Trucks, Trucks, Trucks...

I guess I didn't even get a picture of her trucks, but today we went over to Gail's house next door to exchange gifts with Maison from the holidays. Whenever we are over at Gail's house, Rowan plays with all of Maison's trucks and boy toys, so Maison bought her some of her own trucks to play with. While we were there, Rowan took advantage of some of his new toys from the holidays as well. Would have gotten more pictures of the kids together, but Maison decided he didn't want pants on today, so I only took one picture of the pantsless boy!

Celebrating while Mom sleeps...

The Knutson Christmas was celebrated today, while I was busy sleeping between my shifts of work. So Ed and Rowan went to visit with everyone for a couple hours. Apparently Aunt Amanda was in charge of taking pictures, so my photo opportunities are limited. But you can see Rowan's cute red jumper she wore (dad even picked out this outfit, not bad!) Great Grandma Audrey was home from Florida too, so she got to visit with them also!

Santa Came...

Well, Santa was good to us all this year. Rowan had us up at 6am sharp, not that she had a clue that the man in red had left her more presents, but she was up at her earliest. We continued with our usual daily routine, bottle of milk, some tv in mom and dad's bed, and then ventured downstairs. Dad was actually in more of a hurry to get downstairs because he wanted to see how Rowan reacted to the gifts!

She was excited as always, and had no problem opening as many gifts as possible, whether they were her own or not.

Her big ticket item this year was a play kitchen. Along with a tent and tunnel. She seems to be into all of them, but always wants mom and dad to climb through the tunnel too, and dad's shoulders are too wide, and mom barely fits through. So it can be interesting.

Hard to believe her 2nd Christmas is over already, and she loved it so much. Not sure we will be sad about saying goodbye to The Grinch Movie though, we had a bit of overkill of that show this year.

When it Rains...It Pours...

...and no, we aren't talking about the weather!

Recap...

Last Friday, December 18th, Ed received a job offer from a company in Menomonee Falls. On Monday the 21st, he accepted the job offer. Tuesday the 22nd, he put in his 2 weeks at OshKosh Corporation, with his last day being January 8th, and 1st day in at MTE in Menomonee Falls being January 11th.

Then, on the 23rd, OshKosh got approval to hire him, but didn't have enough information to talk numbers. Therefore, we aren't for sure going to be staying in town, depends on what type of offer, if any, OshKosh can get together before January 8th! And that is where we stand!

Congratulations Ed!
(Rowan and I made him a big sugar cookie on Wednesday, but he got home before we finished frosting it, and wrecked the surprise!)

Xmas with The Hanson's...

After Rowan's nap that lasted merely an hour....

...we headed to Sussex to visit with the Hanson family for the Holidays!

Rowan was quite the ham...she was very good, you never would have known that she was lacking in sleep! She still tried to open presents that weren't hers, and was very social with everyone. She loved their fish tank. Aunt Ashley let her look in through the top, so she kept wanting to look some more! She snacked all afternoon and evening! There was a snowman when you came downstairs that danced and sang, and Rowan loved it. She kept on giving it hugs and dancing with it, very cute! Shortly after 6pm we were on our way home to get our little girl to bed so she can enjoy her Christmas at home with us tomorrow. She has been a good girl this year, so Santa needed her in bed in order to deliver her gifts, assembled!

Christmas Eve with Knutson Family...

Today we spent the morning with Grandma Julie, Grandpa Kris, Amanda and Mitchell!

And boy were we all spoiled! We came home with a heaping box of gifts. Again, Rowan wanted to open everyone's gifts, and was excited even if it wasn't for her. We also indulged in a gigantic breakfast made by Grandpa! It was delicious! We didn't even eat lunch! Rowan had a good morning, she made them all watch the Grinch, we played a little Wii, and played with a few of Rowan's new toys! Then it was home to get Rowan a nap before heading to Aunt Kathy's in the afternoon to visit with the Hanson Family!

Christmas with Nana and Papa Smith...

Let's start with: Rowan loves presents, doesn't matter whose they are!

She has become an expert present opener. And despite what she opens, or if it is even hers, she oooohhssss, and aaahhhhsss. Super cute! She was interested in what everyone got and helped everyone with their gifts.

Rowan and Kieran played very well together! Rowan seemed to want to destroy everything as usual, and Kieran didn't really get mad at her. They ran around together, played trains, pushed each other on toys, you name it, no fighting! Rowan is even interested in our IPhones now that Kieran added a few applications while he was here.

We had a wonderful taco bar this year, and were barely hungry to even eat it after all the snacking and entertainment going on in the house. Not to mention the several types of cookies and desserts available as well.

