New Traditon

Last week, I got a nice surprise from Grandma Rank. A little background knowledge, GMA Rank collects Swarovski Crystal--it's always fun to look at the new pieces, and to see the case all lit up. Well, she has been keeping a secret from me...for 8 years!!!!!!! She started a collection for me---the annual Snowflake:) She started it when Brock and I got engaged and planned to give it to me when we got into our first house....WHAT A NICE SURPRISE and Way to keep it a secret. Here are a few pics of my new bling:

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, part 2

"Um Dad, this tree wouldn't fit in our backyard."
"Russ, it's not going in the backyard; it's going in our living room."

This is from one of my favorite christmas movies... it may not be the exact line...but if you know the movie, you know the line.

As previously stated, we went and got our tree this last weekend. We decided that height wasn't an issue because our house has a 20 foot stairwell, and we could always cut it to size when we got home. I was happy with a 10-11 foot tree, but somehow we ended up not trimming it down (brock says that doug tricked/confused him). Once it was up, it didn't look so BIG. Until Brock started stringing lights on it....we had about 5 strands of 100 or less lights on them. Brock told me to get some more...i bought 4 more strands of 100 at Michaels....brought them home. The tree swallowed them in an instant. Brock sent me to Lowes for 4 more boxes of 100. A few minutes passed and he asked for MORE........not wanting to go out again, I bought 6 more. I had to leave to pick up my mom....when I got home, brock was fumming. he burnt a fuse (he had attached all the lights into ONE BIG strand)---i can picture our electrical box turning a mile a minute like christams vacation...trully a griswold moment. On the ground was only 2 boxes of lights left..yes, only 2!!!!! I knew the tree was BIG, but really this big? So, I had to go BACK to Lowes to find a magic cord that Doug told brock about. Found the cord....and had to tackle the lights from the top down...UGh!!!!!!!! We ended up taking off 3 strands of light:) This tree ate up our ENTIRE sunday.....if you know me, sundays are my day to prepare for the upcoming week...i am still playing catch-up...hence, the late posts on the blog---ugh!!!! Anyways, here is a picture of the tree... i had to get it into 2 pictures because it wouldn't fit in one shot...hehehhehe (it's about 14-15 feet tall) ....maybe taller as I look at it. At least our first christmas with Ethan and inour house will always be remembered......Oh, yeah...brock kept complaining of the sap...luckily, he didn't pull my hair with it......LOL!!!!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree part 1

Rather than moving all these pics, I just left them as I loaded them; look down below for the written portion of this blog.

Steve and Lauren making some Hot Cocoa

Love this pic of the girls walking in the foggy forest
Marilyn and Robin being silly

Brock with a GREAT background

Laurens, Robin and Steve

JUMP ON! I'll just fling you across the field...........uh, no way!

The only Snow...

Ethan and I hanging out in the warm car......

Loading the tress, notice how much bigger the trees are compared to the truck...eck!

Lets just trim another 2 feet off 'em before we load them

White dog and snow = white dog, white dog and mud= DIRTY, HAPPY Dog

Warming up with so yummy food

Our yearly tradition is to go up in the mountains and chop down our tree. We were excited to have Ethan see his first snow (last year, we couldn't make it to the usual spot because the snow was too deep). This year, it was nothing but MUD, no snow :( However, it was still fun!!!! Ethan's many hats kept him warm. The yummy drinks/spaghetti kept us warm as we searched for the PERFECT tree.

Brock cutting down our tree

Milestones.....

Ethan has been trying to pull himself up whenever he is laying down. This can be a challenge when we are trying to feed or finishing up a bath, but it's FUN to watch. Here is a pic of him trying to get out of his chair:
Also, Ethan has been close to discovering his feet...he actually has been lifting them and staring them down (maybe warning them that he is going to GRAB them in the near future). Here are his leg lifts:



Just last night, he grabbed onto a foot:

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!!!

We hope that everyone GOBBLED TILL YOU WOBBLED!!!!!!

Ethan must have known it was a day for stuffing yourself, he ate 7oz in one feeding on this day....WHAT A BIG BOY!!!!