oh oh oh Little Rock

We spent the first two weeks of February in Little Rock and it was glorious! EXCEPT....there was snow on the ground the whole time!!!! I mean really? I travel across the country to get away from the frozen tundra and LR has the gall to greet me with snow and ice! ahhh! i will say however, the temps were warmer in LR (30s)than in Minnesota (single digits) so we enjoyed that part. Will's fam had been at our house for a week so the kids and I flew down to LR with them. We stayed the first week with my parents and then Will drove down the second week and we stayed with his parents. It was so great to just hang out with family and friends, sleep in a little, not cook, and eat at you know where...CHICK-FIL-A!

chicken biscuits, oh how i've missed you

will dominating his chicken sandwich

we love chicken!

visiting my grandparents (my mom's parents)

visiting Will's grandparents (Will's dad's parents)

The first weekend we were in town I left the kiddos...as hard as it was (smirk)...and took a trip to Memphis with my bff Kristen Davis. Our dear friend Rachel is getting married in May and we were helping throw a lingerie shower for her. Also had an early bridesmaids luncheon. So fun to get away and hang out with close friends. And since I'm a bridesmaid in the wedding that means I will be making the trek back to the south in May! so excited to have another trip on the books!

me and rach

aren't these awesome? the place settings that rachel and her mom and sister made for the bridesmaids luncheon

kristen and I

rachel showing off some of her pretties

I also got to spend a couple of days with my roomies from college - Megan Terry, Leslie Baker and Jennifer Piccino. We had a little slumber party at Jen's house and then lunch and a movie the next day. I've missed them so much and was so excited that Megan and Leslie made the drive from Jonesboro. I love you girls!

There were two highlights of the trip for Liam that he's still talking about. One was going to Chuckie Cheese with my parents while i was gone to Memphis. Sadly i have no pics from that. And the second was riding Pops' four wheeler.

This he will NEVER forget!!

our best attempt at a family photo in the Rock

It was so good to finally come "home" to Little Rock since our big move, and i wasn't ready for our visit to be over! But it was also good for us to go back to Little Rock and realize that our home isn't there anymore. Our cute little house on A St. has been over taken by a bunch of single dudes - where there used to be my living room furniture there is now a ping pong table. Our precious friends on C St., the Hendersons, have moved away and our dear friends from medical school, the Shotts, aren't in LR anymore either. Things have changed and people have moved. And when we got in the van to come back to Rochester, it was the first time that I really felt like "ok, let's go back home", home being Rochester. We have a new life in Rochester - new house, new friends, new activities. It's such a good feeling for it to finally start to fit together and feel like home. Thanks be to God for his provision!

one year old girl

One year ago today we were holding baby girl Hayden Alisa in our arms for the first time! A little reminiscing...we spent the day walking the mall to get contractions going after my water had broken that morning. Finally contractions started, and we checked into the hospital at 6:45 that night. Less than an hour later, at 7:33, with her daddy there to catch her, she was born! It was the best day! There's nothing like a a sweet baby girl.

And now one year later, we're so glad God gave her to us!!

She is an easy-going and snuggley little girl. She loves fruit and graham crackers and chomps them down with her 8 little teeth. She likes to play with her brother's cars and tools and has learned to be tough with a big brother like Liam. When her daddy and brother are wrestling she likes to walk right in the middle of the action. To balance out her toughness she's a little tiny peanut, short and small. She likes her baby dolls that she got for Christmas from her grandparents and can say "baby". Her other words are "momma" "daddy" "bow-wow-wow", and "uh-oh". She's pretty attached to her paci and is a great sleeper, 12-13 hours at night and two 1.5 to 2.5 hour naps a day. I said it when Liam turned one and i'm saying it again now: i don't want my baby to grow up yet! But i know it's inevitable and i'm just thankful that i get to witness it.

Both my babies at one year old:

Liam

Hayden

Will was on call today so we had a little celebration for Hayden last night. We ate pizza, watched a little picture video of Hayden's first year, opened presents (we got her a See-n-Say) and then dug into the birthday cake. Great little party!

Hayden in her party dress from Sandy and Pops

reading her card

new clothes from Uncle Ellis

tasting her strawberry cake with pink vanilla frosting

on a sugar high

Here's a few other pics from today.

having a morning tea party with her birthday tea set from Pops and Sandy

Liam bringing his southern charm to the tea party

Hayden saying "ahhhh" as she loves her baby...precious

supper with daddy at the hospital

Happy 1st Birthday Hayden Alisa! We love you SO much!

My mind is also on our dear friends Zeke and Laura who just had their first baby on Saturday. Welcome to the world little Evie Lynn! So much to look forward to!

Pops, Sandy and Ellis are here!

Will's parents and brother flew in yesterday to spend the week with us. We are SO happy to have them here! I love having things on my calendar to countdown to and we have been counting down to their arrival since the new year. Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening at the Mall of America. Then today we celebrated Christmas together. I had kept out a small Christmas tree so it would still feel like Christmas. Pops and Sandy gave Liam a toy fishing pole and Hayden a baby doll. We ate a big meal and we also had birthday cake to celebrate Sandy's birthday from last week.

the fam

sandy, hayden and her baby doll

liam's fishing pole (and hayden trying to snag his fish)

happy bday sandy!

We're looking forward to a fun week with Billy, Sandy and Ellis. We are going to try to take them snowshoeing sometime if the weather cooperates. Then on Saturday the kids and I are flying back to Little Rock with them. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! My first trip home since we have moved! I made it 8 months. pretty good, right? I am so excited to see friends and fam and eat at Chic-fil-a!! There are people here in rochester who haven't even heard of chic-fil-a! crazy. ohhh i can just taste the chicken now...

girls go sledding

Hayden and I had not been to the backyard yet to sled. So we finally bundled up a few days ago and trecked out there with the boys. Hayden wasn't a huge fan of the snow flying in her face when we went down the hill but I think she liked being outside with everybody.

