Let it snow, Let it snow

On December 8th, we experienced our first snow storm of the season. Once the storm was over, there was over a foot of accumulation. I loved it since Alana & I stayed home to watch the snow fly. Shawn, however, decided there was money to be made and thought he should head down to work in New Berlin. Well. After he snow blowed the driveway at 5am, he decided he should leave quick before the city's snowplows trap him in at the end of the driveway. Mind you, he is driving our brand-new minivan out into the snowstorm and through our unplowed street. Remember? A foot of snow? I had just finished feeding Alana when I get a call from Shawn saying he is waiting for the plow to drive by at the end of our street, a whole 300' away from our front door. It was making a pass and piled up a large amount of snow in front of the van. Alana & I watch from the bedroom window. We get a call 30 seconds later from Shawn to let us know he is stuck and cannot move. After making certain Alana is happy and safe in her crib, I get bundled up, grab the monitor, shovels & salt and walk down the middle of the street. After about 20 minutes of shoveling & pushing, Shawn is out and on his way to work. Knowing Alana was still asleep, I went to work with snow blowing the sidewalks but stopped when I temporarily broke the snow blower. What a morning and all by 7am. Oh well. It made for beautiful pictures!

Let Christmas Begin

Our tree hunt began at Menard's but we were not impressed with their skeletal selection so we tried out Stein's Garden & Gifts with a much larger selection. Shawn checked out the artificial trees, but decided the real thing was the way to go as the artificial trees looked just too fake. Hopefully, that will be the end of that yearly argument. Even though we checked out many trees, we ultimately decided on the first one Melissa examined.

Shawn shows off his better side

Alana meets her Great-Grandparents

Melissa, Alana, Leah & Amber

Leah, Amber, Alana & Great-Grandpa Harvey

Amber, Alana, Leah & Great-Grandma Betty

Great-Grandma Betty & Alana

Grandma Mary, Grandpa Mike, Amber & Leah

Alana is almost bigger than Leah!

Alana & Grandma Mary

Alana & Great-Aunt Barb

Alana & Daddy - two wiped babies

Alana cannot possibly take any more action

Happy Thanksgiving

We began Thanksgiving Day at my sister's house for appetizers and the Packer game. Afterwards, we went to Shawn's parents' condo for dinner (we forgot the camera in the car). We had a great day with our families and are very thankful for all of them.

I had to take her picture next to the turkey. She will just love me later in life for these pictures.

Alana, Grandpa & Madison

Shawn

Daryl

Lexi, Grandma & Jenny

Lexi & Alana

Melissa & Alana

A Private Keith Urban Concert

When my girlfriend, Stacey, asked if I wanted to head down to Chicago to see a private Keith Urban concert, I jumped at the opportunity. Even though I was a little worried and sad about having to leave Alana for the first time, I was pretty excited about going to see him. Alana spent the day with her Daddy who went to visit his parents with Alana. Keith sang five songs with a question & answer session between each song for the intimate crowd of around 300 people. He was truly charming and not too bad looking either. We had a couple drinks at the concert and met up with some of Stacey's co-workers in Chicago for dinner and a few more drinks. Thanks again, Stace, for a great day!

Happy Birthday Grant

On November 1, Alana & I traveled north to Abrams, WI to help celebrate Alana's 2nd cousin's Grant birthday. His Mom arranged a bunch of fun games for the kids to play. Alana was so smart and decided to cuddle in her Mom's arms, watching from the window.

The cousins: Brooklyn, Grant, Lexi, Matthew, Madison, Alana & Nicholas
Madison, Alana & Jenny

The Rasmussen's: Erik, Grant, Brooklyn & Paula

Happy Birthday Alana!

So our little girl turned one month old on Sunday, November 8th. With the help of my sister-in-law, Cheryl, and my nephews we did a little photo shoot. Thanks for the help! We cannot believe how much Alana has changed in those 4 short weeks. Unbelievable. We have our really, really long nights, as well as our lovely nights. She slept 7 hours last night. Now I don't know if it is because the little heater in her nursery room keeps in nice and cozy or if she is just exhausted from being up all day. Either way I like my long nights of sleep. On Monday, November 9th, Alana had her 1 month check up. She is doing pretty good. She is now 21 1/2" long (50%) and weighs 8 lb 7.4 oz (25%). Shawn will be on vacation November 23-24-25 and will be staying home with Alana while Melissa goes back to work for a short work week. We are both back to work on Monday, November 30th. Melissa decided to go back to work 4 days/week. Hopefully, things will flow very smoothly.

Here are some of the photos from her photo shoot...