Playing with Nora, Abby and Melissa

Monday we spent some time at the Urban's because Mel was in town, yeah!  Unfortunately you wouldn't know that by looking at the photos, they're a little child biased!!  We had fun giving Nora her 1st birthday gift and her Christmas present.  She seemed to like both of them and Nora also got Braylen something too, how fun, more presents!!  We then dropped the kids off with their dads and went out for a while, girls night!  I had fun catching up and it was great to see the big 1 year old!!

Nora and Braylen

Always a smile on Nora's face

and Bray is a food monster!!

They were pretty good friends by the time we left!



Cheese ball!



Merry Christmas

(Sorry for the tardiness of these, for those of you that are Blogger junkies, a late Merry Christmas gift to you!!)
Our Christmas was nice and quiet, just the 3 of us, well 5 if you count Molly and Riley. After the late night at the Fluhr's we all slept in until 9:30!!! Merry Christmas: Mom and Dad, Love: Braylen, is what a tag on Bray's crib should've said when we went to get him up!! We skyped with Nana and Papa and opened gifts. We all got lots of nice things, I got a new deep frying pan, duffel bag, purse, boots and ear buds, Jeremy got a new watch, clothes, river maps, cologne and slippers and Braylen received some bubble bath, duck spout cover, jack in the box, fake food and plates. The Greenhills were next on our skyping list, so we called and talked with them for a while, so good to "see" them and wish them a Merry Christmas too! A wonderful Christmas spent together was better than I ever thought possible. I feel truly blessed this holiday season!

getting the hang of this present thing

wow, a magna doodle

I can't believe I got...

 \

bubbles!!!

a fun new jack in the box

our filled stockings

probably one of his favorite gifts from Santa

another fun Christmas toy??

and another?? a tin and spatula

Mommy loves her bug monster

dad's showing how this stuff works

our cleaned living room approx 5 minutes after gifts, thanks ADD dad

Christmas Eve

We had family and a few friends over Thursday night after work for sandwiches and soup. Jason and Angie came and stayed over and Alana was a riot. She totally gets Santa and Christmas, she was so fun with presents and asking about Santa. Friday morning she wanted to get in bed with Braylen and they were having a great time hanging out and playing I don't think either wanted to get out! After everyone left we sat around and listened to Nana and Papa read "The Night before Christmas".  Braylen really enjoyed it the first time we read it and then he kept going over to it and flipping pages randomly whenever the mood struck him.  We went to church in Dubuque and then to Don and Rita's for the Fluhr family Christmas. It was completely chaotic and so much fun!

Jared and Alesha

Jimmy and Kristin

Joleen, Bob and baby Fink

Jason and Angie

Grandma, Grandpa and the kiddies

We had Dr Alana on site, just in case someone got sick or injured, good thing!!

The boys rough housing on Braylen's new couch

Madison's new stroller, meant for her babies and not for her, but this just looked like more fun!

That's a little more like what Santa had in mind

A fun "new" place

While I was wrapping presents I brought Braylen downstairs with me and sat him at his table with Jenga blocks and poker chips, WOW how fun?!  I think we've started something here...someone is going to need to get a lot more proficient on the stairs!

UD Gala

We had a night out on Friday for UD's Gala.  We've been looking forward to a night out with my coworkers for a few weeks and we were prepared to have fun, but instead we had a BLAST.  Mom came in to babysit Bray and we headed out to my co worker's house for a preparty and then made our grand entrance at the Gala.  I went extra glam one of my many bridesmaid dresses, courtesy of Jess!  After the Gala back to Tim's house for post party which lasted until about 3am!!!  I don't think we've been up that late in a LONG time!  We had some crazy pictures mainly because I didn't take any before 1am???!!!  Thanks for babysitting mom!!

I just couldn't stop dancing!

Jill and I

Jeremy's so dapper

Scott is showing off his floor routine skills

BOB!!!

Right before last call they decided to get in one more slow dance, ahhh

 

Our first "yuck"

Braylen got up this morning a little slow and I noticed he was acting like he was trying to burp but couldn't.  I remembered back to his gas and stomach gurgles from the night before and his lack of eating dinner and instantly took him into the bathroom before he started getting sick.  NOT FUN, for mommy or Braylen.  I felt so bad for him and couldn't do much but hold him and take a washcloth to wipe his head and face (I guess that's a motherly instinct kind of thing).  We went to sit on the couch and he started asking, "What's that?" and, "Kitty" he was kind of back to normal, so I think he got most everything out!!  I took him to the babysitters after some oyster crackers and water and he seemed OK, so cross your fingers he's back to 100% now and for dad tonight!! 

ABCs

Baking, drinking, a deer hoof and LOTS of snow

Mandi and Andriy traveled out this weekend to visit us for some Christmas fun!!  Mandi and I were heading the baking, Jeremy and Andriy were in charge of the booze, Braylen was responsible for the smiles and laughs and Molly was to blame for the deer hoof!  Mandi yelped in our living room, "Oh my, what's that?"  Molly was proudly gnawing on a deer hoof.  (A few hunting buddies thought it would be funny to drop off a few deer hooves in our front yard during hunting season, so Molly's been out hunting!)  Jeremy proceeded to place it into the garbage, not the garage garbage, but the kitchen, yes the same kitchen we were baking in.  Although pretty gross, also pretty funny.  Jeremy and Andriy made homemade Baileys and we enjoyed a few of those as well as some yummy wine and cold beers.  While baking the rain changed into huge snow flakes that quickly covered everything, again!  We listened to Christmas music, laughed, braved through difficult recipes, they were literally labeled difficult on foodnetwork.com, got Mandi and Andriy's car stuck and then unstuck, ventured out to have a bite for dinner and then fell asleep watching Christmas Vacation.  It was a perfect Mandi and Andriy filled weekend!  We can't wait until they move to Dubuque and we can do this lots more often!!  Memories...

the very fashion forward bakers!!

yum yum yum

peeking under the plant to the snowy deck

lots and lots of snow

having a snack on the chair while watching the snow

our goodies, homemade Bailey's included

The boys delicious beverage options

What item does not belong in the kitchen garbage?

I don't need no stinking toys!

Who needs all of these



When you have a HUGE tupperware box

to climb in

and put a Christmas tin and ring in??



Or when you can climb on a chair, by yourself, and play with a water bottle and rice
(Thanks for the idea Abby and Nora)

Obviously this little guy doesn't need anything but a few non toys to keep him busy and happy for hours.  Please remember this when buying him LOTS of toys for Christmas Santa!!



Climbing and tumbling

This is what mommy and Bray do while dad's out hunting!!

Braylen's cabinet

We've always had a cabinet that has had Braylen's bottles, cereal, cups, etc... in it, we've called it Braylen's cabinet.  He must have caught on.  We don't have a boy that lives under the stairs, but we do have one that lives under the counter tops (that little quip is for the Greenhill's!!)