New Year's Eve

After a lot more driving we finally made it back home to Ohio. It felt so good to be home after being in the car for so long. Madeline didn't stay up to watch the ball drop, but she had fun playing with her favorite blanket before she went to bed...

Another Christmas Party

Today we went to our last Christmas Party. All of our relatives from Grandma Judy's family were there. Here is a 4 generation picture with Great-Grandma Weiers, Grandma Judy, Mom & Madeline. There were soooo many great-aunts, great-uncles and cousins there, that we couldn't take a picture with all of them (70+), but here is one with cousin Cassie.

Today Madeline gave us the picture she made for us yesterday.

She looked so cute with that green bow in her hair :-) After the party we packed up the car and started the long drive back to Ohio. It was extra crowded because we were taking Aunt Alyssa back with us too! We made it all the way to Illinois, before we stopped to sleep for a few hours. We'll drive the rest of the way tomorrow so that we make it back to celebrate New Years at home :-)

Making A Picture For Mom & Dad

Today Grandma Judy, Aunt Alyssa and Aunt Melanie got to babysit while mom and dad went to a show in St. Paul. Everyone helped Madeline make a very special Christmas present for us.

They got out all the paints and got their hands (and feet) dirty!

When they were all done they had a pictures of a reindeer made out of handprints and a footprint.

Then it was time for a bath.

Birthday Party!

Today we celebrated two birthdays: Mommy's (Dec. 21st) and Mommy's Goddaughter, Alyshia's (Dec 20th). Alyshia is our cousin and she really liked meeting and playing with Madeline.

We showed her how Madeline plays in her new jumper, and everyone laughed :-)Madeline even got to sit at the big person table to watch us blow out our candles! It was a fun day meeting new relatives and celebrating birthdays :-)

Christmas at Great-Uncle Marv & Great Aunt Kim's

After getting ready at Grandma Judy's house we all went to Marv & Kim's house for a Christmas Party. Madeline's Santa Hat was a hit!

Here she is with Great-Uncle Marv... and Cousin Greta... and Cousin Taylor... and Cousin Lilly! The whole day was soo much fun :-) We played games, exchanged gifts and all of the grown-ups ate way too much. We couldn't imagine a better Christmas!

Madeline's First Christmas!

It's Christmas morning! Madeline was the first to wake up, so she took it upon herself to go around to eveyone's rooms and wake them up, one-by-one! Everyone was still pretty sleepy, but they woke up to see what Santa had brought for everyone.

At Grandma Judy's house Santa alway's hides everyone's stockings, so Madeline had to find hers... It was in the cabinet!

Now it's time to look inside.She got christmas ornaments, Baby Eistien CD's & DVD's and some bows to go in her hair :-)

She also got a ball that lights up, plays music and moves around on it's own.

AND, she got a Christmas outfit from Grandma - it even had a santa hat! We put the hat on her right away. What a perfect outfit for Christmas, everyone thought she was sooo cute :-)

Time to open more gifts!

Soooo many presents!!!!

All this gift opening made her soooo tired. Time for a quick nap before we go to Great-Uncle Marv and Great-Aunt Kim's House to celebrate with more of the family!

Christmas Eve at Grandma Judy's

After 10 hours of driving we finally made it to Grandma Judy's at 4:30AM Christmas Eve morning!

Aunt Melanie couldn't wait to cuddle with Madeline :-)

Later that morning Madeline showed everyone how she could stand up without any help from Dad!

Great Grandma Deutsch came over and she got her two books and some Christmas ornaments :)

That evening we all got together and opened Christmas Presents -

it was sooo fun! Everyone got something

(but we think Madeline took in the biggest pile of presents).

Aunt (Godmother) Alyssa gave her a Xavier hat and a new t-shirt.

Aunt Melanie got her a Vikings dinnerware set!

After we opened some of our gifts it was time to go to church. Madeline slept through most of it - we think all of the beautiful singing helped her sleep :-)

Everyone went to bed when we got home, so that Santa could come while we were sleeping. It's almost Christmas!!!

Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Frantz'

Today we celebrated Christmas with Granma and Grandpa Frantz at their house in Terre Haute, Indiana. Madeline had a good time hanging out with Grandpa and we got a good picture of them by the Christmas Tree...

Madeline got another Christmas Ornament. I t was a little heavy, but she picked it right up to take a closer look!

Grandma Frantz got Madeline a very cute Chrismas bib and she tried it on right away.

Madeline got so many new things!

She especially liked this new toy because the box was big enough to stand up next to :-)

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Frantz & Great-Grandma Shirley was really fun! Now it's time to get in the car and make the long drive to Minnesota to see Grandma Judy and all of the other Deutsch relatives.

Grandpa & Grandma Frantz'

We made the trip to Grandma & Grandpa Frantz' house last night. Today we're just taking it easy and getting ready to celebrate Christmas tomorrow! Grandpa and Madeline hung out in the kitchen talking to everyone and watching everything that was going on.

Mommy took a break to give Madeline kisses!

After a relaxing day, Grandma helped Madeline get ready for bed.

Time to get a good night's sleep so that tomorrow we can celebrate with everyone

(and open up some presents!)

College Friends

This weekend our good friends from college, Tracey and Nate, came to visit. We had a girl's day to celebrate our birthdays' - we went to see Cats downtown Columbus. The boys did the baby sitting while the girls were out.Tracey was so excited to see Madeline again!

Daycare Open House

Madeline's Daycare Center had an open house tonight. We got to see all of the Holiday art projects she's been working on! She had a wreath made out of a bunch of her handprints that Miss Amy (her primary care provider) cut out.
There was also a snowflake that she made with her footprints and white paint, and a candle that was decorated with snowmen made out of her fingerprints and white paint - VERY cute. Santa Claus was there too and she took a great picture with him :-)

Madeline's New Bathrobe

OK, the bathrobe isn't new - she got it as a gift when she was born, but it finally fits!

She's definately a cutie in the white robe with a bear on the front.

Madeline Got a Highchair!

Madeline's Godparents (Uncle Nick & Aunt Alyssa) got her a highchair for Christmas! We put it together today and tried it out. She looks pretty little in it, but she thought the new toys that came with it were great. She's not eating any solids quite yet, but I think we're going to start soon. Don't worry, we'll take lots of pictures of her first solid food experience and post them - that should be entertaining! For now we love the highchair because she can sit in it and watch us make dinner :-)

Christmas Lights!

Today all three of us went out Christmas Shopping! We made it to 5 different stores and put a big dent in our Christmas List. Madeline slept through most of the shopping, so that meant she was awake and ready for our next adventure - all of the Christmas Lights at the Columbus Zoo!

Every Year the Columbus Zoo decorates the entire zoo with millions of Christmas lights. Each tree, animal pen and building is lit up with colorful lights. They have lights in the shape of zoo animals and some of them even move - just like the real animals. Madeline was completely taken by all of it. We think she really enjoyed it!

Santa Pictures!

Today Santa came to Daycare to take pictures with all of the kids! Unfortunately, we were at work while all of this was happening, but Madeline got to meet Santa for the first time :-) We dressed her up in her new Christmas outfit for the big event, but she doesn't look very happy... we think it's because mom and dad weren't there to make her smile :-)

Family Christmas Picture

Today was the annual Honda R&D Christmas party. Since we were all dressed up and Aunt Alyssa was in town to babysit, we decided to take a family Christmas picture. We couldn't get a smile out of Madeline with all 3 of us (it was too close to bed time), but the pictures still turned out all right :-)

I guess she thought the pictures with just Mom and just Dad were worth smiling for!

Christmas Art

Madeline has been doing a lot of Holiday art projects at Daycare lately. She made a snowflake out of her painted footprints, a Rudolph Christmas tree ornament by tracing her hands and feet on construction paper, a paper wreath made out of lots of traced, cut-out handprints, a candle holder with snowmen created by her painted fingerprints, a Santa with a beard made out of cotton balls, a candy cane made by wraping paper around her arm and here she is painting a Santa figurine! Ms. Amy sure does keep her busy!