As 2010 Comes to an End...

It's amazing how fast time flies once you have a child. I cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone. 2011 is just around the corner and I'm not sure if I'm ready to have a 2 year old!!!! Christmas was A LOT of fun this year. Lucas definitely got the hang of Santa and presents and being a good boy. Last year my Grandma bought Lucas an Elf on the Shelf. If you are one of the many I've found that don't know what this is I'll give you a little insight on it. The Elf comes unnamed so the first thing you do is pick out a name. We've named our Elf Oliver. Each night he returns home to the north pole to report to Santa on the children(s) behavior for the day and then comes back. The excitement comes each morning when the children get to wake up and find him. Lucas LOVED this part. Each morning he would wake up and say Oliver!!! He would run downstairs every morning and start his search for Oliver. Ralph and I used to think that we found really good hiding places but he always found him. It was really fun to use Oliver as a way to get Lucas to behave. All we had to say was "Oliver is watching" and he would immediately change his attitude.

On Christmas Eve we hung out at home since we were headed to Bloomington for Christmas Day. Lucas put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. Santa even left him a little thank you note.

Christmas morning we woke up and Lucas was so surprised to see the gifts under the tree from Santa and Mommy and Daddy. He was so cute opening his gifts. He would tear one piece of paper at a time. It's a good thing there weren't a ton of presents otherwise we might still be unwrapping. Lucas got a lot of nice toys and he's having a blast playing with all of them.

After we opened gifts we left to spend Christmas day with the Glacinki's and Carrion's in Bloomington. Nikki and Dave were wonderful hosts. I really think Nikki is getting the hang of the decorating thing. Their home was beautifully decorated. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the little angel either. Avery was a trooper all day and even received a ton of presents herself.

We plan on staying home on New Years and enjoying an evening together as a family. With Ralph working it doesn't seem to happen very often so we plan on taking advantage of it. Speaking of Ralph, he unfortunately has been out of work on medical leave since the week of Christmas. A few weeks back he had hurt his shoulder. It's so bad that he can't even lift ANYTHING!!! He went this week for an MRI and has been going to physical therapy. The MRI showed that there are some issues that need to be handled now rather than later. We thought that he might have had to have surgery but instead the doctor is treating his shoulder pain with cortizone shots and more physical therapy.

As 2010 coming to a close I would like to take a minute to reflect on some of the wonderful things that happend this year:

*Lucas turned 1!!! Followed by his first steps a few weeks later!

*My wonderful Grandma turned 90!!!

*Ashley and I threw and AMAZING baby shower for Nikki

*I was fortunate enough to meet a big portion of my mom's relatives. Aunts, Cousins, Cousins kids and I got to see a BIG part of Missouri. The family reunion was a BLAST!

*My BEAUTIFUL niece Avery Elizabeth was born weighing 6lbs 9oz. I loved her from the beginning!

*Nikki turned 30!!! Yikes!

*My dad turned 60!!! An even bigger YIKES!!! My family and I threw another AMAZING party for him surprising him on his actually birthday!

I'm sure there are so many more wonderful things that happend but it is now just starting to blur in my head. So I wish all my family and friends a healthy and happy 2011!!!!

Love from Belvidere!
The Antfellner Family