What a year - Warning! I may get mushy in this one!

Wow - 2009 is about over. This has been one of the fastest years of my life. Who knew that putting together a simple slideshow would require a box of kleenex!!! The year went so fast, but it was filled with so many great memories - like the day Lauren was born... I remember laying on the operating table thinking in minutes I will be a parent of two and wondering how I could possibly have enough love to share with another child? I soon learned that you never run out of love. And Noah's birthday - Matt and I were so excited to give him his first bike. We had it hiding in the garage and I videotaped as he opened the door. The expression on his face was one I will never forget! As I look back at 2009 I am reminded again how blessed we are. I look forward to 2010 - who knows where the Moose Tracks will take us. Here's to many new adventures!

The Big Storm

We were pretty much snowed in for Christmas this year. We're thankful that our families live so close because it would have been a stressful weekend had we had to travel through the snow! I'm not sure how much snow we had total, but if I had to guess I'd say we easily had 20+ inches. I'll admit that I enjoy a good snowstorm, but this one got a little old after awhile. We tried to keep the kids occupied as much as possible - went sledding in the park, had some friends over Christmas day to watch movies, colored, took naps... all in all it turned out fine, but I think everyone is ready to get back to a regular routine soon!

This is our little counter-productive shoveler. Noah thought it was too hard to lift the snow on top of the mounds, so decided he would just scoop in onto the cleared sidewalk.

Matt thought he'd capture this moment on film... he claims I haven't run the snow blower in the 8 years that we've lived in Tracy, however I'm not sure if I believe that entirely... it might be 6 years ;) I had to post this picture to show everyone Noah isn't the only one outside working! I realized he was in most of the outdoor pictures with his shovel! He loves being outside - even if it means he's cold!

I found this picture comical - see if you can spot everyone blowing out their yards. Counting Noah there are 6 people and a dog! It stopped snowing for about an hour and everyone got out to move snow before it snowed another 4 inches!

This is a view across the street. The plowed snow is about as tall as our jeep. Its crazy!

Christmas Fun!

We were able to get to both our parents houses to celebrate Christmas in spite of the storm. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend much time at either place, but we still had fun. The kids got so much stuff I think we'll have to add a room on so we have somewhere to put everything! It was a special Christmas for us - first with Lauren, and Noah really got into the spirit of it all.

Noah and Lauren on opening presents Christmas morning. We were hurrying, because the power had gone off minutes before and we wanted to have light while they opened their gifts. Yes - this tells you that we're officially into the "no sleeping in on Christmas morning" stage. Both kids were up and ready to go by 6:15 am!

This will be one of the moments I will never forget. Noah and I had gotten Santa's plate of cookies ready and I was picking some stuff up and saw him looking up the chimney for Santa. Matt was quick enough to catch a picture of it! One of the most priceless pictures!

Surprise! Lauren loved the bows and wrapping paper more than her gifts!

Noah tried really hard to open his presents carefully, but by the end he was a seasoned "ripper"! He kept saying "I'm going to open this one really fast!"

Lauren next to her new rocking chair

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas is a few days away... Doesn't seem too long ago that I was counting the days until Lauren was born, and here we are 1 year later! 2009 has been an amazing year for us. I guess its true - time flies when you're having fun. This Christmas has been a special one for Matt and I as we have been able to see it through Noah's eyes. He is very excited that Santa is coming to our house, but is a little concerned how he's going to get back up the chimney! We celebrated Christmas with the Alcorn's over the weekend, and "Santa" (uncle Ben) made a surprise visit. I thought Noah would love to see Santa so we walked over to him and Noah stops, backs away, and says "that's not Santa.... that's Ben!" So once again my mind was racing to correct what could have been a problem, and I explained that Santa is so busy this time of the year that he has people helping him, and Ben was lucky enough to be asked. He bought it, but that night as I got Noah ready for bed he started asking questions... "Mom - is Santa bringing our toys, or is Ben?... Does Ben get to sleep at Santa's?" I'm thinking seriously Noah - that was hours ago, and you're still thinking about Ben and Santa? Anyway, we covered that Santa will be bringing the toys, and that Ben doesn't sleep at Santa's :) You've gotta love the 3 year old mind!

I hope to post some pictures to recap 2009 before the end of the week. If you're new to our blog - enjoy! Its our way of keeping family and friends updated! Hope you're enjoying your Christmas week!

I'm stuffed...

