Family Time

Over the holidays Madeline Rose played with lots of cousins and had so much fun!  We saw all of the Faust side of the family and from the Sebastian side we saw all but the Allinson clan (who we missed dearly!)

Mike, Jan and Tom holding all the Faust cousins (Eli, Madeline, Leah, Anton, Colin and Jana)

While in the Twin Cities, we stayed with Jeff, Sara, Jana and Colin, so Madeline, Jana and Colin had lots of play time together. Jana and Colin had a little competition going: who could teach Maddy more new words.  Priceless!

"Relaxing"

Maddy and Jana

Maddy and Colin, deep in conversation

 Madeline learned a lot from her cousins and we enjoyed seeing them play together. I'm so glad we had a lot of down time to spend with each other!

Joel, Silver and Anali were at Mom and Dad's (Grandmom and Granddad Sebastian) when we arrived on Christmas Eve.  Madeline had so much fun playing with Anali!  She especially enjoys when her older cousins read to her.

 

Happy Cousins!

Great Grandma ("GG") with Madeline and Anali

Jon, Amy, Benjamin and Gabi arrived at Mom and Dad's the day our family needed to head back to the Twin Cities, but we were able to spend a few hours together, which made all of us happy.  We opened presents and caught up with each other.

Madeline, Gabi and Benjamin

Ben with Leah and Eli

  Here are more family photos from the holidays!  We enjoyed seeing everyone, eating so much good food and celebrating together. Thank you for a wonderful time.

Leah and Madeline

Sister Eunice, Steve and Madeline

 

Susan and Tom

Jan and Mike

Uncle Bob reading to Madeline

Granddad and Maddy

Aunt Silver and Madeline

Grandmom and Madeline Rose

Uncle Joel playing with Madeline

 

A "Beavis" for Grandmom  : )

Me, Madeline and Jon (with Benji and his rabbit ears!)

Anali, Grandmom and Maddy

Me, Madeline and sleepy Anali

Uncle Jon and Maddy

Goofball Maddy

Grandma reading to Maddy and Eli

Benji, Madeline and Aunt Amy

Tom and Jana

Ben and a tired Anton

Mike and Leah

Jan, Eli and Leah

Faust family time

Steve, Shelly, Leah and Ben

All Things Christmas

Baby Claus!

What an incredible holiday season!  We started celebrating early and continued on through the New Year!  Our annual cookie party was a success and the kids enjoyed decorating the cut-out cookies again this year.  Our trip to Minnesota was filled with family time and fun activities.

Cookie Party 2012

Rohin, Olivia and Madeline

Opening gifts from Mommy and Daddy

...and wooden fruit and veggies!

Yea! Alphabet Magnets!

Snow Sculpture in Duluth (21st Ave E.)

Christmas Morning: Santa's cookies and milk are gone!

Maddy as our own Elf on a Shelf

 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Madeline and Santa 2012

We have been having a wonderful holiday season, taking advantage of all the events leading up to Christmas. After a little tickle from me, we got a good smile from Madeline for the annual photo with Santa, and we had a good (but cold!) time at Zoo Lights. One of my friends at work makes cute outfits/hats for her grandchildren, and I convinced her to let me buy a holiday hat and tutu off her hands for Maddy, since I just knew she'd love them. She did, and said "pretty!" when she looked in the mirror and saw her new outfit.

Maddy's school had their annual "Winter Fair" where they turn classrooms into little wonderlands, such as the Enchanted Forest, Ice Queen, Gnome Lair, and Wizard's Palace.  There was a puppet show, face painting (which Maddy tolerated quite well!), crafts for sale and yummy food to eat.  Maddy was a little shy and I think a little confused about the changes at her school, but we all had a fun lunch with her schoolmates.

I love this time of year and I enjoy sharing my holiday spirit with Madeline. 

Happy holidays to all of you! 

Happy little Santa -Maddy

Steve and Maddy at Zoo Lights

Pretty!

Goofy Maddy!

Maddy and her Santa Bear book

Winter Fair: Enchanted Forest

Waiting for the puppet show

Goodnight Moon

I'm sure most of you who are parents know the book Goodnight Moon (probably by heart, as I do), but a funny thing happened last night/this morning and it had a lot to do with it...

For those of you who don't know the book, it's about a little bunny going to bed and throughout the book, we say goodnight to all the different things in the bunny's room.  One of them is "Goodnight to the old lady whispering hush" (imagine the  mommy bunny in a rocking chair).  Recently Maddy started pointing to the bunny, saying "mommy" and I thought it was really sweet although I'll admit I tried not to be offended that the book said "OLD lady."  Then last night I realized she was saying "BUNNY" only it just sounded like mommy.  (How did I know?  She added in "hop, hop" after it).  Once I figured that out, I tried to teach her the difference between the words mommy and bunny.
 
This morning as Maddy was eating her breakfast, she pointed to a picture of me on the wall and said "hop, hop."

Thankful

We spent Thanksgiving with the DeCock family near Seattle this year.  We had a wonderful time with Dave, Jane, Chris, Kim and Riley (or as Maddy likes to say "Rila").   Maddy was infatuated with Riley and was so happy when he read to her!  Our Thanksgiving meal was wonderful, with the traditional fried turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, root vegetables, pearl onions, lefse...and more! 

On Friday we braved the rain and went to the Seattle Market.  After walking around the market, munching on mini-donuts, we stopped at Elliot's Restaurant for the traditional appetizers and oysters.  I even tried an oyster this year - and it wasn't half bad. 

It was so nice to see everyone again and introduce our little Madeline. Thanks to the DeCock family for everything!

Annual Turkey Frying Ritual

Chris, Dave and Steve

So many good things to eat!

Me, Maddy, Chris, Riley, Dave, Jane and Kim at the Seattle Market

Dave and Maddy

Maddy's new friend Riley!