Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Last Post of '08

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures).

2008 sure did seem to fly by, especially the last few weeks. We have quite a few pictures for you to see revolving around Christmas. Jake had an awesome time opening gifts on Christmas Eve, but by the time Christmas Day rolled around, it proved to be a bit too much for him. Add to that a new medication for a cough, and we had a pretty fussy little boy.

Jake was happy that he got the "blue present" that he asked Santa for. He also loves all his new Mickey stuff as well. His Mickey swag now includes stuffed animals, shirts, pajamas, a robe, socks, toys, and underwear! Luckily, my prediction that he would be sick of Mickey before Christmas arrived did NOT come true.

We all enjoyed spending time with both our families for Christmas like we luckily get to do every year. With where Christmas fell, this year, we also got to add in a party for Maiya's second birthday. If you add her mom's birthday coming up the following week, she's probably going to think you get to open presents every week from now on!

We hope that everyone has a safe and happy New Year and we hope to see you back at the Annex in '09!


Saturday, December 06, 2008

It's Beginning To Look A Lot...

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

Over the past week, we've been able to get the house decorated for Christmas and really get into the holiday spirit.

Last Friday, we got the tree setup while Jake was asleep. That let us surprise him, and then also open our ornaments the following day to get those hung.

We spent the rest of the weekend getting all the other stuff put out along with getting the outside lights run. We also had to spend quite a bit of time reminding Jake how much he liked the animatronic decorations (Frosty, Rudolph, Santa Homer) and convincing him that he doesn't need to be scared of them. Halloween really did a number on him this year! But, just a week later, he can't walk past Santa Homer without punching the button and hoping for Homer's version of Jingle Bells. He still calls Rudolph "that boy" which is what he called the witch that popped out of the pumpkin at Halloween and then the pilgrim statues over Thanksgiving at Meme's house. I don't think it's a term of endearment in his book!

Michele spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen baking cookies. Jake really likes to help out with mixing batter, decorating, and, of course, eating them.

The snow has finally started to hit Livonia. Mark said he had much more snow this week just in Northville, and I know our folks have had a good share already up in Fenton and Grand Blanc.

Unfortunately, that means we'll likely NOT be making the trip over for Helena's Baptism. Michele already has several plans with the girls in line for the next few weeks, so I'm sure she'll make up for it. We are all getting over some minor colds any way, so it might be nice to have a day to kick back and relax.

Jake realized we hadn't watched any football tonight on the way home from Church, so I'll have to find a game for him to watch while the Lions are blacked out again.