Happy Holidays!! 2009

Dear family & friends,

It’s that time of year again!  Time to reflect back on a year that passed us by way to fast!  In 2009, all three of us had some changes in our lives, and we said goodbye to bottles, diapers, and Shannon’s appendix!  Here is a little snapshot of what we’ve been up to:

Anna celebrated her 2nd birthday in September.  It is such a fun age for all of us, and she makes us laugh every day!  2009 saw Anna move into a big girl bed, potty-train in June, and start day care!  What a year!

Gabrielle officially started her nursing program in September.  It was very busy and a little stressful at times, but she really enjoys clinical and getting first-hand experience in the hospital.  She continues to get A’s, and is gearing up for semester 2 of 4.  At this time next year, she will be graduating!

Shannon’s now working in Saginaw.  It’s quite further than driving across the street, but we are thankful that he is still working, especially in this economy.  When he’s not working, he stays busy keeping Anna happy while Gabrielle is studying!

Thank you for following our blog and keeping up with the Weston’s!  I’m working very hard to update the rest of the year!  Please feel free to browse through our highlights of 2009, and leave us a comment or two.  We look forward to sharing 2010 with you!

Love,

Shannon, Gabrielle, and Anna Weston

Merry Christmas!

I must have been a very good girl this year, because Santa brought me a lot of neat stuff!

Here I am opening toys & candy in my stocking!

Ooh!  I got a Little Mermaid doll that goes in the bath with me!

Gator Golf!  A fun game I like to play with Daddy!

Putting a bow on Daddy’s arm!

I also got a new sled, a princess Barbie & horse, lots of new clothes, games, lip gloss, and jewelry!

Unfortunately, Mommy and I weren’t feeling well, but after a long Christmas nap, we headed over to Grandpa & Grandma Brugger’s house!

It took me a while to feel good enough to open presents, but eventually they all got opened!

Here is the blue princess dress like Cinderella that I asked Santa for!

What could be in this big one??

A beautiful princess Barbie!

Yep.  That’s me behind the Candy Land game!

Ooh!  A Dora bike helmet!

Here’s what was in the big box!  Clipity-Clop, Clipity-Clop – it’s A Rock & Ride Pony!  (Thanks, Uncle Eric for putting it together for me!)  I may not have felt good, but I still had lots of fun rocking and bouncing!

A Disney Princess musical vanity table!  It plays music & has “make-up” and a hairbrush – everything a girl needs to stay looking beautiful!  I even shared some “lipstick” with Grandma!

A beautiful princess riding side-saddle on her pony!  (With some help from her Daddy!)

Daddy helping me ride on my Dora scooter!  This is going to be a lot of fun in the spring!

It was such a good Christmas!  I am such a luck girl to be able to spend time with lots of family over the holiday!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day was a very exciting and busy day!

I got to open my first gift from my Great-Grandpa & Grandma Mahanay!  A cute outfit & some cute pj’s that had this red tu-tu with them!  I love the tu-tu & wear it every night, no matter what pj’s I have on!

Later on, we went to Great-Grandpa & Grandma Jelemensky’s house.

Here I am with my cousin, Victoria.

A cute family photo!

Climbing on my mom is so much fun!!

Opening my gift from Uncle Aaron.  It was filled with so much paper and so many bows!

Here I am tossing the paper into the air!  It kept me entertained for quite a while!

Here I am with Mommy, Aunt Becca, Uncle Aaron, and Cousin Doug.

When we got home, I got to open another present!  New pj’s!

We also put cookies & milk out for Santa.  And a carrot for Rudolph, too!

Time for bed so Santa will come!

More cookies!

Mommy got it in her head that she wanted to make homemade sugar cookies this year!  Grandma & Becca came over & helped.  It was a lot of fun!  I especially liked playing in the flour!

Cutting the dough with the cookie cutters.

Rolling the dough in flour.

“Powdering” my face with flour!

Our finished cookies!  

A special cookie just for Santa!

Crossroads Village

Since our first attempt was unsuccessful, we made reservations to ride the train at Crossroads Village.

Before our train ride, we got some hot cocoa, and walked around for a while.

I got to see Santa & I let him know what I wanted for Christmas!

Here’s Daddy & me  in Santa’s house!

Pretty lights on the Horton-Colwell Opera House in the front of the village.

The Memorial Tree with lots of lights!  A great place for pictures!!

 

 

We all rode the carousel together!  It was very fast, so Mommy had to stand & hold onto me while Daddy rode next to us!

A picture of us by the carousel!

There were so many lights on all the trees!

Christmas “Tree of Lights”

A picture of the train we got to ride!

Mom & me on the train!

Daddy sat in front of us on the train.

Pictures with my mom & dad by the caboose!

It was a fun night at Crossroads Village!  We may have to go back in the summertime!

Making cookies

Mom decided since she has so much time off from school, we would make cookies together.  We started with our favorites, chocolate Rolo cookies.  I got to help mix the batter, unwrap the candies, and hand them to Mom for the cookies.  Grandma J. stopped by to help unwrap Rolo’s, too!

Mixing the chocolate…

Eating the chocolate Rolo’s…

Wearing the chocolate…!!!

Mom should have taken pictures of the yummy cookies, but she didn’t.  Boy, did they taste good!