a picture perfect ending

This picture was taken by Amber as Dave came down their street on Christmas Eve Day. I love the horses, the snow and the house in the background. The streets hadn't been cleared of the snow and it was perfect for a sleigh ride.

I believe he looks like he belongs on a Christmas card! A perfect photo to end the year and my second year of blogging. I never thought I could have so much to say but it's so much fun to look back at my printed blog posts - it's almost like I could re-live every single day.

Wishing you peace, health, love and a Happy New Year!

♥

twenty-two and counting...

Well, with Christmas and traveling, Shelby didn't get her weekly picture to me on time...and now she's almost a week further along as I post this! I'm still posting it because I want week 22 to be included in my blog.

Baby A is the size of a papaya and he is sleeping 12-14 hours per day. I keep forgetting to ask Shelb if he has settled down. In her 22 week photo, she is surrounded by boxes, which I conveniently cropped out. Her caption to me was that she was tired of packing! Shelby and Mike are preparing to move this week - Friday to be exact. On New Year's Eve. I'm sure she is exhausted but they are so excited to be moving into a house. I'm excited because now when I visit them, I will be able to sleep behind a closed door and walls and they won't hear me snore (i hope).

Anyway, here is baby A at 22 weeks. Which reminds me...no one has even mentioned his name! Hmmm... I have a feeling they are keeping it a secret.

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wordless wednesday

 

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Christmas Eve Day

We woke on Christmas Eve Day to the most beautiful snowfall. It was late morning and Dave had gone to town and came home to say the streets were not plowed. He thought it was perfect for a sleigh ride. Well, he only has his training sled but he sure made it work. He gave Amber a call and told her he was coming to take the girls for a sleigh ride.

The weather was perfect... the snowfall was perfect.

 

 

 

 

"Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget."

~ Hugh Downs

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presents, presents, presents!

The week before Christmas, Shelby and Mike came home and we had our family Christmas. There were lots of presents and I believe everyone got exactly what they wanted.

 

Of course, baby Adams probably had the most gifts under the tree. Next year, we'll have a new grandSON here for Christmas. He'll be eight months old...perfect!

Santa always comes while we are at Christmas Eve candlelight service. Always. The most memorable Christmas when our girls were little was when we lived in Lytton. We came home and we had gone upstairs to see if we could see Santa in the sky. As we were looking out the window, we heard sleigh bells and a noise downstairs. We ran down the stairs and there, under the tree, were gifts from Santa.

The tradition continues. While we were at church on Christmas Eve, Santa brought his gifts. And he even ate some of the cookies left out for him!

 

Britta made her famous "schnitzel" and we had an awesome German dinner. Here she is slaving away over the stove...

 

After supper, there were a few more gifts to open. There were special gifts from the "other" M&M's - Mya and Mea - adorable t-shirts that said "peace love Madison" and "peace love Maci." And the other special gifts were from Katie Adams. Katie made "hair pretty" holders. They were awesome.

 

Britta is officially an IOWA HAWKEYE!

 

Grampa supervised the opening of gifts...

 

and we soon took our cue...it was time for gramma and grampa to go home...

 

♥

Merry Christmas 2010

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. What a year we've had - some good, some bad but in the end we are blessed more than words can say.

In January we spent a week in paradise with fifty of Shelby and Mike's closest friends and family as they were married in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It seems like yesterday. It was perfect in every way.

 

March came and Maddie and Maci turned four and two. These two little girls are VERY spirited - it must be the curls... but we wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Maddie is in preschool in Eldora and loves to learn. She loves reading and can spend hours drawing and coloring. In fact she won an honor for reading and won the 4 year old coloring contest this year! I honestly think she has inherited my nana's artistic talents!

 

Maci is the epitome of...hmmm...let's see...well, she is a spitfire. Maybe it's those dark, dark eyes of hers.  She wakes up talking and talks non-stop til she closes her eyes at night. She loves to play with her babies and loves to role play with Maddie.

 

Amber continues to be one busy mama. In April, she was offered a position with Pioneer Hi-Bred. She is Marketing/Communications Coordinator for the Central Business Unit which covers Iowa and Missouri. Her job is demanding but flexible and we have found it amazing that such a big company is so family oriented.

