December 2013

This is going to be a ridiculously long post since, once again, I have fallen terribly far behind in our blog.  December was full of fun events, especially with holidays and a new cousin welcomed into the family, so here goes...

We continued our tradition of picking up a Christmas tree the night we get back from our Thanksgiving St. Louis trip.  This year, we had to put the tree up in the man cave in order to keep it safe from Hannah.  Danica and Danny put the star on the tree.

Danica places the first ornament.

So angelic!  Not quite sure why she wanted to pose like this!

Hannah supervised the decorating.

One of Danny's coworkers offered to take some holiday photos for us. These were some of our favorites.  Hopefully by next year, Hannah will have learned to smile for the camera!

Our annual visit to Chick-fil-a to see Santa. This year, Danica was all ready for him, but Hannah wasn't so sure!

Since the big tree is upstairs, I decided to make the girls their own tree downstairs to decorate and redecorate and redecorate as they like.  Thank you Pinterest!  This one provided hours of entertainment!!

In the church lobby

Rudolph at the Discovery Center

I took the girls to paint a few ornaments.

Danica's reindeer donut at her preschool class Christmas party.

Grandma bought this nativity set for Danica at the Miss Patty Cake concert.  It quickly became a favorite toy, with Danica reenacting the Christmas story again, and again, and again, ...

Mommy's little helpers test Great Grandmother Kirk's fudge recipe.

We continued our annual tradition of having a few friends over to decorate gingerbread houses.

This year, Abby, Victoria, and Sydney joined us for the festivities.

Danica and her finished house

Hannah decorated one as well.

Crazy hair!

Sweet sisters - they LOVE playing in the tub together!

Jake helps out with Hannah at a family dinner.

Daddy decided to introduce Hannah to See's suckers.  They were a huge hit.

Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma Carolyn's house.  Danica and Caroline spend some time together.

Meanwhile, the big kids focus on their electronic devices.

A delicious meal!

Hannah liked the jello cake!

Hannah opens her shopping cart from the Pack/Rietz Clan

Putting out some food for the reindeer

Cookies for Santa

Nestled all snug in her bed, ready for those sugarplums!

Danica assembles her Christmas morning breakfast, Rudolph pancakes.

Danica is super excited for new mittens in her stocking.

Hannah gets some snacks in her stocking, but doesn't realize they need to be unwrapped first.

Santa brought Hannah this ladybug pillow pet.

Danica models the gift she picked out for Daddy.

Danica's coveted gift from Santa, Prancine, the unicorn Stuffie

Danica's gift from Uncle Bob.

Uncle Bob gave Hannah her first cell phone.  She knew just what to do with it!

Hannah puts her new baby doll in her shopping cart.

The highlight of everyone's holiday was the Christmas Day arrival of a new cousin, Baby Tripp!

So much hair, and looks SO much like his daddy!

Pops, Bubbie, and Faith came to visit for a few days.  We'll pretend it was to see us, but we all know Tripp was the main attraction!  After Danica and Faith bonded so well at Thanksgiving, Danica was excited to have Faith come to visit so that she could take her for a walk around our neighborhood.

We went with Pops, Bubbie, and the big Rietz/Pack kids to the Adventure Science Center.  Danica enjoyed playing the piano.

Making more music

Just a little too short to line herself up with the skeleton!

Our future doctor plays in the ambulance

Coming down the big slide with Daddy

Danica, the paleontologist 

studying architecture

Pops and Bubbie treated us to a fabulous "Hawaiian" dinner at Omni Hut.  We can't believe we've never eaten here before!  Most of the food was quite tasty, and the decor was awesome (who doesn't like dining by black light?).

Faith takes Danica for a walk on the greenway.

Danica bonds with Pops.

Rollerskating with the cousins

Pops and Hannah hung out so that Mommy and Daddy could skate, too.

Danica really wanted to play her new Operation game with Pops, since he's a real doctor and would therefore be an expert.  Appropriately, he won.

The girls were invited to Meridian's house for a countdown to noon on New Year's Eve.  Angela is always full of fun ideas, and didn't fail to disappoint this time.  The kids anticipate the big balloon drop...

Happy New Year (almost!)

Opening their poppers

Well, that wraps up the photos from 2013.  What an amazing year it has been for our family, full of surprises and happy memories.  We are so grateful for the ways God has blessed us this year, and are looking forward to all that He has in store for us in 2014.  Happy New Year!!!