Package!

Today Mara got a big Christmas package from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Alex! She was very excited (probably would have played with the package for awhile as if THAT was the toy!).

But when we opened it, we found something even more exciting! A fun toy - a Busy Ball Popper! Jay put it together, found some batteries, and the fun began.

Mara loved it! She started giggling immediately as the balls popped around, and tried to grab them as they popped out. Definitely entertaining to watch!

Thanks Lisa and Alex! For entertaining Mara...AND for entertaining me and Jay! haha...

Silly Baby

Mara has lots of toys. So, the obvious choice of what to play with is a remote, a catalog, and her own socks, of course! Silly girl.

She is getting really close to crawling now! She's scooting all over the place, and I'm trying to enjoy these last days of her not getting into EVERYTHING! (although she's still managing to get into SOME things!) I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Daycare is closed for several days now, so Mara and Daddy will get some quality time together before he goes back to school next week.

I wore purple and gold for THAT??

Obviously the Vikings didn't get my letter. Or blatantly disregarded it. Either way, we're done. One and out. Am I really surprised? No. Did I hope for better? Absolutely.

Oh well. Maybe next year...

My parents came over to watch the game, and Mara decided a nap wasn't going to happen this afternoon, but was still pretty well behaved. We ate pizza, and held out hope until the big touchdown by Philly. After that, I was wishing the game had been blacked out after all.

Maybe this was Jay's fault. After all, he was the only one in our house not wearing a Vikings shirt! Yep...I think I'll blame him!! ;)

Dear Minnesota Vikings...

Dear Minnesota Vikings,

Please don't blow it today! Please?

A home playoff game! Take advantage of it! Let the crowd affect the other team. But not you guys. No stupid penalties. Don't hand over the game. Hold on to the ball. Don't overthrow EVERYONE. Protect the quarterback.

Pretty please?

Love,
Katie

Crafts

The last few months have been pretty busy, and I haven't been keeping up with my crafty stuff as well as I would have liked.

Obviously my big craft project recently was Mara's stocking, and I got that done in time! But there are several other things that I'd like to get done, so I've made a little list of things that I want to accomplish in 2009. I'm sure I'll be adding to the list as the year goes on!

--Mara's cross-stitch birth announcemnet - I started this when I was pregnant, and it got put on the back-burner after she was born. I really want it to be finished by her first birthday!! It's ALMOST done, just need to finish up some details...

--Jay's stocking - I'll be starting this early in the year so I'm not frantic to finish it up at Christmas time!!

--my stocking - see above!

--Mara's scrapbooks - I was doing really well on Mara's scrapbook until about October, and haven't had time since then. So now I'm several months behind again (and have TONS of photos that need to be ordered and scrapped!). I need to catch up!

--Ireland scrapbook - it's been a year and a half since we went, and I haven't even ordered photos! Narrowing down the 2000+ photos will be the hardest part of this one!

--Other scrapbooks - I need to finish up my wedding scrapbooks, and work on family albums...

I don't have any specific sewing projects in mind, but I would love to do some sewing this year too. I've been wanting to make a quilt, so maybe I'll be able to get started on that...

Yikes. Maybe I should get started right now!!

One Last Christmas...

Today we celebrated Christmas with Grandpa David and Uncle Larry. Mara got several gifts, and had a good time opening them, and playing with toys and reading books.

Oliver enjoyed cramming himself into one of the boxes.

Mara was spoiled a bit by others that sent gifts, so a big thank you to everyone!

I think Christmas is now officially over for us!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's already 2009! We celebrated last night by going out to dinner at Timberlodge with Jay's Dad, Uncle Larry, and my parents. Mara was such a good girl the whole time! She sat happily in the high chair while we visited and ate. The food was great, and it was a nice night out.

I have a cold and haven't been feeling the best, so after we got home, I read in bed for awhile, and then took some Nyquil. I think I might have made it until about 10:30pm, but not even close to seeing the ball drop. Oh well, maybe next year!

It's hard to believe that this year Mara will turn ONE year old (in only 4 months!) and I sadly...will turn 30. I still have 10 months of being in my 20s though, so I guess I'll try to enjoy them!

Happy 2009! I hope you all have a great year and make lots of memories!