Christmas Vacation, part 3 - NEW YORK

Surprise DADDY!!!! WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK!!! For Christmas, Dan recieved the biggest surprise ever... a trip to Long Island, NY for a much needed get-a-way and time spent with his family. I pulled off the biggest, longest kept secret I have ever done, by waiting until Dec 24th at 8:00 p.m to reveal to Dan that we were leaving the next morning at 6:00am for a 9 day trip to Long Island, NY. HE WAS shocked, pretty much speechless (which rarely happens) and SOOOOO excited. He literally could hardly sleep! Thankfully I had secretly packed all his bags and everything else.

Dan's sister, mom and dad were thrilled to be able to all be together for Christmas Day and the days that followed. Here are some of the highlights.....

All of us together opening Christmas presents!

Isaiah with his Nanny. She got lots of hugs, slobbery kisses and endless knawing from Isaiah's teething frenzy
Cousin Kenny and Isaiah spent lots of time playing together! Isn't Kenny such a cutie in this outfit!Isaiah's papa was really happy to see him and get some quality time with his grandson that he hasn't gotten to see as much as he would like.
A trip into NYC to the Metropolitian Museum of Art. One of my most favorite places in the U.S.

A visit to Dan's cousins resturant in Manhattan after driving down 5th Avenue. Isaiah all tucker out after a long day at the museum.Watching the NY Giants play the MN Vikings while sitting on a couch in NY. Too bad the Giants didn't win that game....oh well, they still made the playoffs, even though the Vikes didn't

Our little family in our Giants gear

Playtime with mom, after a good long nap

Lots of smiles

Great Granddad is so proud to have his newest little Mets fan on his lap.....Isaiah's thinking, "So this is who I am named after."

Isaiah tryin' out his great uncles rocking chair from when he was a young boy.

New Year's Eve
Bringing in 2009 with the people I love!!

Elf Disco Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We're Elfed

You have to follow this link to see Christine, Dan and Isaiah in Elf Form. Dan's sister Kristi set this one up for us as a Christmas card. Click on the link and check it out!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/2RdmIlEC7ECGYUCX1s35

This is not the same as the Disco one with Steve and Liz. This is our little Elf family.

My boys

I love you.

Party Time!

Last evening I hosted a ladies Christmas party at my house. It was so fun to have all these ladies over for a night of laughter, fun, food and fellowship! What a marvelous group of ladies to have in my life. Each of them are such a delight! Merry Christmas to all!Brooke and me A new perspective on things..... :)

Susanne and Meghan accidently got cut out of the above picture, so they made up for it by giving us a really good laugh!

A Day Off

This was the best to wake up to today. After finishing up the last of my big projects for the year, I took a much needed day off. I didn't do or think about anything today, it was awesome!! I spent the whole day at home with my two boys.

More Family Thanksgiving photos

It was really fun to be all together for Thanksgiving this year. Here are some more photos from our Gundersen Family Thanksgiving.

The whole Gundersen clan with spouses and grandchildren

The seven Gundersen children

Steven and Elizabeth

Christmas Tree

We went to get our first live Christmas Tree this weekend! It was so fun to pick out the one that we wanted and bring it home. It was my and Isaiah's first time ever picking out a real tree (my family always used a fake tree). We had such a great time.Bringing home our Tree!!

Thanksgiving

HEY EVERYBODY IT'S THANKSGIVING!!!!

We spent Thanksgiving with the Gundersen family today. There was a FULL house with 17 of us and that's just our immediate family.

We had lots to be thankful for....our new son, our jobs, our home and our familiesSo many people to be thankful for.... Grandpa and Auntie Jane

Lots of cousins..... Aunties...and uncles....because they secretly give me tastes of grapefruit (so I make silly faces)
And learning about the finer points of plumbing from Uncle Dave

The End!

The Giraffe

On Sunday Isaiah turned 5 months old, so we had to measure him up against his giraffe. He's grown from 20 1/2 inches to 25 3/4 inches. It's fun to see our boy growing!

Meeting Cousins

Today, Isaiah got to meet his 2nd cousin for the first time. It's been a long time coming, so when they finally got to meet, it was fun! Here they are sitting together like two peas in a pod. Isaiah is giving us the sidekick saying, "Get outta here and leave them alone."

Drastic Times call for Drastic Measures

So....I've had pretty the same hairstyle since I met Dan 6 years ago, except it kept getting longer and more out of control. It was time for a BIG change... well, here goes nothing... 10 inches shorter and one wonderful donation for LOCKS OF LOVE
Taaaaaaaa daaaaaaaa!! Cut, dyed and styled... So what do you think? (Don't I look cute?)

Dan Loves it!!! And so do I. Isaiah doesn't know what to think.

First Taste of Cereal

Tonight we tried feeding Isaiah some rice cereal. Most of it was lapped then spit out, but some got down. However, he was quite happy when we stopped feeding him and he could chew on a cloth again.

Grandma Time!!

LUCKY MEEEEEE!!! I have both grandma's as sidekicks. Maybe now I will get my first taste of ice cream.......???

Ice cream? "I don't think so." mama says with a smile.

Scrabble time?!?!

Well, Mommy and Daddy have finally noticed my superior intellectual abilities and gave me a wonderful avenue to put them on display. They allowed me to partake in a wonderful game that will help me broaden my vocabulary. As you can see it has already begun to make my narrating more elloquent. This marvelous game, of course, is Scrabble!

In the above photograph, I am matching wits with Mother. She stood no chance.


Of course Father quickly sought my advice on how to defeat Mother. Here, I am giving him advice on how best to use the letters he has set before him.
As you can see I am already an expert.


Ah yes, one must always examine the board to see if the plethora of words I have discovered jumbled in the 7 letters will fit in amongst the jumbled words placed on the game board. Father was most impressed as he watch my brilliant mind at work.

Well Nanny, I am told that you are the, so called, "Reigning Champion" at this simplistic game. Well, I am not sure how you can claim this title without having challenged my Fast developing mind. We shall see soon enough when you arrive in out humble abode tomorrow. I will, shall I say, 'Keep the board warm' for you. As Father so crudely puts it when challenged,

"You are going Down!"

See you soon...

MY BUDDIES

Today my two friends came to hang out with me, mom and dad. We had the Knick brothers over for a little play date while their mommy got to have some fun alone time. We made chocolate chip cookies, chocolate reese's cookies, drank hot chocolate and colored. They taught me lots of stuff. The worst was that I had to sit and WATCH everyone eat everything and I couldn't. It's ok, I will soon.

THANKS for coming to visit me, Jonah and Hayden!!! COME AGAIN soon!!