Christmas 2010

Santa was very good to us this year - our best gift was being able to spend Christmas with Mike, Jessica, Benjamin and Lucy! After a harrowing drive to Rochester, we spent the day opening gifts, munching on forbidden treats, hugging and squeezing a certain young lady and playing on the new Wii! It was so relaxing that we "forgot" to eat early as planned! The whole family was excited to open up the Wii and get going - what fun! I know they will enjoy that for years to come!
Poor Lucy had a nasty head cold - but even feeling crummy, she was a delight - all smiles, no crankiness, she pretty much sat there and watch us make fools of ourselves! Benjamin got to work learning magic tricks with his new magic set and even entertained us with a delightful magic show on Sunday...
After watching the Bears win, we packed our sleigh and sadly headed home - good news is that we have some babysitting scheduled soon!

Breakfast with Santa 2010

We had a wonderful weekend with the Schmitts - we packed in as much as we possibly could! Dinner at the Narrows, chopped down our Christmas tree, our annual breakfast with Santa at Macys and even a little shopping!

Lucy's Baptism Weekend

Family came from far and near to help the Schmitt's celebrate the baptism of Lucy Jane on Sunday. Great Grandma Anne came in from Florida on Thursday and we had a whirlwind weekend! Thursday night we went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater for dinner and a show, the play was "All Shook Up" a cute play that included a bunch of Elvis songs. On Friday Mom and I went to Mystic Lake for the gambling, her birthday mojo sure was working and we both came home with some money! Saturday, we joined the Schmitt's at a local park as Mike and Benjamin ran a Halloween 5K - yes, Benjamin ran a 5K! Then we were granted custody of Benjamin for the day, taking him to the Halloween party at the MN zoo.
Sunday we all gathered at the Schmitt's church for Lucy's baptism. She looked so sweet in Jessica's christening gown and took it like a trooper! The Murphy's and Coopers (including Erin, Kelsy and Makenna) along with the Schmitt family had a wonderful brunch at Jessica and Mikes.


Today, mom heads to Chicago for a few days and I go back to work for some R&R.

Lucy Jane Schmitt

Introducing the newest member of our family! Lucy arrived in 10/01/10 at 11:00am, weighing 5 lbs 4 oz 19 1/4 inches long. She's tiny but mighty! Everyone is doing just great! And it looks like Benjamin is taking to being a big brother quite nicely...for now!

House of Bounce

We had the privilege of spending some time with Benjamin on Saturday, lunch at Mickey D's and then a few hours at the House of Bounce in Rochester - it's a place with a bunch of those inflatable bouncing houses - Grandpa bounced until he was bounced out! It was a lot of fun, we really enjoy spending time with him, he's much wiser than his 5 years!

Anatomy of a Basement

As most of you know, our basement was unfinished when we bought our beautiful home. Well, after over 2 years, we finally have walls and a ceiling! Here are some pics of the progress - we are hoping to be done before the holidays!

Introducing Makenna

Not only did we get a new car - we now have a beautiful new great niece - Makenna Ryan - she weighed in at 9.7lbs - baby, Erin, Dennis, Kelsey and Austin all doing great!