look back on 2009...

so i wanted to look back at what an AMAZING 2009 we had, so I put together some fun pictures that captured some of our highlights of our year starting from January all the way up to New Years!

we have been so blessed and we are so lucky to of had such a great year! it's been unforgettable and I am sure 2010 is going to be even better!

a christmas to remember...

holidays are just so much fun with a baby! brody looked so cute in his christmas pjs and was more excited about the wrapping paper than anything else. we spent a wonderful christmas with my side of the family this year and we had so much fun. on christmas eve we had our traditional christmas eve dinner at the Olive Garden then we came home and hungout and contiuned with a few more family traditions, by opening up 'one' christmas present and followed by eating yummy treats and watching a 'christmas carol'. i love being with my family. i am so grateful for my knowledge of what christmas is all about.

christmas morning we had our tradional family breakfast and then opened presents. we spent the day hanging out, playing and watching movies and enjoying our family christmas dinner. we had such a great christmas. is it really over? when we got back to columbus we were a little sad to take down our christmas decorations, but no worries, we will still enjoy snuggling up, drinking hot cocoa and watching the snow fall for the next few months. :D

7 Months...

7 months. I am still looking for that pause button! we are soaking up every lovely moment with our AMAZING little guy. My heart is so full of love for him it's exponential.

Brody,

i love your zest and spunky personality. you are adventerous and i love your curiousity for the world around you. you are fearless and i admire that! your laugh is priceless, i wish we could bottle it up and ship it off to all our friends and family who don't get to hear it - it brings joy to our hearts and smiles to our faces. you are crawling all about and you are fast. you almost have 5 teeth and you are a champ about it. thank you for not being drooly thus far. i am sure the drool phase is just upon us. you still sleep 11-12 hours every night. you love it when we share a 'dum-dum' with you. you love peek-ah-boo, your toys, books and PAPER and Anything you can put in your mouth. i love how you love to play with your papa bear, you are all boy and you are one HAPPY boy at that. And on top of everything else you are adorable. i am so happy you are mine!

i love u.

tis the season...

Do you need your own Christmas Card?

So I've been asked by quite a few friends to make them a Christmas Card this year and I figure while I am at it I will do the same thing for YOU.

So if you would like a Christmas Card done...

Here's the deal: I'm only going to do it THIS WEEK.

You can choose from the 4 Templates I have posted here.

card #1:

card #2

card #3

card #4

*So...Pick a card.

*Then email me your picture (as a jpeg) that you want on the card along with Your LAST Name and the other NAMES you want to be included on your card.

*I will make your card. You will get it within 24 hrs. of You emailing me.

*I will send you TWO jpeg files. One card will have your picture in Color and the other card will have your picture in Black and White and then it's up to you to pick which one you want.

*And it's up to you to PRINT them yourself.

*The jpeg size I will send you will be 4x6.

*I will ONLY make your card 5x7 if you Request 5x7.

*Email me @ ... jenniferknicholes@yahoo.com

and that's it! cool, huh?

*You can print Your Card at Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Target, Sams Club, Costco...you get the point.

*Thanks to my amazing friend Kally for letting me use her pictures!

!!HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

6 Month Check Up

Brody's Stats at 6 months

weight: 20 lbs. 7 ounces 97%

height: 28.5 inches 97%

Brody was a champ once again! He did great going to the doctors for his check up and getting his shots. He's seriously such a brave little guy. He loved the paper on the table and he was IN LOVE with checking himself out in the mirror. can you blame him? We love him so much. We are so grateful that he is so healthy and happy.

Mmmmm Carrots...

A Very Merry HALF Unbirthday...

Like you didn't think we'd party?? So as you know (or now know), Brody's 6 month Birthday was on Monday and most of you also know we like to Party! If you didn't know that....well you just learned something new about us! So you know that we totally had to celebrate 6 months and had to have a Party! Not just any party - but an... Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter HALF UnBirthday party for the Brody Bear. We stuck true to the date and celebrated on the 30th. So most likely to everyone else it was a random Monday night to have a party - but that didn't stop us or some of our friends from celebrating!

