Just too much fun...

Our life has been filled with just too much fun lately and we haven't had any time to blog.

Kristen and her kids were here to visit for a week...this picture pretty much sums up how much Danika loves "Layna".

They were SO cute together!

Here are some more photos from the week.....

All four grandkids:

Julie

Alayna

Alayna "smiling"....

And the two partners in crime on a great adventure together.

"What should we do now?"

"Let's hold hands and run up and down the stairway about 30 times in a row!"

"Okay!"

"That was great! Let's do it again!"

We miss you, Julie and Alayna!

Love,

Andrea and Danika (and Uncle Doug, too!)

Celebrate Erie and family fun...

It was a beautiful weekend here in Erie and we squeezed in as much fun as we possibly could!

Doug had to work Saturday morning, so Danika and I picked up our good friend Elizabeth and headed up to the "Celebrate Erie" festival going on downtown. The best part is always the "chalk walk" and we took a picture of Danika with this really cool one sponsored by Erie Insurance.

Celebrate Erie really is a cool festival and I will look forward to enjoying it more as Danika gets older.

We came home, picked up Daddy, and headed back out to enjoy some more sunshine at the Erie Zoo. Danika LOVES the animals...but it is so funny because she is just as entertained by the chipmunk who scurried in front of her stroller as she is the giant giraffe who is walking and eating behind the fence. :) She is so fun to watch!

We also worked on getting some 18mos pictures printed for family....so those will be coming shortly!

Sunday we had church and we were thrilled to get to share our church with Doug's sister Kristen and her husband Dave (as well as all three kiddos). It was fun to have them come visit...and as always it was great to get to hang out together. Julie and Alayna got to help me film a video for church while we were there as well. What fun. ;)

Kristen, Dave and family will be heading home today, so we all got together for dinner one last time for this visit on Sunday night. I'll leave you with a cute image of Danika and Julie pounding away on Mimi's piano. They were really enjoying themselves. :)

Rubber Ducky, You're The One!

I love rubber duckies. I can't help it....I just find them to be adorable. I like little ones, and big ones, colored ones, yellow ones, any kind of ducky. I like ducky blankets and ducky jammies...I just love stuff with ducks on it!

So...it has apparently rubbed off on my daughter. For her birthday, Danika received from her Aunt Kristen a giant rubber ducky to put in the bath tub. Danika LOVES it! Everytime she takes a bath it is a required accessory. As soon as we put her in the water she reaches for it and hugs its neck. She will hold onto it and just love it to death. It cracks me up every time, so I thought I should take a picture.

Thank you, Aunt Kristen!

First Trip to Chuck E. Cheese

Cousin Julie was still in town for a few days after Christmas and New Year's, so I thought it would be fun to get her together with Danika's buddy Trinity for some play-time at Chuck E Cheese. Danika went too, and I think all the kids had fun. Uncle Mike was GREAT with all the girls and Aunt Wendi and I took pictures and visited. What a great day!

Christmas in Erie

What a great Christmas this year. It is just so fun to share it through the eyes of a new little one. :) Danika was more into the paper and boxes than she was most of the gifts at first. But once things came out of the boxes, she got right into it.

After returning from our Christmas celebrations in Ohio, we have had a different Christmas party almost every night here in Erie.

We got back on the 26th, and on the 27th we celebrated Christmas with Doug's Dad's side of the family. All the Bierer Christmas parties always involve....oh.....well let's call them "interesting" and "unique" Christmas gifts that have been personalized for each one of us. :) Grandpa never ceases to entertain. You can see Kristen and Dave showing off thier custom-made lawn ornaments. What fun! :)

Then the 28th was the "Andrews" side Christmas celebration at Grandma Berniece's. It was lots of fun to see all the little ones toddling everywhere. Last Christmas this side was unable to get together because out of the 6 cousins on this side, four were either pregnant or had JUST given birth. That means this year for Christmas, there were FOUR ONE YEAR OLDS running around. :) It was great! And Julie was having a blast, too. It was a little insane, but the best kind of insanity.

Last but not least, we had our own Christmas with Doug's parents and Kristen's family on New Year's day. It was just a great time to be together with family.

I confess, I'm probably the worst Aunt in the world....I find myself irresistably drawn to gifts that I would have loved as a child...and my mother would have hated. I always try to ask Kristen's permission before I give them...but even with permission, some gifts turn out to be a little more than any of us expect. That would be the case with the "make-up" gift I got for Julie this year. It was a special bag of make-up for little girls...and I think we were all under the false assumption that it would be more user friendly for children...you know....easy to wash off, light colored, etc. Well....not so much. My 4-year-old niece Julie LOVED her gift....and her mother LOVED scrubbing her face to get it off. I'm sorry Kristen...I really do love you!

Dana and Susan were in all thier glory with a whole pack of little red-headed grandaughters surrounding them. It was great just to be together.

Doug and his sister Kristen.

My shorty and her mama.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope it was a great season for everyone!

Alayna's Birthday

We spent last weekend in New York visiting Doug's sister Kristen and her family. Her youngest daughter Alayna just celebrated her first birthday. We were lucky enough to get to be in New York with the whole family for a birthday bash. If you would like to see more pictures of Alayna's birthday, you can catch up with their family on Kristen's blog at: http://fourmoremiles.blogspot.com/

We truly enjoyed our visit...it was wonderful to spend time together.

The birthday girl. Look at those baby blues!

All three girls sitting with Uncle Doug as Alayna unwrapped gifts.

Danika LOVES her cousin Julie...she finds her absolutely fascinating.

Which works because Julie loves an audience. :) I can't wait to see what these two are like together as they get older.

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As is typical for our family, nothing can ever just be "normal". We tried to go outside and get some fall "family" pictures while we were all together. But, we were side tracked by this HUGE fish that Dave caught. :) Ever the fishing/hunting kind of family, these things come first. :) This fish was rather unique...it had huge blue eyes and some wild hair going on. :)

Cutest fish I ever did see!



Happy Birthday Alayna!