Secret Santa

We had one more Christmas celebration at Grandpa & Grandma Beyer's where we exchanged our secret santa gifts on Sunday. Luckily, everyone remembered who they had this year so there was no duplicate gift giving! The kids had a blast and made out pretty well considering Grandma shops year round!

Cousins - Tyler, Logan, Hailey & Alex all watching the train go by.

Hailey was our little elf this year and as the big cousin, she helped all the little ones open their gifts too. Thanks Miss Hailey!

Giddy-up Horsey!

Alex with "Mama" and "Dada"

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

We left cookies and milk out for Santa and some carrots out for the reindeer and, in return, Santa was good to us all this year! We went to Aunt Gail's for Christmas Eve and we were fortunate to have spent Christmas Day with both families. We spent the afternoon at Grandpa & Grandma Michna's and then headed over to Uncle Don & Aunt Karen's to finish out the evening. Delicious meals and more gift opening. Alex had a great 1st Christmas!!

I hope you like Monkey Balls, Santa!

Alex's favorite gift - His very own remote control.

Alex & his Auntie Ann

Aunt Lori and silly Logan

Opening gifts really tires a little boy out!

Alex and Grandpa Beyer showing off their leather.

Baby Proofing

Alex is a crawling machine these days! He's into everything. We're definitely trying to baby proof the house as fast as we can. He keeps us on our toes but he's so much more fun now that he's crawling and pulling himself up on furniture. I love it when he follows us into another room or peers around the corner at us. He's such a Curious George and needs to know what's going on at all times. He's definitely all boy that loves to roll around and now he tries to climb onto everything. He makes us smile everyday!

Trouble Maker

Picking out his favorite bow

On the go!

It's official - Alex is crawling. He's been able to move around the floor pretty well without even crawling forward. If he wanted to get somewhere, he'd strategically figure out how to get there with his rolls, turns and lunges, but never forward crawling. He's been so good getting himself into the crawling position and he'd move back and forth on his hands and knees but he never could figure out how to make forward progress - until Saturday. He's been so close but he finally made 4 consecutive forward movements on his hands and knees which was good enough to make into his baby book for another milestone reached. Great job Mr. Alex Man!

He sees the pretty Christmas tree...and he's off!

Tyler's Baptism

Our nephew, Tyler, was baptized today. He looked like such a little stud all dressed up, especially since he wore the same outfit Alex had for his special day. Tyler was such a good baby in church and didn't even make a peep. Congrats, Tyler, and God Bless:)

Tyler with his Parents and Godparents

Dave, Laura & Alex

GG with all her Great-Grandkids

Santa Claus

Alex saw Santa Claus today and didn't really know what to think. He had just woken up from a nap so he was still a little sleepy and not in the smiling mood. Alex just looked Santa over and tugged on his beard a little bit to make sure he was the real deal.

Santa and Alex having a heart to heart talk.

I sure hope Santa brings me all the toys that I asked for.

Christmas Brunch

Our daycare lady, Sharon, had a delicious Christmas brunch for all of her daycare kids and their parents. It was so nice to get to know the other parents and see how the kids interact with each other. There were lots of hugs and smiles exchanged. The kids seem to get along so well together and Sharon is so great with them all. We are so thankful to have such a warm, caring person watching Alex each day:)

Alex & Sharon

Sharon gave the kids such a special Christmas gift. She bought each of them their own Christmas outfit. The she dressed them up in it, took their pictures (without us knowing) and made the pictures into a collage. It was really a neat surprise for the parents and Alex has an adorable outfit to wear for the holiday. Thanks for being so thoughtful, Sharon!

If only I had some teeth, I could tear right through this wrapping paper!

Let It Snow...

Alex's first snowfall

Thanksgiving and More

We are grateful for so much but we were most thankful to have Alex with us for his first Thanksgiving this year. We had a great time celebrating Turkey Day with our families and we feel so blessed to have them in our lives. Thanks to cousin Jill and Grandpa & Grandma Beyer for hosting this year and making such a delicious Thanksgiving meal.