Not gonna lie...I debated back and forth a million times on whether we would have a "party-party" or just a "family of 3 party". So less than a week before the "Big Day"...I asked Tyson..."To party" or "not to party"? His response... "TO PARTY". And Party we did! So knowing that it was less than a week away, I hurried and came up with an idea for invites and made them super fast - got them printed so Tyson could take them to school to give to his classmates. Oh my gosh we sound like we are 10. hi, here ya go...go take your invitations to your friends. Tell them to come to our party. haha. And yes we stuck to "school friends". Next time we will invite everyone...the more the merrier, right?

Alright moving along...so a little party was to be planned...I whooped together some decorations (lots of fun pom-poms and I place playing cards all around)and also made some yummy treats. we enjoyed our friends company and we loved celebrating Brody! Can't get any better than that!

the invite

the birthday boy himself. so cute.

some sweet treats.

boston cream pie cupcakes. mini cheesecakes. chocolate covered brownie pops.

the cheshire cat

the white rabbit

the queen of hearts

Alice

and of course...

the Mad Hatter

And some of our wonderful friends!

{Thanks everyone for celebrating with us!}

It was A Very Merry HALF UnBirthday...indeed!

Let's eat cake...lots of cake...

So a little over a month ago - one of Tyson's classmates also known as my friend Alissa asked me if I wanted to take a cake decorating class with her and some other girls from the statistics department. I of course said Yes, but the girls had to promise that they wouldn't talk about Statistics. They were more than thrilled to not have to talk about school. So we were good to go and super excited! We all got signed up and started our 4 week class at the beginning of November. We learned all sorts of fun techniques from baking a cake from scratch, frosting the cake so it's nice and smooth, piping techniques and decorating ideas.

So without further a'do (this is for you mommers)...here are pictures from all of our classes...

we learned how to pipe with different frosting tips and we had to follow a 'rainbow' pattern on our cakes.

Danielle, Me, Alice and Alissa with our very first and probably last decorated Rainbow cakes

cake cake cake...yummy!

the best part of the class was learning how to make 'roses'. So fun!

And...Ta'da! Cakes with roses!

Honestly... I would have never taken this class alone. So I was so happy these girls ask me to join them. It was really only fun because of them! Love you girls!

Thanks Alissa, Danielle and Alice!

my baby @ half a year:

this bundle of love is the best thing ever! i tell ya, it's pure bliss. and can you believe that the brody bear is 6 months old today! how exciting! i love these pictures I took of him, they totally show his sweetness and personality and those eyes and cheeks are TO DIE FOR! we are in love with every inch of him and we are trying to savor each day. i can't belive it's been 6 whole months. we've truly loved every minute.











he's got his two bottom teeth in, he's been sitting up and learning to crawl. we are in awe as we watch him learn and grow. this kid has been an adventure baby from day one.

L-O-V-E him!
Happy Birthday Brody!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING...

be grateful...

"our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings. - Thomas S. Monson

{my list: husband. brody. family. friends. love. faith. food. financial security. home. freedom. health. clothes. travel. prayer. happy people. education. beauty. knowledge. music. creativity. simplicity. hard workers. laughter. hugs. ice cream. just to name a few...}

I said Brrrrrr....

winter is approaching and we are getting ready...we've been trying on some 'winter gear' for the brody bear to see what looks best. he's look'in good - don't ya think?

great weekend...

we kicked off our great weekend - by picking up Tyson from school on friday and going to the park to play. Brody loves sitting up in the stroller - he just kicks back and enjoys the ride.

we played on the swings which he loves. we also stopped off at Jeni's ice cream for a tasty treat. and you know, no outting would be complete without a cat nap.

