New Year's Eve

It should be no surprise that we chose to celebrate the new year at home. Keith grilled some yummy steaks and I made shrimp scampi. We were so excited that our friends Lindsey and Pete could come over for dinner too. Lindsey made some delicious coconut shrimp and shrimp cocktail. Can you tell that the pregnant ladies were craving shrimp, ha! Christian and Brooke had a great time playing, they stayed up until almost 10 PM. Lindsey, my mom, and I enjoyed some relaxing conversation while the guys played with the kids in the basement. We all watched a movie after the kids were in bed and made it to about 11:30. So, we almost stayed up until midnight. Maybe we'll make it next year! Here are some things we enjoyed in 2011: *Great trips to California, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Washington DC and Texas. *Celebrating Brooke's first birthday. *Finding out we were pregnant with our second baby girl, Annabelle. *Keith signing onto work as a doctor in Cedar Park, Texas. *Having the opportunity to build a great house in Cedar Park. What a blessed year it has been. We are so thankful to God for blessing us in this way.

5th Anniversary

Keith and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on December 30th. Keith had picked out a few nice restaurants in Pittsburgh and let me make the final choice. My mom offered to babysit so we could have a long, quiet dinner. This was the first dinner that Keith and I had eaten out alone since our last anniversary, so we cherished the time. I truly enjoyed the nice conversation and slow eating. The restaurant was really cozy and the food was delicious. Keith surprised me with a nice watch for an anniversary gift. My old watch battery stopped working before we moved to Pittsburgh and I haven't worn a watch in about 3 years. I love the thought that he put into it and the way he kept it a surprise. We have enjoyed a lot of adventures over the past 5 years together. We are excited for the adventures to come in the next five years. Love you Keith!

Family Pictures

My mom requested that we take a big family picture while everyone was together for Christmas. We had great weather on Friday so we headed outside for our group shot. Kelly's brother Mark was nice enough to take the pictures for us. I was surprised that we got a few good ones. It is hard to get Brooke to sit still and smile at the camera. Here are a few pictures from our morning outside.

Christmas Dinner

We celebrated Christmas again with a BIG meal on December 26th. My mom and I headed to Oakmont Bakery in the morning to get some delicious cookies for the week. Oakmont has the best desserts. When we got back to the house Keith had already started on the brisket; it smelled amazing. It wasn't too much longer before Ryan and Kelly came over. We were so excited to have them staying for a few days. Our dinner turned out great. It was my first time to make rolls that rise. I let them rise a little to long, but now I can to it right next time. Over the next few days we stayed at the house and relaxed. The girls went out and got pedicures, the boys watched a lot of football. Brooke had a GREAT time playing with her uncle. He was great to really play and roughhouse with her. I thought it was a little strange that he kept trying to get her to do sit ups. He said it was never to early to start working on your abs. We all drove out to the Hartwood Acres Mansion to see the big Christmas lights display. We let Brooke ride on my lap in the front. Let's just say I am glad she has a car seat. She was all over the place. She definitely enjoyed all the lights, but we ended up passing her from the front, all the way to the back during the 30 minute trip. Ryan and Kelly introduced us to a fun game called Free Ride. We played it several times while they were here. It did get pretty intense a couple times, so I'm not sure we will ever play with Shevawn, hehe. On Wednesday Kelly's brother Josh flew in. He is in the process of moving from Vancouver to Costa Rica for his poker career. We enjoyed getting to catch up with him. Mason and Jackson were especially excited to see him since he used to watch them when we were out of town. Ryan and Kelly picked up Greek food for dinner from our favorite local place. We had a feast! Then Kelly's other brother Josh came over and we played a big game of pictionary. Ryan and I are not very skilled at drawing, so there was a LOT of laughing. It was so nice to have Keith home this entire week. He was on vacation from the hospitals, pagers, etc. Brooke loved having breakfast with Daddy every morning. Overall it was a great Christmas holiday. We will take wonderful memories with us of Christmas holidays spent in Pittsburgh.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful time watching Brooke open her presents on Christmas day. She kept walking around, looking at everything and saying WOW!! I'm so glad that Keith got it on video. Our friends and family were SO generous the gifts for Brooke. She is definitely set with toys for the next year. Later that morning we got dressed up for Church. I should have tried Brooke's dress on her closer to Christmas day because it was way too short. Good thing for tights! We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day at church. It is kind of nice to have Christmas fall on a Sunday. I appreciate having another reminder that Jesus is the reason for all our celebrating. We had a small Christmas dinner with just the four of us, but it was still delicious. I can't go without having a honey baked ham for Christmas. They are just the best. I should have taken a picture at dinner but I forgot. I don't even have a picture of my mom on Christmas day, oops. I promise that she was there.

