December 31

Happy New Year's Eve!

This is how we started the day... not quite a party yet:

Take a boy who has been coughing for a few days and combine it with a 103.2 degree fever and the middle of the night and you earn yourself a trip to the pediatrician! There were signs asking anyone who had been coughing to wear a mask because of a recent whooping cough outbreak (really, isn't this why we should all vaccinate our kids?). No whooping cough for us, just Riley's second case of strep throat this month.

Abe and I ended our day by celebrating at Aunt Nancy & Uncle Joe's annual New Year's Eve party. Tons of great food, drinks, music and company - perfect way to end the year!

Pouring the first beer of the evening...

The birthday boy!

December 30

We spent the morning at....

The Crayola Factory! I'm so happy that this is a favorite of the boys and that we live so close!

December 29

We didn't really do a whole lot this week - both boys were off from school, but Abe was working on a big project for work, so we spent a lot of time just playing, watching movies and relaxing!

"Mommy, what does this do?"

December 28

Santa brought me a new camera today!! I've wanted a new point & shoot for a while - something smaller and lighter to carry around on a daily basis (I've been hauling my DSLR around). Yippee!

Test shot #1! Riley and Jonah both got these Lowe's aprons for Christmas, and Riley wore his for most of the week!

December 25

Merry Christmas!!

We had such a great day! Nanny, Poppop and Aunt Kathleen joined us in the morning for breakfast and to open presents. The boys must have been especially good this year because Santa left them a huge pile of gifts!

Santa and the reindeer ate the treats and left a note for Riley!

The boys both got Geo Trax trains - a huge hit!

We went over to Nanny & Poppop's house for lunch today with the whole Fielding side of the family. I made shirts for the boys, but again, Jonah was not interested in posing for me!

We're all feeling especially blessed this year and we hope you are too!

December 24

This morning we went with the boys' friends Gwen & Cole and their daddy, Andy, to the America on Wheels museum. They were hosting special train displays for the holidays - a lego train, a garden train, and a train display with buttons for the kids to push to make different things light up and move. They had a blast!

Someone really didn't want to have his picture taken!

Riley wrote a letter to Santa to make sure he knew which presents to leave at our house. I also asked Riley what snacks we should leave for Santa and the reindeer and he wanted to leave cookies for Santa and grass for the reindeer... the plate looked delicious!

December 20

Riley's preschool class held their Christmas program this morning - it was adorable! They sang a lot of familiar Christmas songs, but they also did some really cute things like the Reindeer Hokey Pokey!

December 18

Today was our big Sunday School Christmas program at church. Riley was very ill the day before, so he stayed home with Abe. But Jonah wore his angel costume with his classmates and was so stinking cute in it!

December 16

This morning we headed to Nanny & Poppop's house to make cinnamon applesauce ornaments!

December 15

Abe came home from a business trip this afternoon and the boys piled on him!