Carroll Christmas (Take 1 & 2)

Gregg, Millie (8mo), Becky, Julie, Rachel, Shay, Olive (3 yrs),

Amma and Brett

Grandma Ginger, Baron (7mo), Kadyn (4), Kyra (6, in back) Olive, Shay, Millie and Grandpa Bill

Despite not so hot weather, we were able to celebrate with both sides of Brett's family this Christmas season. On Christmas Eve we headed to our church for an early service and then to Amma's house for dinner and presents. On the 26th we went over to Grandpa Bill's and Grandma Ginger's house for an almost all day celebration. Fun!

Sturm Family

We posed for this picture a bit after Thanksgiving, but I just got a copy of it. Here is the whole family!

Duluth Weekend

Lights of the liftbridge and boat- amazing

Train ride to Bentleyville

Carroll Family

Burns Family

Breck and Shay playing on the rock while waiting for the train to come pick us up- perhaps one of Shay's favorite parts-- go figure

We headed to Duluth last weekend for an overdue visit with the Burns family. What a blast we had! We visited alot, ate well, relaxed, played with lots of toys, were impressed by Breck's awesome vocabulary (maybe Shay will pick up some of it :), read books and just hung out. A highlight to our visit was taking a short train ride to Bentleyville, which is a HUGE light display near canal park. The display is free and open to the public- boy were we impressed. I would recommend anyone to take a visit there. The pictures are snapshots of our 2 hour extravaganza! Thanks Burns Family-- we always have so much fun!

Picking Out Her Own Outfit

When Brett and Shay are together, Brett often lets Shay pick out her own outfit (I usually give her a choice between 2 outfits). Above is a great example of our future fashion trend setter..

Thank You Catharine (Bliss Photography)!

We were lucky enough to have my friend Catharine (Patrick's mom) take our family photos again this fall/winter. She does such a wonderful job, even with a toddler who was short on sleep! A few of the pictures taken are displayed this year on our holiday card :) You can check out more pictures of our family on her blog http://blissphotographymn.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-11-30T16%3A59%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=7

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with almost the whole Carroll family. Ages ranged from 1 month to over 80 years. Shay enjoyed playing with cousins Olive, Millie and Andy, while Brett and I enjoyed good conversation.

Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for this year -- our family, friends, health, jobs, home, fun celebrations in the past and ones we look forward to this coming year. The 2 things I am most thankful for today: my daughter Shay and how much she makes me smile (see picture :), and baby Carroll number 2 arriving sometime in April 2010.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Playdate

Catharine and I decided it would be good to have the kiddos get together. Usually we moms get together for lunch at work or a quick shopping trip, but Shay and Patrick hadn't seen each other for a while-- so here comes a playdate! This one included warm chocolate chip cookies.

Late Birthday Celebration

My parents came down to just hang out with us for a couple of days; my dad had a work conference in Rochester and my mom was able to be with Shay. One of the nights we headed to one of our favorite restaurants (Chesters) to celebrate Brett's birthday. It was a late 30th bday celebration since I had H1N1 on his actual birthday, but still fun!

Happy Halloween

Millie (7mo), Olive (2 yrs), Shay (19mo) and Owen (13mo)

Pengelly's

We were able to celebrate Halloween in many ways. Last weekend we had a halloween party at our friends Rodd and Kristina's which included eating (of course), pumpkin carving, a bonfire and scary movie. See pic below for our pumpkin creations. On Halloween, Angie, Evan and Owen came down to visit. We dressed the kids up for a couple of pictures, and headed to Grandma's house for another picture with cousins Olive and Millie. Afterwards, we all headed out for Mexican. Yum!

We Have a Talker (Finally)

Well, Shay has decided it is time to use words. She is trying to repeat a lot of things being said, and seems to be having a new w0rd everyday. Brett is currently working on having her say "I know" when he says "Oh, Shay you are so cute!". So far she will say it, but the timing is off. One of my favorities is "hidi and osh" for our friends Heidi and Josh. It is so much fun to just be playing and hear her try out new words.

Daycare Outing

This month at daycare the theme is "Apples and Pumpkins". The kids have spent a lot of time learning about these through books, songs and play. To wrap up the theme, Shay and her daycare friends headed to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard yesterday. Apparently she loved looking at the animals, but wasn't a big fan of petting them. Thanks to Shay's 2 Awesome providers-- Tracie and Shell-- for the wonderful fieldtrip!

This is TIRED

How many of us can say we have fallen asleep-- while eating?

Brett snagged this picture a couple of days ago, around 5pm

I LOVE my dad!

Shay and Brett had a blast together this summer and I think are already missing each other. Brett headed back to teaching and coaching this week, while Shay has had a fun first few days back at Tracie's.

Wrapping Up the Summer

Smiling Shay

Turning up the music for a dance party

Trying on Mom's wardrobe

Just being crazy

Playing hockey

Brett and Shay have been lucky to spend all summer together, and have had a blast! This will come to a close the beginning of September when Brett heads back to school and Shay heads to Tracie's during the day. But, in the meantime, they are really enjoying their time doing various things around the house :)

6 Years!

Shay and Heidi enjoying the ride up

Go Twins!

Brett and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this past weekend (actual anniversary date was Mon Aug 3). We headed up to the twins game on Saturday with our fellow volleyball team members- Arndts and Kurtz families. They were both celebrating their 4th wedding anniversaries (married a week apart)! Unfortunately, even the rally caps were not able to bring the Twins around to overcoming their 11-4 loss. Despite the losing game, we had a blast!

Brainerd

Shay and I spent a 5 days in Brainerd for a girls week. My grandma, aunts, cousins (which included a couple of boys :), sister, and niece were all in attendance. Although the weather wasn't all that great, we had a good time playing cards, visiting, eating well, hanging out on the beach and going for a few walks. Since Shay is an early riser (a couple hours ahead of everyone else) we headed to the grocery store every morning so there would be peace and quiet in the cabin.