It's been a whirlwind of a month!

Trust me, I know that I am a slacker when it comes to blogging. I don't really have an excuse other than it has been quite a crazy December. I had finals for 2 weeks and in the middle of them there was Andy's birthday and Lainey's birthday. Andy just turned the big 3-0 and is having mixed feelings about it. I on the other hand have come to accept that I am getting old and actually welcome my 30's. I feel like you spend most of your 20's just trying to figure out life and in that process one makes MANY mistakes. I hope that in my 30's I have already experienced most of the really stupid ones...Anyway, enough about getting older...here are the DECEMBER photos:


Ethan and Lainey playing in the garage:


Decorating for Christmas:


We attempted to take a family picture in front of the tree for our Christmas cards, but after about 100 failed attempts, we gave up. We didn't end up making a holiday card this year, but I PROMISE next year we will have professional family photos taken so that we can have a nice holiday card....RIGHT ANDY?!!

We got a couple of the kiddos that turned out nice:




Andy wasn't smiling for pictures on his birthday so this is all I've got....he did love his cheesecake though!

Lainey loves to put her babies to sleep...she got to Mio too. She is SUCH a sweet dog!

Lainey playing with my baby from when I was a kid:



MMM...my mom's cookies are the BEST!

Christmas Eve in their new jammies:





Here are the kiddos on Christmas morning seeing what Santa left them:


Ethan made snowflakes in his past time at school so we hung them from the ceiling:


Santa brought Lainey a new red wagon and Ethan got a BB gun:

Stockings:


My mom came down to visit us for Christmas. It was SO nice having her here. We had such a good time....I already miss ya mom!


Andy and I gave the kids bean bags as one of their gifts...Lainey hates hers and only wants to sit in Ethan's......I did get one shot of her pretending to like it:
Lainey's Christmas loot:


Ethan with his new bean bag and gun:


Ethan's loot:


Lainey got this scooter from her daddy:



Grammy Barb was a trooper and was Lainey's first sleepover guest! Lainey bug loved it and woke up at 3:00 a.m. just for a hug...she was up at 6:00 singing Grammy songs and cuddling and didn't go back to sleep after that. We just had one night of sleepover because Lainey had school and Grammy Barb unfortunately caught our stomach bug. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Andy and I were sick sick sick from the 23rd to the 27th....Ethan was sick before us and then my mom of course caught it the night before she had to leave. Ugh....rotten stomach bug!


Sitting in a Christmas box watching some t.v.:


Here are a few shots that my mom got on her phone:

Notice Lainey's dirty fingers, this girl LOVES dirt!

Phew, that was a LOT of pictures! That should hold ya for a while right Dad?! Love to all and HAPPY NEW YEAR a bit early because we all know that even with the best of intentions I won't be back on here until at least mid January!

Princess Party

Thanks to Annie and all her hard work and planning, the princess party was great. Lainey was in heaven. I hope the party lived up to her expectations because she has been talking about having the princess party for about 6 months. Yesterday she said that next year she wants a Dora party. All least she gives us a year advance for planning purposes!

She woke up first thing in the morning and wanted her picture taken before she did anything. Don't mind Ethan's bed head.


Pre-party


The pin the tiara on the princess set-up.


The princess getting ready


How cute is she?


Can you tell that she is happy?


Her buddy Rylan.


She even told us exactly what she wanted to eat for her party. Surprise....pizza.

Pin the tiara in action.

Digging for treasures.

Lane opening her gifts.

Cake time. Lane had to look at her cake about 100 times throughout the day. She was so excited to have a princess cupcake cake.

Happy birthday to you!

She had to get the arm up to help her blow out the candles.


In heaven

I dont nots have a my cupamacake yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lane and all her princess (and prince) friends.

Even Amber came dressed up in her princess dress. She said she would, we did not believe her. It was too cute!