Family of 3

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

This was the eighth Christmas Marty and I spent together, and the fifth Christmas together as a married couple. Wow, that really is a long time. Seems like it was just yesterday or maybe last month we were trying to decide if it was appropriate to invite each other to our separate family Christmas celebrations. And here we are now with our very own family of 3. In years past we have just exchanged gifts at some random time during the holiday, not really making any big deal of it, which was fine because it was just us two. But since we now have our own little family, I wanted to designate an evening to our "family." This evening was the Friday before Christmas, Dec. 21, 2007. We invited over Marty's parents to celebrate with us. I made a nice supper complete with our good chinaware and even opened a bottle of wine! Gracie of course enjoyed her baby food meal of sweet potatoes and peaches, along with a few cereal puffs. Gracie as you will see below was dressed as cute as a button in her Christmas dress.

She had been trying all week to get into these presents...

such a temptation they were for her. Finally she can dig in. And of course playing with the ornaments on the Christmas tree, except now the needles are getting pretty brittle and fall off whenever she touches the tree.
Santa brought Gracie this shopping cart walker. She hasn't really started to stand yet on her own, but with some help she does pretty good.
She does try to get up, but those legs get kinda wobbly when they are on their own for to long.

Grandma Betty (Malecek) gave Gracie this caterpillar, its just like a rocking horse, except it's a caterpillar... it plays music and lights up. It caught Gracie's eye immediately. She is a little small yet, but I am certain in a few months the "rocking caterpillar" will be the source of many hours of enjoyment!

Our first Christmas celebration as a family of 3 was a joyous time. I hope to have many more celebrations to come and fond memories to cherish.

Christmas with the Extended Relatives

Every year since before I can remember we have had huge family gatherings at each Grandparents home to celebrate Christmas. This year was no different.

Last weekend (Dec. 15-16) were the gatherings.

Sunday was the gathering of my Dad's family at my Grandma and Grandpa's Sohre's house. Every year a few more babies are added and amazingly I would say over 1/2 of the entire crew shows up. It gets pretty loud in the basement.

My grandparents have (if I counted and did my math correctly):

• 5 sons


• 5 daughters-in-law


• 20 grandchildren
  
• 13 grandchildren-in-law
  
• 29 great-grandchildren (and probably some more on the way)

To think all this happened because "two people fell in love"

Look at all those stocking on the wall... and that isn't even all of them. Grandma can't keep up!

Above is my Grandpa Sohre... a wonderful man!

Letting the food digest after the big meal.


On Saturday was my Mom's side of the family...

a little smaller, but equally as grand.
This year my sister Christy hosted the gathering.

Here's the stats from this family (again if I counted correctly):

• 3 daughters
• 3 son-in-laws
• 12 grandchildren
• 7 grandchildren-in-law (soon to be 8)
• 15 great-grandchildren (another on the way)

Below: Gracie and Great-grandma

The kids opening presents and giving Grandma a hug.

I think Grandma very much enjoyed the day!

As I see how these families have grown over the years... I wonder what Marty and I's holiday gatherings will be like in 40-50 years. Will both of us be around? Will we have tons of grandkids and little great-grandkids running around? Will our kids want to come home to celebrate with us? Will we want them home with us (J/K)? Will we be happy and healthy? I hope so!

Gracie in College?

For those of who do not know I am working on my Master's degree to become a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Minnesota State University, Mankato. This semester I took an advanced nursing assessment class, which had to meet on campus every Friday morning (most of my classes are online with once-a-month onsite meetings). The last 4 weeks of this class was pediatric assessment. On our very last day my instructor wanted us to bring in some real-live children so she could demonstrate some assessment skills to the class. I volunteered to bring in my Gracie. So Gracie got her first visit to the big University and to go to school with her Mommy! She, of course, did a wonderful job. She let all my fellow classmates look in her ears and listen to her heart. She was a little squirmy when my instructor was demonstrating on her, but overall got an A+ for the day.

Since we were on campus, we of course had to go visit my Mom, who works at the campus Hub. Grandma was very eager and proud to show off her granddaughter. I think we met 50 co-workers in 30 minutes. Grandma showed Gracie how to use the computer! I think Gracie will be able to bypass Kindergarten and 1st Grade... She attended college the entire time I was pregnant and now at 8months old has been in a college classroom!

Our visit was lots of fun...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gracie and I decided to make the ever famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. She didn't really know what she was getting into at first... but as you will soon find out as you scroll through the pictures... she has learned what the best part is when using a mixer!

The best part is licking the beaters!! and oh boy did she enjoy it! I took the beater away form her and she started to cry... so we moved onto the spatula... then she was happy again.

Then we needed a break from the high chair so...on to watching the cookies bake in the oven...

and then on to .....
Eating the cookies...

at first she didn't quite know what to do with the cookie... but once she figured it out...

I don't think she really even ate that much. It was more like a bunch of crumbles mushed in her hand... but it sure was fun watching her discover what this cookie buisness is all about.

Winter Wonderland

~Beautiful Winter Sunset in Minnesota~

For some of you that do not live in this cold region of MN, I thought you might like to see what our first snowfall looked like for the 2007-2008 winter! So far it has not warmed up... so the snow is still on the ground. Marty said we got around 6 inches on Saturday and more is to come this week. With it snowing outside it was a great day to stay inside and put up that beautiful Christmas tree. These pictures are all taken out of the windows from our house! I didn't even have to go out and get cold!

We are still working on getting the railing for our deck... I think it will wait until spring!

Sure makes shoveling the snow easy!

Gracie helped decorate the Christmas tree... well, sort-of!

It took her about 1 minute to figure out that she could try to reach the ornaments... and she persisted until she got it. She would go from her back to her tummy until she could touch it and grab it. She looked like a little kitty that was pawing at a toy! Needless to say we had to move a few ornaments up a little farther. After she achieved grabbing the balb she then went for the water in the tree stand!!! The joys of having a baby!

Our finished tree complete with the star and stocking on the fireplace!!

We are ready for SANTA!