In May, Dave and I celebrated 34 years of marriage.  Next year will be another big one and it's my turn to plan our celebration. At 25 years, I surprised Dave with a trip to Atlanta Speedway... at 30 years, Dave took me to see Barry Manilow in Vegas and we rented a convertible and drove to Sedona and then to Phoenix. I'm not sure I can top that one.

Summertime came with the usual horse shows but the best news came at the Iowa State Fair when Shelby and Mike announced they are expecting! So, in April 2011 we will have a new grandSON! Of course, this has been the highlight of our year. We cannot wait to welcome a new grandbaby into our hearts. We wish they lived closer, but I have a feeling we'll soon own stock in Skype!

In August, Britta came into our lives. Britta is an au pair who is living with Amber for a year. She is from Germany and has been a true blessing this year. Maddie and Maci love her and it's so cute when Maci says please and "danke" (thank you).

 

Shelby and Mike are in Chicago and in the next couple weeks will be moving into a house! Three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths...room for gramma and grampa to come for a visit! We are thrilled for them and can't wait to visit soon.

 

Shelby is still with Principal Global Investors in Chicago and Mike is the New Business Development Manager of the Central U.S. for T2 Systems, Chicago. They both love their jobs and the flexibility of both their jobs will come in handy when baby Adams arrives.

Dave just completed 22 years with United Suppliers and I will have 23 years with the State Health Registry in January. Maybe 25 will be the magic number for me as far as retirement goes...

We are so thankful to be blessed with friends, family, our jobs, our health, our girlies, a healthy pregnancy with our soon-to-be grandSON... we hope this finds you and yours equally blessed.


This past week all I wanted was to get a photo of Dave and I with the girls for my annual Christmas letter. It was not to be. I think these photos sum it all up...the spitfired-ness, the spirited-ness, the non-stopped-ness of these girlies of ours...

 

...and this was the best I could do...

 

 

the first night

Last weekend we celebrated Christmas since this is the year Shelby and Mike go to Mike's family in Michigan for Christmas eve and Christmas Day.

Shelby and Mike got home Thursday night and on Friday night we celebrated Mike's birthday even though his birthday wasn't until Saturday. I refuse to give him a birthday gift on the same day I give him a Christmas gift!

Britta told us a while ago about a dessert in Germany called "sweet lasagne." Well, that was her gift to Mike and it was awesome!

 

Maddie couldn't wait for Britta to serve it and everyone loved it!

 

♥

my girlies in silhouette

A couple weeks ago, Amber took the girls to get their pictures taken by Andrea from Yarrow Photography. According to Amber, the girls were wound tighter than tops, uncooperative, and big M even got a little jealous of Andrea's little darling when she sat on Britta's lap!

I checked Andrea's blog site every.single.day....hoping to catch of glimpse of the pictures. Nothing. I should have known why. They were Amber's Christmas gift to us!

Andrea does the most awesome silhouettes... I love these and can't wait to hang them on my wall.

Thank you, Amber ♥ and thank you, Andrea!

♥

twenty-one weeks

Well, baby A is the size of a banana this week and weighs one whole pound! He is already being spoiled having had the most presents under the tree this past weekend as we celebrated Christmas.

The best present was one that Amber bought SIX YEARS AGO in anticipation of Shelby having her first baby... well, fast forward those six years and Amber could finally give the gift to Shelby. It was a cute little beach outfit purchased in Mexico and guess what color it was?! Yep, it was blue. I think Amber must've known something all those years ago.

Here is our little banana!




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mosaic monday

How many shots does it take for us to get a family photo?

Way more than other families, I think.



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deja vu

Well, today was like deja vu. It was entertainment and refreshments at the Hardin County Savings Bank. I remember waaaay back when. Back when our girls sang or played piano at the HCSB Christmas Open House. That seems so long ago... and I had actually forgotten about it until I walked in the bank this morning. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be going to the same activities my girls participated in to see my grandchildren!

I went up to the bank to see Maddie. I love watching her sing. I think I could look at her and her little sissy all day long if I could. I have been missing them lately. But this weekend I'll get my sweet fix and I should be good to go for a few more days.

We are celebrating our Christmas this weekend. Shelby and Mike are home with baby A :) ...

