Follow our family as we take you on our adventures and give you a taste of our daily life.
About Me
Katie
My name is Katie and I am a wife, mother, and baker. I love to run, cook, and spend time with my family. Follow me and my family as we spend each and every day living life to the fullest.
Last night we had yet another Christmas with my immediate family. We are so fortunate to have my brother home with us from AZ for a whole week! Hal, Sophia, and I made the 5 mile journey over to my parents house last night. First we exchanged stockings which was quite a bit of fun. The limit is $20 and you get a whole bunch of little things. Then we ate appetizers. There was so much food!
After eating, we opened presents. What a wonderful family we have! We all got such wonderful gifts. Sophia got a ton of new doll things and a new dolly which she was thrilled about. By the time we got done opening presents, it was 9 o'clock and time to head home. We got home and unpacked all of the gifts and then everyone including myself went off to bed!
Today we went to the MOA to shop and go on the rides. It was really fun to watch Sophia with her uncle taking him on the ride like she was an old pro. It was also fun to watch Ryan with her because he is quite a bit bigger than she is. Tonight I have to work at the Y and Sophia is off to play with Uncle Ryan over at Papa and Nana's house. I can hardly believe that tomorrow is New Years Eve!!
After a busy day on Wednesday, I was looking forward to spending lots of time with family over the holiday weekend. Thursday was Christmas Eve and the day started out nice and relaxing. Hal and I did some work around the house to get ready for our company that evening as we were hosting for my dad's side of the family (the Juhl side). This meant 16 adults and 5 kiddos. It was quite the party! Our traditions on Christmas Eve entail that we do appetizers instead of a dinner and we play the dice game. There was enough food to feed any army. Every year we say we will make less, but it never happens. This year we did change one thing and that was that instead of the adults playing their own dice game, the kids just played. It was quite hilarious to watch the kids play! After playing for what felt like an hour, all of the presents had finally been snatched up and the kids opened. Once they all shared presents and exchanged the ones that they didn't want, the families started to pack up and head home. By the time that everyone left, it was around 11. Sophia was quite tired! We set some cookies and milk out for Santa and then it was off to bed for everyone.
Christmas morning we woke up around 8. We brought Sophia downstairs to see if Santa had come. Sophia was amazed to find that he had come and had eaten the cookies she left out. He also left her a full stocking plus her very own princess tent, sleeping bag, backpack, flashlight, and compass. She was so thrilled she didn't really care about opening her presents under the tree. She got several presents and she was very excited to open everything up! Hal and I got each other new touch phones. I just love my phone!! After opening presents, Hal went to attack the driveway because we got about 10 inches or more between Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day morning. I went upstairs to take a shower and Sophia sat and watched the Disney parade in our room. After everyone got ready, we went over to my parents house for Christmas Day. my mom's sister and her husband joined us along with my two cousins. We ate snacks and opened presents. Then we played a similar game to the dice game where you exchange gifts only it moves with a story. It was very fun and everyone loved the $5 gift they got. After doing the gifts, we sat down for a lovely Christmas dinner. When dinner was over it was 3 and Sophia still hadn't been down for a nap. We attempted and she slept for a short time. When she woke up it was around 5 and we headed home. We played in the tent and then everyone headed up to bed.
Today we had a great family day! Hal made puffy pancakes for breakfast. Then Sophia opened a couple more gifts. Then we played two of her new board games. After playing in the house for a while, we went outside to play. It was a beautiful day! We came in for some lunch and then I brought Sophia to the Y with me so I could run and Hal went to snowblow his dad's driveway since his dad is in Utah. We got home and Sophia went down for a nap. Now I have laundry going and we are going to get ready to go look at Christmas lights tonight. What a great weekend!
I had so many pictures I couldn't pick so I picked the best of and created a slide show. I hope you enjoy!
Today Sophia and I got up early to head out to Minneapolis to see the Macy's Christmas Display. Hal and I took her to see it last year and we had such a good time. This year was quite different. Sophia was in awe the whole time we were there and wanted to go through a second time. Yes, I did take her through a second time. It was pretty funny! I think her favorite part was the cookie at the end. She tells me her favorite part was the singing Christmas trees. She also loved the puppy in the mail from Santa. At the very end I asked Sophia if she wanted to go see Santa. The Santa was just wonderful and I think I got one of the best pictures ever with Santa!! Proof below: Tomorrow we will be cooking and getting ready to host Christmas Eve for my dad's side of the family. Should be a great time with 13 adults and 5 kids!! Then we head to church in the afternoon. The celebration will start shortly after. Happy Holidays!