Grandma Michna & her favorite Grandson:)

Aunt Annie & Alex

Mommy & Alex cuddling together

(Great) Uncle Andy & Alex sharing a laugh

(Great) Auntie Joan & Alex

Grandma Beyer & Alex

Cousins Theresa (from Atlanta) and David (from Miami) were in town for Thanksgiving this year which was extra special since it's been 8 years since the last Thanksgiving we all celebrated together. They flew in and surprised their mom for her 60th birthday. It was really nice catching up with them this weekend.

Celebrating David's Birthday

We were lucky enough to have our nephew, Logan, over today while Hailey went to see Sesame Street Live. It was so nice outside that we decided to take the boys to the park to play.

Uncle Dave & Logan at Miller Park

Fruits and Veggies

Alex is lovin' the color we added into his meals. He's tried bananas, applesauce and peaches and he polishes off the jars in no time. He's not so sure of the carrots yet as we've seen from the funny face he makes. We'll try sweet potatoes next but we're saving it for his Thanskgiving dinner! The new feeding schedule seems to be working for him and he no longer seems hungry all the time.

Bring on the peaches!

Bath time usually follows Alex's meals now!

Daddy invented a new toy for Alex - He loves it when Daddy cruises him around the house.

Push me higher Mommy!

Some of Alex's silly giggles:)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dave's hanging on to his 20s for one more year! We celebrated his birthday all weekend long. We had date night on Friday and then threw a mexican themed fiesta on Saturday night for both Dave's birthday, along with Jenny's birthday who's big day is later this month. We continued the celebration at his parents house tonight (on Dave's actual birthday) with a delicious dinner and watched a great win for the Packers! Happy Birthday, Babe! I hope you had as much fun this weekend as I did for your birthday:)

What the heck is my Daddy wearing!?!

Happy (early) Birthday Jen!

Alex wore Daddy's favorite team for his birthday:)

1/2 Year Old!

Alex turned 6 months old last week and I can't believe it! Everyone is constantly reminding us how lucky we are to have such an easy, happy baby and I totally agree. We saw the pediatrican on Friday and Alex weighed in at 17lb 12oz and grew an inch from his 4 month appointment so he's up to 27 inches long. He's sitting up all by himself really well. He's getting up on his hands and knees to crawl but no forward progress yet. He sways back and forth and sometimes moves backwards but eventually gets frustrated and buries his head in his hands. We just started him on solid foods and he loved the bananas we gave him today. He's a good eater, good sleeper and never cheats anyone out of a smile:) Happy 6 month birthday, Alex!

Happy Baby!

Alex busy updating his blog:)

Silly Daddy!

Who's that good lookin' dude staring back at me!?!

Yummy rice cereal!

Sittin' Pretty

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

We celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday yesterday in a very special way. We gave her clues all day long and drove her all around town meeting up with different people along the way. She never knew where she was going, who she would be seeing or what she would be doing until she arrived at the next spot.

We had breakfast planned with relatives and friends. The girls took her to the spa to get manicures and pedicures and then the boys took her out for a light lunch later in the afternoon. She got to spend some quality time with the grandkids after they surprised her with flowers and gifts at the house.

The Girls at the Spa

Mom and the Boys at Lunch

Happy 60th Birthday, Nana!

The biggest surprise came later in the evening when she opened her gifts to find that we made her a special movie for her 60th birthday. We had special birthday messages comprised of all her family and friends. The messages were extremely sweet and the stories told were hilarious. My mom was very touched and it made for the perfect birthday celebration!!

Lovin' the video!

Happy Halloween!

Alex sure had his fill of trick or treating this year, especially for only being 6 months old! Bayshore Mall had some Halloween festivities going on so we went to check it out on Friday night, along with Alex's cousins, Hailey & Logan. Some of the stores were handing out candy so the kids had fun going store to store. Then, Alex had to show off his costume so we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Michna this afternoon. It was fun to see Uncle Mark & Aunt Annie getting all dressed up too! Then it was over to Grandma & Grandpa Beyer's house for some pizza and more trick or treating. Alex rode along in a wagon and was a good sport.

The Michna's

Dr. Mark and his little pumpkin

Officer Hailey

Logan the Lion

Happy Halloween!