Christmas 2010

We enjoyed a few Christmas celebrations throughout the past two weeks. Our first celebration was at our own house, just the four of us.


Lauren, Annie, and I got Geoff a pair of noise canceling headphones and Lauren LOVED wearing them. Geoff and I just love her smile in this photo.



Our living room was (and still is) a mess of gifts! My goal is to finally get it cleaned up tomorrow. In my defense, we have been out of town for just over a week!



On Christmas Eve we drove over to Rockford and stayed with Geoff's parents. Here is the Hanson family all dressed up and ready for Christmas Eve mass. Annie is still not so sure about the whole picture thing! She didn't make a peep during mass though and Lauren was fantastic as well. I think this means we are back to going to mass as a family. I really hope this continues, because going to mass all alone is lonely. We went to Christmas Eve mass at the church I grew up at and ran into a few of my elementary classmates. What a pleasant surprise! Lauren was very interested in Baby Jesus.



Annie got me a charm with her name and birthdate on it for my Tiffany bracelet. Now I have a charm for our wedding date, Lauren's birthday and Annie's too.



On the day after Christmas we went to my parent's house to celebrate. My Grandma and Bruce came over too to celebrate with us and meet Annie. What a great family photo!



Four generations. We took a photo like this on Lauren's first holiday which was Thanksgiving, so I wanted to take one on Annie's first holiday too.



Papa and Annie were both so tired after all the holiday activities!

Annie Update and Train Ride

On Saturday we took Annie for her 2 week check-up. Dr. Siegel was very happy with her progress. She was 7 lbs 11 oz when she was born and weighed 8 lbs 12 oz at her appointment. She sure is a great eater! Lauren came with us to the appointment and was so interested in everything Dr. Siegel was doing. I don't think Lauren said anything for almost 1/2 an hour, which is very unlike her. Here's a photo of Annie getting ready to go to the doctor.



I really needed to get out of the house and participate in some type of family activity by the time Sunday rolled around. So we decided to take our traditional Polar Express Train Ride. Lauren was so excited to ride the train! Geoff read The Polar Express to the girls and then we watched for Christmas lights out the windows. Although I think Lauren was more interested in the other passengers on the train, than looking out the window.



Last night we took Annie to see Santa. We took Lauren about a week before Thanksgiving, but decided Annie needed to see him too. Lauren was with us, but didn't want to sit on Santa's lap this time. She did tell him what she wanted while standing in front of him though. This was the same Santa we took Lauren to for her first visit a few years ago. We brought Annie back to him because we remember what a cute photo the "sleeping Santa" is. Now we have one for each daughter! (Just for you Aunt Stephanie)



Here's a short video of Annie's first story. Mammie was holding her last week and Annie just kept "talking and talking."

Holiday Blessings

We have so much to be thankful for this holiday season!


1. The wonderful relationship Geoff and Lauren have. They have had so much fun these past few weeks. Going to the Museum of Science and Industry, picking up our Christmas tree, going to Geoff's children's Christmas party, and running errands for Mommy.



2. Our new little family of four.



3. Our Little Lauren, who is not so little anymore! She is a fantastic big sister to Annie. Lauren loves reading books to Annie, singing her songs, putting Annie's pacifier into Annie's hand or mouth, playing peek-a-boo with Annie, and helping Mommy when I change Annie's diapers.



4. All of our family and friends who have been so helpful these past few weeks! Even our friends and family who are not close by have been very supportive through phone calls and by sending thoughtful cards. So many people have helped in various ways and for that we are extremely grateful.



5. Our new little bundle of joy, who truly is Santa's Favorite. Annie is eating and sleeping really well. We are adjusting well to a family of four too.



6. An extremely fun and exciting life! Here's a little preview of our Christmas card photo. Even Annie looks like she would like to play with Daddy and Lauren with her arms outstretched like that.

Cookie Making According to a 2 Year Old

First you have to push down on the dough and make it like a pancake.



Then you have to use the rolling pin, with Mommy's help, to flatten the dough even more.



Next, press out the shapes just like Playdough. (Notice the little flour on Lauren's forehead?) She kept saying, "I'm eating the flowers." So cute!



Now it's time to frost the cookies, or just eat them all! Lauren ate at least one cookie to each one she frosted. She also put an entire spoon full of frosting into her mouth and used the spoon to gather up all of the sprinkles on her tray and eat them. We couldn't believe she actually went right to bed for us after all that sugar.



Next comes the sprinkles. Lauren would put a few on the cookie before adding even more to her tray for snacking.



Thanks to Mom, for another family photo!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Saturday was Geoff's 31st birthday. I tried really hard to make sure he had enough time during the day to do what he wanted and not ask for too much help with the girls. We had a wonderful family celebration at home in the late afternoon with presents and cake. A huge thanks to my mom, who came back to help out for a few days and stay with the girls so Geoff and I could go out to dinner for his birthday! We went to a local Italian/French restaurant called Gabriel's. Not only were the service and food fantastic, but we thoroughly enjoyed our entire experience. In fact, our dinner lasted just over 2 hours! It was great to be out just the two of us!


Our first four family member photo.



Geoff and his girls!


Lauren was so excited for Geoff's birthday because she thought it was hers. She is simply in love with birthdays these days and keeps saying, "My birthday coming up." So when it was time for Geoff to blow out his candles, guess who was right there ready and waiting to help? Not only did Lauren help blow out the candles, but I think she is going to be Geoff's cake buddy as well. She had all of her cake and ice cream eaten before we even had our own pieces dished out.

Introducing Annie Elizabeth!

We welcomed our second daughter, Annie Elizabeth, into this world on Wednesday, Dec. 1st at 2:57pm. This happens to be the same day as my Dad's birthday. Now they are birthday buddies! Annie's delivery was much easier than Lauren's and everyone is doing very well! Annie was given this little red hat to wear in celebration of Christmas.


A proud Daddy.


Introducing Annie to Lauren. Lauren had such a huge smile on her face when she met Annie. She loves giving her hugs and keeps telling Annie to talk. She walks over to Annie and says, "Talk Annie, talk."


I can just imagine what was going through Lauren's face when Annie started crying. "I promise I'm not doing anything wrong, Mommy!"

Thanksgiving Goodness

Let me start by saying again how very thankful I am that my entire family was willing to come to our house to celebrate Thanksgiving! Because it was so close to my due date, Dr. Forbes didn't want me traveling to Michigan so my parents and Steph, Jon, and Wilma came to our house. Thanks family!

My second bit of thankfulness goes out to Steph, Geoff and Mom for making everything! Not only was I thankful to not be in the kitchen and have that stress, but I know their dishes were much more tasty than mine would have been. Thanks for the delicious meals!


Here was our appetizer spread that we enjoyed about 4 hours before our big meal.



The chef himself, checking out the details in the cookbook.


Lauren made this little hat at Mariah's house and loved wearing it throughout the weekend.


Mom bought us these super cute aprons to wear on Thanksgiving day. I was so happy to be able to wear mine even though I wasn't really in the kitchen at all. I did set the table though. Oh and I made these little paper turkey place cards and then totally forgot to get them out until Friday morning! When I do things like that I really know how pregnant I am!


Watching the thermometer slowly rise. Such looks of intensity!



Steph and Geoff both made a turkey using different brines. Both birds were fabulous. Very juicy and lots of flavor.


The table just waiting for delicious dishes.



Relaxing after a successful Thanksgiving meal.