Last weekend was quite the holiday weekend. On Saturday we had our friends and family over for a holiday party. It was quite the turn out!! We had about 20 kiddos and double that on the adults. It was such a fun time. Sophia loved every second of being around all of her friends. Sophia and her best friend Peyton
Hal and I also had a wonderful time hanging out with all of our friends! Me with my girls!
The party got over pretty late and we were all quite tired on Sunday. Of course that didn't stop us from attending Ella Gutt's 2nd birthday. This is one of Sophia's closest friends. She had an Elmo themed party. It was so fun and Sophia was quite well behaved for being the only other child besides the birthday girl there. All in all it was a fantastic weekend!!
Last night was Sophia's holiday party at her daycare. Our provider Corey always does such a fantastic job. This party is quite the huge hit with past and present families. She provides everything for dinner/drinks and then Santa also comes and has at least one present for each child. It is pretty amazing. She also does all of this without taking time off as the party starts right at 5. Sophia had a wonderful time seeing Santa again last night!
This weekend we did so many holiday things it is hard to keep track! So to make it a bit easier on the pictures, I have a slideshow below.
Thursday night, Sophia helped me make 9 dozen Christmas cookies. She was quite the trooper. I was up pretty late cleaning up and was not looking forward to Friday morning.
Friday night, Sophia came to school to hang out for Family Fun Night. She made a bracelet with beads, watched the kids do cosmic bowling, had some popcorn, and made a gingerbread house. After doing all of those great activities together, we headed home. Then it was off to Bunco for me. We played our Christmas gift exchange game and then played Bunco into the wee hours! It was so fun. I got a Bunco and won two games!!
Saturday morning, we all woke up and got ready to have breakfast with Santa. My parents came and picked us up and we drove out to Tartan Park a private 3M event. Sophia had such a wonderful time and Hal and I thought it was even better than last year. While sitting on Santa's lap, Sophia told him she wanted a reindeer. It was pretty funny. After breakfast, we took some family pictures and then Sophia and I went our separate ways with Hal to get some more Christmas shopping done. When Sophia got up from her nap we played outside and built a snow fort. We were out for quite a while and she was pretty upset that we had to come inside for dinner. Saturday night we were all pretty tired after a super busy day! We hung out at home and watched some Christmas movies together.
Today we got up and had Sophia's 2 and 1/2 year pictures taken. They turned out really cute. After the pictures we came home to have lunch. Hal and Sophia watched the Vikes game and my mom came over to make some more cookies with me. We did a great job and we only have one kind of cookie left to make. It's like cookies galore in our house!! Sophia went down for a nap and I went on a run outside with my friend Molly. When I got home I finished up some laundry and woke Sophia up. Hal is making homemade pizza and we're watching Mickey's Christmas Carol for the second time. It's Sophia's new fav.
This week will be quite busy with my reading week at school and Hal out of town quite a bit. It's also Sophia's daycare Christmas party and our holiday party this weekend. I'm really looking forward to having everyone over.
Last night Sophia had her Christmas party at dance. They were all so cute and all of the parents felt very blessed that we were able to sit in on this very special class. Miss Mary their teacher showed everyone what a typical class is like and then the girls did a special Christmas dance to the song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". You can see from some of the pictures Sophia has her antler hands on her head. What a fun evening!
I am eager to have a date night with Hal this evening. Sophia is celebrating Parents Night Out at Corey's house our daycare provider. It is her thank-you to us at the holidays. She takes the kids until 8pm and parents are free for a night out. They make gingerbread houses, have a special dinner, make crafts, and cookies. It is such a wonderful evening for all. We are blessed to have her.
We are looking forward to making cookies this week and having breakfast with Santa too. It's beginning to look alot like Christmas.......
Last year Sophia saw Santa I think about seven different times and she hated him each time. She finally got close to him at her daycare Christmas party, but was distracted by all of the other kids. I have one adorable picture of her sitting in Santa's chair with him nowhere to be found.
This year however, he was the winner! Last night we attended a party in our community with Santa, live reindeer, crafts, cookies, and milk. It was such a wonderful night. Sophia loved every single second and so did we. We all had such a wonderful time. Here are a couple of pictures of Sophia with Santa: Smiling all cheesy Touching Santa's beard to see if it is fluffy Sophia putting together her ornament craft project from the party
Tomorrow night Sophia has her Christmas performance at dance. I'm eager to see how it goes. Christmas is coming soon! Our paper chain countdown has now 19 days today.
