FINALLY!!!

I just informed my sister-in-law last night that I would be back up and running today and I couldn't wait! I had 7 viruses on my computer which was limiting my ability to do anything on my computer, including posting to the blog! So we are back with full computer capabilities now! Yay!!!!! I have so much to post about the holidays, so please excuse the long post, but I want to share it all!  We started out our holidays with a beautiful dinner on Christmas Eve at my Aunt Dinah and Uncle Kenny's house before we headed to church.

Before dinner

The next morning was a wonderful morning.  Norah is at such a fun age and was so excited to see what Santa brought her.  

On the steps before heading down to see what Santa brought her and Hazel

Hazel slept through the entire morning of opening gifts!  Good thing she has a great big sister to open her gifts for her too!

After our morning at home, we headed over to my parents house to celebrate the rest of the day.  Norah and Thatcher had so much fun playing together!  It was a wonderful day!

Norah opening her biggest gift from Grandma and Grandpa......her very own kitchen!  She was thrilled!  However, much to my embarrassment, the very first thing she did was pick up the telephone that came with the kitchen and said, "I call and order pizza?!"  Great!  Can you tell we have done that a couple times!

My Uncle Kenny found this school desk this past summer and spruced it up just for Norah!  Isn't it adorable?

We spent the next couple of days after Christmas playing with all of our new toys and enjoying some of the snowy weather!

The weekend after Christmas it was time to celebrate with the Brining side!  Dan and Jennifer and the girls came home from Cincinnati and we had a great day filled with presents, playing and food!

Norah and Emma waiting patiently to open gifts!

This baby actually moves and sucks on a paci and her eyes open an close 'just like Hazel'.  Norah loves it!

Apron, oven mitt and chef's hat to go with her new kitchen and the bar-b-que Grammy and Papa got her.  Please excuse the smile....we may be entering the awkward smile stage!

Seven snowmen for seven granddaughters.  Norah was taking her nap while Grace, Olivia, Emma, Audrey and Lilly worked diligently on these snowmen!  Do you see the little Norah and Hazel in the front?  Too cute!

Audrey and Lilly got a beauty parlor from Grammy and Papa.  However, it was a big hit with all the girls!

The following day was a very big day.  Hazel was baptized!  It was so special because all of our family was able to be there with us.  We felt very blessed to have them all surrounding us on Hazel's most important day!

Our last event of the holidays was our Meat Pie party.  Every year we get together with our Port Huron family and enjoy drinks, visiting and of course, Meat Pie! (Thanks for some of these pictures Aunt Dinah!  I had to steal them from her Facebook, since I didn't get a chance to take many this year!)

The girls having dinner at their big girl table!

Sara and I apparently got the memo on the black and white stripes!  And that is Kennedy, her daughter with us!

Aunt Poppy and Hazel
The oldest and the youngest

Kennedy, Addison and Norah had so much fun together!
We had another great holiday season with lots of new memories made!  Now back to reality, a regular schedule and work!  

Thatcher is ONE

Thatcher is ONE! I just cannot believe how fast this time has gone by. We had a great time celebrating with Jimmy, Erin, and Thatcher and all our family!

Singing Happy Birthday

Loving his new truck

Snuggin' his doggy

And of course Norah will rope in anyone she can to read her a book!

Santa Came, We Saw...We Were Glad to Leave

Well, I shouldn't say 'we' were glad to leave, but a certain 2 1/2 year old was glad to leave. We stopped at Northstar Bank a week ago to see Santa. We were really talking it up with Norah for a couple days ahead of time to try to prepare her because I figured this was going to be the year she would be reluctant. And I was right! We walked in and immediately knew Norah wasn't going to have anything to do with it. Hazel did great though! Norah did get close enough to tell Santa that she wants 'presents' and 'toys' for Christmas. We will see if she gets what she asked for!

Hazel just hanging out with Santa.....and yup, that is Norah clinging to me for dear life!

Ok Mom and Dad, any time you are ready to go, I'm ready to go!

Cocoon

My secretary at school made Hazel an adorable hat as a gift. After she found out how in love with it I was and how much I love photography, she decided to knit her a cocoon too! Of course this just called for a photo shoot!  Here are some of my absolute favorite pictures of Hazel to date! :)

Busy Turkey Day(s)

We had such a busy, busy week, but it was so much fun! It was wonderful spending lots of time with friends, family and eating (too much) delicious food! This has been a bitter sweet holiday because I head back to school on Monday. I just can't believe my maternity leave is over. I am excited to get back to my kids at school, but I am going to miss being at home with Hazel immensely. I am not sure I am ready for the chaos that is about to ensue. Luckily, I have an amazing hubby who is my partner in crime and we will just have to divide and conquer to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. And I just keep telling myself, just a few weeks back to work and then we get Christmas vacation, so I know we can do it! :)

We started the week with a visit with the Flanagans.  Bryn and Norah had fun playing together and thought it would be a great idea to get in Hazel's crib for awhile!  Wild girls!

Playing in Hazel's crib

Norah and Bryn after a fun night of playing!

One of my new favorite pictures of Hazel Bug!  Such a sweet little face!

Hazel had a little trial run at daycare on Wednesday.  I didn't want my first day back to work to be the same day Hazel went to daycare for the first time and I wanted to be able to help Drew get both girls there for the first time.  Of course I cried and just can't get over the fact that my maternity leave is already over.  It just went too fast.  I know Hazel will be in good hands though and she has Sissy right next door in the toddler room.  Norah even got to go down to the baby room to visit Hazel for a little bit.  

This was the scene after both girls got home from daycare.  I was worried Hazel was going to have a horrible night just from having such a busy, unfamiliar day.  However, it was the total opposite.  This is a picture of her at 5:00pm.  She slept, and slept, and slept.  I finally woke her up at 11:00pm because she had to eat something before bed.  She ate a bottle, we got her jammies on, and she went back to sleep until 4:30am.  She had a bottle and went right back to sleep and didn't get up until around 8:00am.  Basically 15 hours of sleep!  Crazy!  Let's hope daycare treats us this well every day! :)

Ready for Thanksgiving celebration #1!  We spent the day at my parents house with lots of family, food and playing!  This was the first time my aunt and cousins met Hazel, so it was a special night!

Cousin Love
Norah and Thatcher playing the next morning!

On Friday we were lucky to have a visitor.  My friend Jamie from high school was in town and she just had a little boy, Caleb, six weeks ago.  Hazel and Caleb are two weeks apart.  It has been forever since I have seen Jamie, so it was wonderful to visit and get to meet her little man.  And I think Caleb and Hazel had a good little bond going on!  Aren't they cute!?

Jamie and I with Caleb and Hazel

Thanksgiving #2
Papa playing with the girls and all the new blocks Grammy bought!

The dress up clothes were a huge hit!  Norah was hysterical walking around with this dress, hat and purse on.

As you can see, the hat was a necessary accessory for dinner too!

After spending the day at Grammy and Papa's we headed into town to watch the Christmas parade.

Norah loved seeing all the lights, animals and finally getting to see Santa at the end of the parade.  We hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving.