December.

December has been a good month for us. I turned 26 at the beginning of the month, and that was fun. I got some great presents from the family and lots of great food as well. We also got to decorate for our first Christmas in the new house!

Putting the tree together.

You knew you weren't getting out of this post
without a picture of Roxie...The living room all Christmas-y :)

Also during this month, we celebrated Dad's 50th birthday on December 21st! We had a Colts cake made for him, and it turned out pretty sweet! Here it is all lit up:

Dad blowing out the candles...

And of course, we had Christmas. That was a fun time with family. We hosted Christmas Eve with my immediate family, where we had a deep fried food & present-opening party. Here are some pics of the guys frying up some stuff in our kitchen...



And finally, on December 27th, we had another big event. My friend & former college roomie, Katie, had baby Madelyn Sue Rytlewski! All the Marian girls and I went to the hospital to see her a few hours after she was born.

Here she is, wide awake!

All of the Marian girls with the new mom & baby :)

Overall, 2009 was a great year. We have so many reasons to be thankful, and I'm sure 2010 will be just as great. After all, we know baby Sophie Shively will be here in April! :)

Happy New Year's Eve!