Brown County Getaway

My parents rented a cabin in Brown County for my mom's birthday, and they invited Max and I to spend the day with them. We had lunch and played at the cabin, and I caught up on several magazines during Max's nap. They stayed at the Eagle's Nest Vacation Lodge, which is amazing -- but way too big for two people! (My mom stays there every year with her girlfriends and wanted my dad to see it.) We'll have to tag along again next year.

Melmo

Thank God for Elmo. Max has just started becoming interested in TV, and he prefers Elmo, or "Melmo" as he calls him. This buys me bursts of "me time" throughout the day in 15-minute increments, which I'm going to need when the baby gets here. (Speaking of babies, Max likes to watch TV and read books with his new baby dolls he got for Christmas. Too cute.)

Harrison Family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Justin's family on New Year's Eve. Lauren, Jeff and Leo were able to make it, so we had five grandkids there this year (all under the age of 2.5!!). It was actually a weekend-long celebration, with a ping pong tournament and shuffleboard games at Don's, breakfast at our house and lots of lounging/snacking at Danza's. I only took a few photos, but will be sure to steal some from other family blogs soon. We also had a weigh-in for the boys, and, while they were all within a couple of pounds of each other, Max took home the medal. (He's the middle grandchild right now -- both in age and in the picture.)

Felt Food

Two of my nephews received play kitchens for Christmas, so I made them some play food out of felt to go with them. Working with felt is super easy, and I had hoped to make more items, but ran out of time. (I copied the pasta from my cousin Julie, made up a pattern for the sliced bread and used a pattern from Etsy for everything else.)

Love the Radio Flyers!

Max loved finding a new tricycle under the tree, but he was also quick to notice an antique scooter we found for Grandpa Don. We kept telling him it was for Grandpa, so when he stopped by later that day, Max was excited to show him the ropes.

Christmas Morning

Christmas was so fun this year. From shopping to decorating to reading Christmas stories, it was so fun to see how Max took it all in. Then there was Christmas morning. We all had breakfast before taking him to the tree, and he was so excited to see all the presents. Of course, he checked out the tricycle first, and then we took our time opening each new toy.

Even Baby June got a gift. Justin picked out this little number all by himself and snuck it under the tree. (Yup -- we're sharing the name. June Frances. We were afraid we would slip in front of our families, so we spilled the beans.)

A Very Burkle Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on Christmas Eve. My mom made a wonderful dinner, and all of the adults actually managed to sit at the same table and enjoy it! With six grandkids, it can get a little hectic, and I didn't get very good pictures of our gift exchange. Note to self: get all of the kids together for at least one photo each year.

My mom made this beautiful quilt for the baby. I love it!!