Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas Eve at our house with Matt's side of the family.

Addy and Santa Baby

(Yes, Addy is still wearing the yellow tutu)

Grandma Becky and Santa Griffin

Great Grandma Betty and Great Grandpa Terry

An attempt at a family picture.

Christmas morning Addy woke up to find the her jumper (aka trampoline) that she has been asking for along with her bumble bee pillow pet that she has been wanting for months.

We had a quiet Christmas morning at our house

and then headed down to my parents for our traditional Swedish pancake breakfast.

More presents and playtime with Caroline!

We missed the rest of the cousins. They were home with the flu :( We are going to have a "Christmas Do Over" on New Year's day.

{Notice Addy switched to her Snow White dress for Christmas-she refused to wear her actual Christmas dress.}

Matthew and

Dad preparing Christmas dinner.

We were once again spoiled by all our family and friends.

We are so very blessed.

I hope Santa was good to you all! Merry Christmas!

Holiday Cheer

We have been busy celebrating the season.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care,

the house is decorated, the tree is trimmed,

and our favorite present is already under the tree.

Addy has been enjoying her gifts from Grandma and Papa. We celebrated early so Uncle Joel could be with us before he was deployed for Afghanistan.

This past weekend we got to get dressed up two nights in a row which is a record for this family lately. Friday we attended Matt's holiday party at the Nines. {Thanks to our wonderful babysitters.}

Then on Saturday we got to celebrate this cute couple.

Congrats Lisa and Dom!

The kids had a Christmas party at church on Sunday

and Santa visited all the good boys and girls.

Monday was a Christmas lunch with my best friends from high school.

It was so fun to catch up

and play with all the babies.

We have had such a great December. We are now looking forward to celebrating the big day. I can't wait to see Addy's face Christmas morning!

May your holidays be filled with Love and Joy!

The Elhardt Family

Yellow Tutu

Well Christmas has come early at our house. Addy's cousins cleaned out their dress up clothes and Addy has hit the jackpot. She got a huge bag of princess dresses and tutus but she really got excited when she found this beautiful ballet costume. If you know Addy you know that she LOVES yellow or should I say she is obsessed with yellow. She loves anything and everything that is yellow. So to find a ballerina outfit that is yellow is a very special day!

I am a little worried we will never be able to get it off of her body.

Apparently it is quite comfy sleeping in a scratchy tutu.

Here she is singing and dancing in her new favorite outfit.

I am not sure Santa is going to be able to top this gift.

Bake Off 2010

Several of my college friends and I have made it a tradition to get together the first weekend of December to bake, craft, and spend the weekend getting in the holiday spirit. It is also time to renew our friendship since many of us don't get to see each other as often as we would like. Once again this year we had a fabulous time. I don't think there was a pause in the conversation for the entire 48 hours that we were together.

It was a little harder to get our baking and crafting done this year with so many adorable babies to hold... but we loved it.

Rothie brought the twins and Spry flew up from L.A.

{very impressive}

We also had to make time to cheer on the Cougs in the Apple Cup.

The craft table

and some of our yummy creations.

I am already looking forward to this weekend next year.

Love you girls!

So Thankful...

for these little munchkins that always brighten my day!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Brr It's Cold Outside!

Addy has been so excited about the snow!

But I think she loves the excuse to drink hot chocolate the most.

New Dining Room

We have had major construction going on in our house since March. It has mostly been in the basement but last week we got new sheet-rock (to cover some wood paneling) in our dining room. My friend Andrea inspired me to get a little crew together and paint the room while Matt was away at school.

Thank you Tom and Becky (Matt's parents) for all your help!

And Addy was also a super helper!

I got the room put back together before Matt got home and

he was quite surprised!

It didn't last long though...first thing Sunday morning the room was turned back into a construction zone. Matt installed two new lights and began working on the baseboard trim. We are hoping to have it all done by Thursday so we can host Thanksgiving.

Basement update! The drywall is done. We have picked out carpet, paint, and tile. My dream is for it to be done by Christmas but not sure if that will happen.

My Little Helper

Addy loves to help in the kitchen.

Last night the warm, soapy, water looked really inviting...

I left the kitchen for a second and look who got into the sink.

We got bath time and dishes done at once.

P.S. She has been wearing that pink sparkly dress every day for several weeks. She is now able to dress and undress on her own, so half way through the day clothes are off and she is running around the house in her "Princess Dress."

God Loves Griffin

"I love you right up to the moon-

and back." -Sam McBratney

Every night Addy asks Matt to take her outside to see the moon.

Depending on the clouds, they can't always see it, but it is always a special part of the bedtime routine.

Trick or Treat

It has been fun watching Addy learn about Halloween and creating new holiday traditions with our family.

This was the first year she could really help with carving pumpkins. She was a little confused and thought when we were all done she was going to be able to wear the pumpkin around like a hat or a mask... but after a few tears we got it figured out.

She was thrilled to see it lit up with a candle.

So proud of her pumpkin but

Griffin is still the cutest pumpkin!

We headed out to Steph and Steve's for trick or treating.

It is always fun to see how the kids dress up.

Ellie won the prize for the most creative costume...

a completely home-maid (by Ellie) peacock.

Time to get some candy! Let's go!

I think Addy is getting the hang of the holiday thing...

and she is loving it.