Flower Girl

Ani and I were honored to be in my friend Jaime's wedding last weekend in my hometown. Jaime and I go way back (cheerleading, 9th grade English class... all things high school, UNI and everything in between!) and she also asked our other 3 "besties" :) to be bridesmaids as well as her sister and soon-to-be sister-in-law.

Wedding was a blast - long day starting with set up of ceremony/reception site, hours at the salon getting hair, makeup and nails done, then all the wedding hoopla. I was worried about Ani not following directions for her flower girl duties, but she did a wonderful job and (of course I'm going to say this) looked sooo adorable! The ceremony and reception were right on the riverfront.

Yes, the couple's dog was the actual ring bearer. He did a good job!

photo courtesy of Genevieve's Photography

Right before we walked down the aisle.

My girls


My parents & Liam... I think Meggie was chasing Ani around, otherwise they would have been in the picture too!

Laughter

This may be my favorite video of our two nuggets so far. Love their laughs.

Kiddos

Liam is 5-1/2 months old. Sits up by himself now. Eats everything in sight. Drinks water from a cup. Loves bath time. Is completely enamored with his entertaining sister. Things seem to be moving so much quicker with the second one! :(

I took Ani to Valleyfair today for a little "mommy and me" time. We both had a lot of fun. She was scared of the people dressed up as Peanuts characters, like Snoopy, but did take her picture with the Snoopy statue. She said her favorite ride was the Spider (although when we were on it, she was telling me she wanted off the ride).

Visits

Back to back to back visits from Monte's parents, the Edkin's, and my parents....

Twins game - might have been the hottest and sweatiest (is that a word?) that we've all ever been! Surprised Ani lasted through the 7th inning, what a trooper.

Beautiful sky in downtown walking back from game.

Birthday Party

Newman created this great video of Ani's 3rd birthday party a few weeks ago. Thanks!

Father's Day

Thanks to a friend who, at the last minute, could not use his family's Twins tickets today, we were able to go. It was my first time at Target Field. A nice, impromptu Father's Day activity for our fam!

Photos

We so loved our photo session gift we got for Ani from Tim & Eric when she was 8 weeks old that we went back to Eldridge, IA to Mark's Place to get more taken for Liam. Ended up getting a few of all of us, plus some of the kiddos together. These are scanned in from a computer print out so obviously not the best quality, but it's all I have so far because we have not placed our actual print order yet.

Brother & Sister

Baby Boy

We have been so blessed to welcome a little boy to our family! Liam Dean was born 3/2/11 at 8:58 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz and 20.5" long. He is a mellow little guy and so darn cute.

Rock the Cradle

Rock the Cradle was our destination today - fun-filled couple of hours at the M.I.A. (Mpls Institute of Arts) where 89.3 the Current (our awesome public radio station in town) had a kid disco, musical instrument petting zoo, story time w/ the DJs, and much more. The snow storm really didn't affect their attendance - it was jam packed.

Ani at the disco...

Belly, Jana, & House Update

33 weeks....

Jana's Chaska reception....

And last but not least, our house project at end of 3rd week....

Rear view

New Year's Eve

Monte quoted on WCCO this evening while out getting beer at Surdyk's! He was actually on the 6 o'clock news but we don't see the video on-line. I'll keep looking.

Monte Dirks is buying early too, so he doesn’t have to be on the roads later. Because of the weather and roads, he and his family are ringing in the New Year at home. “Perfect time to stay in while everybody else is out going wild and crazy,” said Dirks.

Because of the weather, we had to miss another Miller wedding... Brent & Eryn got married 2 weeks after we had Ani, and now we're missing Nate & Kelli Jo's. Bummed out about it but definitely didn't feel safe driving in the storm.

Muskie Christmas

Christmas in Muscatine was snowy and fun. Santa Claus even showed up at my parents' house Christmas Eve - cousin Ava (6 yrs old) loved it, cousin Luke (1-1/2 yrs old) didn't really have a reaction, and Ani was PETRIFIED. It was so funny! She still to this day (I'm posting this late in mid-January 2011, but will date it as 12/25/10) says she doesn't want Santa to come to our house.

Splitting wood - a typical activity for Matt & Monte

Ani loves Sam and the snow

Check out her face!

Now she feels a little safer with Dad

Luke didn't seem to mind Santa

Christmas morning

29 weeks

Mass chaos handing out gifts when the rest of the family came over

The Gear's minus Gavin

Sibling photo

Burn Baby Burn

We were all total home bodies this past weekend and we loved it! Monte's latest project is the wood-burning stove insert that he wanted to install himself - and he did end up installing it, but after many attempts, some help from Hagen and our neighbor, and much frustration. But it paid off. It's in and the coals have been hot ever since. It's very nice having a fire every night.

Ani enjoyed playing in the snow (all 17 inches of it). It's the only time she'll wear her winter coat without a fight. She is more hot blooded than we thought. She also was a "big help" to me when I made Christmas cookies on Sunday. She helped roll the dough and cut the cookies out. Thankfully she was done helping me when the frosting and sprinkles came out, so I got to do those by myself and it didn't get too messy! She even said afterwards, "Thanks for helping me bake cookies, Mama!"

Our stylish girl

Getting In The Spirit

Winter/snowman-building spirit....

Christmas spirit....

Thanksgiving in KC

We spent a few hours at Monte's aunt and uncle's place in KC on Thanksgiving day, then spent the rest of the weekend w/ my family at my brother's. We enjoyed a break from the snow and cold weather!

Monte has never held a chicken before

Four generations

Momma and 3 of the 4 kids

Shooting pool w/ Gavin Gear all the way from Denver, CO

Enjoying the outdoors w/ my nieces

Tea party time

TeStrake clan