Temps have warmed up in a major way - in the 20s and 30s. I'm told that we are in our "January thaw" but don't be fooled! Before long we'll return to the frozen tundra.

i thought i knew

let me just say...i THOUGHT i knew what cold felt like. i've spent many a christmas in canada. but no one ever told me that the real coldness comes AFTER christmas. -15 degrees. note the minus sign before the 15. days where the high is zero. zero isn't a number! i go outside and breath in and i can literally feel the breathe crystalize on my nostril hairs. I'm not making this stuff up! it gets in the 20s here and people think it's a heat wave. seriously, they'll go outside without a coat!

i've had to shovel snow once so far. Will had shoveled the driveway the night before and left for work early in the morning. but by the time i got up a snow plow had come down our street and shoved a MASSIVE pile of snow at the end of my driveway. apparently that's normal, but i was in shock! i had to be somewhere that evening and will wasn't going to be home until the next day! so when the kids went down for their naps, i put all my winter gear on, including my furry hat, and headed out with a shovel. i slung some snow around and felt like i had no clue what i was doing. i kept looking around to see if any of the neighbors were watching me. and i just kept thinking, "where am i? is this my life?" it's times like these that i feel like i should be on a reality tv show where people are put in extreme situations.

however, to liam and hayden this life in the north is normal and they are two happy little kiddos!

Hayden is 11 months old and i think i can say she is officially walking. She's been cruising for a while and taking a couple of steps here and there, but yesterday something clicked for her and she was toddling all around the kitchen. She's still pretty timid. Not near the bull dozer that Liam was at her age. She also quit nursing about 3 weeks ago - turned her nose up at me and would NOT nurse. Actually the first few days she cried and pushed me away when i would try to nurse her and then she started looking at me like, "mom, why is your boob in my face". I tried and tried for about a week and then just had to let it go. I was completely crushed and emotional for a couple of days but I've moved on. She's on formula now, which she really didn't like at first, and i'm going to put her on cow's milk soon.

Liam is doing pretty good with potty training - still has bad days - but not as often. He loves to sing. He stands up on the fireplace like it's a stage and gives us a little show most nights before bedtime. His greatest hits right now are "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy" and "The Farmer in the Dell". We get the biggest kick out of him singing "The Farmer in the Dell". He sings "The farmer takes a wife, the farmer takes a wife, hi-ho the dairy-o, the farmer takes a wife." then it's supposed to be "the wife takes a dog", then "the dog takes the cat", then "the cat takes the mouse", "the mouse takes the cheese", then "the cheese stands alone". what a dumb song by the way! the farmer takes a wife and the wife takes a dog??? what's that supposed to mean? is that some kind of absurd ranking of mammals? anyway, sometimes liam gets the verses mixed up and says "the wife takes the cheese". ha ha! i guess it's not that funny, but hilarious when liam's singing it.

We have made a New Year's resolution as a family this year. We are committing ourselves to memorizing scripture. We don't really have a set plan, but we're starting with Psalm 23. I think Liam's little brain will soak it up. And my prayer is that it will become second nature to store up God's Word and in our hearts and minds.

Happy 2010 everybody!

december in a nutshell

speaking of nutshells...we had a bowl of uncracked nuts that sat out for people to munch on over the holidays. liam was fascinated. not sure i'll do it next year because multiple times everyday liam would say "let's crack nuts."

so this is what went down in december...

we bought these super cool minnesota-ish hats

and then got dumped on with snow!

the lovely driveway and sidewalk that Will shoveled - can't appreciate it til you've done it.

NOT an easy task!

going for a sled down the hill in our backyard

Will and I celebrated our 6th anniversary! We stayed at home with our sleeping kids, ate homemade cheesecake and watched the Survivor finale. This year we looked back and thought, wow, how far we've come! It's been a big year - had our second baby, graduated medical school, bought our first house, bought a mini-van, moved to minnesota and started a new job. And we both said if we could pick all over again we'd still pick each other!

Will was on call the 25th so on the 22nd we had an early little family christmas just the 4 of us. We had a picnic under the tree and then exchanged gifts.

We gave Liam a train table - which he was absolutely ecstatic about. (he found it by the way, hidden in Will's closet a couple weeks before christmas. i was in the kitchen and he came running in with this look on his face like he'd just seen the risen Lord. I told him that whatever he saw was a special surprise that he was going to have to wait for and surprisingly he settled for that answer.) Hayden got a pop-up toy and was preciously excited about it. Will and the kids got me a new watch, and me and the kids gave Will a pair of jeans and some grip strengthener thingys. Liam gave Hayden a new purse, and Hayden gave Liam a thomas train. It was a fun sweet little night. i love our little family and cherish memories like that.

Then the grand finale of December was all of my fam coming up to Rochester for the last week of December - my parents, my sister Jenni, and her hubby Nathan and two kids Sam and Ruby, and my brother Charles. We had fun and we also had some not-fun. My dad, Jenni, Sam, Ruby and Charles all got sick - puking and diarrhea. UGH! But in spite of that it was still so good to all be together!

reading with Nini

sledding with Pa

Sam and Liam

Hayden and Ruby
Jenni and Sam at Mall of America
Nathan, Charles and Willy

decorating christmas cookies

Pa and the girls

the whole gang

We had a white Christmas, took a day trip to the mall of america, ate a lot, played a lot, some people puked a lot, and rang in the new year together!