Dana's First Christmas

We had a wonderful Holiday Season this year. We traveled a lot and saw our friends and family. Here are just a few pictures from our adventures...

We left on the 16th - The next day it snowed in the Seattle area.All in all we got about 8 to 10 inches at our house...

Not at much as some of you got!

But we were warm in Texas with Allen's parents and siblings.

The temperature peaked at 80 degrees!

Dana and her cousins enjoyed playing outside!

Something just not right about 80 degrees at Christmas time.Dana enjoyed a ride from Aunt Katharine.We opened presents...Dana playing with her Cousin Anna.

Traveling to and from Texas was not difficult - luckily our flight was only delayed a little. Dana was a star on the plane.

Then on Christmas Eve we stopped by the Kelly's.

Tasha was so wonderful to Dana - helping her open her presents.Then it was on to Nana Kerry and Grandpa Jerry's house for dinner and MORE presents!

Christmas Morning means Daddy makes pancakes!! Yum!

And presents under the tree.

Later we went to Mor Mor and Grandpa John's house.We celebrated with Uncle Jordan and Aunty Em.
And then - More Presents!!

A great Christmas - so amazing to celebrate with Dana.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

Cat's Out of the Bag

Yes, we're expecting! The ticker at the top let's you all know how far along I am... still pretty early. The most common question has been, "Did you plan to have another one so soon?" And the answer is honestly, yes... Of course, it happened a little faster than the first time we tried. I'm excited. Excited that Dana will soon have a sibling to grow up with. I'm glad they'll be close in age, and I am hopeful that they'll grow to have a close relationship too.

We have a lot of planning and organizing around here to do... another room to get ready. We'll find out the gender at about 20 weeks -so we'll keep you all posted. Of course, I want another girl, and Allen would love to have a boy. Our due date is officially July 2nd, but Dana came at 38 weeks... so we're hopeful for a late June birth (like we can control that!)

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Tree Motivator

A few of Dana's first steps... she's been doing this all week.

Here she is reaching for Grandma and Grandpa Weiss' Christmas Tree at their house in Texas.

That's her cousin, James, screaming in the background.

Enjoy!

Picture with Santa

Bad Blogger

I know, I know... I've been terrible at updating this page.

So here's what happened the past month...

We went to the Christmas Tree farm in Maple Valley...

Dana liked showing off her mittens.

We went with Dave, Joanna and their son, Lucas.

Lucas and Dana are boyfriend and girlfriend... aw, cute!


KISS! KISS!

Dana is SO big! Over 20 lbs! So that means a new car seat!

Now, she gets to face forward - she loves it!

A couple of weeks ago we traveled up North to visit with Dana's Great Grandma.

Dana and her Mor Mor.
(That's Norwegian for Mother's Mother or Grandma.)

Dana, Elder Mor, and Mor Mor.

And, WHO can forget the Apple Cup??

Dana wore her colors proudly that weekend.

SWEET VICTORY

Halloween Weekend

Last weekend we celebrated Halloween at SVLC with some friends: Madelyn (from the book) and Mario (Luigi was helping with the chili cook off). I think Allen had the scariest costume -

a Cougar Fan.
Dana and her Daddy
On the 31st we met up with our best friends to go trick or treating! Here's Lucas the giraffe and Dana the Teddy Bear.We only made it to one house (Lucas' Grandparents).
Mmmm, candy!

On Saturday we visited some friends!Fellow Bloggers - Liliana and Talia

Then on Sunday we saw Dad, Kerry and the Thurik's brood!

Dana was very interested in her cousin, Chloe.
Dana, Nana Kerry and Cousin Chloe.Oh Grandpa Jerry!
Dana seems to like playing horsey with the dog...

Poor Maggie!

Climbing the Stairs!

She has this down... well, almost.

Happy Fall

We went for a walk on the Preston-Snoqualmie trail this past weekend.

It was absolutely beautiful.