 

...and it will be Britta's first American Christmas. Actually, she will get to celebrate three times with us...this weekend with Shelby and Mike and then again on Christmas Eve and then with Dave's family on Christmas Day.

So here is my favorite picture of Maddie from this morning even though it was hard to see her in the back row. I love watching her sing. She sings. She doesn't just mouth the words or mumble with her lips - she SINGS and I love that.

 

And here is little m. She is acting shy and won't look at me. Stinker.

 

Tomorrow we open presents. And eat...all.day.long. I believe it's going to be a good weekend.

♥

halfway there

Well, little baby A is half done! We found out he/she is a HE! Shelby was scheduled for her ultrasound on Friday. For some reason, I had it in my head that is was mid morning and then her regular appointment was after that so I thought it would be close to noon. As usual, I was confused about the time. Her ultrasound was at 8 a.m. So, after I came out of my eye appointment, I noticed I had a missed call from Shelby. I immediately started to worry - thinking something must be wrong because she wouldn't call before her ultrasound...so I called her back.

She said "I had my ultrasound and everything is perfect! They said it has ten fingers, ten toes, is developing normally, looks perfect, weighs 13 ounces and is average size... and....

....it....

....is....

....a.....

BOY!"

OH MAN (said in true Maci fashion) we were just flabbergasted!  What fun this will be. I've already been "researching" baby boy clothes.  I have a hard time with cars, animals, Wild Things, critters, etc on baby boy clothes!  I also have the same aversion to similar things (bunnies, puppies, ducks, etc)  on baby girls clothes!  HOWEVER, anything with a horse is totally acceptable.   Mike told Shelby not to worry - he will be well dressed :)  Of course, he will....he's gonna be a city boy!  I can only imagine!

So here is baby A.  Shelby says he's a mover and a shaker.  He is rarely still.  Hopefully, he'll be worn out when he gets here and will want to sleep alot!  

 

I wish they'd hurry up and name him.  I'd really like to add him to my gramma bracelet.  I love having them named before they are born...it's like they come out and you already know them!

So now here are more pictures of our little man...here is his foot...

and here he is with his hand by his mouth...

I believe we're already in love with him!

♥

introducing...

baby boy Adams!

Well, here he is!  I believe he looks a lot like his m&m cousins...his little button nose... his lips...the shape of his head...

We are all so thrilled to have a boy in our family!  I think grampa and daddy Mike will love having one more guy to hang out with one day.   We really do have some major estrogen going on here.

Grampa and I were on our way to the mall when we got the news.  My first stop was Baby Gap.  Why do they have to put all those silly animals on baby boy clothes?  I don't mind the little Gap bear...but alligators and frogs and Wild Things don't really thrill me.  I can tell it's gonna be a challenge to find cute boy clothes but I'll find them.  That is going to be my mission!

So for all of you who really can't believe it's a boy... here's the proof.  My goodness, does he have proof!  It took me a while to figure this one out but I'm told this is a view from his bottom.  You can figure the rest out :)

So, now we know.

Now we have to wait to hear what his name will be.

♥

oh BOY!

Well, by now almost everyone has head the news!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd EVER have a boy in our family!  We are so happy!  Of course, I immediately headed to baby Gap.  

I understand Shelby and Mike got to see baby Adams swallow and move around a lot.  He weighs 13 oz right  now and is average sized!  Shelby said it was quite evident that he was a he.   They got tons of pictures so as soon as they are sent my way, I will share.

What a wonderful Christmas gift!

 

♥

Testing my ability to post from my mobile...I won't be by a computer when we hear the good news!

today's the day....

Yes, today is the day we've all been waiting for! The day Shelby and Mike find out the sex of their baby! Will it be a girl? Somehow, I have to believe it is going to be a girl. I mean, really...The Robys/Hoyts have no boys and we live in all "all-girl-neighborhood!"

Then I think hmmmm....maybe it would be fun to have a little boy. Everyone says they're soooooo easy. And what fun to break the streak!

No matter what sex it is, we will all be so thankful. New life is truly a miracle and not to be taken for granted. I pray every day for a healthy babe, ten fingers, ten toes, a healthy pregnancy, and an easy delivery.

It's going to be close to noon before we know what it is...so stay tuned!


♥