Christmas Day

Madeline spent the night in her new BIG GIRL BED on Christmas Eve! We moved the bed in there earlier in the day, but weren't planning on making the transition until at least the 26th, but after reading bedtime stories there, she was perfectly content to close her eyes and stay there. We've had no problems with her getting up and wandering around the house, so the crib is now waiting for it's new occupant in the baby's room!

Our new family tradition is to go to Mass on Christmas Day rather than fighting the crowds on Christmas Eve. We've spent too many years arriving at a service early to find that there are no seats available, standing in a cold hallway or vestibule. Christmas Day is much less stressful with 1/3 of the crowd and all of the cheer. After 9AM Mass this year, we went downstairs to see what Santa had left for us. Madeline was thrilled that Santa knew of her love for Thomas the Tank Engine!

We then went over to Grandma & Grandpa Schmitt's house for more food, gifts, and celebration. Aunt Laura and Uncle Hunter braved a 16 hour drive from Colorado to be with us.

Laura was amazed by how much bigger I had gotten since Thanksgiving, and was treated to a love kick.

How did Santa know that Madeline had a stocking at Grandma & Grandpa's house too?

Merry Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to host the Hay side of the family for the afternoon and evening. We enjoy yummy treats all day, a delicious meal using our fine china, time together, and of course, cap off the evening with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Madeline spends time with Grandpa, Uncle Will, and (soon to be Aunt) Jenny.

Grandma and Aunt Marie enjoying the photo book we complied of Madeline's year.

Opening more gifts...

a toolkit! Madeline loves "helping" Dad when he is working around the house, and she loves having her own tools now!

House Projects

In true Hay fashion, home improvement projects dominated our weeks before Christmas, with wonderful results! Here is a close-up of the crown molding Dan and his dad put up in the baby's room, along with the fabulous new coat of green paint done by his mom and sister.

The green matches our neutral baby decor, and in years to come can either be accented by blue or pink. And the crown molding adds a touch of class to the room.

While we're installing crown molding, let's just do the chair rail in the upstairs hallway too! We accented the bottom with the same gold color in our foyer.

Love it!!

A "Real" Haircut

Madeline's hair has been such a puzzle to me lately. No matter where I put rubber bands or clips it just always looks messy. The cold dry weather also does her fine, static-y hair no favors.

So I decided it was time for a "hair style". Here are the "before" photos...

...and a good picture of the semi-mullet that has resulted in growing out baby hair!

Ahhh... and here we are after. Very cute toddler hair. I'm thrilled. :)

One More Birthday Celebration...

We celebrated Madeline's birthday once more at Grandpa & Grandma Hay's house with more family. Unfortunately, Dad had to go out of town unexpectedly for work, so he missed this celebration.

Here she is with another life-size stuffed animal, which she loves!

Grandpa helps her get the toys out of the impossible packaging.

Taking pictures with her new camera with Great-Grandma Luzinski

Look at all these toys!! What a lucky girl! :)

Madeline LOVES to help out in the kitchen. Here she is helping Grandma make whipped cream for the cake.

"Happy Birthday to You!"

Fun at the Circus

Madeline celebrated her birthday with Grandpa and Grandma Schmitt and Uncle Mark at the circus.

Her favorite part was seeing the elephants, which she talked about for days!

Then after a nap, everyone came over for pizza and cake & ice cream. Here Madeline is playing with some new pretend food. She's really getting into pretending now- it's so neat to be included in her world.

And she's loving stuffed animals- especially the ones that are bigger than her!

... spending time with "Uht Maat".

My Baby's Turning Two!

Here's the Birthday Girl holding her cupcakes for her little party with a few friends!

Playing in the basement with Bode, Erin, and Rory.

We had some pizza and snacks, and of course the cupcakes!

And Madeline loved it when all the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to her. :)