2012 Catch Up

The last few months have been busy! Looking back on this new year's day reminded me of several great moments from the last few months that we just didn't have time to post to the blog. I will let Jason recap our Christmas adventures in a separate post, but in the meantime, enjoy these photos and stories.

My sister and I ran the Twin Cities 10 mile together the first weekend in October.  It was my fourth and Megan's first TC10 Mile. We had a beautiful crisp morning for the run and I was thrilled to have my favorite running partner along for the 90 minute run.

Emma likes to help us in the kitchen. I find this especially adorable because of the many sweet memories I have of helping my mom cooking and baking.

We were so lucky to have several fun visits from Emma's grandparents over the last several months. Emma loves being spoiled by her doting grandmas and grandpas!

We took a fantastic trip to Colorado in October to visit friends. We were able to spend the weekend with my best friends from law school, Nike (who lives in Denver with her husband Jeff--Emma's best friend for the weekend--and adorable son, Jack) and Katie (who flew in from Chicago for the weekend) and our dear friends Lindsey, Chris, and Cole who recently made the move to Denver.

We enjoyed several playdates with Emma's pals.

Jason and I celebrated birthdays in November.

We hosted my parents and grandma for Thanksgiving this year.

We love our tradition of cutting down a fresh Christmas tree with our friends in early December. We found the perfect tree yet again this year. Emma loves to water the tree -- she grabs my hand, brings me to the sink, and says "wa-wa, wa-wa" until I fill up the watering can and we both lay down under the tree to fill up the tree stand.

The hike to the trees was a little long for Emma and Kelsey to walk.

A few final miscellaneous photos --

Sass. I wonder where she gets that from?

Emma and I brush our teeth together every morning. Emma requires more props than me. 

Happy New Year From Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emma

Snow, snow and more snow!

Yes indeed, winter has arrived to the tune of 11.5 inches of freshly fallen snow this past Sunday!  In this one storm, we were blanketed with more than half of the total snowfall from last winter.  It has been almost 2 years since we've had some snow to play in.  It was a beautiful snow -- falling straight down and clinging to tree branches and everything else it could stack up on.  Our world was turned into a real life snow globe.  Needless to say, we were pretty excited to get Emma suited up for her first real snow experience.

Getting her dressed was no small feat and had to be done in stages.

 Bibs and boots go on first.

Next comes the coat.

Finally, the hat and mitties.

Then we just had to get her pointed in the right direction...

At first Emma wasn't quite sure what to think of the snow, but it didn't take her long to get the hang of it.  We were out for a full hour and by the end Emma was getting around pretty well considering the snow, for her, was knee deep. :)  <Be sure to check out the videos below of her trudging through the snow>

We finally got to use Emma's sled from Grandma Roz and Grandpa John.  To be fair, we did use it last winter, but the snow was pretty pathetic. This, however, was the real deal and Emma loved it!

It's going to be a fun winter!  

From Minneapolis - buried deep in snow,

Jason, Melissa, and Emma