cookies

I bought some Thunder Cookies from the bakery yesterday afternoon and brought them to a friend for her birthday. I put the extra in my purse in a ziploc bag. Matea and I came home, I set my purse on the floor and went to check my email. I heard Matea playing with shoes and when I went to go check on her this is what I found. Cookies in both hands, in her mouth, and on the floor! That'll teach me to leave my purse full of cookies on the floor!

Redeeming Love

I have neglected my blog because I have been engrossed in a book! I just read Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love and I can't recommend the book highly enough. The book is a riveting retelling of the biblical story of Hosea set during the California gold rush. I read the book originally 3-4 years ago and it had just as much of an impact on me now as it did the first time I read it.

If you are looking for a good love story to read, pick up this book! It tells not only the beautiful love story of Angel and Michael Hosea, but puts into a word picture the love story of a Savior and His bride that allows me to say "oh wow...I think I am starting to understand..."

1 year pics - take one

better ones to follow soon! these are just for fun.

Favorite Things - baby edition

A little over five months ago I became a mom, and over that time we've developed a little list of baby gear that we love. I decided to share a few of those favorites with you!

Anka High Chair
My number one favorite thing that we purchased was our Anka high chair produced by Svan.
We love this chair for several reasons, the main one being that we leave the tray off and Matea sits at the table with us. Not only does it make feeding her and meal times more enjoyable with her being RIGHT THERE, but she is learning table manners and appropriate behavior while at the table! The small size of this chair and the ability for it to grow with Matea as she grows makes it a winner in our book. This high chair is well worth every penny.

Baby Bjorn

We have one of these on loan from Aaron's sister. It was a lifesaver in Ethiopia and has come in handy for everything from walks in the woods to the store.

Target Brand Travel Baby Wipes
LOVE THESE!!!! They stay moist, are cloth-like, and are inexpensive. I tried the regular wipes (non travel type) and they lost their moisture really quickly so I started making my own. For on the go, the Target wipes are fantastic. I would even recommend keeping some in the car for wiping your hands, spills, etc. kid or not! I don't know why I haven't had some in the car before! They are great!

Footie zip pajamas

image from here

Aaron and I ask ourselves these questions all the time:
1. Why do people make fleece/flannel pajamas WITHOUT feet for kids? If it is cold enough for long sleeve/pant fleece pj's, they've got to have feet
2. Why do people buy snap pj's? I know the diaper argument, but give me one zip over 20 snaps on a squirmy child any day.

We love the zip up footie pjs, and we won't buy anything else!

There you have it - a few more favorites!

frist birthday

January 8 marked Matea's first birthday (and five months of being home)! We had a little shin dig with a few friends on the Tuesday before. It started out with the power going out for an hour...Aaron, Jen, Brandon, Matea, and I all ate dinner in the dark. :-) The power came on literally as our friends were walking through the door.

There were a few kids over so I made cupcakes for them. I had one too.

Matea was pretty clueless as to what was going on, and, unfortunately I realized I have basically NO pictures of the evening. I can't believe it! Anyway, here Matea is with her cupcake. We had a nice evening, and it was nice to have a small celebration with family and friends!

I'm working on one-year pictures for her - I'm hoping to just do them myself, but I'm finding that photographing toddlers is tough! I'm planning on enlisting Aaron's help and hopefully we'll can get a few good shots this week!

Christmas

I am finally getting around to blogging about Christmas! It was a great Christmas - as most Christmases are. It was fun having a little kid around, although, I think for the most part Matea was pretty oblivious to what was going on. Next year I think she'll have a blast. Here are some pictures in no particular order - I am leaving them how they ended up uploading.

We had the Peterson Christmas in Duluth this year the weekend before Christmas...

Matea heard "The Night Before Christmas" from Grandpa Flavin for the first time - on the night before Christmas!

Jesse brought over his guitar hero and we played for a while during the Peterson Christmas - here is Aimee and Becky playing for the first time!
Our tree. This was my favorite tree so far! It had a great shape.

Aaron got a kite to go snow kiting for Christmas. Here he is trying it out for the first time.

and it is in the air!

I think Aaron will be spending a lot of time outside playing with the kite and figuring it out. He tried it with his snowboard strapped on the other day - I know he's looking forward to snowboarding with it on a lake or in a field soon!