Merry Christmas!

To start off, if any of you knew how challenging it has been for me to post lately you would really appreciate each blog post. I have to upload each picture individually and then sometimes upload the same one again because it didn't upload the first time. To say the least....it takes a long time and sometimes gets very frustrating. But.....I AM hanging in there! And I will continue to do it and persevere. Okay.....now onto the interesting part :-).

 For Christmas this year we went to Minnesota to spend it with Jake's family. It was kind of a sad Christmas because there was no snow (very little anyways). Normally on Christmas Day we go to Jake's grandparents and we all go sledding. This year we were unable to do that because of the lack of snow. I was bummed because I was looking forward to taking Addy sledding.....oh well, I guess there will be other chances. It was really fun to see everyone, visit, play games and have some deep conversations. We arrived at the Loegering's Thursday night (Dec. 22nd). That night Addy decided she was going to walk! Yes, you heard me right....Addy can now walk and is getting better and better with each day. More about that later. On Friday, we went outside to play in the little snow that there was. The kids were pulled around on sleds while the "older" children played football.

Grandpa with Addy.

Thinking and watching.....

Playing football.

Trying to walk in her boots (she's not very good at walking in her boots yet).

Addy and Grandma being pulled around on the sled.

Christine pulling John and Olue.

Olue was having fun but Johnny got tired of her laying on him. He wanted Grandpa to pull him fast in the sled that Addy was in.

Grandpa pulling the sled.

Addy having a snack of popcorn with Daddy.

On Saturday morning we went for a hay ride. The original plan was to go on a sleigh ride but there wasn't enough snow. It was still a lot of fun and Addy loved the big horses. We were told that they are Belgian. They are much bigger than a Clydesdale. Very pretty horses!

The driver had a two seater thing that he could hook the horses and the hay wagon to. He could also hook equipment to it like a manure spreader. The horses are a hobby for him, he has collected numerous pieces of equipment for draft horses also.

All on the wagon and waiting to start going.

Us on the hayride.....Addy was too busy looking at the horses.

Grandpa took Addy to pet the horses.....they sure are big!

Addy, John and Olue playing with toys by the presents. They were really good about staying away from the presents and not trying to open them.

Johnny giving his godfather a high five.

Christmas Eve...

We all got dressed up nice for Christmas Eve Mass and festivities. At the Loegering's we go to Mass, come back for a delicious meal, clean up (which I would say we did in record time this year), and open presents. Addy did really well that night.....she stayed up very late. You can tell in the pictures when the break down of the little girl happened :-).

Josh, Christine, John and Olue.

Jake, me and Addy.

The grandkids with Grandpa and Grandma.

Opening presents! At her birthday in October she had very little interest in tearing paper off a present. But at Christmas she had no problem unwrapping one and then looking for another to unwrap. Here she is unwrapping her first doll. Jake and I got it for her. When we bought it she carried it all around the store and loved touching it's hair. A couple weeks before Christmas Addy stayed with my aunt and uncle for a couple hours. When we came to pick her up they told us how she was trying to feed one of my cousin's dolls a bottle (and everything else that looks like a person). We don't know where she figured that out because she never took a bottle or has been around another baby eating from a bottle. Hopefully she will be a big help when the baby comes ;-).

Addy unwrapping a nursery rhyme book.

The main event of the night! After everyone had opened their gifts Addy and Johnny still each had a gift to open (by this point Addy was getting really tired). Josh had finished putting together the two gifts that Jake and him had started weeks before.

They got rocking horses!.......even made by their dad's and uncles! A very special gift that will always be treasured.

Addy wasn't too excited about it that night.

Johnny was having lots of fun rocking on his.

My present from Jake (and Josh). The two made a butcher block for me, Sue and Christine. Josh had finished these also. The dark wood is called purple heart and the lighter wood is maple. They are very beautiful.

Roger got his two bucks mounted for Christmas from Josh.

Christmas Day.....

The next morning Addy was having lots of fun on her rocking horse. It is now sitting in our living room. She will walk over to it and lift up her leg trying to get on it (that is her way of telling you that she wants to get up on to something). She can kind of rock it herself but she likes it when someone rocks it for her so it goes faster.

A full look at the rocking horse. It still needs a handle and to be varnished.

What a cutie!!

Here we are at Jake's grandparent's. The boys were playing with toy cars and shooting them at each other.

Roger got in on it also.

Addy with Grandpa Hayes.

All of Jake's cousins.....plus me Christine, John and Addy. Olue was taking a nap.

Addy opening her present from grandpa and grandma Hayes. She was showing Jake the wrapping paper on her finger.

She got a cute outfit and a dinosaur toy that played the ABC's. She loves playing with the dinosaur.

Home again, home again jiggity jig!

On Monday, we headed for home. We were sad to leave everyone but glad to be going home (there is no place like home :-). Roger and Sue were gracious enough to let us bring Kristina back with us for two weeks. Having her with us makes leaving all of them not as hard. After we got home and unpacked we were all sitting (Jake was sleeping on the floor) in the living room relaxing. I was looking out the window and all of a sudden saw something walking across our front yard. I said (in a loud excited voice) "what in the world is that!" Jake shot up from his slumber like a lightening bolt. At first he thought it was a badger, we have seen traces of them around. He ran and got his 22 rifle. He killed it down by the pole barns. We found out that it was a muskrat....a big ugly one.

Side view.

Look at them claws and teeth.....yikes!

It's tail was really weird, but I guess that is how they look.

More on Addy......

As I said earlier, Addy can now walk. It all started Thursday night (Dec. 22nd) when we got to the Loegering's for Christmas. Usually at night she is not in the mood to do things like walking. She must have picked up on all the excitement of it being Christmas and everyone happy to see each other. She started by taking a couple steps at a time, the surprising part was even though she fell she would get right back up and try to walk again. Before that night, if she took two steps and fell she was done for awhile. With each time she walked a little ways everyone cheered and got very excited. This made her walk more and more. I think she was doing so well because she figured out if she walked, a whole room full of people would get excited and have their attention on her. They also have carpet where she was walking (we have no carpet in the main living space of our house except for rugs), which I think helped her too. As the weekend went on she walked farther and farther without falling. By the time we got home she was walking half way across a room before falling. Now she can walk all the way across a room or two! She is still unstable sometimes but she definitely has the hang of it. She can also carry many things while walking and still have her balance.

A cute thing that she does now is if you ask her for a hug she will lay her head down on your shoulder and snuggle in. Sometimes she even puts her arms around you and pats you on the back or rubs your back with the palm of her hand. She is not a baby anymore at all.....she is a little girl!

This morning she was in bed with us for awhile. She acted like she wanted to go down and play in the living room (right off our bedroom). Jake put her on the floor and could see that she bypassed the living room and all the toys making her way to the kitchen. He was wondering what she was doing so he went to find out. He found her standing by the fridge trying to open it with the handle. I always keep her milk cup in there during the day and then clean it at night, that is probably what she was going after. Jake got her cup out of the cupboard and filled it with milk, this made her happy. She is such a smart little girl!