2010 Highlights

The years seem to fly by these days. Maybe it's because we seem to stay so busy and there is no doubt that 2010 was a busy year for us! So far it's been the funnest year with Mackenzie. I thought it would be fun to share our some highlights from this last year.

January: We purchased a membership to the Children's Museum. It has been the one thing that Mackenzie and I can go do on a whim. She loves it there. Each time she finds something different to do. It's great for toddlers! If you have one near you I highly recommend trying it out.

February: this was a HUGE month. I took and passed my nursing boards. Wow, it's been almost a year!

March: Mackenzie was really getting into the Princess thing. She was starting to want to play dress up a lot.

April: Mackenzie turned 3 and received her first bike! That was the BEST birthday ever!

May: Pony rides are always a highlight. She loves them. I think this little girl might end up with a horse some day.

June: First baseball game. She loved it. Can't wait for summer again! This month has two pictures because we also made new friends! Lauren was Mackenzie's first preschool teacher when we changed daycares. We've become great friends and love getting together.

July: Daddy taught Mackenzie how to have a marshmallow fight with a marshmallow gun. We were invited to Lauren's parents house for the 4th of July (why Mackenzie has noise blockers on).

August: We spent August with friends! We have become social butterflies! Every moment with our friends are cherished. This is me with my bff Katrina.

September: Mackenzie got to spend some time with Uncle Jason and I finally got a great picture of them together.

October: It's when it really starts to feel like fall which means one thing to me, PUMPKIN PATCH!

November: We went for a few very nice walks! It was so much fun watching these girls play in the leaves. Mackenzie made a new friend, Hailey, as did I with her mommy. We can't wait for the girls to play together again! In this picture is Mackenzie, Ella and Hailey.

December: A great end to a fantastic year! December is all about Christmas to us. My last blog post you saw how awesome Christmas can be with a 3 year old. Matt and Mackenzie decorated the tree this year and I think it turned out great!

Here is to a wonderful and blessed 2011. I wonder what it will bring...

Our AMAZING Christmas

Matt and I played host for Christmas Eve/Day this year. We had a blast. I really want to express that Christmas with a 3 1/2 year old is a hoot! Mackenzie was super excited this year. And not just when opening presents. It all started when we went on the Santa Train. She talked a lot about Santa after that. She knew that he was watching.....and she was good. The Foster's have always opened presents on Christmas Eve, even when Matt was a kid. So that is what we do. Then in the morning you see that Santa came. When I was child, we opened one present on Christmas Eve and did the rest in the morning.

I took Mackenzie to her first Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Matt's mom went with us too. It was a lovely service. Mackenzie held her own candle for a couple of minutes and then handed it to me. She was very careful. She was in awe looking out over the congregation (we were in the balcony) and seeing all of the candles. There was a live nativity also. Mackenzie was excited to hear about the how Jesus was born and loved singing the Christmas carols.

Let's talk about the food.

Oh the food. It was delicious! Here is what our menu consisted of:

Christmas Eve we had leg of lamb with a sweet and spicy rub along with plum sauce. Green and white lasagna, broccoli with oranges and almonds, along with rolls. It was wonderful! We were too full to even touch dessert!

Christmas morning we had spiced apple crepes, sausage balls (meat and non-meat), caramel apple sweet rolls and mimosas.

Christmas Dinner we had a black forest ham, mashed potatoes and mustard gravy. We also had leftover lasagna, broccoli and rolls.

Dessert was a cake that had alternating layers of pumpkin and chocolate with chocolate ganache between the layers. The frosting was a salted caramel buttercream. It was wonderful too. I thought the cake was a little dry but it was still wonderful.

It was a great time with our family. The only thing that was missing was my family back home. I miss them so much, especially at Christmas. When I was growing up my sister, mom and I would make big gingerbread houses from scratch while listening to Christmas music. Dad would always come in dancing and singing "Christmas times a comin'" to make us laugh. What wonderful memories we share.

Here are some pictures from our AMAZING Christmas. I tried to rearrange the pictures but blogger is being a bugger.

Opening up her first gift from Santa-Princess Belle doll

The Princess Belle dress up dress from Mommy & Daddy

Making cookies for Santa

Our tree before present time

Pictures before Christmas Eve service

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Now it's time to get my house back together.