Christmas 2010!

Addie's Christmas tea party!

Sam with Kellen on Christmas!

Christmas!

Our family Christmas picture!

My grandma (the kids GG) with Kellen on Christmas!

Hugging Nana!

Christmas morning!

Addie with her favorite gift from Santa. This is what she asked for. She was quite upset when the first gift she opened wasn't her puppy. She loves it.

Here is Addie showing Kellen how to use his gift from her. So precious!

Christmas Eve with my our family and my parents. We make our tradition of manicotti, have wine and then open our family presents. Here our the kids in front of the tree.

Visiting Santa! A two hour wait, the day before Christmas Eve....the things we do for our kids.

Baking cookies for Santa!

My favorite time of year. I love the hussle and bussle of it all. I love how cheery everyone is, the decorating, the magic of it all and especially the family get togethers. I am always so sad when it is over. Here are some pictures of our very special Christmas of 2010.

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Halloween 2010

What a fun Halloween we had. Addie had a Halloween party at gymnastics and at school. We carved pumpkins and made pumpkin cookies. Then she got to go trick or treating for the first time with her buddy Drew. She ran from house to house with him, having so much fun. Unfortunetely there isn't much candy she can have, so we put her bowl out for the "good witch" to come and take it. In return the "good witch" left her a small gift. The candy really didn't matter to her, she just loved getting dressed up and trick or treating.

Addie's 3rd Birthday and First Friend Party

When I asked Addie about a month ago what she wanted for her birthday she said she wanted a birthday party. Now, she has never been to a birthday party or really had one other than with family, so where she got that I don't know, but over and over again a party was what she wanted. So, I decided to have 2 of her good friends from school over for a little b-day party. Boy, did they have fun. There were princesses...... we bedazzled pumpkins, played with ballons, played outside and played in the play area downstairs. Now of course we had lunch, cake and presents too. Take a look at the pictures. She really had a blast. She just loved having them over to play. It made me so happy to see her so happy. She went to bed no problem tonight and I too was exhausted.

Apple Orchard 2010

We took our annual trip to Apple Jack's Apple Orchard again this year. It was a beautiful day and full of fun. Addie climbed the big haystack, rode a horse, went on the cow train and we took a tractor ride. Of course we also got some yummy apples. That night we went home and made some apple crisp. I love this time of the year. Take a look at some of the photos from our day.

Addie

Kellen

Here is my precious baby boy. Isn't he the cutest! So, so sweet.

Daddy's helper

Addie loves helping "fix" things. She has her Handy Manny tool kit and a little work bench. Here she is helping Kirk put together a little play table we got for the kids. It is so cute to watch her 'help'. Kirk and I just laugh because she is so serious about it.

Gymnastics

Addie started gymnastics a couple of weeks ago. She loves it.She is all smiles throughout the class. She has worked on the beam, bars, rings floor and tramp. Here are just a couple of her after class is over. Next week I will try to get some of her in action.

Addie's First Race

As many of you know I love to run. It is my freetime and stress reliever. I like to do races because I like to work towards something. I hope to get back into them here soon. Well my love of running stems back to my childhood. I have great memories of running with my dad. We did the Father/Child Fun Runs together, he would help us practice running our miles for elementary school with the goal of beating our old time and I ran the Run for the Roses with him as a kid (at least part of it).I ran Duluth's half marathon and my mom and dad were right there cheering me on. My dad ran the Twin Cites marathon, so I knew that was something I too wanted to do. Five years ago I did it. My dad was there for some of my training runs up north. He was at the end of his driveway cheering me on as I went by. Then at race day my parents were there to cheer me on along the way and then to bring me in at the finish line. It meant a lot to me because running is something I associate with my dad and some of my favorite childhood memories.Today I got to start those memories with my daughter as she ran the Toddler Trot down at the Marathon finish line. She was so excited! She knew just what to do. When they said go she was off and ran the whole way. When she finished they placed a medal around her neck. She was pretty happy and I was so proud. I can't for our future races together.

Addie's Drew

This our neighbor Drew. He is in Kindergarten and Addie absolutely adores him. The last couple of days we have been walking with his mom to pick him up after school. They walk home hand in hand.....so cute. He plays so well with her. His mom told me that he has been so excited that Addie has picked him up after school. They are so fun to watch. He is a great kid and a good friend to Addie.

Baseball Fan

Kirk loves baseball and one of his favorite teams is the Boston Red Sox. Here is Kellen representing. Maybe if we get him some Twins gear he will bring them some good luck.

Kellen 3 months

Mr Smiles! Look at our little man and how fast he is growing. He smiles all the time, reaches up for his mobile on his toys and coos. He has strong legs and a strong neck. Kellen watches everything Addie does.He is an amazing baby.

Big Sister

So I have been going to the gym each day for about an hour and the kids go into the daycare there. Addie loves it and is actually my motivation some days to go because she wants to go. Anyways, I picked the kids up yesterday and the girl working was holding Kellen and told me that Addie will tell her to hold Kellen or that she goes over and checks on him often. It was so nice to hear how protective she is of him. We don't always get to see that at home because she is starting to have some jealousy issues with him. We are trying to make individual special time with Addie like at bedtime when we read books and cuddle. Addie and I actually also start a Mommy and me gymnastic class tonight too.

State Fair .....It's all about the Rides!

Yesterday we headed out to the State Fair with the kids. Now for most people the fair is about the food, but for Addie it is all about the rides. She couldn't get enough of them. We thought she might be nervous riding alone, but oh, no she loved them. These are only a few of the rides she went on. Rides weren't the only thing we did. We spent some time in the Miracle of Birth building and missed a calf being born by 5 minutes. We got to see it stand up for the first time and the mother taking care of it. We saw new piglets with their mom as well as sheep and chicks. Addie thought it was pretty cool. Of course we went into see the horses , which Addie loves. We finished off our trip with a Choo-Choo Bob Show. Kellen did amazing and Addie was asleep before we even got on the highway. All and all a great trip. Can't wait till next year.