Year in Review

I've seen LOTS of these "Year in Review" posts lately and when I set out to do my own I had a TON of trouble picking JUST ONE picture from each month - so I didn't. So may I present to you my overachiever Year in Review...

January - We weathered some pretty drastic weather changes from warm and sunny to snow! My belly grew and grew (and then grew some more), we celebrated Dave's grandma turning 90 and Luke worked on riding his scooter:

February - Aside from being snowed in for several days, we also spent lots of time outside, were excited about seeing Uncle Mark's new mini and celebrated Valentines Day with our friends from small group:March - My swelling reached a crazy high point and I wasn't able to do much this month (other than sit on the couch with my feet propped up), but we did manage to spend some time with Jonathan, Tori, and Lilly, get Mason's room ready for his arrival and do some major spring cleaning out in the yard.April - By far the busiest month of the year :) We started it off with a father-son trip to the car show, followed by Lilly's birthday party and then Luke's outdoor party on the WINDIEST DAY OF THE YEAR! Mason showed up (EARLY! HALLELUJAH!) as did several cubic yards of mulch. hahaha I struggled through some health issues post partem, but was able to remain out of the hospital. We celebrated Easter as well as Gibi and Haha's birthdays.

May - Luke finished up his year at Mother's Day Out, we spent lots of time at the Beach at Fairview and Mason made several trips to school with me (NHS Induction, Graduation, etc.). We hung out with friends and had our very first trip to the pool.

June - Mommy got her first pair of cowboy boots (YAY!), Mason sat in the bumbo for the first time and we spent lots and lots and LOTS of time at the pool (and the aquarium).

July - We celebrated the 4th at the parade downtown, Jessie came to visit, Luke went to his very first VBS and we spent A LOT of time inside due to the extreme heat. We worked on Bible memory verses, had small group at the pool and I co-hosted a shower for Levi.

August - It was back to school for mommy and off to the sitters for the boys. Mason hung out in his exersaucer and ate cereal for the first time, Luke became a superhero and we celebrated Daddy's 28th birthday (several times).

September - September brought Levi's arrival, Homecoming week, the very first MCA football game of the season and a Labor day get-together. It was also the month we had Mason dedicated and the month when we realized how much he and I looked alike as babies :)

October - I feel like most of October was spent in costume :) , but I guess that's how it's supposed to be. We hung out at Home Depot, went to several super fun parties, hosted a party and Mason turned HALF of a year old!

November - November was BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! Mason started sitting up (YAY!), Oma and Anneka came to visit, we had Thanksgiving, did community service and had family pictures taken. Somewhere in there I managed to get up all of our Christmas decor as well.

December - December was JAM PACKED with Holiday fun. Santa visited our house, we had breakfast with Buddy the Elf, attended the parade, had our first ever Luke and Mommy day and MASON STARTED CRAWLING!
2011 has been an amazing year. I'm not sure how 2012 will come close, but I have a feeling there's lots of fun in store for us! :)

Christmas Day

After a fun-filled Christmas morning we quickly fed the boys some lunch (it's always easier to feed them at home - hahaha) and headed off to Dave's Aunt Connie and Uncle Paul's house for Christmas lunch with Dave's moms side of the family. We were having dinner with my parents that night and so we made a pact to each have a small plate, but when we got there and I saw his Aunt Lisa's cream corn I couldn't help myself. :)
It was a good thing that we fed Luke before we left, because all this boy did was play outside the whole time. Here's Dave having to forcibly remove him from the yard so that he could come inside and say bye to everyone:

We went straight from Connie's house to my parents where we braced ourselves for yet another meal :) This is what Mason looks like when he's had only one teeny tiny nap all day long - he looks a lot worse for the wear right?!?!?! :) NOT! This boy is ALWAYS smiling!

Dave (and Scooter) doing a little pre-dinner reading:

Mason getting ready to eat. Let me tell you - there isn't a food that this boy doesn't like to eat. He takes his eating VERY seriously and I think he MAY have eaten more than I did during Christmas dinner :)
Dad and I opening up our Christmas crackers (and yes, Haha IS wearing his Christmas hat again).

Gibi doing her thing :)

Here I am showing off the prize I got in my Christmas cracker this year - a watch! OOOOH! AAAAAH!

Luke DID NOT want to have his picture taken wearing his Christmas cracker crown...

Haha's prize was a mini ring toss!
Luke and Haha finished off the night watching a Winnie The Pooh Christmas. Dave and I actually left him at Gibi and Hahas house while we went home and tried to clean up the mornings mess a bit since we hadn't been home all day. Mason was WIPED and went straight to bed and Luke walked home with Gibi later on. It was SUCH a fun and busy Christmas day!

Christmas Morning

The morning FINALLY arrived (there has been a lot of counting down and a tons of anticipation at our house) and Luke pretty much blew past the Thomas stuff that Santa left out for him in order to check and see if Santa and his reindeer had eaten the treats he left out :) When he got to the fireplace he was pleased to find the treats eaten and even more excited about the car that Buddy the Elf had left for him. Luke is JUST like me and it takes him a while to really wake up in the morning - sweet boy was trying hard!

Luke and I reading the letter that Santa left for him and Mason...

After reading the letter it was time to head back and check on the Thomas the Train pieces Santa brought him...

Luke only had a few minutes to play by himself before Mason was awake and wanted in on the action...

Santa also left both boys pillow pets in their stockings! hehehe Luke decided he couldn't wait for Gibi, Haha, Uncle Mark and Diana to get there - he had to get into his stocking ASAP!

Santa filled Luke's stocking with lots of his favorite things - including coloring books, cars, and lots of snacks :)

I think we're going to have to recreate this picture every Christmas morning to see how much he's grown compared to his GIANT stocking.

Luke and Mason played while I finished getting breakfast ready...

... and once everyone got there it was time to open presents!

Luke and Haha (in his Canadian Christmas hat from last year) checking out some of the stuff Santa left in his stocking... Uncle Mark and Mason:

Uncle Mark got Luke a Thomas set and Luke didn't even bother unwrapping it before he started hauling it off :)

Mason and I looking at some of his new books:

Diana got Luke these "drinking glasses" - it's pretty much a big long straw shaped like a pair of glasses. Here he is drinking orange juice out of them...

Since he was wearing them he couldn't see what was happening, so I got volunteered to wear them and show him how they were working - this situation produced what may be the two most attractive pictures of me of ALL TIME (NOT!!! hahaha):

I was laughing too hard to actually suck the juice through the straw - awesome.

Luke modeling my new Sperry rain boots (THANKS, DAVE!)

My very favorite moment of the whole morning happened when Luke opened his present from Mason. He tore through the paper, opened the box, audibly gasped and then whispered "Cars Cars!". LOVE!!!

Diana got Luke a boat that came complete with a chomping (or gomping as Luke would say) shark.

Stopping to take an Arthur break

(by the way, Mason went down for a nap about 20 minutes into all of this... hence the lack of pictures of him) Luke also got an awesome new tricycle from Haha and Gibi and so of course, he had to go try it out...

It always cracks me up to see the neighborhood kids out on their bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. on Christmas morning - thank goodness we live somewhere where it's normally 50 degrees Christmas morning!

After a fun-filled morning it was time to do the dishes and I had a super cute assistant :)