Happy Holidays!

A belated very Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope your holidays were as blessed as ours were. The weather gave us a run for our money and prohibited us from traveling down to Milwaukee to spend time with family, but we ended up having a wonderful Christmas at home with both sides of the family.

On Christmas Eve, we attended mass. Cade was surprisingly very good at church..with one minor exception. He dropped his crackers in the pew in front of us (thankfully no one was sitting there), said "uh oh" and then proceeded to try to crawl under the pew to retrieve them. Thank goodness Grandpa retrieved the crackers and Auntie Lisa retrieved Cade. After mass, we visited Grandma Lech, Uncle Kyle and Auntie Lys since Grandpa had to work. They all headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Felch's with us where we visited with Auntie Lisa, Gigi, Great Aunt Jen and Uncle Mike.

Cade had fun dancing/bouncing...

We were able to have one nice family pic in front of the tree...

Cade hung out with Auntie Lisa a bit...


..and generally had a jolly good time in the spirit of old Saint Nick.



On Christmas Day, we had breakfast and opened gifts at Grandma & Grandpa Felch's in the morning. Then, we headed home for Cade's nap while we got dinner ready for Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa Lech, Uncle Kyle and Auntie Lys.

Cade loved his new sled from Grandma & Grandpa Felch....

He really LOVED crawling through his new tunnel from Auntie Lisa...


He even showed off daddy's new hat...

Peak!

Of course, in the holiday tradition started last year, we had to adorn Cade with some bows from his present pile...

Cade was a big fan of his new basketball hoop that Santa dropped off at Grandma & Grandpa's house...he shoots, he scores!

After heading home for his nap, Cade was thrilled to see his tunnel set up at his house and attached to his new tent...cheese!


He loved snuggling up by Grandma & Grandpa...

And he got many more wonderful presents, including his fire truck from Uncle Kyle...


The day after Christmas, we headed over to Grandma & Grandpa Felch's again for Christmas with the Radant side of the family. Great Aunt Judy, Uncle Neil and cousin Cody drove up from Chicago for our ugly Christmas sweater contest.

Cade loved Grandpa's homemade 'beautiful' sweater that played music, jingled and sure did sparkle...and contrary to Jon's opinion, Cade was not participating in the ugly Christmas sweater contest...

The winner and first runner up were crowned..Jon & I were not victorious. Then again, how can you compete with this?

Cade loved all of his new presents, including his tractor and truck from Great Aunt Jen & Uncle Mike. He was happy to oblige snowman for a ride...

On Sunday morning, Cade was lucky enough for Santa to pay him a delayed visit to our house. He LOVE, LOVE, LOVED his new workbench, so he can work just like daddy...

Hard at work right away...

I think you just tighten this a bit...

Next, I'll try out my new hammer...

If you haven't overloaded on pictures, thanks for hanging with us to the end. If we weren't able to see you this holiday season, we hope yours was filled with family memories, love and laughter. Our sincerest wishes for a safe, healthy and happy New Year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

If you're beginning to wonder if we are sending out Christmas cards this year, fear not...they are in the mail tomorrow. I suppose the message could've been "Happy New Year" at this rate..but, hey, better late than never! In the meantime, here are some outtakes from the Christmas card photo shoots...note that I said "shoots," as in plural. Needless to say, Cade was more cooperative some days than others...

O Come All Ye Faithful...

Recently, we've had more tears than laughs. Life has been hard. It isn't easy to update the blog and celebrate life when your heart is hurting. For those of you who don't know, last week my mom found out that she has a tumor on her pancreas. Suffice it to say, there have been many tears and prayers these past few days. The one thing we have been grateful for is our own little cheer charm, Cade. He's always guaranteed to bring a smile to our faces...something we definitely need now and will continue to need in the coming year. Here's a sampling of our sweet cheer charm in action...

The holidays are here. It's a season of hope. Please join us in hope, faith and prayer that God continues to watch over my mom, keeping her brave and courageous and strong. As hard as it is in these tough times, it is still important to remember to be thankful for God's blessings..they happen every day around us and it's important that we see and cherish every moment.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Mark 11:24

Oh Christmas tree...

This weekend, we headed out to "embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols" - the Felch family Christmas tree (thanks Griswold clan). Cade was excited...

Hmm...this one seems nice...

Cade and mommy...

We searched high and low for the best tree..Cade managed the low perimeter...

Daddy managed the high perimeter...

There was also some teamwork involved...

Alas, we found it..the 2009 Felch family Christmas tree...

Daddy went to work...

On Sunday morning, Saint Nicholas paid a visit to one sweet, good little boy...

"Ooh, wooooowwww, choo choos!!!"

Cade was pleased with his new Mickey Mouse cereal bowl, tape measure like daddy and Polar Express DVD from Saint Nick...

Splish Splash Snowman

Our sweet boy is becoming quite the ham. He now knows what it means to say, "cheese." That isn't to say he always cooperates...but when he does, his smile and twinkly eyes are a precious treat. See for yourself...

After last night's bath, Cade showed off his new snowman bath wrap from Saint Nick, ahem, Auntie Lisa...

Such a sweet, snowy, splish splashy boy...

Giving Thanks..

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Cade was thankful for the Macy's holiday parade...he LOVED all the singing and dancing...

I was thankful for yummy desserts that turned out...

Cade was thankful for cuddles in the chair with grandpa...


And we were all thankful for wonderful family whom we love so much...

We hope your Thanksgiving holiday was as wonderful as ours was...and wish you continued holiday season blessings!

So Thankful...

Today, we pause to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for...and we have so much...our beautiful, wonderful family - amazing friends - our health - God's grace and all of the blessings he bestows upon us - the troops who fight for our freedom - our freedom - warm beds - full bellies and of course, the biggest blessing in our life, our sweet boy Cade...who has grown so much since last Thanksgiving.

We are thankful for Cade's sweet and kind spirit, his infectious giggle, his big hugs and eskimo kisses, his smile that lights up his face and makes his eyes twinkle, his open mind, his ability to see the beauty in life, his helpfulness, his love and so much more...

For that, and so much more, today we give thanks.

Wishing you all a joy-filled and blessed Thanksgiving!

Long time, no chat...

Wow, have we been bad about posting... In our defense, we've been busy doing some remodeling in our basement which has kept us pretty busy. And this weekend, of course, is another holiday weekend for the men of Wisconsin (my husband included)...the opening of deer season. Friday night, we headed to Gander Mountain so Jon could pick up some last minute supplies. Cade was happy to help out (sorry for the grainy images taken on my Blackberry)...