!!

First Snowfall

We had our first real snow fall last Sunday and got to try out Isaiah’s snow gear. We ventured outside and played; Isaiah’s getting used to gloves, which makes playing a little tricky. He didn’t seem to mind the cold all bundled up, so we played, went for a walk and hung out while Nate kindly shoveled the snow.  If we get all the snow they say we are this winter, it should be fun sledding, playing and of course shoveling. YAY!!!

Fun with Cousins

The women in Nathan’s family got together over hunting weekend (along with the kiddos) and we had a great time. We gathered at my sister-in-laws house and enjoyed a weekend of hanging out, relaxing, cooking and some baking. Isaiah had a blast playing with his cousins (3 and 6) and was zonked out by our car ride home (YAY…it made the 3 hour car ride so much more bearable!). It was a great weekend to connect as family and as women…we made it to the church to play bingo, sang some karaoke, played S-P-O-O-N-S and then S-P-O-O-N-S-I-E-S just so we could keep going! Lots of fun was had. Looking forward to next year already!

Halloween 2010

Our little munchkin was a dragon/dinosaur this year for Halloween. He was adorable in his costume, as all kids are, and had some fun with friends and a couple Halloween carnivals. It was fun this year because he was old enough to play some of the games and seemed to have some fun. We didn’t go trick or treating; he took a 3 hour nap that day, which pushed all our afternoon activities back and left no time for trick or treating. Instead, we hit up a carnival at our Co-op and had some yummy treats.

Little Swimmer

The fun thing about your grandma working at a hotel is that you get to go swimming when you go visit. J When we were home for the hayride, Isaiah had a great time swimming in the pool. It took a little bit to warm up to the water, but eventually he got in and had fun. It helped that there were some other kids in the water too that played with him and made it more fun!