I hope you all had a great, long holiday weekend. Evan got to spend time with all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Christmas Eve we went to 4pm church, then over to Grandma and Grandpa Gordon's for dinner and presents. Evan got some great toys and clothes and we thank everyone very much for their generosity. It was fantastic to spend so much time with family and friends.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we had to do some shoveling and thought it would be a good idea to take Evan sledding for the first time. He had a blast! Our goal of training him to like the snow and cold weather seems to be working. According to our timetable, by next year he should be shoveling while we are hopefully inside sipping cider.

I have about 10 posts to do in order to fully cover the holiday and our "mini" vacation...but that's going to take awhile. For now, enjoy the first video I took the time to upload. (I expect there will be many more in the near future). Evan is talking more and more these days, and here he says my favorite word, right after smashing the alarm clock.

Sunday night our neighbors had a huge Christmas party and it was excellent...the food, the company, and the play room in the basement for the kids. Eric and I feel so lucky to have such great neighbors. It's something that I've always hoped for when I thought of buying a house and having kids...when I was younger, there were always kids for me and my brother to play with in the neighborhood. I want the same thing for Evan (there are 7 kids under 5 in the three houses closest to us, so we're off to a good start!)

Saturday night we went to the men's basketball game vs. Coppin State (thanks Aunt Joni & Uncle Steve!). Evan was a little under the weather, but he sat really well for the first half and had fun watching Bucky. At halftime we met up with Janelle & Darrin and the kids...they all looked cute in their Badger gear!

Well, it was only a matter of time before Evan wore his snowsuit for the first time. Something tells me we'll have plenty of opportunities to wear it this winter. I've never really minded winter before, but this is getting ridiculous. It's freezing and won't stop snowing. Maybe California will become a reality sooner than later.

Have a great Holiday!

We love having Jackson over to play! The boys ran around the house for 3 hours straight...they weren't the only ones who needed a nap yesterday.

santa at the library - tuesday.

Evan got to meet Santa at the Verona Library - and did really well. He didn't cry, but I wouldn't say he was excited to sit on his lap. He just kind of sat there and kept looking over his shoulder at the kids playing music. He was way more into that. And between you and me, I'm pretty sure I saw Evan whisper to Santa that his Christmas wish was for an iPhone.

We spent most of the weekend running around town doing errands or working at home on projects. I took two minutes Sunday afternoon to snap a few pictures of Evan in my favorite hat. I love this kid!

Oh, Evan did go over to play with Jackson Saturday night so that Eric and I could go out to dinner for "date night". Thanks Randy and Amy for watching Evan!

We had special visitors Friday night - Evan's cousins! Emmett & Andrew (as well as Kelly & Phil) stopped by on their way to La Crosse from their new home in Indiana. It was great to see them and Evan had SO MUCH FUN playing with the little guys. He and Andrew spent about 15 minutes chasing each other around the house. Evan was laughing the entire time, it was so cute.

Ms. Wrigely likes having visitors as well...

Last night at the last minute we headed back to MHS for the girls varsity basketball game. It was a big game for both teams (Middleton & Verona), and Middleton prevailed. Eric spent the entire night talking to teachers/coaches/friends. Evan and I played in the hall and I tried my best to keep him off the court.