just a note:

I want to take a moment to apologize to ALL that I have not kept up with the blog as well as I should have. I want to reassure that there are SO many wonderful and special memories that I want to share, and I plan to share them as I am able.

I did not want to let Christmas pass without sharing our moments with you. So I jumped ahead to hopefully be a little part of your holidays as well.
Hang in there, and please forgive me.

I finally was able to get to the computer long enough to get Christmas loaded up, so please enjoy... :)

Merry Christmas 2010!!

Christmas Eve is here and all the preparations are complete! Time to grab some hot cocoa and drive around to look at Christmas lights!

Get ready to see the Christmas lights kiddos! We are so excited!!!!

After a full evening and leaving Santa cookies and milk, and a carrot for the reindeer; everyone finally settled in. Shawn was super excited as this is his first year of knowing what Christmas is about and anxiously anticipated the fun in store!! He had a tough time falling asleep and asked me if Santa could wake him up when he got here. I assured him I would leave a note for Santa.

Boy did Santa come!! He did not wake Shawn up, but he left a thank you note for Shawn! I am sure he was a little too busy to play but maybe next year Shawn.

Meadow enjoyed the excitement of her first Christmas! Toys everywhere!!!! Santa brought Meadow a little kitchen and Shawn a dump truck with a crane!

After checking out their toys, they had to check out each others as well!!!

After seeing what Santa brought, we enjoyed home-made cinnamon rolls (I told you I went a little baking crazy!!) They were yummy though!

Then we got all dressed up for church.

We truely enjoyed a full day of gifts, family, and love!! We enjoyed visiting with family via web cam. It was wonderful spending it with them even if we are all far apart.

Shawn LOVES the cars movie and has watched it numerous times!!!! He loves to quote the movie and make the "Mator" face. "Mator" is the tow truck that has a crooked smile...pretty good impression!!!

Just a few of his cars...

Meadow loves paying with all of her toys, she has constantly been going from one toy to the next. She received a walker and does pretty well walking with it...all around the house!!

We wish everyone a warm Merry Christmas!!! We love you all!!!!! We are keeping you all so very close in our hearts!!! Thank you for everything and for making our holidays even more special!

Preparing for Christmas

This Christmas came fast as we found ourselves preparing quickly for the holiday! This is by far my favorite time of the year! I think I almost went a little overboard trying my hand at new goodies. Both Shawn and Meadow joined in the excitement and helped out where they could! Meadow is happy to be getting an apple before the house was full of the wonderful sights and smells of chocolates and sugar!! She will soon find out!!

I found the best little recipe for Oreo Truffles!! I don't think I will lose this recipe, I have fallen in chocolate love with these little bites of chocolate heaven!! We had fun making them too!!!

Shawn got to actively help in making and frosting sugar cookies this year and he proved to be an expert!! Shawn is a natural in the kitchen, especially when it comes to good food :)

Here are the cookies Shawn frosted (I think he was hoping the brown frosting was peanut butter and opted for different colors when he realized it was all the same)

A few of the favorite cookies :)

We also baked up pumpkin muffins, million dollar fudge, peanut-butter fudge, chocolate chip cookies, and muffins. We (...ok...I...) went a little baking crazy! I heard no protests though! We were able to share many goodies with friends and neighbors.

I think Meadow was hoping Shawn would be super messy and share some...sorry Meadow, Shawn is still learning to share :)

Once the goodies were all prepared, we were able to focus on wrapping gifts and keeping them under the tree (untouched...haha!) The first minute we turned our backs, Meadow went straight for the bows. She peaked my curiosity with the noise of her crawling across the floor with the bow in one hand, until she got clever and figured out how to carry it in her mouth.

The best gift I could have :)

trip to Great Grandpa Don and Great Grandma Betty

In August,we were blessed to be able to go to Wyoming and visit Great Grandpa Don and Great Grandma Betty!

Meadow enjoyed snuggling and babbling up a storm with them.

Drooling a little...

and posing!

Shawn had a blast chatting and playing. He barely sat still the whole visit!!

She wrapped Great Grandpa Don around her little finger pretty quickly and easily too!!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa have the BEST garden!!! We found a few raspberries (sorry Great Grandpa, they didn't make it into the house)...but they were gOOOOooood!!!

A few other veggies didn't quite make it inside either :)

During our visit we drove up for a lunch at Redlodge, MT and saw all the cool cars and tractors in Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's warehouse.

Showing Great Grandma Betty a little attitude!

Shawn talked Great Grandpa Don into taking his John Deer for a little spin!!!

Meadow then wanted up to pose with Great Grandpa Don too!

then me...

and Tom...

We loved our visit in Powell, WY! We will have to tell Papa that we all played on Great Grandpa Don's tractor!!!!

Growling Sweet Potato

I know I am going a little out of sequence and I still have a little catching up to do, and forgive me for not staying up on the posts like I intended. But I wanted to share this video with you!

While feeding Meadow sweet potatoes and while being reminded the importance of using bibs, Meadow took over the spoon and decided to feed herself. She was so happy to have fed herself that she began announcing her accomplishments. She has been exploring the sounds she can make and she loves to spit and blow raspberries as well as make a growling noise. It is quite funny, but not really a noise I would expect to hear from a cute little girl. I was able to catch a little growling here.

She's still a dainty little princess to me :)

Meadow is 4mo old!!

July 8, 2010

Somehow Shawn believes he still fits in the baby toys!