From the Beginning..2009

I have set a new goal for myself and that is to have a scrapbook of the year ready each Christmas as a "present" to our family. I have always enjoyed scrapbooking (my collection starts in 1988 when I glued a bunch of pictures and memorabilia on white sheets of paper from a trip) but I wouldn't call scrapbooking a hobby for me - my hobby is more of creating family memories. This year I chose to do my scrapbook with a page or two per month rather than focus on each occasion as I normally do.
Last night my husband and I sat down to look at this year's scrapbook and what a joy it was to do it together and remember what this past year has held for us. We also have lots of family and friends in and out of our house during the Christmas season and I think it will be fun for them as well. So here it starts (pardon my lack of photography skills to put the pages on here and envision them side by side :))...

JANUARY: We rang in the New Year in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with Oma (Erik's mom), Uncle Chris, Aunt Kristal and Cousin Tori. It was so cute watching Anna with her apple juice saying "cheers" (of course she celebrated the New Year around 8pm on New Years Eve). We had just finished up a wonderful week celebrating Christmas, going to the Ripley's Aquarium, outlet shopping, building sandcastles on the beach and floating in the lazy river (brrrrrrr!)

After a great experience with Anna sleeping in a big girl bed on vacation, we came home and bought Anna a new big girl bed (or two as in the case of the bunk beds). I was very reluctant to get bunk beds because of the stunts my brother and I use to do on his but these were adorable and a great price. The ladder has never come out of the closet so I'm not even sure that the girls know someone is allowed to sleep on the top; eventually we will separate the two beds so that Maddie will have a big girl bed of her own.



Over MLK weekend two of my girl cousins came to visit with their little ones. Despite our 10 years in age gap, combined we have 5 little ones under the age of 5 so it is so much fun to see them play together.

We also had a couple rounds of snow this past January. It is nice being home with the girls and not feeling the pressure of having to get to the office when there is snow and ice on the ground. Anna had a few short trips outside to walk around and play with Daddy. I loved seeing the trail of little shoeprints as she walked around the yard. Maddie didn't make it out to play in the snow this year, but there's always hope for next year.



More adventures to come...