Merry Christmas!

Joe and I received an early Christmas present from my parents this past weekend. Wanna see what it is???

A new stove!!! I am so excited to have finally gotten rid of our very out-dated stove, coils and all, and have it replaced with a smooth surface cook-top. Clean-up is so much easier, and slowly but surely, our appliances are beginning to match. All we need now is to replace our 1990 microwave. In time, in time... Thanks Mom and Dad! I'll cook you something in a few weeks when you're back!

I started to come down with a cold on the day of Nathan's 1st birthday party, so I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, but I wanted to update a little bit a post some pictures from his very special day. He received some wonderful and thoughtful gifts, such as a beanie from April (she has her own blog store, you know...you can get your own by going to her website.) From his Godparents, he received a beautiful wooden box that holds 20 silver dollars, all representing a different year. Inside were two silver dollars, one from his birth year, 2008, and one for this birthday, 2009. I thought that was a great idea! He got some really neat toys, which of course come with lots of lights and noise (thanks everyone! Haha!) and a very nice college fund contribution. Nathan even got his own train table! I think Ella enjoyed opening most of his gifts and got a huge kick out of playing with all of "her" new toys. Here are a few shots from his memorable day!

I'm still having a hard time believing that Nathan was born a whole year ago!

A few weeks ago, I entered a contest on another April's blog, and I won! The picture is a bit blurry, but here's what it looks like:

It's a custom made mat surrounding a picture of the cutest kids alive...okay, I made up that last part, but it's my blog, my opinion, right? This is the first blog contest that I've won. Go me!

Okay, I think this blog post is choppy enough, so I'll quit while I'm ahead.