Christmas Take 2

First, she got to open some gifts with Mommy & Daddy :)

Then, we went over to Grandpa & Grandma Cerkas' house where she got to tackle another present with Uncle Nick!

Grandma Hawkins was very happy to have Alena at her house on Christmas morning (especially after the treacherous drive the night before)!

She loved her gift from Uncle Jake and Auntie Ashley!

She had to get all scrubbed up so she wasn't so smelly. Grandma and her Aunties washed her up and had some fun in the process! She looks like some kind of cartoon character.

Alena's First Christmas Take 1

This was one of the first Christmas gifts that Alena opened. Our neighbor, Lorraine, brought the present over earlier in the day. It was so nice of her to think of Alena!! In true Alena style, she had to give it a taste test first thing. She puts EVERYTHING into her mouth! We thought that this particular instance was pretty funny!

Alena Babbles

Here she is, talking in her own language. She has been great at imitation and loves to "chat it up" as we call it! I just missed capturing her "yelling" where she babbles with such ferocity! It makes me laugh every time. Hopefully I'll catch that soon!

Hunting Season/Thanksgiving

Checking out cousin Josh's kill!

Alena seemed to like her mama and grandma's special friend, Larry.

Posing in front of our Thanksgiving feast at the Cerkas cabin.

Our fam :)

Daddy and his little girl sharing a special moment and licorice!

It seems like we just had Thanksgiving, but it has been a couple of weeks, anyway! We all went up to Tomahawk for opening hunting season as is our tradition. Alena and I stayed at Grandpa Cance's house, while Daddy slept at the DeNamur hunting cabin. It was a very warm season, overall, and we only saw a few deer. My cousin, Josh, shot the lone deer of opening weekend on that Sunday night.

Daddy went home on Sunday evening, and Alena and I stayed in Tomahawk until Wednesday. Then, we went to the Cerkas Cabin over in Fence for a couple of days. Alena seems to like it quite a bit at the cabin, despite the fact that she doesn't really have room to roll around. We improvised with her naps (especially since mama was tired, too), and she napped with me. She even slept well once she got over her angry tirade over being put to bed! We had a sweet Thanksgiving feast thanks mainly to Grandma Cerkas :) and her innate ability to decipher the workings of the crazy oven! Grandpa injected the turkey with what we called 'roids, and then cooked it in the Weber grill. Yum!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year, namely our mostly sweet daughter, Alena. We are thankful for our loving family and friends. But most of all, we're thankful for all of the blessings and grace poured down on us from our Father in heaven!

Dancing in a Diaper

It has already been established that she loves playing on her Dora "racecar." Today, she started dancing to the music, especially when we started dancing with her! The camera is shaking because Eric was doing a covert operation (and laughing) since Alena gets distracted by it. She was getting really warm near the pellet stove with her Packer outfit on, so we took it off, thus that naked baby. She likes it better that way anyhow! She is such a cutie :)

More Pics From Last Weekend

So serious in some silly leaves!

Play time

Sharing a toy with her friend Clara

Getting some lovin' from Great Grandma Cance :)

Playing in Leaves

Of course this is Alena's first fall. She sat outside in her stroller last week as I blew the leaves out of our yard, but didn't get to explore. Last weekend, we were in Minneapolis to visit Jeremy, Cristina, and Clara Hermann and to see their new house. It was a gorgeous weekend, and we did some yard work and Lena loved the leaves outside! So, we gave her a whole pile to play in! The video speaks for itself.