We had a great time with everyone here to visit, it was a very busy day, and we all had fun. Hard to think by next Christmas there will be another child added to the mix. Molly is due at the end of January! Another boy!

Gingerbread House Contest...

After Monkey Joe's we stopped at Ceriello's in Delafield where they had free Gingerbread house decorating a few weekends in December. We decided to stop and make a couple houses, but didn't leave them for the actual judging and contest because the kids didn't end up being so interested in the decorating, so we took them home for our own contest.

Our judge was Uncle Dusty. We didn't tell him who made which one (Ed and I made one, and Molly made one/Blayne didn't help much until the end) Even with Molly already having made a house this year, we managed to win! We were pretty proud of our house! Rowan lost interest really fast, and was distracted by Papa after we found her putting candy in the wrapper in her mouth! Kieran was more interested in eating all the M&M's than the actual decorating too! The kids were fading fast, so it was off to home to eat some lunch and take naps!

Monkey Joe's...

Today was the start of our busy day of celebrating the Holidays with the Smith Family!

Blayne, Molly, and Kieran joined us late last night from Michigan. Rowan was in bed so didn't get to see Cousin Kieran until the morning. After her morning nap, we headed to Monkey Joe's with the kids, and they had a blast! I was very surprised how into it Rowan was. Somehow I was the one that ended up taking her on all the bigger inflatables, and she kept wanting to do more. Kieran was a bit more independent in playing than Rowan was, but she still enjoyed it.

We even played some games, and got enough tickets to get the kids prizes as well. The pictures of Rowan and I going down the slides didn't turn out so well, probably a good thing! But super cute how Kieran would hold Rowan's hand down the slide. He was a very good helper too!

Another St. Nick in Pewaukee...

We were at Karen and Doug's for our monthly pizza dinner tonight, and St. Nick managed to find his way to their house with gifts. We originally had plans to have dinner there closer to St. Nick day, but due to the weather that week we cancelled. But Rowan got many nice things from Good Ol' St. Nick in Pewaukee again!

Presents yet???

So, it clearly isn't Christmas yet, but Rowan noticed a new present under the tree, and despite her inability to read, knew it was for her and decided to open it. The funny thing is, there have been 3 gifts under the tree for a couple weeks now, and she hasn't touched them. But when the new one appeared, it was a different story. Luckily, the gift was for her! So she got her Grinch sweatshirt, and Cindy Lou Who and Max outfit a bit early! That'll teach Nana not to put her gifts under the tree early!

Christmas KAMP...

Yesterday, Rowan and I went to a party with all her friends (children of my co-workers) and Santa too. Amy, as always, had an outstanding couple of hours planned. The party was, Ella and Lily's Gingerbread house. So the house was decorated in such a way, and many of the party favors were gingerbread themed as well. We had a lovely lunch display, decorated cookies, played, and even had a visit from Santa.
We also did a gift exchange between the kids, and Rowan received the Cat in the Hat book (yes, we didn't own that one), and her favorite Gerber fruit strips!
Then there was Santa! Not so much of a fan this year as you can see. She was fine when he first came, but once we got close to him, and her mean mom put her on his lap, the tears were flowing. It even took her a few minutes to recover and make sure I wasn't going to put her near him again.
Here are a few photos of the delightful set up Amy had for us!

Playing in the Snow, Round 2!

This was Rowan's 2nd time out playing in the snow today. This afternoon it was a bit colder than it was this morning, but easier to navigate around the driveway being the majority of the snow had been removed in the morning. She had lots of fun outside. The snow in the yard was too deep for her to walk through, she had a hard enough time dealing with the snowpants and boots without inches of snow!

Mmmm...fudge...

In between playing in the snow today, Rowan helped Nana with her fudge making. Or maybe just the clean up part. But she was a good helper!

1st time in the snow...

Rowan and I went outside after breakfast this morning to enjoy the new snowfall, and help with clearing the driveway and sidewalks. Admittedly, we didn't help much in the snow removal area, but we enjoyed the snow. We tried out her new sled and shovel too. It was hard enough to keep her mittens on, so actually using the shovel wasn't in the picture, but she tried to pull it around with her a bit! We will have to wait for the snow to pack down a bit before we actually take the sled down a hill, the snow kept getting stuck underneath making it difficult to pull her. Therefore, we made several circles around the driveway instead!

Our Address...

For those of you who don't have our current address and need it, in order to get us your annual Christmas Card, here it is...

W329N3788 Timberwood Ct
Nashotah, WI 53058

Thanks!