Christmas Eve

We were so excited to have my mom fly in on Christmas Eve. We picked her up at the airport around 5 and headed to our favorite Chinese food to pick up dinner. Brooke is not the easiest to handle in a restaurant, so we got the food to go. It was such a delicious dinner and a treat to have my mom with us. We put Brooke to bed shortly after dinner and started building her play kitchen. This was a very cheap kitchen so I didn't expect much from it. I definitely didn't expect it to be in about 100 pieces. Keith patiently put the kitchen together in about an hour and a half. It was worth all the effort to see how much she enjoys her very own kitchen. We also put away all her old toys so she would notice the new toys from Santa and family.

Making Gingerbread Men

We had a great time making gingerbread men with the girls across the street. Brooke is always excited to play with Ava, Kylie and Morgan. These gingerbread kits were really easy and not too messy. After the cookies were decorated, the girls ran, screamed and played in the house. We are so lucky to have nice neighbors. I wish they could move with us to Texas. Ava would be the best babysitter. I think Brooke and Morgan would be in a constant battle over their toys. We have to separate them quite a bit.

Kitchen Helper

Brooke is so interested in helping me in the kitchen. She wants to "help" unload the dishwasher, cook, and open all the drawers. It is getting a little more difficult to keep her out of things. She can now reach up and open most of the drawers and unlock the dishwasher. I can tell she is paying close attention to me when I cook. I caught her putting on the oven mitt and saying hot.

Who needs Christmas Presents

Brooke really loved playing in the boxes that came in the mail for Christmas. Every time another package arrived, she was excited to play with the empty box. She especially loved when Keith and I would pull her down the hallway. I had to take this picture of Keith when he was "watching" Brooke. I asked him to watch her while I unloaded the dishwasher. I figured something was up when I heard her pulling clothes out of the closet. Sure enough, he had fallen asleep on the bed. She was taking total advantage of her unsupervised time. Keith had better catch up on his sleep now because we are not going to get much this summer.

Preschool closure

Brooke's preschool called to tell us that a gas leak was found near the school and they would be closed for a full week. I kind of had a panic moment thinking of how I was going to entertain Brooke inside all week while I worked. Luckily, my good friend Jess shared her passes with us to the science center on one of the days. Brooke and Jacob had so much fun playing in the water, in the ball pit and on the giant operation board. Thankfully, Jess warned me to bring an extra set of clothes. It was a good thing because Brooke and Jacob were soaked in less than 5 minutes. They are definitely not afraid of splashing. I spent some of the money that would have gone to daycare on a few new toys and activities for the house. Brooke loved the sticky decals and the "Cars" cars. I can't say that it was an easy week, but we survived it. We were both so excited for preschool when it re-opened the following week.

Sitting on Santa's lap

We went to see Santa again this year with the Stasko's and Thomas'. It is much more fun to wait in the long line with friends. Brooke did really well with Santa. She was curious about his beard but overall seemed happy to sit in his lap. I swear she would go home with the stranger. Keith asked her to give a hug to her friend Christian after the picture. She hugged Christian and then the next two random kids in line that we have never seen. I am glad that she is so friendly, but I have to keep a close eye on her.

Christmas tree destroyed

Our sweet little Brooke could not keep her hands off the Christmas tree. We didn't have any lights on the tree or low hanging ornaments, but that did not stop her from spinning it and pulling on the branches. The weekend after we put up the tree she managed to tip it over and break it in half. We joked that it was now the Christmas shrub. Keith and I decided to leave it up as is since we are moving this year. It was quite pathetic looking, but we still managed to have a great Christmas. AND, we bought a new pre-lit tree the day after Christmas on sale. I am so excited to have a beautiful tree next year in Texas.