And, we went to the pumpkin patch... we all had a great time!

Dana was more interested in the woodchip ground cover than the pumpkins.

"No, Dana, don't eat that..."

Dana's First Tooth

After many efforts this week I was finally successful at getting a picture of Dana's first tooth.

She was very interested in the camera.

Then I got busy with some laundry and when I checked on her...

Poor Paul Bunyan... what did you ever do to deserve this?

Got to put that new tooth to work!

I guess it's time to put the big kid books up high for a while... at least until she's out of the 'everything goes into my mouth' stage.

What a beautiful, happy baby. I feel so blessed to have her!

Pulling Up!

I just love this video

Here is Dana crawling to the tub. Allen tries to tempt Dana with her favorite bath toy... just too cute.

Dana Video!

Well, the past few weeks have included some MAJOR changes around here! Dana has been growing in leaps and bounds! She is now a talented crawler! This video shows her progression from 'army-man' skooching to full-blown crawl.

We've been busy baby-proofing our home.

She's also grown her first tooth! It's about time! She is getting used to the new chomper - and even bitten me once! I know more are on the way!

More to come soon!

When you need a good laugh

So this week has been a little traumatic for everyone... what with the economy and all. I'm not trying to be political here... I just know that if this has been affecting everyone - including us.

Maybe not all of you know, but we have been without the use of our master bathroom shower for a while now... the tile and grout has failed and leaked down to the ceiling of our family room. We've recently tried taking out a home equity loan for a mere $5,000 to try to repair/replace the shower. Now, generally we have good credit and we pay our mortgage on time - but our bank has even turned us down! It's sad when people like us can't get a loan... I KNOW that many people have similar stories to share. I feel your frustration.

My prescription? (more cowbell!) No, kidding...
Laughter: Go to:
http://www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
My favorite cake? The Macho Man ... it's a couple of pages back...
Hopefully a little laughter will help you out too!
Dana pics coming soon!

What a weekend!

Friday we left for Cresent Bar. We arrived to beautiful weather. We had dinner and waited for Mom and John to arrive.

Saturday morning we got up ate breakfast and packed the car for our first trip to Pullman with the baby! We've been looking forward to this trip - showing Dana around and attending our first football game in the newly renovated Martin Stadium. Of course Dana has her own Coug gear that we purchased last year... you'd think that six month stuff would still fit... but unfortunately, her head was too big!

She just had to pose for this picture ... we promised to go shopping at the Bookie when we arrived in Pullman...

All buckled in for the car ride to WSU!

Our first stop - Lunch at our favorite Pullman Mexican restaurant!

The highchair at Rancho was one of the oldest I've ever seen - it sure did make a loud sound when she banged on it though! She loved it! I kept worrying that she'd slide out of it!

Walking from our car to the stadium we pasted some students sharing the rapors from the Vet Program. Here's Dana and I with an owl - very cool! Of course we donated to their cause!

The new CUB - Very nice.

New entrance - Dana and I are standing in front - can you see the new video screen in the background? It was HUGE!

Dana was just a star during the game. The cheering crowds didn't bother her a bit!We left at half time... the score said it all. We chalked it up to the baby needing to get home to sleep. We left Pullman around 5 pm and got home about 10.

Sunday was another full day!
First church and then off to Woodinville to help my Grandma celebrate her 80th Birthday!

I love this picture of Dana and her Great Grandmother!

After the party at Grandma's church it was back to her house to celebrate more with the family. Yes, even after all this, Dana is just a happy, happy baby! (That's Grandma's chihuahua, Abbey in the background) Thanks to Cousin Ashley for taking this great picture!

Overall, a wonderful weekend! We are so blessed to have our family - especially Dana's Great Grandparents.

Today was about sleeping and getting back into a routine. I am very fortunate to have a baby that is so easy going and good natured! I feel very blessed to be able to go and do all this great stuff together as a family.