A Growing Child

Alena is growing up so quickly! She has been pulling herself up time and time again... it won't be long before she's walking! The other day, we were lucky to capture her trying to "escape" from her crib. We had just lowered the mattress to its lowest setting because we didn't want her flipping out over the side.

New Year, 2010!

Uncle Greg (Alena's Godfather) decided it would be great fun to put Alena in Aiden's toy basket! Aiden and Caleb look on in horror!

"Where am I?"

Mama, get me out of here! (In all reality, she kinda liked being in the basket because Aiden and Greg gave her toys)

Can you believe it that most of us girls have been friends for 10 years!?!

Alena and Aiden both got New Year's Day baths. We naughty parents just couldn't resisst getting a few naked bath shots!!

Austin, Laura and Aiden Schmitt were kind enough to host a New Year's Eve party at their house (and kind enough to host us :). There were so many boys around, and Alena was the oldest girl. Kiera Poludniak and Olivia Arciszewski were the other little girls around. We had fun chatting, and catching up with other adults witle the kids played and played! We also got in a couple of rounds of Hoopla. Alena went to sleep nicely before 8pm, but seemed to know when the New Year was close because she woke up at 11:45. Needless to say, she got to stay up to help us ring it in. She got some kissies from Mommy and Daddy!

Thanks Austin and Laura for opening up your house to us :)

Christmas Take 3

Here we are at Grandpa Cance's house, getting ready to exchange gifts.

Opening another gift to Alena from Uncle Jake and Auntie Ashley.

Pulling herself up on her next gift!

The Auntie's thought it was fun to put Alena in a gift box full of shredded paper. Mommy showed them how she likes to be tipped and moved around like she's in a racecar!

So cute with her reindeer antlers on her head. Always playing around!

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!