Let it snow!

When I moved to New England, I learned a very important lesson. You want it to be warm enough to snow. I guess I never realized that it could be too cold for even the snow to show its face.

Lucky for us (and most of the midwest) we are expecting sub-zero temps starting on Thursday. Looks like we will be hiding out indoors until the snow returns.

Here are some pictures from our latest snow.

Dena turns 30!

Doug's parents and Aunt Arlene flew in on Thursday night from Wisconsin and we all snuck up to Maine on Saturday to surprise Dena for her dirty 30th party. It was a blast and Dena swears she didn't have a clue. You be the judge..take a look at the photos below.

(In case you were wondering, we are the ones dressed in paper bags...you know we can't do anything normal, it just isn't any fun!)

Then with a little prompting from the iPod, Dena and Eric decided to turn the party into a dance party. Eric was hilarious...he just ran to the middle of the circle and started showing everyone his moves! We have a bad feeling that Eric is going to be the president of his fraternity some day...we are very, very afraid.

The dogs had a great time too, as they were in charge of guarding the food table. Knowing them and seeing their pleading, big brown eyes, I am sure they had their share of goodies that night.

We rounded out the night with cake and ice cream...a family favorite.

Happy 30th Dena and great job Matty with the weekend full of surprises.

Christmas 2008

It feels like we have been traveling FOREVER! And looking back, it was 3 weeks for Eric and I on the road... Charlotte, the NC Mountains and Maine. It was a blast, but I think we are both happy to be back in our own beds.

And now we have started the Christmas Detox program (thanks to Auntie Meg for the very descriptive term!) The next few weeks will be dedicated to trying to get Eric back into his groove and teach him that Mom and Dad aren't going to feed him cookies & ice cream all the time! (He LOVED his grandparents spoiling him!) I have a feeling that many temper tantrums are in our future.

Below are some of our favorite pictures from Christmas. Enjoy and Happy New Year to everyone!

Hide & Seek!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Helping Mom wrap presents

Cuddling with Grandma

Grandpa and Eric getting ready for Church

Opening Presents

Grandpa and his toys

Hiking in the woods

Cleaning the horse stalls
(temper tantrum resulted when he had to leave the rake)

Daddy...can I have a steer?

Finally!

So, maybe we are bad parents. Or maybe we are just procrastinators. Or maybe we just knew that if we waited, we would get the perfect shot. My vote is for the later. ;O)

We FINALLY got some professional pictures taken of Eric. We were able to take advantage of a "warmer" day and got some awesome shots. Here are a few of our favorites.

World Traveler

The Hokies won the ACC Championship (thanks in part to his good luck Baby Hokie shirt), so now he is off! Next stop...North Carolina!

TOK

While we didn't find out if it is a boy or a girl, we have officially come up with a temporary name until we meet this little one (compliments of Grandpa Darwin).

TOK...The Other Kid

Poor thing. Already taking a back seat to Eric. Now I understand how these battles between siblings get started.

Below are some pictures from our 18-week ultrasound!

The baby is facing down in the top one and facing up in the bottom one.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had an awesome time in Maine at Matty and Dena's for Thanksgiving. Doug's parents drove out from Wisconsin (22 hours!) so we had the entire Lohse/Bachman clan present. It was a lot of fun. I honestly don't know what we did to entertain ourselves before Eric came along. I have posted a slide show of my favorite pics on the main page of the blog.

A few highlights...Eric had more sugar on Thanksgiving than I think he has had cumulatively in his entire life. Pumpkin Pie and Cranberries are new favorites. Here is just a glimpse of the repercussions of our actions.

On Friday we went all drove into Bath to cut down a Christmas tree. Eric found an apple tree and a tractor that he got to drive. As a result, we have our first non-"D" word (Apple) and Eric is into steering wheels!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!