Santa was here! Santa was here!...

...Those are the words the kids exclaimed as they ran into our bedroom on Christmas morning. It was such fun this year as Brendan was truly excited for Santa's arrival and was beside himself before bed on Christmas Eve. Halle was thrilled as well, though she didn't understand what was happening with as much clarity as Brendan did.

First order of business after waking us up was to check on the milk and cookies - Santa left one small drink of milk in the bottom of the glass and a few cookie crumbs scattered on the plate, Brendan was thrilled and helped himself to the rest of the milk and remaining cookie crumbs without missing a beat! Then we all made our way into the living room to check out what was under the tree.

Wow - what a lucky guy - Brendan checking out his Lego airplane set...

...then sitting in his new camping chair...

Ohhhh...what is in your stocking?Halle showing off her goods...
...and standing in front of her new dollhouse - yay!

Lounging in her camping chair...
Checking out the new dollhouse once it was out of the box and assembled...

Chance slept in a bit, then woke up happy as a lark!

Finally, Daddy looking good in his new headlamp - a stocking stuffer from Santa!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy 2008!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at home with our family and my sister, Erica. It was a great time with some good food, checking up on Santa online, baking cookies for Santa and opening our family gifts.

Here, Brendan shows off his new Lego Bulldozer...

Halle with one of her new games... Brendan checking out his new calendar...
A cute pic of Halle in one of her Christmas dresses
Chance was beat after all of the excitement and fell over sound asleep on Daddy's arm...so cute!

Christmas in Duluth

This past weekend our family headed to Duluth to celebrate Christmas with Nana Cassy, Jeff, Andrea and Jon. We arrived Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning when a snowstorm blew in and forced us to head home a bit earlier then we'd originally planned.

Here Brendan plays with Bella, one of Cassy's Great Danes - she's enormous!

Bella checks out Halle to see if she's got any food for her...
On Saturday night we opened presents...
Awesome!

Halle feeding her new baby boy...

Chance with his new, oh-so-soft-and-cuddly, bear...

Thank you, Cassy, for the wonderful gifts for all of us! Thanks to Andrea and Jon for the bath toys for the kids - they used them on Sunday night and had a blast! Thanks Jeff for the educational software for the kids - they love it! It was great to see all of you!

Comparison Pics...

Because so many people have conflicting opinions on who Chance looks most like, Brendan or Halle, here are some pictures of all three kids - what do you think?

First, here's Brendan at almost one month old...

...and almost 2 months old..
And, here's Halle at a month-and-a-half....
...and two months....
...and finally, here's Chance at a month-and-a-half...

Pretty similar, eh?

New pics of Chance

Here are some new pics of our little munchkin....first, sitting in Daddy's chair...

Then, several from this morning - he's getting so smiley now, it's SO adorable!

I LOVE this picture!

Look what we made!

On Tuesday, the kids and I were feeling creative so we broke out the kit I'd purchased and made our very own Gingerbread house!

After the icing was set, it was time to decorate...


The finished product...

Celebrating Christmas

This past Saturday (Dec 15th) we celebrated Christmas with the Landstrom Family at Jason and Carrie's house. It was a great time, and so good to see some folks we haven't seen in quite awhile! Thanks for hosting, Jason and Carrie - it was great!

Here Halle tries to get Grandpa Charlie's attention...

And here are several pictures of the kids' favorite part of Christmas - opening presents!

Do you think he's excited?? :)
Halle, holding her adorable new bear purse - it's so cute and she loves it!
Finally, the little man in his Christmas outfit...

First Smile!

Winter Wonderland

The first real snowfall of the season hit with a vengeance on Saturday - our total accumulation was around 10-12 inches. Here is a picture of the house and the beautiful trees after Cary plowed on Sunday night...

We were hit again today with even more snow and 6-9 additional inches are expected before the night is through! The kids went outside to play this morning to enjoy the fresh snowfall...

The trees look beautiful...

New pics of Chance

Chance turns 4 weeks old tomorrow & here are a few pictures I took of him today...


He's starting to give us little grins!

Check out all that hair!