Happy Early Birthday Darin!

Today is not actually the day. Darin turns 30 something on Sunday, December 30th.

We are on our way up to Fergus Falls tomorrow, (the birth place of my wonderful husband). My mother and father-in-law, Diane and Al, flew in on December 27th to celebrate Christmas so the Aune family, (Diane's side of the family) thought it would be nice to gather in Fergus to celebrate Christmas together. We will be spending the night with Darin's Aunt Cindy, Uncle Duane and cousin Audra (on the Bartsch side) which means we will be beginning Darin's birthday celebration in Fergus and then the 3 of us will be driving home to continue the celebration.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life! You truly are a blessing to me!

I love you!

p.s. I'll post some pictures of all of our Christmas celebrations soon. But if you can't wait you can check out my sisters' blogs, MoSchu Madness (Molly's) and Trackin' the Treds (Megan's). See the links under Family Blogs or click on the underlined names in this blog. You can even check out Zack's dancing moves on Molly's page.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

So we were going to take Zack to the mall for the traditional picture with Santa. But on the day we were going to go the weather turned a little ugly. Then we heard of the process they had a the mall from my sister and decided not to take the risk. Instead we went to Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom's house and Santa was there! It really was a good thing we didn't take him to the mall because this is as close to Santa's lap as Zack would go.




It wasn't for a lack of trying either.



His cousins Riley and Adrienne were much braver.

We hope all of you have a wonderful and safe holiday season.

A Nudist in the Family!

OK, this one's for you Dan.

I should be going to bed right now but my cousin tells me I need more blogs and fun ones about Zack. So off of the top of my head last Friday morning Zack woke up at 6:15 a.m., typical time for him these days, but I wasn't wanting to get up yet. Darin has been able to go into the room, stick his paci (pacifier) back in and he'll go back to sleep for a while. So I decided to try this, along with changing his diaper. Zack didn't go back to sleep but he was content for at least an hour. I did hear along the way the words, "stinky" being said so I figured the reason he didn't go back to sleep is that he dirtied the nice clean diaper I just put on him. So I got up went into his room and was met with a buck naked kid!

He sat up and handed me his PJ's. My eyes dart for the diaper, remembering hearing the words, "stinky" before hand. Luckily it was just a little wet again and I didn't have a major mess to clean up. I then ran for the camera. :-) I know Zack will kill me one day for this but I had to share.



Also for all of you mom's with kids under 19 months. Incase you are wondering when they can climb out of their cribs, Zack did about a month ago. He did it once while I was in the shower, (luckily I had his door closed, just incase this would happen) and he did it twice in one night when he didn't want to go to sleep yet. It was quite a surprise discovering him out of his crib! We've got a knob protector on the inside of his bedroom door now just incase he figures out how to open doors soon. We haven't moved him into a bed yet because he hasn't made it a habit of escaping yet. So far those 3 instances have been it. I've walked in while he's balancing on the railing. But I think he does that as soon as he knows I'm at the door coming in.

Destined for Nieces!

We have some wonderful news to share. My sister Megan and her husband Chris have just had their first baby! Her name is Adrienne Kelley Tredinnick and was born on Friday, December 14th. She is a beautiful little girl and a wonderful early Christmas present for all of us. Megan did great throughout the labor and Chris was a great coach.

For more information on Adrienne's arrival you can find it on Megan's blog.

So now we have 4 nieces. Emily (3), Meghan (5), Riley (14 months) and Adrienne.

What is poor Zack going to do with all of these girls?

It's a good thing that in our play group we have lots of boys to play with!

Joining in the fun?

We'll see how I do on this. My family has been pestering me to start a blog. My cousin Dan started one a year ago to keep us posted on the birth of his adorable son Ryan and has begun a trend in the Cooley family. I do have to admit it is a great tool for keeping family out of town up to date. Just not sure how well or frequent I will be on posting so please be patient with me. :-)