Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was quiet and pretty uneventful. On the 24th the Madsens came over for dinner and then we did the Austrian Christmas with the Christkind bringing everything. It was so fun and relaxing. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we did. I'm pretty sure Sam and Marie enjoyed all the presents.
Since it was Christmas we decided to do a little manger scene. Anyone who has dealt with kids for any reasonable amount of time will guess that these pictures all happened with in a min, in fact I think it might have been more in the 30 second range. It was still fun to try. Maybe it will work better next year.



As for New Years Eve... Well it was fun, short and unfortunately I don't have any pictures. To sum up...

We did go to dinner (Raclette) at some friends house which was really fun. We went home early due to tired babies and we were all in bed before 11. Yea, I know pretty boring but we were up all night the night before so we had already had our late night fun. Arnold and I did wake up and say Happy New Year with the fireworks but I'm afraid that was about it. It was good though and I'm excited for this new year and all the Many adventures we will be having. :)

Marie's Birthday Part 2

The birthday celebrations continued on Saturday when Arnold would be home to enjoy them. We basically did the cake part on Saturday. It's always funny to me to watch a 1 year old try to figure out what to do with a cake that's put in front of them.

Arnold was great with the encouragement and eventually she was willing to try it. After a few little tastes we finally decided it was time to just dump a piece on her plate and give some to our little Sam who was getting quite anxious for his piece.

Marie in the end finished off 2 whole pieces of cake. Once she got going it was fun to watch her devour what we put in front of her. After the second piece she used her fingers to basically lick off the tray. I didn't get a picture of it in the end but it was basically clean.

Marie's Birthday Part 1

So Marie is officially 1 year old now (and a few days). I'm super slow this week with getting anything done because it's been super crazy. So here is the first part of her birthday.

Arnold had to go into work so we decided to do the presents in the morning and then meet up with him for lunch. Here is Marie with her new toy, although I think Sam plays with it as much or more than she does at this point. I'm sure that will change quickly as she does love it and is getting into that type of stuff more.

I think this shows very well how she felt about the whole day. I think she was, for the most part, just really confused. I have to admit it was pretty funny.

And she loves the pumpkin muffins we like to make so of course that's what she got for breakfast. I think she approved. :)
As for the rest of the day...(you do not have to read if you are not interested) We decided as we were walking to the train with Arnold that we didn't want to walk there again in 2 hours to go meet him for lunch so instead we just decided to go with him then. I have to admit it made for an exciting morning (we went shopping) and afternoon (with two cramped up kids on the train) but it was so much fun to be with Arnold on the train and for lunch. Marie was asleep by the time we met up with him and when she woke up and saw Arnold she snuggled right into him and got the HUGEST smile on her face. Almost as if she was saying, "Yes, I'm home now!" It was so great but we didn't bring the camera so there is no documentation of the morning or afternoon. Sorry! Just know it was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect to celebrate her 1st birthday with. :)

Naming Trains

Sam has a book that shows all sorts of stuff for trains like how they work, shows all the different kinds and even shows the ones that go underground/sea between England and Europe. He loves this book and reads it daily. So here is a little video to show you how well he knows the book.



Pretty impressive! :)

Marie Look-alikes

This doesn't usually happen but the other day we took this picture and I thought "Wow, she looks just like Rebecca!" Dorothea, you'll need to correct me if I'm wrong, but I just can't get over how much she looks like her cousin in this picture. While I didn't find pictures of them that match exactly in facial expressions, hopefully this gives you a good idea of what I mean.

Almost a year ago

I looked like this...
*yes, I thought I was smiling. You have to give me credit though, I was in labor.

Now I have this! And she is such a blessing! I wasn't suppose to have this blessing according to Dr's but with a loving Heavenly Father in charge we got her. Now with a second colonoscopy behind me that went so much better than the first, I can say I've been VERY well taken care of in the area of health. So many things could have happened and didn't, and I'm so grateful for that! Hopefully now I can add the fruits and vegtables in higher quantities to my diet and start feeling more like a normal person again. Maybe I'll even be able to get rid of the Captain Barbosa feeling. Either way I'm so grateful for our little Marie and all her smiles! :) I wouldn't trade her for anything!

They are my Sunshines, My little Sunshines...

When days look like this 90% of the time, it makes me so grateful for...
(this is at the Weihnacht market in our little town. Oh and it's the afternoon. Not that you can tell.)

These 3 in my life because they bring so much sunshine! You can see it!

They make my days more like this.
What on earth would I do without my rays of sunshine?

(oh, and this picture was taken about 11:30...so weird! Just look at those long shadows! I don't think I'll ever get use to the whole sun coming up at 8 and going down and 4 thing.)