Other Christmas Celebrations....

We actually had several other Christmas celebrations.

We went home to Ohio the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with my Mom, Dad, and sister's family. It was a GREAT weekend. We got to see lots of extended family, catch up with each other, see my sister's new house in Toledo, and let the kids play together. It was just great.

Danika got a new "kitchen" for Christmas from my Mom and Dad. My Mom made Dad put it all together the day before we came home so Danika could open it and play immediately. My Dad is STILL complaining about that job! :) All he kept mumbling through the three hours of assembly was something about this being DOUG's job.... :)

Here we are at "Christmas" at my parent's house.

We also had a major celebration with Doug's Mom's side of the family (the Andrews) on the 28th of December. It was a major celebration because it was the first time in years we were all together. And to add to the fun, we had 4 two year olds, 2 babies, and a 5 yr old in the house! Talk about chaos! This is Grandma with all the great grand-kids. (Believe me...this was the best picture out of ten....it is really hard to get that many kids to sit still!)

And here is the whole clan:

It was a great Christmas....we love you all!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning!
We got to celebrate Christmas in Erie this year. It was such a fun year because Danika was finally old enough to really get into the whole thing. It was just a wonderful, wonderful day with family we love and adore. What a great way to celebrate the birth of Christ!

This is Danika first thing in the morning eating her toast before we opened gifts. She was SOUND asleep and we had to drag her little can out of bed so we could make it to Doug's parents on time for Christmas breakfast.

This is Danika with one of her Christmas gifts from us...a new doll....with HAIR! She was less than impressed that all of her baby dolls were bald, so we got her a dolly with hair. She LOVES her.

Danika got a stroller from Aunt Kristen and family for her dolly...she LOVES it and still pushes it all over the place EVERY day. :)

Papa (Doug's dad Dana) made Danika her own toybox for Christmas. It is just BEAUTIFUL and Danika adores it. As a matter of fact, she was immediately so possessive of it, that we couldn't even get a picture of Papa sitting on it with her because it was HERS and when he tried to sit down, she pushed him off. "Mine, Papa." Such a loving, sharing child I have. But she does love the toybox...it was such a gorgeous gift.

Papa made Alayna a baby cradle, and that was a huge hit as well. Here are all three girls with both Mimi and Papa.

After Mimi & Papa's house, we made our way over to the big "Bierer Family Christmas" with all of Doug's extended family. It was a wonderful afternoon...and Danika got a lovely pair of shoes that she immediately wanted to wear. It's quite the fashion statement with the PJ's dont' you think? I could have dressed her up, but she was so happy and cozy in those PJ's, I just couldn't bring myself to make her wear a fancy dress. So...PJ's all day, it was.

It was such a wonderful Christmas...but we all slept well that night! What fun!

Small Group

We LOVE our small group. I mean it. They are just the most wonderful people...every last one of them.

12/22/08- Our group met for the last time as a "whole" group....one of our couples moved to Hershey, PA on Jan 2nd, and so the 22nd was our last night for all of us to be together. We are praying for Mike and Leslie that they would find a wonderful church and group to plug into...we will miss them tremendously here.

We took some group photos that night...so here we are.

I love you guys!!!!

Poor sick little girl....

The week of Dec 16th, my poor little baby got REALLY sick. She was so miserable...it was just pitiful. I felt terrible for her. The only thing that made it even worse was that Doug and I were sick at the same time. With a whole house full of sick people, there wasn't a lot of energy left to "take care" of her. So...I confess that we resorted to a lot of children's videos.....we would all lay in our bed and put a video on the TV and then Doug and I would go back to sleep with her in between us. The bad part is that we only have THREE children's videos....and we watched them over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over....we about lost our minds over those 4 days. And as a result, Danika has a new obsession: Danika begs for "Eggie Dales" ....also known to the rest of the world as "Veggie Tales." We created a monster.

Here she is propped up in a chair watching Bob and Larry while Doug and I were sprawled pathetically on other peices of furniture. It was such a miserable time.

Here she is when she was on the mend....still not 100%, but excited to be eating food again.

However, just FYI, the Veggie Tales obsession is apparently here to stay. Ever since that week, it is the FIRST thing she asks for every morning, it is the first thing she says when she comes home from daycare, and it is the thing she is begging for as we tuck her into bed at night. ALL we hear from that little mouth is:

• "oovie mommy?"
• "eggie dales mommy?"
• "watch eggie dales now, mommy?"
• "oovie please"
• "bob & arry, mommy?"

Anyone know a cure for Veggie Tales obsession?

Babysitting twins...

12/13/08-
Our dear friends Sam & Courtney have the two most adorable "twin" girls you could ever meet. And since our kids are close in age and we live nearby, we try to help each other out with babysitting. Well....somehow it always seems that when it is our turn to watch all the girls, Doug is mysteriously unavailable. :) Anyway, I had the girls by myself for a fun evening back in December and I have to tell you, it was just hilarious.

First of all, Danika is jealous and was less than impressed that these two invaders were in her home. But she warmed up quickly to them and they all started just having a ball....until it was time to eat. I have two boosters, but not three. So I put Danika in a stroller and I sat in a wheeled computer chair and I just rolled between all three of them trying to stuff food in each mouth and keep the mess to a minimum. I was laughing out loud at myself...it really was a funny sight. And Danika just kept glaring at the girls...she was so jealous that they were in HER booster seats! Check out those faces....



Okay...now isn't that enough to make you laugh? Can't you just picture me rolling all around trying to keep everyone fed?

Anyway...once food time was over and I got everyone out of thier seats and back to playing, it was one big party again. The girls really do get along great, and it was quite a fun evening, even if they all kept me hopping. :)


Danika was trying to be a big girl helper....by "helping" with the clean dishes. This is what she did with my mixing bowl while I was unloading the dishwasher. That weird facial expression is what I get when I say "smile for mommy" when I'm taking a picture...it looks like a combination of pain and a wild animal growling. Believe it or not, she really was having fun. :)

It was even funnier when she tried to get out and she was stuck...I had to tip her over and pry this silly bowl off her butt.

Odds and ends...

Martin still hates Danika...but she LOVES him. She recently got a hold of him when he was sitting on Doug's lap and just squeezed the living daylights out of him. Just look at him...he looks so happy. :)

I wasn't feeling very well during the month of December thanks to this little one on the way, so decorating was a slow process. And my "helper" didn't really make things go any faster. :) Every time I climbed the step stool, she climbed up behind me to "help." It was really quite entertaining. :)

I'm a lousy blogger...but I have an excuse!

Well....I'm a terrible blogger. I know it's been a month since I last updated. But I have a really good excuse.....

I'm pregnant right now and due with the second little Bierer Baby on Aug 5th.

We are REALLY excited! But since Thanksgiving I've been miserable. I keep hoping it is going to get better, but I feel lousy. Why is this baby being so mean to me?????

Anyway...if I can get my act together I'll post Christmas pictures and pics from Danika's birthday very soon. :)

love,
andrea