Christmas in Bemidji

We drove up to Bemidji a day early, to avoid Christmas Snowmageddon '09. Had a nice relaxing vacation, hanging out at Derek's house and eating way too many Christmas meals. Celebrated with the extended Hanson family at Steve and Bunny's new lake home and feasted on Bunny's delicious meatballs, ham and all the fixings.

On Christmas morning, Sophie opened gifts that she couldn't stay up late enough to open on Christmas Eve with the rest of the family. Later that morning, Grandma Linda came over and we had brunch together. She made blueberry cream cheese stuffed French toast- yummy! Then we exchanged gifts. Sophie received lots of toys and books. That evening, we joined the Hartje family for Christmas dinner. Phew, that's a lot of eating.

We left Bemidji early this morning and headed home to about 2 feet of snow in our driveway. We had to park on the street and trek our way to the house. Bryan spent the better part of the afternoon clearing our driveway.

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas!

Santa Claus

Sophie and I went to see Santa Claus over the weekend. She screamed as soon as she got on his lap. I thought the picture turned out pretty cute.

Here's the comparison to last year's Santa picture.

Happy Holidays!

It's that time of year again. The weather is getting cold outside and we're looking forward to Christmas and New Year. Here's our 2009 Christmas card.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We sure did! Sam came to visit and it was a blast. She came with us to Linda's house for a delicious Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, etc. The next morning, at 5am, Sam and I went Black Friday shopping and found some good deals. We also went to the Minnesota Wild hockey game, out to dinner at the Mall of America and to the comedy club. Sophie spent the night at Grandma's house for the very first time and slept well.

Christmas picture preview

Here are a couple of sneak peaks from the photographer's blog. I can't wait to receive the CD of the rest of the pictures in the mail so we can order our Christmas cards. It took a bit for Sophie to warm up to the whole idea of getting her picture taken, but once she did, she was having a blast!

And to promote the photographer's upcoming mini-sessions, Sophie is featured in a photo collage!

Diner, Vikings, Christmas Tree, oh my!

Okay, I'm back with some updated pictures. Here's one of Sophie in her new Paul Frank pajamas. She's been busy walking all around the house and chit-chatting to herself and us.

We've been spending our Sunday afternoons watching the Minnesota Vikings football team (they are currently 8-1, yeah!). We are still working on "touchdown!" with arms in the air. It's similar to "so big", so it gets confusing.

For her 1st birthday, we got Sophie a diner/kitchen play set. She likes climbing up into the booth to enjoy her morning coffee.

Tonight, we decorated our Christmas tree. We're ready for the holidays!

Mid-November (and the weather isn't bad)

We're just over a week away from Thanksgiving. Sam will be coming to visit for the long weekend and we're super excited to have her here.

Sophie now has a total of 4 teeth. That's right, two teeth have sprouted from the top. She's a fan of her new toothbrush, but hasn't really grasped the concept of brushing just yet. Sophie is still eating food like it's going out of style. She loves pasta, fruit, anything that doesn't resemble a vegetable and whatever Mom is currently eating.

I really have to get better at taking pictures! More to come.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is having a great Fall and getting ready to celebrate Halloween! Here are some new pictures. I love this one of Sophie and her quizzical look. She really wasn't sure what to think of me when I was taking her picture.


Sophie dressed up this morning as a ballerina for her daycare Halloween party. She had a great time! In the afternoon, she had her 15 month doctor's appointment. She currently weighs in at 16 lbs 3 oz (teeny, tiny, little peanut). In fact, she's still even wearing some 9 month size clothes!


And the biggest news of all, Sophie is going to have a little brother in March 2010! We are very excited and hope for a happy, healthy baby.

Redwood Falls Weekend

Congratulations to Britani and Adam, who got married in Redwood Falls last weekend. Sophie was the flower girl and I was the matron of honor. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time. It was a busy weekend!

Here are some pictures from Live and Love Studios.






What else have we been up to? Just trying to keep warm during this unseasonably cold Autumn. I have been busy with training new hires at work, Bryan has been working on fixing up the house in Crystal and Sophie has been enjoying her days playing with her friends at daycare.

Happy Autumn!

The temps have cooled down and Fall is officially here. Last week, we went to the apple orchard with friends and had brats and apple donuts and had fun picking honeycrisp apples. They are so sweet and delicious!

On the weekends, we've been enjoying baby story time at the library and swimming lessons. This evening, we went to a family open swim night and we swam for an hour! Sophie came home very happy and was giggling throughout her dinner.

Sophie took her first steps on September 26, 2009, at 14 months old. She's been sleeping 12 to 13 hours a night, usually going to bed around 6am and waking up at 6 or 7am. Her favorite words are: doe (her way of saying Zoe), no, uh-oh, happy, baby, dada, papa and num-num. She loves eating fruit, cheese, yogurt, pasta and pizza. We love watching her grow up and learn new things.