Happy 1st bday to Colin...

Sara's son Colin is 1 already! How does time go by so fast? This time last year I was in Florida meeting him for the first time. I am so glad to be able to have them in MI so that I could attend his bday party. He is pulling up on everything and will be walking in no time. It is such a fun, yet dangerous age.

Happy Birthday Colin! We love you lots.Pretty sure he didn't really like his cake. He ate it to make us happy. :)
My just as messy 3 year old.
Birthday friends.

The bday boy and his mommy.He had lots of help opening his presents.
I love this pic below. He is just precious. Can you tell the poor guy was getting sick?? Antibiotics and dr's on your bday can not be much fun.

A night out for Mommy

With Sara. What could be better than that? Even though they are back in town I certainly don't get to see her enough. It really stinks. But, we did get to finally get out together. :) To add to our not seeing each other, Sara got a part-time job! I am very excited for her.

1st Gymnastics class

Kaya is taking a gymnastics class. The first class was a little bit of an adventure, having eight 3 year olds in a gym together was very exciting for the 3 year olds for sure. They did some stretching, bars, balance beam, and tumbling. Kaya did very well. Every question that was asked was answered by her. She even raised her hand. :) She definately is not shy in any way and speaks up for herself. She is very lucky to have those qualities. She sure does make me proud. She is growing up way too fast.
Her cousin Eli is in her class with her. This is him doing his somersaults. It is nice for Kaya and him to be able to do this together, they seem to enjoy it.

Sled ride anyone??

Outside is what Kaya likes best. Hot or cold, she doesn't care. One good thing about it this time is that Mommy got some snowpants! I am so excited about them. I can now enjoy the sledding and angel making a lot more. Kaya always wants to have a turn to pull me around in the sled. Obviously the poor girl can't pull me anywhere, but then gets super upset if I try to help the sled go b/c she wants to be able to do it herself.

Another day...

... in the adventures of Kaya and Kaleb.These 2 are a riot! It is so much fun to watch them grow up together. I love the fact that Kaleb loves Kaya's dressup clothes. It never fails that they find them. They also found some New Year's favors and had a fancy party.

Sweet baby Fiona...

My friend Rachelle came to visit with her daughter Fiona. Kaya was in love! She loves babies so much and is so good with them. I totally enjoy watching her interact with babies, it makes me smile. Fiona is the happiest little girl I know and we had a great time playing with her. We even got to get rid of some baby clothes that have been laying around taking up space for way too long! I am so glad they are going to good use.

Happy New Year!!

Hopefully everyone had a great New Year celebration! I am anticipating a great 2009! It can only get better, right?? We had a great party at our house this year. Thanks to The Sterk's for taking Kaya overnight for us! We truly appreciate it. Thanks to all of our great friends and family who joined us in the festivities too. We had a great time!

Me and Sara...

I am sooo happy she is back in MI!

Tony and Abby

Carl and Jenni. Glad Carl could be home to celebrate with us. :)
Maci joining in the fun.

The whole crew at midnight. Happy 2009!
Me and my hubby.
Me and Abby.
Chris and Kerri livin' it up.

Kerri, Me, and Abby. Thank goodness for friends. I love them!
Oh yeah Kerri! Kickin' Chris's butt! He can't stand to have his wife beat him!
Jo-Jo air guitaring it up in the garage not hooked to anything. Totally acoustic. :)
Kristy and Kevin. Cheers to brothers too! (Most of the time...)

Together with The Pitzer's...

Addison and Kaya are always so excited to get together. The kids had gifts to exchange with each other. The girl's were giving each other their presents before we even knew what was going on, and they almost had them ripped open without us!

Here's Kaya teaching Addison about Hungry Hippo.

Matt and Colin hanging out.
Kaya picked out a doctor kit for Addison all by herself. She liked it so much herself that we ended up having to go get her one too! She's not a very good gift giver apparently.
Sara helping Colin open his present.
The girls, playing with Colin's present.
All dressed up for you!
Fireman Addison on the scene, ready to take some pics of the fire! (Or her own eyeball!)
I LOVE this pic of Colin! He is the sweetest little man I know.
This was officially our last Christmas get together. We enjoyed our season with family and friends very much, but are thankful too to get back into the normal swing of things. The holidays sure are busy and hectic.

Christmas at the Sutter's

The Sutter's had us over for brunch to celebrate Christmas together. We had such a great time! Kaya and Kaleb are the best of friend's so they always love getting to play together. And, Julia was in town from Colorado so it was great to see her too!

Below is Kaya hanging a pumpkin on the tree. She found it in the toy box and it was perfect size to be an ornament in her mind.Kaleb bouncing around on his ball.
Kaya sang "It's A Grand Ole Flag" for us! She is so funny! Again... has to be the center of attention.
Some Hungry Hippo action going on.
Julia is going to kill me for this but I htought it was too funny and cute! Abby's mom and Michelle got Kaya a book called The 2 Bobbies. It is about a cat and a dog that survived hurricane Ktrina and the dog saved the blind cat. Julia read it and this is what happened!!

Sobbing. So, if you want a good story in general, or need a good cry, you should check out the book!

The big Sterk party...

We got together with all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and the whole gang. The kids had a blast together as usual. They are always the highlight!

Here's Katelyn, Rylee, and Eli playing so nice.

Katelyn is getting so big!
Here's Kaya again taking pictures! The sequence of this pic and the next one cracked me up!

Auntie Karen with Kaya and Katelyn.
Kaya wrote CAT on the board. She always underlines it too, which I think is so funny!
Grandpa and Grandma Sterk with their 3 granddaughters.
This board kept the kids busy for a while!Grandpa Sterk had a 60th Birthday too! Kaya of course was front and center helping him open his presents. She sang for everyone too. She sure is a ham. I guess class clown fits her, just as her teacher's told us.
Fortunately I got to sit out of this one! Here is the fam. doing our version of the 12 days of Christmas. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!