Happy Thanksmas!

Jonathan's First Thanksgiving

Thanksmas?!?!  That's right, the combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas! Yes, I did it again.  Even though I promise myself that I will not take so long between blog posts, this seems to be a regular occurrence for me. Where on Earth do the hours in a day go???  So much is going on in our life right now.  I simply want to keep this blog updated because it is a great diary/time stamp for me and my family.  I often refer back to my blog as a reference or to simply just reminisce.  Therefore, I need to just catch up before my diary of the adventures of Mama-Dirtyfoot are too far behind that they are too far gone for blogging.  Doing so will hopefully (gosh, I hope not wishful thinking) motivate me to blog more regularly.  My kids are getting so big, so quickly and I do not want their childhood undocumented.

Our life has been busy since we've moved here.  Aside from getting
acclimated to a new area, unpacking (if only temporarily) in our house rental, settling Madeline in kindergarten, and house hunting, we have also celebrated Thanksgiving (Jonathan's first!), enjoyed the annual sisters' Christmas shopping weekend (this time not in Baltimore, but rather right here in the Twin Cities) and got busy with Christmas preparations (Jonathan's first Christmas too).  I have a lot of pictures and this blogging program is a PAIN for moving and rearranging pictures in the blog text.  So, in order to make things quick and get me on the road to an updated blog, I will simply load the pictures here.  How ever they load will be the order in which they will be seen in this post (not necessarily in chronological order)  Hopefully my photo captions will fill in the gaps of what has gone on since I last blogged.  Enjoy......

Madeline is so proud that she now lost her SECOND tooth!

Jonathan doesn't mind tubby time - he is also learning about splashing.

Tub time over and nice & warm in robe from Aunt Sue

I was busy making dinner and asked Madeline to play with her brother.  She buried him in toys!

Licking the bowl clean after helping Mama make pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving

Jonathan modeling an adorable penguin outfit from his cousin Becky

Gobble, gobble, gobble - getting in the Thanksgiving mood

A very lazy Thanksgiving day

A Thanksgiving dinner in our Minnesota house rental

Madeline is in the Thanksgiving spirit

We made our first trip to the Mall of America.  There is an amusement park in the center!!

Getting silly at the MOA

Madeline and I rode rides at the mall.  So glad we saved the water flume for the last ride before we left the mall - we got soaked!

The kids get a meaningful ornament each year.

Marysia and Margaret visited in the beginning of December.  Bloody Mary lunches at the Mall of America were the theme.

Matching PJs were also the theme

The 3 sisters met our cousin, Judy, for dinner.  Judy lives only 40 minutes away.

Jonathan just before he tried cereal for the first time

Jonathan is diggin' the cereal and baby foods.

Madeline is an AWESOME big sister!

Madeline thought this hat and the restaurant she got it (Dicks Last Resort) was hysterical.

Jonathan is flirting with his mama.

Madeline joined Daisies - she loves it

Madeline was playing dress up in her room and came downstairs dressed up like Mary.

Madeline was being naughty in the car.  I told her that the green light on my rear-view mirror meant that the "Santa-cam" was on and Santa was watching her at that exact moment.  Her behavior changed immediately.

Our first Christmas in Minnesota

Visit with Santa

Ugh, I think I waited until Jonathan was too hungry before trying food. 

Madeline is LOVING our membership to the Minnesota Children's Museum.  David took the kids when my sisters were visiting.

Madeline at the Children's Museum. This also represents Madeline's speed in getting ready in the morning on school days.

Papa took the kids to the Holidazzle parade (large (almost) daily Christmas parade) in downtown Minneapolis

I love this picture.  Jonathan looks like such a little dude.

The first time we attempted a visit with Santa he was just on his way out to dinner.  He was gracious enough to stop for us.

Since we haven't set up with a sitter yet, our idea of a date is for David and I to occasionally go to breakfast after dropping Madeline at school.  Although we still have a 4 month old in tow it is as close to a date as we can get right now