Presents, Family, and Love

Our Christmas this year consisted of lots and lots of presents, wonderful time spent with both sides of the family in Hutchinson and Ham Lake, and love.

PRESENTS

The beginning of Greta's ripping and tearing began at our house, as Greta opened all her gifts from Daddy and Mommy.

As you can see, she made out quite well.

Ham Lake brought a new trike from her Oma and Opa!

A new book.

Thanks Great Aunt Tillie for this adorable chef's outfit!

Santa brought the kitchen to go with it!

FAMILY

An attempt at a picture with the three cousins.

A look at the horses.

And Greta's favorite...the chicken.

Father and son playing guitar.

Three generations enjoying themselves.

Family pic.

LOVE

Greta and her "Ry-Ry" were so kind to each other with kisses, hugs, and little pats of affection.

Snuggling with her Oma.

Potty Time

With Greta getting closer and closer to her second birthday, I decided it was time to buy her a potty chair. So far so good. She loves sitting on it, but no tinkles yet. I just hope she's not sick of it when the time comes to really start potty training.

Miss Independent

After work last night, Daddy and I were standing in the kitchen discussing our days. Miss Greta decided she had enough of listening to us, so she climbed up on the couch and started reading her book.

Cookies

Greta once again this year was a great help with making (well, eating) our Christmas gingerbread cookies.

Girls Will Be Girls

Some of the best parenting advice I've received thus far from my mother has been...before you tell your child, "no" make sure you ask yourself why they can't do whatever it is they want to do. Last night, we received two big bins of clothes from our wonderful family friends. My little girly girl was so excited going through all the new clothes and insisted she try on the ruby red slippers. Before bed I asked her if she wanted to take them off, and she nodded, "no." So here she is fast asleep with her high-heeled ruby red slippers. Her bed was full of glitter this morning, but that's an easy fix. :)

Greta's 18 month stats:
Height: 34 inches (97%)
Weight: 23 lbs. 3 ozs. (33%)
Head Circumference: 19 inches (91%)

Ginger Bread House

Greta's latest daycare project. Thank you to Steph for her patience. We are lucky to have such a great daycare provider!

Notice the chubby cheeks and missing candy.

Pickles?!?!

Greta insisted on trying Daddy's pickles the other night at supper. To our dismay, she kept wanting, "more, more, more."

Sour pickle face.

Story Time

Our library started family story time on Monday nights in December. The kids were encouraged to come in their jammies and bring their favorite stuffed animal or blanket. Greta was such a good girl and sat criss crossed like all the other kids to listen to the stories.

Ready to hit the road with her jammies, new slippers from Da-da, and puppy.

The librarian brought cookies at the end, which I'm sure was Greta's favorite part of the evening.

Winter Fun

Greta's first meeting with Santa this year was at Cupkie's Christmas Tree Farm. She stopped crying for a second after Santa gave her a candy cane.

Mama and her Greta.

Look at all the beautiful trees. We may just have to consider a real tree for next year.

Greta petting Misty the horse. They had pony rides and sleigh (well, actually wagon due to the lack of snow) rides.

Chocolate you can drink! More, more, please! After the Christmas tree farm we went to Ottertail for the Otterdazzel parade of lights. We stopped by a coffee shop for some hot chocolate while we waited.

Look at all the pretty lights. What a fun time of year!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Greta has been quite the little helper when it has come to decorating the house for Christmas.

All ready to go outside to help Daddy put lights on the deck. Her hat and mittens were in the wash, so she had to wear socks on her hands and one of Mama's old hats.

Taking her job very seriously.

"Open, open, open." Greta couldn't wait to get her hands on all the Christmas decorations.

"Daddy, I think we need more lights."

What a beautiful tree! Great job, Greta!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great Thanksgiving! I got to spend the whole day with my two sweethearts. I sure have a lot to be thankful for again this year. I've been so blessed with a healthy wonderful family. I couldn't be happier!

I woke up this morning (after sleeping in until 7:30) to find Greta reading through the Black Friday ads and my husband basting the turkey. It doesn't get much better than that!

With the beautiful 50 degree weather, we went on our First (and probably our last) Annual Gillespie 3 Mile Turkey Trot.

Greta and Daddy after the run.

The day wouldn't have been complete without a little coloring, which has been Greta's new favorite thing to do.

Remember this 1 year ago?

And today. Yumm, Yumm!

Nothing beats a nap in the big bed after all that tryptophan. (Actually, the only thing Greta would eat was the pumpkin cheesecake:) Thank you to all of our family and friends who have been a blessing and a great support system this past year. We love you!

Pretty Cheesy

Greta LOVES to be PRETTY. Here she is ready for bed with her pretty in her hair. She also likes putting on make-up and lip gloss with Mommy and carrying her purse around or going shopping with her babies.

Greta's other new trick is being a little CHEESY. Here she is saying, "cheeeeese" for the camera.

A Visit From Ry-Ry

We had another fun weekend as Cousin Henry, Uncle Phil, and Aunt Sarah came to visit. Greta and Henry played so nicely together all weekend.

Uncle Phil had his lap full a lot of the weekend reading animal books.

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" Greta loved joining Ry-Ry in the crib after his naps.

We ended the weekend with lunch at Zorbaz. Thankz for the great timez. We hope you come back zoon!

Growing Up

Last night Greta handed me her baby doll and asked, "Where's the bottle?"