Hollis

I was introduced to Hollis the Thanksgiving after Mike and I met by his family. What an amazing place it is!!

Hollis is a Lutheran camp that is in Kansas, not far from where we live. It sits in the middle of the woods and has cabins, hiking trails and a clubhouse / retreat that you can rent for events. For the past 8 years we have celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends the Saturday after Thanksgiving. For us it is a time to relax, celebrate, converse, explore and laugh.

This year Sayer was able to do some of his own exploring at Hollis. He had a wonderful time running around the clubhouse playing with wooden sticks, pretending to play the drums and just sitting at the table chatting and hammering away with the wood pieces.

Greyson spent a lot of time being passed around from person to person just being "loved on" and sitting and talking with his Grammy.

I was able to spend some time with the older kids... taking pictures and hiking through the trails in the woods. They had fun pretending and exploring and I had fun listening to them pretend. It brought back so many memories that I had as a kid doing the same kind of exploring with my brother and cousin on my grandparents farm.

What a fun day spent with wonderful friends and the best family!

Christmas Photos 2010

Black Friday 2010

Yes, my family is among the crazies who venture out on Black Friday to shop!!

Kelly, Stacy, Mom and Aunt Karen started a tradition a couple of years ago when Zona Rosa started opening at midnight for Black Friday shopping.

I have passed on the shopping trip the past two years because I was pregnant both of those years with Sayer, then Greyson. This year, however, I decided to join them on this excursion for lots and lots of laughter, shopping and memory making! Midnight - 7:00 am hitting all stores as they opened. What fun!!

You can be sure that this will become an annual event for me! Love you girls!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 was spent at Kelly and Michael's house. We were surrounded by family and friends, lots of laughter and great food! We are extremely blessed to have most of our family here in KC and to not have to travel very far over the holidays.

This Thanksgiving holiday, for me, was really a time of reflection to think about the many, many things that I am thankful for. I am blessed in more ways that I can count! And for all of my blessings I am extremely thankful!

Aunt Stace lovin' on Greyson...

Greyson spittin' up on Aunt Stace...

Zona Rosa Lighting Ceremony

At the last minute on a Saturday night I decided that I wanted to take Sayer to the Zona Rosa lighting ceremony. So, MiMi, Aunt KiKi, Uncle Michael, Emma, Sayer and I went. What a festive area Zona Rosa was that night!!

There were reindeer, a life size frosty the snowman, lots of entertainment and most exciting... the lighting of the crowns and the Christmas tree. Sayer had most fun dancing to the music, eating his candy cane and playing with the glow necklace. He wasn't very impressed by the lighting of the tree or the life size frosty. Maybe next year!

Yummy!

Over the past month Greyson has been eating oatmeal and baby food and has been enjoying every minute of it. This video is the first time that Grey tried food. It was sweet potatoes and he wasn't very fond of it, however since this initial encounter he has grown to love them! He also loves bananas and applesauce.

We also recently brought the high chair back out of the closet. Grey loves sitting at the table with his big brother while he eats his dinner. He seems really interested in whatever it is that Sayer is eating. The hard part is keeping an eye on Sayer to make sure that he doesn't share any of his food with his brother!

Greyson and Daddy