Ice Festival

We took a walk in our downtown this afternoon and saw the sculptures on display for the ice festival. I wanted to get the girls out for more pictures but Megan was going nuts because she was hungry and tired so we were only there about 20 minutes before we headed home. Here are a few shots from our excursion!

Mommy strapped in Chloe and Daddy strapped in Megan

(that probably goes without saying)

 It was 60 degrees last weekend. Clearly there was no actual snow at the park so they had to bring in snow. It must be annoying to plan an ice festival in January in Michigan and have to pay to bring snow into the festival. I think the girls will like doing this in future years - learn to ski on the little hill. Pretty sure they won't be doing any actual skiing otherwise.

Sadly, these were the best two pictures of me and the girls at the festival.

Reunion!

New Years Day I took the girls up to Lansing for a little reunion with some old besties. Myla and her boys were in Michigan from Virginia and Cheri, Phil, Seth, and Loryn were visiting from California. It was great for all of us to be together again! I wish we still all lived close to each other. I miss our fondue nights and Dutch Blitz marathons!

Here we are - Keila, Myla, Cheri, me, and Aurelia

The kids made cake pops

I can't believe how big Megan is getting! The girl is only 10 months old and she looks soooo grown-up!

Christmas Celebrations

It's a true testament to how sick I've been that it's January 5th before I can manage to upload and post Christmas photos. After we got back from Florida both Nathan and I were hit with a cold bug. He seemed to get over it in a few days. Not me. It was ever so slowly getting worse and worse which eventually lead to me having a fever and chills Christmas night and sleeping the whole next day. Ugh. The climb back to feeling normal was a slow one. 

I did manage to get *some* pictures, though. Chloe and I made butter cookies together for the first time - she L-O-V-E-D it. The frosting, the sprinkles, the sugar. So wonderful! We also made a Gingerbread house on Christmas Eve - again, what's not to love? The girls had a great time opening gifts and being around their family. I know they have great memories from this year and that's most important.

First up -- The Butter Cookies! (Don't worry about all the double-dipping - these were just for us)

Next up - Gingerbread house!

Finally - Christmas morning! Opening presents and breakfast with Memere and Popa.

And...just a few photos from our extended family gatherings...