Christmas in Des Moines

We spent an extended Christmas weekend in Iowa with Nate's family. We left on December 23rd, hoping to beat a snow sotrm. As it turns out, leaving a day early was a wise choice. We drove all the way to Des Moines before the snow and ice came. Alaina is doing better with longer trips in the car. As long as we keep her occupied with her favorite books, music, and snacks she is a happy girl. When we got to Nate's parents house Alaina immediately started chasing their cat, Chloe. Alaina loves animals!

Sitting on Grandpa's lap with Chloe

Alaina shared her Cheerios with Chloe

On Christmas Day Alaina woke up to find a stocking filled with gifts from Santa! She got a musical coloring book, a dolly, a board book, and an orange. She was fascinated with the orange!

Later that morning we all went to church together. Alaina sat in the church (instead of the cry room) for the entire service- a Christmas miracle! When we got back home, Nate's sister came over with her girls. Alaina enjoyed spending time with her aunt and cousins. We opened presents and had our Christmas dinner together. We had a great Christmas weekend in Iowa! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Opening presents with cousin Alysa

Alaina with Grandma and Grandpa Bruck... Chloe too!

Christmas in Rockford

We celebrated Christmas a week early with my family here in Rockford. Alaina was much more interested in opening presents this year than last year. It was fun to see how excited she was about her new toys! Below are a few pictures from our gift exchange in Rockford.

Decorating for Christmas

It's that time of year again! We brought our Christmas decorations up from the basement last week. We purchased a new Christmas tree! Our old one looked horrible and was really hard to put together. Our new tree looks beautiful! Alaina enjoyed helping us decorate the tree. She likes to name the different objects hanging on the tree. When we plug in the tree lights she says "so pretty!" I only have one more full week left of school before winter break. I am looking forward to two weeks off work. We are celebrating an early Christmas here in Rockford on December 19th. Then we will drive to Iowa to spend Christmas with Nate's family. We're keeping our figers crossed that the weather is decent for traveling. There is a huge snow storm going through the midwest right now. We spent the whole day at home watching the snow. With any luck, school will be cancelled tomorrow.

Decorating the tree

"So pretty"