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend - spent Thanksgiving Day with my family at Grandpa Carlson's. Grandpa turned 97 this year - still lives at home and enjoys hosting dinners. Heather and Jake drove home from Denver as well, so it was great to celebrate with them. Saturday night we had dinner with Matt's family. Noah had a great time playing with his cousins. Its a little chaotic with a 6 year old, 2 - 3 year olds, an 11 month old and a 6 month old to keep track of, but its fun. Once again I ate way too much, but I can't hold back on Thanksgiving! I did join the gym again, and ran my first mile yesterday without stopping... yes - a mile is a huge deal to me! Hopefully I can get these Thanksgiving pounds to go away as fast as they came on!

Here comes Santa!!!

Santa came to town yesterday! It was a huge day for Noah - he started asking when we'd get to go see him as soon as he woke up! Its funny how many excuses you can make... No, we can't go see Santa yet because he's still sleeping - he was up late last night working on presents for Christmas... No, we can't go see Santa yet, because he is taking a bath to get ready to see all the kids... I never knew how much fun Christmas could be with a 3 year old. I was able to get a picture of Noah watching Santa, and to me it was priceless. He just stood there with the most innocent look on his face! Santa even knew his name as he walked up to him, so that made the moment even better for him!

Lauren growing up...

I've realized that Lauren's first birthday is just around the corner. I know I've posted this before, but I cannot believe how fast time has gone. She is now a very accomplished crawler, and pulls herself up on most things. I'm not sure if she'll walk as soon as Noah did, because he never crawled, but I do know that when she does start walking life will change a lot! She loves to follow Noah around and do anything to be like him! Its great to see how well they get along so far. They both enjoy being around each other! Noah and I went to run some errands today and when we were leaving a store he asked if we could go home because he missed War-ien! (His pronunciation of Lauren) That made my heart swell a little :) Anyway, here are some updated pictures of Lauren. You'll notice still not much hair, and still very blue eyes! I love the guilty look on her face when I caught her after she unloaded a full basked of folded clothes!

Catch Up!

Its been too long since I've blogged! Thought I'd share pictures from our trip to the orchard as well as the kiddos in their halloween costumes!

The BIG hike

Heather talked me into taking a hike in the mountains. I asked if it would be an easy hike, and she said it'd be harder than any hike I've been on before, and man she was right! I had been drinking lots of water before we left because I was getting a headache from the altitude change, and asked if there would be porta-potties at the top of the hill... yeah - not so much! I had two obstacles that almost made me stop. #1 - I seriously couldn't catch my breath in the first 600 yards of the hike. Heather was great and allowed me to take MANY breaks... we're talking every 10 feet I'd have to stop! #2 - after I started to breathe normal we come up to a secluded residence. There was a sign that read "Trespassers will be shot on sight"... yeah - that is a little scary - especially when we walked by his driveway and could hear a buzzing in our ears from the sensors he had set up! Anyway - we made it and from the pictures you can see that it was well worth it. What an amazing view and amazing accomplishment! Thank you Heather for taking me up there and for such a great trip!!! I will never forget it!

Elk protecting his herd

Elk in Estes!

We took a day trip up to Estes Park to see if we could find any elk... we did! They were so fun to watch. I was surprised we were able to get so close to them!

These pictures are of Dillon Resivoir and of the lodge that we stayed at in Breckenridge. Ahhh... so relaxing!!! The view of the ski slopes is from the balcony off our room at the lodge!

Colorado!

Well, I'm back home from my trip to Colorado to see Heather. We had a great time! These first couple pictures are of the mountain range as we got closer to Breckenridge. Heather probably thought I was silly with all the pictures I took! I'm kind of a nut when it comes to mountains :)

Sister Weekend in Colorado!

I'm writing from cool, sunny Denver Colorado this morning! I'm out visiting Heather and we've got a fun weekend planned. I haven't ever traveled on my own, so this is a new experience for me! Matt is at home with the kiddos. I miss them, so I'm wracking up the cell phone minutes checking up on everyone, but Matt has everything under control!

I was pretty nervous about flying - something about moving at 500+ mph makes me edgy :) The flight went better than I expected. Only a few bumps, but nothing major. I was a little bummed getting on the plane, because I had booked a window seat, however when I boarded the plane someone was in my seat. I played dumb and asked the flight attendant where seat 15A was, and she said the woman sitting in my seat was hoping I would switch with her husband, who was sitting in the middle seat behind our row, so they could sit together. I don't like middle seats, but I thought that would be better than sitting next to someone that I just ticked off! Anyway, when I accepted the flight attendant upgraded my seat and gave me free tv, so I got to calm my nerves by watching HGTV the whole flight!!! Turbulance isn't so bad when you're watching Designed to Sell :)

Anyway, Heather is at work for a quick meeting this morning, so when she gets home we're headed up to Breckenridge! I can't wait. The mountains had snow all day yesterday, and we could see white mountain peaks from her balcony this morning! We're hoping to make snow angels this afternoon!