we had our date night friday night and we went to 'Ted Montana's' in the Arena District down town. They are known for having "Bison" - so we thought it might be fun to try. Weird that it was our first time trying 'bison', when we lived in 'bison country' living so close to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole WY. we never tried it. So of course we wait till we are in Ohio to step out of the box and try something new.We both got a "bison" burger and we will both tell you that is the LAST time we will ever do that. We ate our burgers and I can say that if I hadn't of had a load of ketchup, there is no way I could have finished. Whatever! I am now a vegetarian after that meal. We came home to see the Brody Bear all snuggled up with Katie. Once he finds a snuggle buddy - he's out! Please note his fur blanket that he would die without.

once he woke up - he had a bath and ate some good rice cereal 'yum' and then it was time to play! we made the best cookies ever - seriously the best! and then we played played played till we tuckered the little guy out for bed.

saturday was COLLEGE FOOTBALL Game Day for us. And we were super excited for our last home game against IOWA. We didn't get season tickets this year - but that didn't stop us from walking over to campus and enjoying the game. The game is playing EVERYWHERE you go. Even outside the stadium they have huge screens set up with the game playing so you can still watch it. It's great! Even though it has been nice this season to just stay at home and watch the games from the comfort of our couch.

we went over to the stadium and took some pictures and walked around and watched the game.

The Horseshoe Stadium Cake!! Oh my. I can truly say this cake is the BOMB. There are these ladies who get together every year and make the OSU Horseshoe Stadium. It's SO GOOD! Last year we had the cake, I had eaten a box of saltine crackers because I was prego sick and that's all I could keep down. As we were heading home last year we saw them giving out cake - oh yeah I ate like 5 pieces. ha. It was delish! However, this time around we got to see the entire cake before it was cut up. They don't cut the cake until the game is over and when we saw the cake we were only in the 3rd quarter. so we didnt eat any cake this time. sad. pretty sure I complained all the way home the whole half a mile. ha. that i was sad we didnt wait around for cake.

brody was also given the "cutest baby" award. pretty sure he was told he was "super cute" by a bazillion people...yes, i said bazillion. everyone also loved his hair. what a little stud muffin. we watched the game on the big screen until the 4th quarter started and then we headed home and finished watching the game at home. We of course WON. It was a close one!! We are now offically the BIG TEN CHAMPS and we are headed to the ROSE BOWL!

This is us last year...in our FRONT ROW season seats. Awe those were great tickets. good times. good times! It's great to be a BUCKEYE! What a great weekend!

the end.

CHEEKS...

love love love.

buddies

i feel so blessed to have this little buddy by my side all day long. every day is awesome.i feel really lucky. i also feel really lucky that i've been able to so easily transition into the adjustments in life that motherhood brings. brody is such an angel. sometimes while he is napping, i lay down next to him and just stare and stare. i think how amazing it is that i grew him in my belly and that he is here now. i think how amazingly perfect his little healthy body is. i think of what everyone in the entire world is doing at that moment while i am here soaking up these fleeting moments with my baby. i feel like this is what it's all about. i feel close to his soul when i remind myself that this is my divine calling. it really becomes your identity. then there is always my 'to do list' that never really gets done because i have no concept of time when i am with brody, i try and soak up every moment we have together. on the other hand, i feel busy, happy, and accomplished at the end of the day. we get out of the house everyday because brody is such an adventure baby, always on the go. he loves it when we are out and about. he loves checking out his new surroundings and discovering this great big world. tyson and i always wonder what sort of things he will be in to and excited about. sometimes it's hard as parents not to think about the kind of world he will grow up in and all that he will have to face in this lifetime. but we are so happy to take on the challange of having the responsibility to teach him all that he needs to know. we want him to be happy and find joy in life. speaking of joy,listening to him laugh is the best sound i've ever heard. ever. we are loving this time of life and counting our many, many blessings. now, if only we could push pause...