Pic of the Week

Hmmm....reminds me of her father

with Uncle Phil's dog, Moose

Christmas Review in Pictures

First up, the Schnelle Christmas. Like Thanksgiving, things were tough without Rick, but we smiled, laughed, and had a great time together. Of course, the food is always the BEST! Mia LOVED all her new toys and enjoyed opening the presents.

(my favorite pic. Thanks Josh!)

Christmas Eve dinner back at home. Appetizer Delight.

Daddy's girls on Christmas Day.

Snyder Christmas...three days late.

We just came in from a 12 hour drive and Mia still had it in her to open more presents.

Uncle Phil... (just wait until she is old enough to play video games....ooooooooh)

She is really getting the hang of this present thing...

Always puttin' on the charm...

The gals...

Play time with Gavin Kunz. Future husband? Who knows.... I think they make a great couple. hehe.

Pic of the Week starts again next week, stay tuned!!!

So, Christmas

The holidays this year didn't turn out at all what I had envisioned. With Mia sick, and the bad weather, the disappointments just kept piling up.

As I am sure many people did, the big winter storm that hit the Midwest over Christmas Week had me waving fists at the sky. That thing didn't want to leave. We planned to be in Denver the Wednesday before Christmas but we didn't make it until the Sunday after. We ended up missing all the family festivities. And since we had not planned on traveling for Christmas after this year so that we could build our own traditions, the blow was much bigger. Especially since much of the family we planned to see would be meeting Mia for the first time.

But amidst the disappointment, there were still many blessings. I am trying to focus on the blessings, because the negative side of me wants to wallow in the disappointments. So in the spirit of looking on the bright side, here is a top 10 of our Christmas blessings:

10. Mia made a full recovery.

9. It was a White Christmas.

8. While others were stranded at airports or on the highways, we were cozy, warm, and comfortable at home.

7. Arrived in Denver safe and sound. No breakdowns from Mia.

6. Got to spend quality time with my BFF's.

5. Saw three movies in the theater.

4. Rang in the New Year celebrating my Dad's big 60th birthday.

3. Woke up Christmas morning at home.

2. Mia's first Christmas came with tons of gifts! She is one lucky girl!

1. I realized through all my grumbling that even though it wasn't as expected, we still had a great Christmas with our loved ones. The Schnelles and the Snyders. Just as we wanted it. And in the end, that is all that matters.

Up next, a pictorial review of Mia's First Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, we have been missing for quite some time, but it has been a crazy couple of weeks.

Here is a recap:

Mia catches a cold

Gabe catches cold

Gabe goes to Denver for a week

My mom comes to visit

Mom catches a cold

I catch a cold

Mom goes home

Mia gets ear infection

I get ear infection

Mia has high fever for 2 days

Mia and I sit in the Lazy Boy for 2 whole days

Mia doesn't sleep

We don't sleep

Two weeks = three trips to the dr = no sleep=no christmas shopping=no trip to see santa=no family pictures=no christmas cards=disappointment. Maybe next Christmas.

Presently, I am happy to report we are on the mend. Mia slept through the night the last two nights. Her cold seems to be gone and ear infection waning. Things look to be getting back to normal.
We head to Denver this week. A storm is coming through promising a white Christmas for all, but that also means our plans to leave Tuesday were postponed until Christmas Day. In any case, I won't be blogging until the new year, so from the Schnelle house to yours...


MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Crazy

Yea, things are crazy. Every year it seems they get crazier. This year, the normal craziness is coupled with an infant.

Super-crazy.

This week, I finished up final papers for school, am deep into a project for my "freelance" biz, Mom is here visiting and helping out while Gabe in Denver (that dog) for work, and Mia has her first cold. That I now have. That my mom is getting too. Oh, and Gabe has it too but he is in Denver so he doesn't count.

Uber-crazy.

And I still am trying to figure out how I am going to get the family christmas photo and write the yearly family newsletter for our christmas cards which I need to somehow mail before christmas....hmmmmm.

So please forgive (seems like I do this a lot?) me once again for my lack of blogging.

P.s. - Don't think I have forgotten about pic of the week even though its behind a few weeks. Again..it's crazy.

P.P.S - can you see Mia's new pearly whites?