So Big!

My little baby isn't so little anymore! She's started to hold her bottle, and sit up on her own! I am amazed at how fast this time has gone. Seems like just yesterday she was kicking inside my stomach. 1 year ago tomorrow was our 20 week ultrasound. I remember thinking that I heard the tech call her a "he", so from then on I was convinced we were having a boy. She's been a very happy baby - and LOVES the camera as you can tell from these pictures! I'm glad she's so generous with those smiles!

Big Hugs!

Noah and Lauren continue to be best buds! I know this won't last forever, so I'm getting as many pictures and savoring the moments while they last! One of Lauren's new favorites is to wake Noah up in the morning. Matt lays her by him, and she plays with his face with her cold fingers. No matter how tired he is he'll wake up with a smile if he knows its Lauren that's waking him up!

Life is good...

Matt's baseball team has made it to the state tournament again this year! Noah loves going to the games, and he's starting to point out various players. Its so much fun to watch him, and see how he looks up to those guys. We've been lucky enough to be part of the team, and have been able to make lifelong friends with the families involved with the team.

Matt and I have taken pictures together most seasons, and it is amazing to see how things have changed in the 8 seasons that the Longsox have played. I may be a little chubbier than I was back then, but look at the two sweeties we have to show for it! We are blessed :)

Congrats to the Lamberton Longsox!

Matt's amatuer baseball team clinched the conference title for the 7th straight year! They've had a great season and start the playoff tournament this coming weekend. Noah loves going to the games and running the bases like the "big kids" afterwards. This has been a special year for Matt as his little brother Justin signed with the Sox this spring, so it was the first time they were on a team together. Matt is in the back row - second in from the right, and Justin is in the front row - third in from the right.

Fun at the Sioux Falls Air Show!

I woke up Saturday morning and saw how nice it was, so decided we'd take Noah and Lauren to their first air show! For those of you that didn't know - I'm a little obsessed with planes, so this was maybe a little more for me than the kids. I'm so glad we decided to go though, because it was awesome! We had a great time.

Noah was a little starstruck by all of the pilots, so I took him over to meet one - ok, I'll admit - I may have thought they were cute in their uniforms, so I may have talked Noah into going over to see a pilot!!! He was nice enough to shake Noah's hand and lift him up to see inside the jet, which totally made his day. There had to have been 80,000 or more people - it was amazing! The highlight of the day was seeing the Blue Angels fly. They seriously gave me goosebumps! They have to fly with such precision - I'm attaching some photos so you can see the formations they fly in. There will be another air show in Sioux Falls in three years, so if you haven't been to one I highly reccomend going to the next one!

These are of the Blue Angels - they were AMAZING!!!

Planes flying in a circle

Check out these crowds!!!

Me and the kids in front of a F-18 Hornet

More Birthday Photos

Thanks to Andrea for the awesome baseball cake! It was amazing! Check out Lauren in the bumbo that we borrowed from our friend Ann! She loves sitting in it - I think she feels like she's part of the action!

Happy 3rd Birthday Noah!!!

Noah turned 3 on July 10th. I can't believe how fast time has gone! He's growing up to be an energetic but fun little boy! We gave him his first bike - I've attached a video of him seeing it for the first time. Unfortunately my camera stopped at the end, but if you watch close you'll see him freeze and his mouth drop open. It was the exact reaction that Matt and I were hoping for! He hopped right on the bike and took off down the street! This little guy doesn't have many fears! Happy birthday sweets! We love you lots!

Mommy and Lauren

I'm usually the one taking the photos, but found this one that Matt caught in the past month. Lauren is getting so big! We're getting together with my college friends at the beginning of August and will be attending a Twins game, so I had to see if Lauren's Twins onsie fit her - looks like it was a good fit when the picture was taken, so I'm hoping it still fits when we go! Hard to belive we've already crossed the 6 month mark. She's working on cutting teeth, so we've had a couple rough nights, but we'll get through it!

We celebrated Noah's birthday a week early with my family since Heather was home. He said he wanted a pool cake so this is what I came up with. He liked it, so thats all that mattered to me!