Merry Christmas 2008

Oh what a wonderful holiday we have had!! We hope all of our friends and family enjoyed food, fellowship, and the spirit of Christmas this season. We started our holiday festivities on Christmas Eve. We went to my parents for dinner and gifts. Just a little bit of a zoo with 4 kids under 10 :) Giving Meme Wagoner a thank you kiss!!!Papa Tom's new BSU sticker for his truck!!!
Playing Christmas carols on the piano with Meme!

Chris and I traveled back home that night so we could wake as a family on Christmas morning. Alison was so precious. Slightly aware of the Santa concept, but not much. We enjoyed an awesome day of relaxing around the house. My parents came in the evening and we ate dinner and played games. Chris and I rocked the house in Euchre :)Santa has arrrived!!
Unwrapping gifts with Mommy! And the aftermath :)

Enjoying one of Daddy's new Christmas toys. Ms. Pac-Man for the TV...how fun!

and finally.....our newest trick...a silly face :)

Holiday Baking

We started our holiday baking this year by going to Meme Wagoner's and doing "Cookie Day". Lots of sugar cookies were rolled, cut out, baked, and decorated. It is a great "girlie" bonding day :) Here's the team..minus Meme who was taking a picture herself.

Now Ali...are you decorating or tasting?????

Meme....are you decorating or tasting???? Here is the end result....yummy!!!

Here is Ali licking the beaters on Friday night while we were making the dough...notice the flour...EVERYWHERE!!!

Then on Tueday we finished our baking at the house. Here is Daddy and Alison shaking up the cereal mixture.

Checking out the goodies in the oven...she is known to lick the oven door when she really wants to eat whats inside.TA-DA!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Alison

Ya know, if you really think about birthdays, they are bitter sweet. A day, devoted just to you but yet another year which as an adult means "older" and as a parent--a year of so many first and changes that you aren't quite ready to let go of yet. We are super excited to be celebrating Ali's 2nd birthday but oh, I can't believe my baby is growing up...so so fast. We started our Day by being sang to by Mommy and Daddy and then after breakfast we opened some of our mail.Here we are at lunch showing Mommy that she is 2

Our special treat for the night was to go look at the Reynold's Christmas lights on SR 37. Here is the Abominable Snowman. He was huge! Ali loved all the lights.

We drove through the neighborhood on our way home and let Ali help drive us into the garage...see...she is growing up to fast :)

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Alison, Happy Birthday to you!

OOOOOHHHH, baby doll bottles!

Family photo..with treats in our mouth. And yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you, we HAD to change into one of our birthday outfits once we opened it up. If you LOVED the 2 shirt (as I did) you can get your little one at www.trendysisters.com

Enjoying our birthday treat.....we love you baby girl. Your smile lights up a room, your giggle is the most precious sound ever, your hugs are so tender and warm, and your kisses the sweetest. Thank you for being the best little girl ever. You make Mommy and Daddy's hearts so full!!!!

Busy weekend

Chris headed to Detroit on Friday for the BSU MAC Championship game. We are sad that they lost, but what a season they had!!! Really fun for us. On Saturday night Mommy and Daddy got all gussied up and went to the St. Vincent Holiday Gala. It is a great night of food, drinks, dancing, and friends. We had a wonderful evening out. Thank you Gr. Bobby and Gr. Fifi for babysitting....sorry you had to endure EIEIO on such a busy night :)

Chris and Charlie Cardinal
Oh yeah, he's hot!!!

Kitty and Lindsay

The Bishop family

The whole Peds crew

All dressed up and ready to go

Oh Christmas Tree

We went and got our tree on Saturday with the help of Chris' parents. They are not putting up a tree this year since they will be in Alaska for two weeks of the holiday season. I think they enjoyed the festivities of picking and choosing the perfect one. We are really happy with our tree-tall and full.

"Shaking it out"

It's almost in
Putting on ornaments

Reaching so tall with Daddy

Decking the rest of the halls
Completed for 08

Thanksgiving 2008

Oh the things to be thankful for:
My husband--so loving, sweet, thoughtful, caring, funny. He is a wonderful man and I'm so happy that he chose me as his life partner. Thank you for ALL the wonderful things you do--taking out the trash, roughhousing with Alison, letting me work part-time, and the list could go on and on....I love you!!
Alison--pure sweetness is all I can say. I can't thank God enough for placing you in my life. Your smile lights up a room, your giggle is infectious, and your hugs and kisses are pure gold to me. Watching you grow, as sad as it is, is amazing. I'm so proud of the little girl you've become.
Our parents--thank you for being examples of love, dedication, honesty, and committment. We are so blessed to have both of you. Thank you for always giving your time and love.
Our jobs--I think both of us can say we enjoy what we do and enjoy going into work everyday (okay, some of us don't work everyday--thanks again honey :) I feel we are blessed to both have jobs that we are committed to.
and last but not least our friends--those of you reading..thank you for taking time out of your day/lives to be interested in ours. We appreciate it. Nothing feels better than having a friend to rely on, laugh with, cry with, and interpret Pictionary pictures with :)
God Bless!!!

I know, I know

I don't have an excuse so....moving on......

We headed to Wabash this weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving. I have to work Wed and Thurs night this week so this was the opportune time to give thanks for our family. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal on Sat. afternoon. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberries...YUMMY!!!! Lots of time spent visiting with family and friends. Very enjoyable. Alison really enjoyed spending time with her cousins. Her and Izi (almost 3yr) played very well together.

The grands...my mom is using this pic in her Christmas cards this year.

Ali and Izi busy "playing" Connect 4

The older girls very busy at Hungry Hungry Hippo and no....the marbles were not a choking hazard for the 1 and 2 year olds in the room...HA
Daddy and Ali outside checking out the very fine dusting of snow that they had up north

Totally cheesin' in her snow gear

Trick or Treating

What a gorgeous night we had for trick or treating. Boy were we lucky!! Ali did awesome. She was so excited to hand out candy and she couldn't wait for Daddy to get home so we could get into costume and get some loot for ourselves, HA!!! She couldn't say trick or treat but she would bravely grab her one piece of candy say Bye Bye and Thank You and off we went to the next house. Super fun evening!!!
Mommy's pumpkin--a cat

Daddy's pumpkin--a ghost

Patiently awaiting the arrival of trick or treaters

A quick pose with our neighbor girls--Jordan is a penguin and is just 4 weeks younger than Ali and Lucy is a bug and was born in May....super sweet girls

Off we go........... Our first stop, yummy!!!! Thanks Spongebob for the candy!

Happy Halloween 2008

From our Pretty pink princess to all the ghosts and goblins...Happy Halloween!!!

At the Forest Park Inn Halloween party

Sitting around the campfire with the biggest CHEESE ever!!!

Just adorable in Mommy's opinion!!!