Christmas in Iowa

Ani & Cousin Ava on Christmas morning

Grandpa & Ani

Laughing at Monte's gift to Mark & Kathy... Bic lighters. Because they need more. :)

We haven't had a new family photo in awhile!

Tara's 1st time meeting Ani, whose "Mom Rocks"

Grandma & Ani

The crew at the Brew

In the Paper

This ad ran Christmas Eve in the "Baby's 1st Christmas" section of the Muscatine Journal and on the Journal online, thanks to Jaime! My mom ended up running a similar ad with a different photo of Ani, so she was in the print edition twice. Famous girl.

Party On

Happy Birthday, Monte! The big 3-4. We both have the day off so I think we'll just hang out with our daughter and enjoy not being in the car for 5+ hours like yesterday's drive home from IA. :) 

Bread Making

After one failed attempt (something to do with the yeast portion of the recipe), Monte successfully made us some very tasty whole wheat bread from scratch! No bread-making machine involved. :) The oven will be busy these next couple days as well, since I plan on baking stuff to take back for Christmas. We're so excited to see everyone in the Pearl!

It's hard to believe this is the 1st official day of winter since we've had a lot of cold, snowy days already. If you're a "glass is half full" type person like I usually am, this means that each day from here on out (well until summer hits), just gets longer and stays light later, which is a wonderful thing.

Let It Snow

My normal 20 minute commute home today took extra long - 45 minutes - because of the snow and icy conditions. I could have ran faster down 494! Oh well. Ani slept the whole time so it was OK.

We finally got a Christmas tree last night. Monte calls it the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree but I think it's just perfect! And Ani opened a couple more gifts. I've said it before, but she just loves any type of paper.

Santa is Coming

Here's our girl getting in the Christmas spirit! Since we'll be with my family for the holiday, Ani already opened a couple gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Dirks last night... a cute hat/mitten set and also a new pair of pajamas. The best part was watching her tear open the presents and rip apart the tissue paper. She was so focused and intent on it.

We have a play date on Friday afternoon with some friends from the childbirth prep class and we are hoping to make it a monthly or bi-monthly occasion. I think this will be especially fun when the kids get older.

Night Out

On Friday, we had a night out with Cory & Tara. Dinner at the Town Talk Diner, then off to the British Television Advertising Awards show at the Walker. Highly recommended! They were great - most were hilarious, while others had a powerful message. 

Here's the overall winner.  

6 Months

Ani is now 6 months old, half a year - I can't believe how quick it has gone! She had a routine checkup today and she has only gained 4 oz. since the last time (4 mos.)! But other than that, she is right on track for length and head growth. Her new favorite thing is playing with paper as you can tell...

I am also back to work - I found a different company that needed someone for a part-time marketing/graphics position. It's only 20 hrs/wk, which is perfect. I've been there about 6 weeks now and so far so good. Ani is doing well at her daycare too. She paints a lot with her hands and feet and makes cute artwork for our fridge already! 

My Wife Can Ride

Highlights from our Thanksgiving holiday in Omaha.....

Monte and I on the tandem! With good, consistent communication from Monte, we were able to successfully ride around the old neighborhood. And I had fun! As long as I looked straight ahead and just had trust, I did OK. Monte is now looking into buying our own tandem and would love talking me into riding it w/ him in RAGBRAI some summer.... we'll see. :)

Meanwhile, Ani enjoyed time with Grandpa & Grandma Dirks and also meeting Great-Grandma Vrbas for the first time. Here is a four-generation picture.